Hi, all!
Would "Chinese Lanterns" would be offensive to people who grew up China? I want to try them this year.
My landlord and neighbors are all from China. They didn't grow up together; they just found each other and created a neighborhood that reminds them of home. (Kind of like we Irish do.)
Since none of them garden, they have given me free rein (reign?) over the little bit of land around the house. They have been kind. I don't want to offend them.
Didn't Chinese Lantern plants got their name because of their resemblance to Asian paper lanterns. I've tried to find out what they're called in China, but Google returned too many results. (And I don't know how to read Chinese.)
It seems silly to ask, but a local boy sometimes wears a t-shirt with a drawing of Chairman Mao and the slogan "Mao More Than Ever." I don't want my new neighbors to think that I'm putting in the plants as any kind of dig to them.
(I plan to call the plants "ground cherries.")
Chinese Lanterns = Offensive?
If they are as nice as you describe, talk to them! You might want to grow some Asian veggies that you can share with them.
I don't think they would find it offensive - if anything they might be honoured.....
Chinese lantern is only one common name, as you said. I don't know why this would be offensive. It 's a very pretty plant. Call them ground cherries and don't be surprised if they tell you they look like paper lanterns LOL
Hmmm, politically correct plants. What would happen...
Holiday cactus
Wandering people of the old testament
Vernal equinox rose
paper lanterns (with no ethnic inferrence)
britches (of no ethnic origin)
In-a hurry sage
Can you name all 6?
I second the Asian veggies idea.
I have been corrected by local people to refer to Easter Cactus as Spring Cactus . . . and that is how it is sold in at least one local nursery. I can live with it.
The Chinese Lantern plant should be no more offensive than the English Wallflower I have sown. BUT this is coming from my cultural perspective. What you need is the experience of a Chinese American gardener to guide you.
Seandor.
Just call them by another name since you're worried. What could be easier?
The only difficulty with your proposition in that the plant you're interested in is somewhat of a border thug. Give it plenty of room and don't plant anything that'll grow shorter than it anywhere nearby.
Good Luck.
I would talk to them. Just because someone somewhere has decided that certain terms are now considered offensive, doesn't mean that every single person of that background or ethnicity is offended, too.
I remember a while back hearing that "Eskimo" is now considered offensive, and that the proper term is "Inuit American." Well, Oprah did a show on thirtysomething women from all over the world, and how each one lived. One of them was an "Inuit American" from Alaska. Oprah asked her what she preferred to be called, she said, "I'm an Eskimo, and we are proud people, proud of our culture and proud to be called Eskimos."
So go figure....
Dave, Really not sure but i thought i'd play and take a guess.
1. Christmas Cactus
2. Wandering Jew
3. Irish Rose
4. Chinese Lanterns
5. Dutchman Britches
6. Russian Sage
...and these funny looking globes are Physalis...which some people think look like paper lanterns at asian festivals...???
Yes, they are, and VB was the one who made a fortune introducing them to America in the 20's.
Pixie, I had lenten rose in mind for #3.
Pirl, VB=??
On a serious note, IMHO Chinese Lanterns is not a derogatory take on something. Even a wallflower is a bit negative. But German chocolate or Scandinavian design are not. There is a big difference when an ethnicity is used to call something stupid, dirty, unmannered, etc. Chinese lanterns look like paper lanters that were common in China. Of course, if it did offend someone, I would stop calling them that, but aren't we overthinking? Where is the offense?
VB - Van Bourgondien.
On the first garden tour we had many people walking the gardens and one asked what a particular flower was and I replied, Japanese iris - of course, she was Japanese. I doubt if she was offended since they're so beautiful and I'd be thrilled if they were Irish & German irises! We do have German irises, Irish moss, Oriental lilies, etc. I totally agree with Dave - there's nothing derogatory in the names.
People are WAY too worried about offending these days. PC has gotten to the ludicrous phase.
So now, I guess, we'd say - Mary had a modestly sized lamb?
My wife had me plant these a few years ago from some roots she picked up at the XMass Tree Store. What your neighboors might find offensive is they can be envasive and spread fro myear to year. they have shallow roots and I would suggest blocking them from spreading with a plastic border buried in the ground.
One made of 3" thick concrete, without drainage holes *might* work.
I've read that CLs can be invasive, so I'm planting only two seedlings.
I'm burying them together in a gallon nursery pot, buried in the ground.
The plot I'm burying them in is bounded on all sides by concrete, so as long as I deadhead, we should be okay.
It's one plant where deadheading isn't two hours a day and, for me, they don't throw seeds.
Hi "Weather"
I asked your original question about whether Chinese would be offended by the name Chinese lanterns for the plant in question to my wife, who is Chinese from the "mainland', and she didn't find any offense at all in it. I showed her some pics of the plant from google, she does not recognize it (plants are more my thing than hers). I then googled and found Mandarin and Cantonese (a southern Chinese dialect often spoken by older immigrants to the US, newer immigrants may speak one of the various dialects but always know Mandarin, which is the national language) translations. My wife did not recognize those either, but thinks the Mandarin word (suan jiang) translates (by sound, we couldn't find the actual Chinese characters) to something like "sour ginger".
A friend nearby grows these, they are pretty but as others have said, they need to be contained or they will run all over the place. They also are a favorite food of a green striped beetle (cucumber beetle?) which tends to make the foliage look ratty.
Ernie
I know asian people are offended when a person is described as oriental, as this should only be used to describe a thing not a person, but I have no idea why a plant called a chinese lantern should offend. If it did, wouldn't Chinese food be considered offensive, seeing how it isn't really what the Chinese eat. If anything maybe they should be called oriental lanterns, since they are not people. Just my thoughts though, and I am not Chinese.