Shenzhou is not a name, it is a designation

[BillJ]

Maybe Han Bo and her ship are from a different reality where China won the space race.

 

[psCargile]

Happiness. . . it's what you can't make everybody.

 

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

Starfleet naming a vessel "USS Space Capsule" or "USS Orbiter" doesn't sound particularly unlikely. After all, one of the most infamous ships in the Royal Navy was named HMS Captain - what would be more fitting than a bit of nostalgic in-house jargon?

It'd be no dumber than the name of the planet we live on.

 

[Ithekro]

In Babylon 5 some species think humans are very uncreative because we named our planet "Dirt".

 

[Skywalker]

I prefer to call it Tellus.

 

[Mage]

What's really funny, is that ALL of this is just rumors. Nothing is confirmed. But hey, because websites are saying it, it MUST be true, right???

 

[Saul]

No dumber than giving Khan a starship called Vengeance. If that's how you like your Star Trek.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Bible means "books."
Provence means province.
Cologne means colony.
Tokyo means eastern capital.
Sometimes names are ordinary-ish.

 

[JRoss]

I am more disappointed that they felt the need to give an Asian captain an asian named ship. A bit on the nose?

Chinese market is very lucrative to filmmakers. Watch a major blockbuster nowadays and you'll notice a Chinese star in a minor role and often a nod to the power of that country. This causes Chinese censors to okay the film for release and usually brings in a flood of viewers. Iron MAN 3 is actually a bit longer in China because they added a Sino-centric plotline.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And the 'Eastern Coalition' from Star Trek: First Contact was originally supposed to be China. The writers changed it at the last minute, so as not to piss off Chinese fans.

 

[fireproof78]

Maybe Han Bo and her ship are from a different reality where China won the space race.

Can I watch that show?

 

[zar]

I understand for most of you guys, the USS Shenzhou is a valid name because Mandarin isn't a language you understand. It is a problem for me because it is my primary language. And that breaks my immersion because every time I read USS Shenzhou my brain automatically translates it into USS Starship.

Okay, maybe you can explain this but it does seem that Shenzhou is an actual name. With an online search for 神舟 every reference appears to be specifically related to the space program and not generic spacecraft. The result on the Chinese wikipedia is "神舟飞船" where "飞船" apparently translates to "spacecraft". So... hasn't China already named a ship "Spaceship Spaceship"?

Or maybe it's not really that generic. Maybe it's something more like "Sky Harbor", which you could say literally translates the same as "airport" but is actually a unique name for a particular airport in Phoenix.

Just a little fun fact... Michelle Yeoh is born in Malaysia. I live about 4 hour's drive away from Ipoh, where she was born. While we're both racially Chinese, I think it's safe to say we treat the chinese culture and China are two very different things. So from this perspective, it is also weird that Michelle's given a ship that bears the name of a China space craft rather than say a Malaysian name. But again, that's just me and my immersion being broken.

You mean it would be weird for a racially-but-not-culturally Chinese actress to play a culturally-Chinese character?

I think there's a way they could make that work, though:

Spoiler

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Not to undermine the many very good points about how ordinary names very often are (which I agree with 100%), but as far as I can tell the only source of this rumor is an article that offers no further information than that the ship's name is 'Shenzhou'. As in the english transliterated word that can be applied to multiple completely different Chinese words, including one of the largest cities in the world (hello, USS Portland, Melbourne, Berlin, Charleston, Okinawa, London, San Francisco, Havana, Istanbul, New Orleans, Budapest. etc. etc).

There is no clear indication that the name has anything to do with the chinese space program at all, and judging by the history of crews not talking about ship names, it's likely there never will be.

All of which is assuming the report is even accurate to begin with, which none of us actually knows.

 

[KennyB]

The safer assumption would be that Captain Bo is American. After all, she will be speaking American.

Oh is that a language now?

 

[publiusr]

Imagine a Starship Bezymianny

Well--that word means nameless mountain--but since it sounds cool--we in the US can call it that AS a name

Some differ:
https://volcanocafe.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/bezymianny-not-so-anonymous/

The former Soviets liked our later names for their fighters--Flanker and Fulcrum.. Flogger> Not so much...

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

The former Soviets liked our later names for their fighters--Flanker and Fulcrum.. Flogger> Not so much...

What about… the… Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15?

 

[publiusr]

Less said about that the better...though tinder also means something different these days.

I remember when the cloud was something you looked at up in the sky.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Imagine if there was a place called Portsmouth Habour or Portland Airport. Or if there was a village named City. Or a city named Village. Or a land called land. Or a boat called boat. Or a boat called boat.

Next thing, you know, someone would rename wireless to WiFi after HiFi, with a complete disregard of what ‘Fi’ stands for.

 

[Sean_McCormick]

The city is written 深州 not 神舟. The characters used are completely different.

The transliteration is still "Shenzhou"? So may the ship be named after the city and not the vehicle? All i've seen is the english transliteration of the name and websites and fans speculating, what the name means.

 

[SPCTRE]

It'd be no dumber than the name of the planet we live on.

I resent that, Erf is beautiful