Where family is found...

I like the idea of the word homeland.

For me it evokes a place that is more than where someone came from, more than just a geographical location. And when I went googling my way through the internet to see if there was a comparative word in Mandarin, I found one that seems to mean more than just country. Well, two words really, as the word is formed from two chinese characters...

The term guó jiā is made up of two characters: 國家. The first character 國 (guó) means "country” or “state.” The second character 家 (jiā) means “home” or “family.”

As the translation explained, the single character 國 (guó) can be used when referring to countries, but guó jiā seems to emphasize that a country is also a homeland where family is found.

Love this.

The perfect addition to our blog banner.

Postscript: My wonderful Chinese colleague informed me that there is a word that is another option for homeland. It is gù xiāng 故乡 ...this means native place or birth place.