Lai See | Never say Dai Mingfang, it sounds too feminine

Why is it that Frank Dai Mingfang, the chairman of solar-panel equipment maker Hanergy Solar Group, is so careful about the use of his name? At a recent press briefing, he was asked by a sharp-eyed reporter why his name always appeared in his company's English-language press announcements but never in its Chinese ones.

Dai, from northern China, explained that people who don't know him might think he is a woman, since his name sounds like a woman's in Chinese. Dai said it was because many years ago, when parents worried that their sons might not live very long, they gave them names which sounded girlish, since this was supposed to ensure they lived a long life.

Another reason occurs to us, which is that, possibly, his name is less traceable internationally in English than in Chinese. Maybe we're being a trifle cynical.

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