Which place names contain cultural knowledge?

Lhasa (Holy Land - Tibetan)

Handan (Handan Xuebu)

Talking about Chinese place names

From apes to humans, from barbarism to civilization, creating the endowment of human beings to language, words to name things. Try to see: the sky and the ground, macro and micro, it seems impossible to find has been recognized by mankind without the name of the thing, even the ancient impossibility of access to the moon is also rich in imagination of the Chinese people virtual out of a "Guanghan Palace".

Human beings have marked many geographical entities as a place name, which is used to identify the symbols of different regions, and it is a tool for people to carry out social activities and interactions, and also a cultural treasure for social development and human progress. In our country, there are a large number of ancient geographical names and geographical names with rich cultural connotations. They are scattered in the mountains, streams and canals, lakes and ponds, scenic spots, cultural relics and monuments, memorial sites, ancient ruins, ancient buildings and streets and lanes, etc., which are the geographical symbols and vivid portrayal of our country's long history, splendid culture and celebrities. Some of the ancient remains in the vicissitudes of history in the annihilation, leaving only the name, but the descendants can rely on these names, evoking the memory of history and search for its traces. It is the ancient geographical coordinates. The existence of a large number of ancient geographical names dissects the cultural dimensions of China in different time and space, and it is a long scroll showing the history of China, as well as a living picture of people's livelihood in time and space, which should be protected as our valuable cultural heritage. "Geographical names are the cultural heritage of the nation" is the positioning of the 5th United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names on the material, social and cultural significance of geographical names.

China, with its vast territory, long history and many nationalities, is not only the country with the largest number of geographical names in the world, but also has a deep cultural heritage that is not comparable to that of any other country, making it a "rich mine" of cultural resources for geographical names. The basic structure of culture can be divided into four levels of content: first, material culture, including human processing and manufacturing of production, living equipment and its related technology; second, spiritual culture, including people's thoughts, beliefs, values and mentality; third, behavioral culture, referring to people in the social interaction in the agreed-upon mode of conduct; fourth, institutional culture, expressed in the social practice of people to establish the social norms. The fourth is institutional culture, which is the social norms established by people in social practice. The cause and classification of geographical names generally start from these four aspects.

Categorization and origin of geographical names

There are many kinds of geographical names with different meanings. Only some of the more common kinds can be listed here. Moreover, the boundaries of classification of some of the place names are rather blurred, which can be said to be divided either by family name or by topography, so we will not scrutinize their categories in this article.

I. Named after topographical features or features.

such as the Heilongjiang River, Dahonggou, Qingyatou, ShiYaJi, YaoZiMen, in the fork, LingDi, PoTou, ShaAu, HongTuPo, carambola, red cliff bottom, narrow door only, car box, magnetic basin water, wide ping, white stone, black stone kiln, yellow dragon head, cenfeng, and so on. Typical is the "four dragons village", it is backed by a north-south mountain like a dragon and the village is located in the terrain and named Huanglongtou (Dragon King Head), Huanglong Au, Longchaowan and Qinglongpo. There is also the Elephant Trunk Hill in Guilin and so on.

There is another format, which is a combination of family name and place name, a combined part of the first and second formats. In densely populated places with varied landscapes, such names are numerous. Such as * home *, generally the first * is the family name, the second * is generally said to be the landforms, such as ditch, beam, valley, mausoleum, hill, foo, Fanfan, pier, township, pavilion, dock, wall, barricade, garrison, castle, town, store, set, city, field, service, Ping, Ping, door, acupuncture, alkali, temple, tower, Tsui, store, canal, ridge, bay, sinks, geographic, Chuan, field, kiln, city, Taiwan, pool, pass, Tunkan, graves, and so on. Specific such as: Kangjiagou, Lijialiang, Qi Jiazhuang, Majiajing, Xiaojiahui, Liangjiazhai, Caijiaping, Guo Village, He Village, Lujiacun, Niujiacun, Fujiazhanyuan, Jiajiayu, Zhengjiagou, Liujiapo, Zhaojiakou, Guojiaping, Sujialing, Yuanjialiang, Wangjiawan, Zhujiaguan, and so on.

