[Watch] Why Chinese Kids Need A Cheat Sheet For ‘Hello, Auntie’ This CNY

While modern life pushes for simplification, these precise terms—from 'bak fu' to 'yi yi'—remind us that family relationships deserve more than one-size-fits-all labels.

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter, or Telegram and WhatsApp channels for the latest stories and updates.Children – and adults alike – practice what elderly relatives fondly call “the annual recitation”—a complex web of familial terms that puts English’s simple “aunt” and “uncle” to shame.

When a child addresses their mother’s sister as “ā yí” in Mandarin or “yi yi” in Cantonese, they participate in a tradition that transcends mere dialect differences to express the same deep-rooted respect for family order. The system distinguishes between maternal and paternal lines with unwavering clarity: your father’s sister’s husband is “gū zhang” or “gu jeung” , while your mother’s sister’s husband is “yí zhang” or “yi jeung” —a linguistic detail that speaks volumes about traditional Chinese family structures.

It’s the Chinese’s annual crash course in cultural literacy, a linguistic tradition that refuses to be simplified into the English language’s one-size-fits-all “aunt” and “uncle.”

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