Six in the morning on a random Friday and I feel like starting a new topic… Life is good.
I have a habit of looking around on my daily commute in Taipei and trying to figure out things. This can be uncommon Chinese characters I don’t know how to pronounce (see other topic), for example. I often pass Dunhua Road, and yesterday I realized that after all those years, I still don’t know what Dun-ification means. There are several others, like Siwei Road. What are the 4 Wei’s? Chongde, Chong-Virtue? So let’s unravel things here, shall we?
Let’ not discuss the obvious ones, like place names (China or Taiwan), Zhongshan and Zhongzheng, the Min’s (Minsheng, Minquan…). Let’s focus on the more obscure one that most people would not know right off the bat.
OK, now, let’s get Dunhua out of the way first.
條目 敦化
拼音 dūn huà
注音 ㄉㄨㄣ ㄏㄨㄚˋ
Depending on the context, “敦” can be translated as:
- Honest
- Sincere
- Kindhearted
- Generous
- Urge
- encourage
- cultivate
- enrich
- Thick
- heavy
仁愛敦厚，化生萬物
- 仁愛 (rén ài):
- This translates to “benevolence,” “humanity,” or “compassionate love.” It emphasizes a deep sense of care and concern for others.
- 敦厚 (dūn hòu):
- This means “honest,” “sincere,” “generous,” or “magnanimous.” It conveys a sense of solidity, reliability, and kindness.
- 化生萬物 (huà shēng wàn wù):
So, to keep it simple I will think of 敦化路 now as “Honestification Road” 
Or was Dunhua chosen because it’s the name of a city in China?