The name "Yuegezhuang" evolved due to changes in pronunciation. Yuegezhuang is actually just Yuejiazhuang, all of which evolved as a result of changes in Chinese phonetics.

During the pre-Qin era, there were many place names in the North China Plain named "丘", "陵", and "阜", which reflected the geography of the time. --The landforms were undulating, and people chose to live on the high ground to avoid floods, and the disappearance of "mound" indicated that they were later silted up by the mud and sand held by the Yellow River and other rivers; during the two Han dynasties, the names of "township", "ting", "foo", "ting", "ting", "ting", "ting", "ting", "ting", and "foo" were used, "Pavilion", "poly" named places, showing the local grass-roots administrative system; the Six Dynasties; dock, wall, base, garrison, fort and other place names with the appearance of words, should be with the big land ownership and social unrest at that time the need for defense; after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the Mainland After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the appearance of "town", "set", "city" reflects the rise of small commercial cities, "field", "service" indicates the development of government-run handicrafts. "not and", "not night", "not its" and other coastal place names often with the word "not", can be considered to be It can be considered as a result of the pronunciation of the ancient northeastern coastal nation "Bu", and these place names, which unite ethnic and linguistic history, are very helpful for understanding the migration of tribes in ancient times. Some of the family name + landform word + son of this format, such as: cattle Zhaizi, Hao Yaozi. There are also place names in the format of Bawangfen and Princess Tomb. There is a wide variety of place names related to landforms and surnames, and they are the most common, so I won't list them all here.

Handan, Hebei is a national historical and cultural city. Its name first appeared in the ancient book Bamboo Book of Records. The origin of the name of the place of Handan, now generally to the "Han Shu - Geography Zhi" in the Three Kingdoms, Wei people Zhang Yan's commentary as the source: "Handan mountain, in the east of the city under the single, the end of the also, the outline of the city from the euphony, so add the euphony cloud." It means that the place name of Handan originates from Handan Mountain, under the east city of Handan, there is a mountain named Handan Mountain, Shan, is the end of the mountain range, and Handan Mountain ends here, so it is named Handan, because the outline of the city is from Eup, so the name of Handan is added with Eup ( 阝) beside Shan. Handan has been used as a place name for 3,000 years, which is a special case in Chinese place name culture.

Many of the place names in China have the characters "洲" or "州", which need to be explained here.

Ancient people made the character "川" on the basis of "川", and then made the character "州" to express the small island in "川". The original meaning of "state" is a small island (or sandbar) in a river, or land in the water. The earliest collection of poems in China, "The Book of Songs - Zhou Nan - Guan Suo", contains the sentence "Guan Suo, in the state of the river". Shuowen Jiezi (Explaining and Analysing Characters in Chinese): "The state, which can be inhabited in the water, is said to be the state. It is surrounded by Zhou. From Chongchuan. In the past, when Yao was flooded, the people lived in the high soil in the water. Or said nine states." In the ancient flood era, people have not yet established the concept of administrative division and zoning units, Emperor Yao once divided the "high soil in the water" "state" into nine regions (nine states) to manage. This is the later "state" as a kind of administrative division of the prototype. However, before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the scope of the "states" was very uncertain, and there were "nine states" and "twelve states", as well as the "big nine states". There were also the "Great Kyushu" (大九州). The legendary system of local administrative divisions did not actually exist. In order to strengthen the centralization of power, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty began to divide his territory into thirteen monitoring areas, called the thirteen states, and set up assassins to patrol his territory. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "state" became the first level of administrative division above the county. In later times, "state" as an administrative division may exist or abolished, the scope may be large or small, but still used to this day. When the "state" was used as the name of the administrative division to express the "red county and divine state", and then use it to express the "land in the water" seems to be inappropriate, so the ancient literati in the So the ancient literati added a "氵" radical in front of the character "州", and used "洲" to replace "州", which gave the character "Chau" has the original meaning of "state", and "state" in the modern Chinese language is limited to the name of local administrative divisions, city names. In our country above the county level with "state" or "continent" in the name of the city, in addition to "Zhuzhou City" and "Manzhouli City "with the exception of" Chau ", the other generally use" state ".

