本人成份

English translation: social class status (personal)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Chinese term or phrase:	本人成份
English translation:	social class status (personal)
Entered by:	Huijun Suo

11:31 Sep 20, 2007

Chinese to English translations [PRO]
Certificates, Diplomas, Licenses, CVs / Birth Registry

Chinese term or phrase: 本人成份

Item in birth registry. Would you translate as "Status" (i.e., single or married?)?

Diana Lewis (X) KudoZ activity Questions: 36 (none open) (2 closed without grading) Answers: 50
Local time: 01:07

Profession

Explanation:
Today in Chinese Mainland, by 成份 (also or better 成分) we mean a person's profession (including student).

It is worth noting that before and during those turbulent years of the Cultural Revolution, a person's 成分 also had strongly political implications, because a person's 成分 was then largely defined by his/her family background that was mostly traced back to before 1949, and this in turn was viewed as an important indicator for a person's social status.

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Note added at 31 mins (2007-09-20 12:02:51 GMT)
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It definitely has nothing to do with one's marriage status!

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Note added at 49 mins (2007-09-20 12:21:01 GMT)
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As can be seen from the link provided by Shirley, in China today 成分 has become so outmoded a concept that many people are perplexed as how they should fill in the blank when they come across this item. My equating it with "profession" is a big progress from its former high political nuance of "social origin, class status". After all, we must 与时俱进 (go with the time).

However, as this item appears in a birth registry, I believe 成份 here must still be understood as this baby's "family background", that is, what his parents do as profession: farmer, worker, business owner, teacher, etc.

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Note added at 1 hr (2007-09-20 12:32:42 GMT)
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Sorry, 与时俱进 is better translated as "go with the times" instead of "go with the time".

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Note added at 1 hr (2007-09-20 12:35:47 GMT)
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If this birth registry keeps the person's data updated, it is also possible 本人成份 here refers to his/her "Profession".

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Note added at 5 days (2007-09-26 08:54:23 GMT) Post-grading
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http://www.szour.cn/magazine/2005n4q/11.htm

如何填写履历表

个人成份

个人成份是指个人早先的主要经历或职业，如工人成份、学生成份等等。然而这个“早先”早在什么时候，先在什么时候，这是人们普遍难以掌握的。在人事组织工作中实际上常把一个人参加革命工作（过去把正式参加国家工作称为参加革命工作）之前的主要经历或职业称之为个人成份。一个大学毕业生由国家分配走上工作岗位，那么他的成份就是学生。又如一个人他原来是工人，后来参军或提升为干部，他的个人成份就是工人。

设计“个人成份”这个栏目是改革开放前的产物，现在的履历表大多设计“个人身份”这样的栏目。

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Note added at 5 days (2007-09-26 08:59:05 GMT) Post-grading
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家庭出身

家庭出身是指个人在取得独立经济地位之前供给自己经济来源的父母或其他抚养人的社会职业或社会地位。在中华人民共和国成立前后，一般家庭出身有如：工人、贫民、职员、资本家、贫农、中农、地主、革命军人、干部、高干等等。改革开放后，一般家庭出身有如：工人、职员、自由职业者、公务员、干部、农民等。这前后两个时期最大的区别是：在农村不再有贫农、富农、地主之分了，一般统称农民；在城市过去泛称干部的现在有的要称职员，有的要称自由职业者，如过去企业的管理者统称干部，现在其中大部分应是职员了。这类问题稍微复杂一些，在此不宜展开去写。

http://china.zjol.com.cn/05china/system/2007/02/08/008165013...

