No dung beetles on Beijing’s streets ...
Print Edition
New roads, bridges, squares and other public places in Beijing can’t be named after Chinese leaders or foreigners, while existing names can stay if they are not found to be offensive, according to the city government.
It has issued a set of standards for public comment which prioritizes conservation of ancient place names as “cultural legacies.”
The standards particularly require that the names of hutongs, the narrow alleyways between the city’s iconic courtyard houses, must be retained in the names of new roads nearby.
But for names with “indecent words,” the standards suggest homophonic replacement, citing the example of “Dung Beetle Hutong,” which has been replaced by a homophone that means “Always Shining Hutong.”
Vulgar place names were once common in the capital. Some even included the Chinese word for “excrement” and the names of prostitutes. Most such names have since been replaced by “more elegant” homophones.
Also banned are the names of Chinese leaders, foreigners or foreign places, while names of modern Chinese are “not advised.”
It is not the first time Beijing has issued such bans. In 1949, Mao Zedong banned naming places after Communist Party leaders in a bid to prevent personality cults.
However, the city did name three streets after Kuomintang generals to commemorate their sacrifice in the war against the Japanese aggression during World War II.
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