# 人民教师



## yuechu

Hello/大家好，

I came across the expression "人民教师" today and wondering what it is, since I could not find it in the dictionary. It seems like it is "People('s?) Teacher" (a concept which we might not have in the West). Would they teach a specific subject? (like politics?)
Thanks in advance! / 谢谢！


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## wytc2010

It means the Teacher.
We put 人民 before 教师 to my mind just to emphasize the socialism.


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## yuechu

Thanks for your reply, wytc2010!
This reminds me of the usage of "同志们“， ”男同志“， ”女同志" (in its pre-1990s meaning, not 'gay'). Would it mostly be used by older people (people that grew up in the 80s and older) or younger people as well? Does 人民教师 sound more respectful than 教师? (Could it be a respectful 称谓?)


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## SuperXW

It's more formal and respectful, used mainly in propaganda.
If a career is governmental and is about public service, adding 人民 people's would make it sound very noble.
e.g. 人民警察 人民子弟兵 人民公仆


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## wytc2010

I am afraid it is not the exactly meaning I've given to you while XW's explaination might be more believable. 
这种用法没有过时，一直延用至今，但它经常在一些歌颂赞扬教师的场合。
例如：在五一劳动节的颁奖典礼上，主持人介绍一位获奖者：“她是一名人民教师，三十年来一直兢兢业业的工作，为祖国培养了一大批栋梁之材。”
但是，人民教师并不能完全被用作一种尊称，比如我们可以说“这是我的老师”但不能说“这是我的人民教师”。
I hope you can understand it and feel sorry for my poor English.
Wytc.


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## wayoutwest888

I guess it's not a question of respect or nobleness. "Renmin" emphasizes that something is for the public in general. So the government is called "Renmin Zhengfu" which means a government owned by people, by citizens. A policeman is no more respectable than a Renmin's policeman. The only difference is that a Renmin's policeman is supposed to serve every single Chinese not the government.


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## yuechu

Ah, that makes sense. Thank you, SuperXW, wytc2010 and wayoutwest888 for your explanations!

I'm also curious: SuperXW, you mentioned "人民子弟兵" which looks like "child soldier" (a child who fights in a war). Does it have a different meaning in Chinese?


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## xiaolijie

baosheng said:


> I'm also curious: SuperXW, you mentioned "人民子弟兵" which looks like "child soldier" (a child who fights in a war). Does it have a different meaning in Chinese?


No, I don't think 人民子弟兵 means "child soldier". It just means "our own army" (which is made up of our sons and brothers).

By the way, this is a good example for the use of 人民: *我们的是人民论坛，为大家服务的*


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## mrdrx

you know  china is a communist country leaded by communist party。but the communist party always tell the chinese people that you are the real host of this country and we are just the servant（funny isn't it）or China belongs to its people （人民） not to the communist party。then in china we prepose “人民” before many sensitive things like teacher army means the teacher and armies belongs to or  represent the ”人民”（people）。

人民子弟兵，here 子弟 means son ，the soldier are the sons of the chinese people。the communist party always emphasize the importance of the relationship between the people and the army or something like that。


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## nightweet

子弟（zi di) means son and brother,子弟兵:soldiers is made up of our sons and brothers, they are serving the people of the whole country and that's why 人民（ren min) is placed before 兵（bing) 

they same story goes with 人民警察，人民教师... occupation names with "ren ming" prefix usually used in official speech or in slogans. If they are used in informal situation, it may sound a sort of humour?


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## SuperXW

Actually, I can't think of any other common examples beside 人民教师、人民警察、人民子弟兵、人民公仆、人民的好总理……
We usually don't add 人民 to any other title (even if they are also "public servants") or it will become weird: 人民老师？人民医生？人民主席？人民市委书记？人民消防员？...No.
For places and things: 人民政府、人民法院、人民医院、人民日报、人民网、人民公社（out-dated）、人民大会堂、人民路、人民公园。
But not:人民公安局、人民消防部、人民铁道部、人民公交、人民学校……
Is there any other terms can be entitled 人民?
O! 人民币!