人事档案上保留个人成分妨碍了谁

幸亏广东的几位人大代表提名，要不然我还真险些忘了自己的家庭出身和个人成分，当然，还有我祖上三代的成分。这份代表建议说，应取消现行人事登记表一些过时的内容，诸如“家庭成分”、“个人成分”等栏目。原因在于，大中专毕业生可认定为“干部”，普通高中、技校毕业生则认定为“工人”，这明显妨碍了这部分人(其中不乏具有某些专长的人才)的积极性。

　　追溯到我的祖上三代，他们都是只穿得起半截裤的农民，理所当然是贫农成分。但我自己大学毕业后在城市里做了房奴，自然不能算作无产阶级，至少也是个“贫农家庭”出身的“干部”兼小资产阶级、知识分子。

　　个人成分问题似乎解决了，还有一个家庭成分问题呢。于是问问夫人的家庭成分，爷爷竟然是“地主”，外公竟然是“资产阶级”！

Selected response from:

Huijun Suo
China
Local time: 08:07

Grading comment

Thanks everyone for your help and the interesting discussion it generated.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

Personal Status

aiaia

4 +1

Profession

Huijun Suo

marriage status

franksf

Discussion entries: 14

Huijun Suo

China

12:37 Jan 25, 2008

Sorry I have to change my answer after so long time. Embodied in this term is an evil system based on xxx's notorious class struggle theory. The evilness of this system was too great to be mitigated by a mere "profession".

Huijun Suo

China

14:39 Sep 24, 2007

婚否 is literally "Married or Not" and has nothing to do with 个人成份. "Profession" is totally acceptable in this context.

Diana Lewis (X)

ASKER

14:31 Sep 24, 2007

Unfortunately not - that would make it much easier to know what it refers to. Furthermore, it has a sub-time of "婚否“ and much further down the form there is a separate item for 'Work Unit & Position' .

Huijun Suo

China

14:18 Sep 24, 2007

It's interesting to know what is filled under this item. Is the form filled out?

Huijun Suo

China

14:07 Sep 24, 2007

he/she works as teacher, so his/her 个人成分 is "teacher", or in the political jargon of that time, his/her class status is "teacher" or broadly "intellectual", which sounds awkward and is really unnecessary.

Huijun Suo

China

14:01 Sep 24, 2007

In the past people often made the mistake of stressing a person's social origin and family background. IMHO as there is already the item 家庭出身 above, 个人成分 is better translated as "profession". For example, he/she may come from a working-class family, but

Huijun Suo

China

13:56 Sep 24, 2007

In the New Age Chinese-English Dictionary (The Commercial Press) compiled by Wu Jingrong and Cheng Zhenqiu (新时代汉英大辞典), 成分/份 is explained as "one's class status, original or current; one's profession". And it also gives an example: 过去，人们往往错误地强调个人成分和家庭出身。

Huijun Suo

China

13:47 Sep 24, 2007

家庭出身 class status of family, 政治面貌 political affiliation, 本人成份 profession. These are terms typical of that age, esp. 家庭出身 which is now completely obsolete. 本人成份 is also rare nowadays and mostly appears in applications for Party or Youth League memberships.

Diana Lewis (X)

ASKER

13:28 Sep 24, 2007

The item above is "家庭出身“ and the item below is ”政治面貌“
The document is from 1970.

Huijun Suo

China

12:36 Sep 24, 2007

For example, what are the items above or below this one?

Diana Lewis (X)

ASKER

12:32 Sep 24, 2007

There is no more text. It is a stand-alone item in a birth registry.

chinesetrans

Netherlands

07:50 Sep 23, 2007

More text, pls/

Diana Lewis (X)

ASKER

11:40 Sep 20, 2007

Thanks! It is a Chinese government document, so that is very helpful.

Shirley Lao

Taiwan

11:35 Sep 20, 2007

Was this document issued by a department in China? Try this http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/6271356.html

Answers

6 hrs confidence:

marriage status

Explanation:
marriage status

franksf
Native speaker of:

English,

Chinese

4 days confidence:

Personal Status

Explanation:
"Profession" is too common a word to convey the complex implications of this special term. In this case I don't think it's a wise idea to follow the to-go-with-the-times way. In fact, this is a half abandoned word today; it's appearance in this document reflects the mark of that time or blind following of a out-of-date custom due to bureaucratic laziness.

I prefer "Personal Status". A literal translation will be good to reflect its specialty.

aiaia
Local time: 08:07
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Chinese

30 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

Profession

Huijun Suo
China
Local time: 08:07
Native speaker of:

Chinese
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks everyone for your help and the interesting discussion it generated.

Notes to answerer

Asker: thanks for this answer. The reason I thought it was about marital status was because there is a sub-heading under it regarding marriage.

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