Two, named after the family or ethnic group surnames.

Ancient China's social structure model is a patriarchal system linked by blood relations. This is the social root of traditional Chinese culture, which determines the social and political structure of Chinese society as well as its ideology. Mencius also said, "The foundation of the world is in the country, and the foundation of the country is at home." Therefore, villages or cities named after surnames or ethnic group surnames are the most numerous and common among Chinese place names. "Things gather in groups, people are divided into groups", people in patriarchal societies tend to live together according to their family names, and family names become the most distinguishing highlights of place names. Its format is generally * village (township, county). For example, in Lushi County, Henan Province, there are some village names such as Jiangjia, Hanjia, Mijia, Li village. There are also village names in such formats as Qincun Liujia and Qindian Zhangjia.

However, there are also places where it is the other way around, with the place of residence being the family name, such as Qi, where the dukes and daughters of the public family lived in Dongguo, Nanguo, Xiguo, and Beiguo, and these four guos became the family names.

Three, named after the direction. Directions are often also combined with surnames, and this has already been mentioned.

Like "州", "阴" and "阳" are also common in place names. In secondary school textbooks, we all know that "south of the mountain and north of the water is yang, north of the mountain and south of the water is yin". Ancient Chinese geomancy, based on the I Ching, has a lot to say about geomancy (it's not entirely superstitious, see China National Geographic, Issue 1, 2006). Thus, the ups and downs of the terrain were described in terms of yin and yang and the five elements.

Thus, the south of a mountain is called yang because it shines the sun, and the north of the mountain is called yin; and the opposite is true for water (rivers), which is yang to the north and yin to the south. But there are exceptions, Hubei Hanyang but in the south of the Han River, the reason is that the history of the Han water rerouting, from the south of the city of Hanyang to the north, while the city name has not changed, so it creates a special case.

Four, named after plants.

such as apple orchard, jujube forest ditch, yulin hill, hemp ground ditch, yanglin kiln, incense grass lawn, cypress stone, lugai ditch, tsubaki tree bottom, dangshan ditch, diminish tree slope, and so on.

Fifth, named after animals.

There are deer valley, horse country, bear ping, crane mountain, cat store, leopard river, sheep spring, ao head, camel road, swineherd ping, sheep slope, shrimp toad hill, lion ping and so on.

Sixth, named after a myth.

There are immortals, divine springs, stone Buddha, Puxian, temple ping, Zen room, Buddha Hall, Mud River, stone cattle, God's head, Goddess of Mercy Hall, Lohan Hall, descending incense ping, lion God, the old stone God, Jade Lady Peak, Wangfutai and so on. The origin of these names are related to an ancient legend, such as:

Shanxi Shenchi County - because of the Ming Dynasty in the territory built in the God's Fort, and in the west gate of the fort there is a pool of water, according to legend, the water "out of no source, no trace, drought does not dry up, the rain is not full. The name is called God's Pond" and got its name.

Fengxiang County, Shaanxi -- according to legend, the Duke of Qin Mu's daughter to get Yu good at playing the flute, attracted good at blowing the hermit Huashan 簘 Shi, know the sound of the encounter, and eventually become a couple, and then flew by the phoenix to go, the Tang Dynasty to take the meaning of the renamed Fengxiang.

Lion God Village - legend has it that a young girl passing through this place encountered a tiger, calling for help, suddenly jumped out of the lion biting the tiger, the female was saved, the lion without trace. The villagers set up a lion god temple for worship, easy village named Lion God Village.

