War on foreign names in China

Language Log 2019-06-22

AP News report (6/21/19) by Fu Ting:  "Chinese crackdown on foreign names draws protest".  The article begins thus:

The Manhattan neighborhood, Venice Garden, the Vienna hotel chain — to the ears of the Chinese government, the names are too foreign-sounding and must go.

Provinces and cities across China have been issuing notices pressuring both private and public officials to rename businesses, bridges and neighborhoods, reflecting renewed efforts by President Xi Jinping's government to "sinicize" China.

The move came to light after Vienna Hotels, which according to its website operates 2,500 properties in China, fought back on social media this week, and other users jumped in to ridicule the move.

China's Ministry of Civil Affairs confirmed Friday that the campaign is underway, but said that some local governments are not implementing the new rule accurately. It maintained though that foreign names have an ugly social influence that needs to be cleaned up.

The post on the ministry's website added that along with foreign names, names that are "weird, repetitive, or self-aggrandizing" should also be changed….

The controversy is still growing, as is evident from other articles that have just been published:

"China still committed to getting rid of 'big, foreign and weird' place names", by He Huifeng, SCMP (6/22/19):

Civil affairs ministry reaffirms plan to eradicate names that 'violate the core values of socialism, damage national confidence'

One man says it reminds him of the dark days of the Cultural Revolution

Beijing has reiterated its commitment to rid Chinese cities of "big, foreign and weird" property and place names, sparking a backlash from the public.

The campaign began last year when six government departments introduced a joint policy requiring provincial and county authorities to identify all such properties within their jurisdictions and rename them by the end of March….

"China's weeding out 'Western-worship' property names like 'Beverly Villa' and 'Versailles Garden'", by Echo Huang, Quartz (6/21/19):

In China, names like "Florence Town," "Vienna Hotel," "Beverly Villa," or "Manhattan Square" have long signaled how upscale a hotel or gated community is. But amid trade tensions, city governments are admonishing these properties for looking up to the West.

Local governments from at least seven provinces and one autonomous region—Hainan, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Ningxia—have ordered a number of businesses and residential complexes to "rectify" names that suggest "Western-worship," "feudal practices," or "exaggeration," official documents and news reports (link in Chinese) show….

Even in the PRC, the CCP can overestimate its power to coerce and control.  There has been a tremendous amount of pushback on social media, with netizens heaping scorn on the government's initiative to purge contemporary Chinese of foreign names as over-the-top nationalism.  The prompt pushback led to a quick walkback on the part of official media outlets, such as this one:

"Place name campaign should be prudent, ministry says", by Li Lei (6/22/19)

Telling local governments and businesses to be "prudent" in the application of the government's directive to clamp down on foreign names is only an invitation to greater confusion.  How do you interpret "prudent" with regard to names that are "big, foreign and weird"?

Readings

"A Ban on Roman Letter Acronyms?" (4/21/10)

"English Banned in Chinese Writing" (12/23/10)

"Peppa Pig has been purged" (5/2/18)

"Banned in Beijing" (6/4/14)

[h.t. James Fanell, Paul Midler]