Chinese place names facts for kids
Chinese place names can be a bit confusing! This is because the Chinese language uses special characters that show meaning, not sounds. Also, China has many different languages and dialects. For example, Mandarin and Cantonese are both Chinese dialects, but they are very different. Speakers of one usually can't understand the other.
When we write Chinese names using our alphabet (like English), it can be tricky. Our alphabet shows sounds. So, the city written as 北京 in Chinese is called Běijīng in Mandarin. But it's called Bak1 Ging1 in Cantonese!
How Mainland China Standardized Names
In mainland China, Mandarin Chinese is the official language. For a long time, there were many different ways to write Chinese place names using our alphabet. This caused a lot of confusion for people who didn't speak Chinese.
For example, the city we now call Beijing used to be spelled 'Peking'. Nanjing was 'Nanking', and Qingdao was 'Tsingtao'. These different spellings made it hard for people to know how to say the names correctly.
To fix this, the Chinese Communist Party made a system called Hanyu Pinyin the only official way to write Chinese names. This helped people, especially English speakers, say Chinese place names much more accurately. So, 'Peking' became 'Beijing', 'Nanking' became 'Nanjing', and 'Tsingtao' became 'Qingdao'. The actual Chinese pronunciation of these places didn't change, but the new spellings helped others say them right.
Place Names in Autonomous Regions
China also has special areas called autonomous regions. In these places, certain minority groups make up a large part of the population. Here, many place names were changed back to the local languages.
For example, the city of Dihua (迪化) was changed back to Urumqi. This is the city's name in the local Uyghur language. This happened after the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was formed. It helped represent the local languages and cultures.
How Taiwan Handles Place Names
In Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese is also the official language. However, the way place names are spelled can be a bit mixed up. Many Taiwanese cities use a system called Chinese postal romanization.
This is why cities are spelled Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Taichung. If they used Hanyu Pinyin, they would be 'Taibei', 'Gaoxiong', and 'Taizhong'. Many Taiwanese don't like using Hanyu Pinyin. This is because it was created by the Chinese Communist Party, which many Taiwanese don't support.
In northern Taiwanese cities, street names and subway stops often use Hanyu Pinyin. But in southern Taiwan, cities use many different spelling systems. This is often done to show they don't want to use Hanyu Pinyin. Sometimes, the same street can even be spelled in several different ways! For instance, in Banqiao, Xinzhan Road (新站路) might be 'Shinjann Rd.' in one spot and 'Sin Jhan Rd.' in another.