Terra Bottom Village -- in the old days there is no water here, one day suddenly saw a white deer planing rocks, spring water gushing out in torrents. Therefore, the name of the village is called Shenquan Village. And because the village is in the north Zhai slope "when the temple" under the so-called "temple bottom village".

Luohantang Village -- legend has it that Wutai Mountain Wenshu Temple transported 100 Iron Luohan lost one through this, the chemical people stayed overnight and sat down in its original form, the villagers built a cliff hall in which to offer sacrifices, and then changed the name of the village Luohantang Village.

Seven, from historical figures or historical events of the name.

That is to say, historical figures or their related historical activities as the background of the generation of place names and certain historical events and a historical fact as the background of the formation of place names. For example: Changxianmen, Tongyuanmen, Yingenmen, etc.

Qixian County, because the Spring and Autumn period of the state of Jin, the great doctor Qixi eat here, and so named.

Jiexiu (city), because according to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Jin aristocrat Jie Zi Tui Kai Tian hermitage and died in the territory of the Mianshan and.

Jishan (County), according to legend, Houji once in the southern border of the county in the mountains to teach the people to crop manuscripts, later known as the mountain for the Jik Wang Mountain, the place is also named "Jishan" because of the mountain.

Zuoquan (County), the ancient name of Bianyang, after several name changes. 1942 September, to commemorate the martyrdom of General Zuoquan here, renamed Zuoquan County.

Wenxi (County), located in the southwest of Shanxi Province, formerly known as Zuoyi County, because of the Western Han Dynasty Yuan Ding six years (111 BC), the Han Emperor Liu Che, when passing through the area, heard the official army to break the news of the South Guangdong (present-day Guangdong), and then changed the county for Wenxi.

Lingshi (county), named after an ancient meteorite found while digging a river in the 10th year of Emperor Kaihuang of Sui Dynasty.

Eight, place names with allegorical meanings.

These names are either historically documented or sometimes quoted from poems. Generally speaking, they are the names of cities. Shanxi has a Fanchi (county), because "the city in the foothills, the mountains around and arch, and so named". Therefore, "Fanchi" is actually a generalized description of the terrain of the county, which is surrounded by high mountains.

For example:

Chengdu: The earliest explanation of the word Chengdu was given by Le Shi of the Song Dynasty in his Taiping Huan Yu Ji (Volume 7.2). Le Shi that the name of Chengdu is "to King Tai of Zhou from Liangshan stop Qixia, one year into the county, two years Chengdu, because the name is said to be" Chengdu ". Song Zhu Mu, "Fangyu Shengwan" Chengdu Province Road County Name Article that "the cover of the Shiji" so-called three years of Chengdu's meaning, this argument is widely circulated, the impact is greater. There is also a saying that Emperor Du Yu newly camped in this capital city, so the name 'Chengdu' is taken as the meaning of success, achievement and completion. There is also according to the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" has "Chengdu loaded sky" of the mountain, "Cheng Hou of the mountain" of the text records, that Chengdu's "Cheng" is the name of an ancient tribe or country, its character shape for the e and d of the combination, e is the battle-axe of the Its character is a combination of W and D. W is the image of an axe and battle-axe, and D is the image of an arrow or an arrow in a target, and Chenghou used this character as a symbol of the power of the tribal chiefs and kings. The word "Du" in Tibetan refers to the confluence of two rivers. According to this interpretation, the meaning of the word Chengdu should be the place where Chenghou lived (where the two rivers met). Others believe that the word Chengdu is "merely a translation of the two sounds of the Shu word 'Chengdu' in the Chinese script of the Central Plains". Such names, whose origins are disputed, are also relatively common in China.

