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China Aims to Tighten Its Borders Against Foreign Place Names China Aims to Tighten Its Borders Against Foreign Place Names
(about 13 hours later)
HONG KONG — There is a Vancouver Forest in Beijing, a Thames Town in Shanghai and an Oriental Yosemite in Dalian, China. But the wave of names like those that have been tacked onto new housing developments around China in recent years could end after a call to stamp out “foreign” and “bizarre” names. HONG KONG — There is a Vancouver Forest in Beijing, a Thames Town in Shanghai and an Oriental Yosemite in Dalian, China.
The minister of civil affairs, Li Liguo, said on Tuesday that names that “damage sovereignty and national dignity” or “violate the socialist core values and conventional morality” would be targeted, the state news agency Xinhua reported. China’s suburbs have been filling up lately with housing developments whose names and architectural styles are meant to evoke the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, anywhere but China. And the authorities don’t like it.
Mr. Li said that odd names of roads, bridges, buildings and residential compounds would face scrutiny. Housing developments have been a big source of bizarre monikers. Beijing alone has Chateau Regalia, Merlin Champagne Town, La Grande Villa, Australian Garden and Chateau Regency. The minister of civil affairs, Li Liguo, said on Tuesday that “bizarre” names that “damage sovereignty and national dignity” or “violate the socialist core values and conventional morality” would be stamped out, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
Developers in China say the international flavor helps sell houses. On the outskirts of Beijing, the Jackson Hole resort community, known as Hometown America in Chinese, attracts residents dreaming of a “free and uncomplicated life,” The New York Times reported last year. And it is not just foreignness he objects to. The report quoted Mr. Li as saying that excessively grandiose or strange names for roads, bridges, buildings and residential compounds would also face scrutiny.
The concern over names has been raised as part of an official Chinese geographical survey that began in 2014. In addition to the explosion in foreign names, there has been a noticeable disappearance of traditional names, Mr. Li said. The survey found that since 1986, 60,000 township names and 400,000 village names have fallen from use as a result of development and urbanization, The Beijing News reported. Housing developments have been the biggest generators of odd names. Beijing alone has a Chateau Regalia, a Rose and Ginkgo, Merlin Champagne Town, Le Leman Lake Villa, Beijing Riviera and International Wonderland.
Rectifying the names could face hurdles, however. A 1996 regulation prohibits the use of foreign people or place names for locations in China, including housing developments, The Beijing News said. But the rules have had little impact. Developers say the international flavor helps sell houses. On the outskirts of Beijing, the Jackson Hole resort community, known in Chinese as Hometown America, attracts residents dreaming of a “free and uncomplicated life.”
Henan Province has tried to put in effect its own set of rules governing place names that also prohibits foreign names. But a lack of enforcement powers and procedures means it has had little consequence, China National Radio reported. Tides of embrace or rejection of foreign arts, styles and philosophies have ebbed and flowed through Chinese history. In recent years, officials have tried to push back against Western values in textbooks and English-language acronyms in television and radio broadcasts.
One effort to alter a street name in the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou stalled after opposition by local residents. The official reason for the change was not because of a foreign name, but because the Chinese character used for the street was often mispronounced by people unfamiliar with the place, China National Radio said. Residents objected to the move and filed a lawsuit to block it, citing the potential loss of historical identity. The concern over place names has been raised as part of an official Chinese geographical survey that began in 2014. Along with an explosion in foreign names, there has also been a noticeable disappearance of traditional names, Mr. Li said. The survey found that since 1986, 60,000 township names and 400,000 village names had fallen out of use as a result of development and urbanization, The Beijing News reported.
It was not supposed to happen. There has been a regulation on the books in China since 1996 that prohibits the use of the names of foreign people or places for locations in China, including housing developments, The Beijing News said. But the rule has had little impact.
Once a name is in use, though, changing it can be problematic. Officials tried to rename a street in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, ostensibly because the Chinese character used to represent its foreign name was often mispronounced by people unfamiliar with the place, China National Radio said. But residents objected and filed a lawsuit to block the change, citing the potential loss of historical identity.
Previous efforts to change foreign place names in China have not been wholeheartedly embraced, either. In the southeastern city of Fuzhou, a housing development known as Fontainebleau was ordered by local officials to change its name, which became Gaojiayuan. Afterward, one resident complained to a local newspaper that she missed her bus stop after the signs were changed.
And a real estate agent confessed that while the official name was now Gaojiayuan, for the purpose of selling houses it would always be called Fontainebleau.