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## Youngfun

人民学校 no, but a famous university in Beijing is called 人民大学
I don't know why it's called this name, many universities in China are public... not only Renmin University

There was a proposal of a Chinese economist to rename the Chinese currency to 中国元, a calque of the English "Chinese yuan".

And you forgot 人民检察院


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## xiaolijie

Youngfun said:


> 人民学校 no, but a famous university in Beijing is called 人民大学
> I don't know why it's called this name, many universities in China are public... not only Renmin University


人民学校 as a word doesn't exist for obvious reason (would be an over-use of 人民, which would produce a comical effect). 人民大学 as a word, though conceivable, doesn't exist either, but does exist as a name. Here it is a university called 人民大学, and is NOT just a university with 人民 as a prefix.


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## Youngfun

Thanks xiaolijie!
I have always thought that 人民大学 had this name because it's the only one state-owned University in China, but I was definitely wrong, as I think in China most universities are state-owned, I don't even know if private universities ever exist in China.

Interestingly, in Mainland China public state-owned universities don't specify this aspect in their name.
While I know in Taiwan they are called 國立大學. Am I right?

In Italy state-owned universities are called _"Università *degli studi* di [city]"_, literally "University _of the studies_ of [city]".
It's just the traditional naming system to add _"degli studi"_ to public universities, but it doesn't mean that in private ones you aren't supposed to study! 

So e.g. the public university of Milan is called in Italian _"Università *degli studi* di Milano", _but it's translated as simply 米兰大学 in Chinese, and seldom also 米兰国立大学。I suppose the latter is a Taiwan-style translation.
Rome has 3 public universities, the most famous one is _"Università *degli studi* di Roma 'La Sapienza' " _aka_ "Università *degli studi* di Roma *1*"_, but in Chinese it's simply 罗马大学 or 罗马第一大学。
The 2nd and the 3rd university also have "degli studi" in their names but in Chinese they are simply called 罗马第二大学 and 罗马第三大学。

Also, we all forgot the most common use of 人民：our country's name! 中华人民共和国 which is translated literally as "The People's Republic of China".
But 人民共和国 is used only for PRC. Other communist countries are called 民主主义共和国 (democratic republics) such as The People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is 朝鲜民主主义共和国。


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## yuechu

I didn't realize there were so many "人民"！呵呵.
Out of curiosity, I just looked up 人民 in countries and it looks like there are a few others with it: *朝鲜民主主义人民共和国, * *老挝人民民主共和国*, *阿尔及利亚人民民主共和国*, *孟加拉人民共和国*... (the last two are kind of exceptions since they are not communist countries).


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## Youngfun

Youngfun said:


> but it doesn't mean that in private ones you aren't supposed to study!


Though many non-serious money making private universities in Italy just let you pass the exams if you pay extra money.
We call them _diplomifici _= diploma shops.


baosheng said:


> I didn't realize there were so many "人民"！呵呵.
> Out of curiosity, I just looked up 人民 in countries and it looks like there are a few others with it: *朝鲜民主主义人民共和国, * *老挝人民民主共和国*, *阿尔及利亚人民民主共和国*, *孟加拉人民共和国*... (the last two are kind of exceptions since they are not communist countries).


Thank you very much!
Since I was a child I have liked geography, so I was saying according to my memory, didn't check.
So many countries have actually 人民 (People's) in their official name, sometimes added to 民主（主义）, while Bangladesh uses 人民共和国 straightforward.
The last two were ex-communist (or socialist? I don't know the difference) countries, maybe they retained their previous name even after the communism/socialism ceased. 
Also, there's Cuba, even being communist, its official name is _"República de Cuba", _so it's Republic of Cuba in English, and 古巴共和国 in Chinese.

But this use of 人民 does not depend on Chinese language itself. It depends on the country's own official name, then it's translated in Chinese.
Interestingly the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" doesn't use "People's Republic" in its name.
Maybe PRC was the first socialist country to use it, then other countries imitated it?


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