Changchun: About the origin of the place name Changchun, from some geographic data, there are the following statements: First, the name of Changchun is named after the periwinkle flower. This statement, "Manchurian toponymy" slightly mentioned: that is, "the meaning of Changchun, is a synonym for rose"; two said: according to "Changchun County" records: Changchun Hall "set up a place to rule, the original in the Changchun Fort a few miles to the east, the name of the put from this. And the establishment of the place, the day the natives renamed, the new city cloud." From this, the name of Changchun, is because the hall set up in the Changchun Fort neighborhood, and so the name. However, the name of Changchun Fort from where it, according to the 1982 "Changchun geographical names" information: Changchun Fort is named by the new Han Chinese moved here, is the meaning of good luck; another, Changchun Fort is used in the Liao and Jin times of Changchun State's old name, so the place originally belonged to the jurisdiction of Changchun State. Three said, Qianlong several times in the summer to the Changbai Mountain ancestor passed by here found the climate here than Shengjing much cooler, and pleasant scenery, then said "Changbai Mountain under the spring is always in the Yitong River, everyone loves" poem, so Jiaqing 5 years (1800) began to establish a local administrative institutions in this place, to take the first line of the two characters set up

Wuxi: the origin of the place name "Wuxi", there are two kinds of claims. One that is now popular saying that the Zhou, Qin Xishan production of tin, to the Han Dynasty tin, so the name "Wuxi". Another theory is that "Wuxi" is one of the ancient Vietnamese names. "Wuxi" is the word, no real meaning, "tin" original meaning because of the ancient Vietnamese anonymous for a long time, there is no way to prove. Some people think that "Wuxi" and many other geographical names in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, such as Fujiao, Yuhang, Jurong, Gusu, etc., all belong to the same QiTou type geographical names, the crown of the first word although written in a different way, but the ancient sound of the same or similar to the ancient Vietnamese language, are the word, no real meaning. These names with the ancient Wu Yue region of the clan migration, dispersal and integration with the Chinese race, the original meaning of the gradual obliteration, but part of the Chinese characters used to record the same sound and preserved, the descendants do not know the origins of, often look at the meaning of the word, presumptuous interpretation. Some scholars believe that "Wuxi" is because of living in Wuxi, an ancient Yue people tribes to a "rule bird" as a totem and the name, its original meaning should be on the "God".

Gansu: Ganzhou, Suzhou each take a word named. Tang belongs to the Guannei Road and Longyou Road; Song, the eastern part of the Song Qinfeng Road, the western part of the Xixia; Jin divided Qinfeng Road for Qinfeng, Lintao, Qingyuan Road; Yuan early to Ganzhou set Gansu Road (soon to be changed to the Ganzhou Road), for the beginning of the name of Gansu, and then changed the Ningxia province for the province of Gansu; Ming for the Shaanxi Province line of the Department; the Qing dynasty Shaanxi Province restored to the province of Gansu, the name of the province remains unchanged.

Shanxi: to the west of the Taihang Mountains and line name. Most of the Tang belongs to the Hedong Road; Song set up Hedong Road; Jin divided into the northeast and south of the river; Yuan set up Shanxi Hedong Road, for the beginning of the name of Shanxi; Ming set up Shanxi Province, later changed to Shanxi Buzhengzhi; Qing changed Shanxi Province, the name of the province remains unchanged.

Hunan: named after the south of Dongting Lake. Tang belongs to the western province of jiangnan and qianzhong road, later set up hunan observatory for hunan for the beginning of the name of hunan; song called hunan road; yuan set up lingbei hunan road; ming belongs to hu guang province, and later change the province for hu guang province; qing divided hu guang province to set up hunan province, the name of the province is still unchanged.

Nine, merged or changed names.

Mainly refers to the change in the establishment, due to the merger of two place names into a new place name. For example:

Shanxi Linyi (County): Linyi (County) was named after the merger of the former Linjin and Yishi counties in 1954.

Shanxi's lizhuan (county): lizhuan is named after the sweet spring water, indicating that the county is rich in high-quality mineral water resources. In 1964, it was renamed Liquan to simplify the word "sweet".

