Foreign-sounding names such as Park Avenue, Riviera, Yosemite, Palm Springs and Manhattan would soon no longer be allowed to be used by Chinese developers as names for the residential communities they are building.
Civil Affairs Minister Li Liguo said on Tuesday that foreign and bizarre-sounding names would soon be banned from being used to identify not only residential compounds but also roads, bridges and buildings, reported Xinhua News Agency. The use of foreign names, particularly in residential areas for the rich, has been criticized for makings its residents sound sophisticated and global.
“Certain types of names will be targeted, including names that damage sovereignty and national dignity, names that violate the socialist core values and conventional morality and names that produce the most public complaints,” Li was quoted as saying.
Taipei Times reported that developers explained using international names help sell units. They cited a resort in Jackson Hole in the outskirts of Beijing that is known as Hometown America. In Beijing alone, there’s a Le Man Lake Villa, Beijing Riviera, Chateau Regalia, International Wonderland, Merlin Champagne Town and Rose and Ginkgo.
Outside Beijing, Shanghai has a Thames Town and Dalian has Oriental Yosemite.
This is not the first time that Chinese officials had cracked down on foreign-sounding names. In Fuzhou City, officials ordered the change on the name of a housing development, Fontainbleau. The place was renamed Gaojiayuan, but one resident wrote to a local newspaper that she missed her bus stop when the name signs were changed.
On the opposite side, a YouTuber suggested how to choose a Chinese name for foreign brands doing business in China.