Wuhai City, Inner Mongolia: Wuda City and Haibowan City merged.

Zibo City, Shandong Province: Zichuan County, Boshan County, later set up special zones, jurisdiction of two counties; after the establishment of the name of repeated changes, and finally for the prefecture-level Zibo City.

Panjin City, Liaoning Province: Jinzhou City, Panxian County upgraded, take Panxian, Jinzhou each word.

Through the study of the origin of the name, you can understand the history and culture of the place, as well as folk customs and features. Anle County, Sichuan, there is a "crouching Buddha ditch", people along this intriguing place name, really found a huge stone Buddha and the Sheng Tang Dynasty Shakyamuni Nirvana rock carving statue, but also found that the ancients buried more than 400,000 words of the Buddha's scriptures for the study of Buddhism and the Tang Dynasty culture to provide new information to explore. Xia, Shang, Zhou is China's ancient period of three successive dynasties, but for a long time to find the physical evidence of the Xia Dynasty. 1977, archaeologists to Henan Dengfeng County, an ancient place called "Wangcheng Gang" clues, where excavated the city wall base groove, the C-14 determination of the Xia Dynasty ruins.

Abbreviations of Place Names

With the growing richness of the Chinese vocabulary, there has been a proliferation of phrases combining a number of words to express complex meanings, which affects the ease of writing and dictation, and thus many abbreviations of place names have been created.... ...

Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Jin, Inner Mongolia, Liao, Ji, Hei, Shanghai, Suzhou, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Gan, Lu, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Gui, Qiong, Chongqing, Sichuan or Shu, Guizhou or Qian, Yun or Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi or Qin, Gan or Long, Qing, Ning, Xin, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan - this is the inherited For many years, the country's current 34 provincial-level political districts of the "abbreviation", but there are also explorable and debatable. Among them, 14 of them, including Ji, Jin, Shanghai, Anhui, Min, Gan, Lu, Yu, E, Xiang, Guangdong, Gui, Qiong, Yu, etc., can only be regarded as "aliases", because they are not within the scope of the full name of the region. Some large and medium-sized cities also have their own abbreviations or aliases. Nanjing ~ Ning, Guangzhou ~ Sui, Ningbo ~ Yong, Fuzhou ~ Rong, Chengdu ~ Rong, Taiyuan ~ and, Kaifeng ~ Bian, Jiujiang ~ Xun.

Difficult and easy to mispronounce place names

It is said that 80 years ago, one of Feng Yuxiang's staff officers, when writing a combat order, wrote the place where the troops were assembled, Qinyang, casually as Uyang. Qinyang is in the Jiaozuo area of northern Henan, while Uyang is in the Zhumadian area of southern Henan. With just one extra stroke, the troops ran blindly for hundreds of kilometers, and the whole campaign was a complete failure.

There are many easily mispronounced and difficult to read place names in China. The names of Xiamen in Fujian, Panyu in Guangdong and Bengbu in Anhui, although they also contain heterophonic characters, have relatively low chances of being misread because of their high popularity.

There are fewer mispronunciations of Shandong Dong'a, thanks to advertisements about Colla Corii Asini; fewer mispronunciations of Fuling, thanks to pickled vegetables from Fuling; and fewer mispronunciations of Hongdong in Shanxi, thanks to the indelible credit given to the phrase "Su San is away from Hongdong County".

Lishui (Lí) in Zhejiang is misread as Lìli (Lìli), and Taizhou (Tāi) is misread as Tái (Tái);

Bó (Bó) in Anhui is almost always read as Háo (毫 (Háo)), which is a horizontal character;

Jiàn (Jiàn 見) in Hubei is misread as Jiān (Jiān尖)利 (Jiān sharp);

Junxian (Xùn) in Henan is misread as Xùn (Xùn), which is a Chinese character. Xùn Xun (浚县) was mispronounced as Joon (Jùn Jun) County;

Leiyang (Lěi Base) in Hunan was mispronounced as Laiyang (来阳), while the real Laiyang is in Shandong;

Chenzhou (郴州), a city in China (Chēn抻) was mispronounced as Bin (Bīn宾)州;

Bayin Goleng (Ba Yin Guo Leng), a city in Xinjiang, was mispronounced as Reng (愣);

Indongolia's Bayannur (Nào haunted) was mispronounced as Zhuo (Zhuó);

Weixian (蔚县) in Hebei, which is correctly pronounced Yù (玉);

Anhui's Shexian (歙县) in Anhui, which is correctly pronounced Shè (社); Liu'an (六安), which is correctly pronounced Lù (路);

Shanxi's Fanshi (繁峙縣) in Shanxi, which is correctly pronounced Shì (是); and Changzi (长子县) in Changzi (长子县), which is correctly pronounced Zhǎng (掌);< /p>

Shin (Shēn深) county in Shandong, which is generally pronounced well by students because of the word Xinxue (莘学子); but there is a Xinzhuang (Xīn 新) in Shanghai.

Lead Mountain (Yán Salt), Jiangxi, has a high mispronunciation rate, and "铅" is also a polyphonic and place-name-specific character.

There are also a lot of difficult to read names:

Shanxi's Xí, Shandong's Jǔ, Chí, Hebei's Xíng, Li, Sichuan's Pi, Gǒng, and Gandan, Anhui's Yī, Zōng, Hubei's Yún, Jiangxi's Wuyuan, and Jiangxi's Yún. Wuyuan (Wù) in Jiangxi, Yinxian (Yín) in Zhejiang, Xuyi (XūYí), Ganjiang (Hán), and Pī in Jiangsu, and Zhecheng (Zhè) and Wuzhi (Zhì) in Henan.

Janet bàn (janet bàn), a dialect of the Chinese word for "rotting mud," is a name given to a mountainous region with lots of rotting fields, called Yanjianxiang (源jan乡), in the city of Pingxiang (萍乡), Jiangxi.

Janet is the name of the city of Pingxiang, Jiangxi, because of the many rotting fields that are found there.

Luó means "thatched grass" in Yao, and the origin of the name of the Yao township in Dongkou County, Hunan Province is rumored to be the settlement of Yao people who built thatched roofs by the stream in the Ming Dynasty.

There are also self-created characters with specific meanings. For example: 氵鵣chí,used in the township of Wubac鵣, Yongjia County, Zhejiang Province. According to legend, a hunter found five beautiful waterfowls, the mandarin birds (xī chì), along the water's edge, and the later named the place Wubac鵣, due to the complexity of the writing of the word "鸂 mandarin". "two words are complicated to write, each word to take a part of the combination; Shi Tai tài, Yingde City, Guangdong folk used to refer to one side of the high side of the low rocky mountains, the high place called the upper Shi Tai, the lower Shi Tai town is located on the side of the low, so the name. Has y explored China's ancient toponymic theory and has made a lot of achievements Mr. Jin Zumeng said: "China's most ancient place names, often the same word, including the name, the name of the two parts, such as 'Song' word, on the upper half of the 'mountain' word for the name of the general, the lower half of the word The word 'high' is a proper name; the word 'fen', the left side of the word 'water' is a proper name, the right side of the word 'minute' is a proper name; The character 'ancient place', the left side of the character 'Mei' is a proper name, the right side of the character 'Eup' is a common name. In addition, such as Qi, Bali, Dai, BAN, Min, thn, hills the name of the mountains, Ru, Jiang, Wen, Qin, YI, Yuan, River, U, Shu, Si, Luo, Su,洧, Zhe, Huai, Interfluence, JI, Zi, Wei, Xiang, Xiang, Han the name of the water, the Duke, Xing, Bi, Pi, Tai, Gui, Pi, Ying, Yuncheng, Zheng all the domain names of the land, are all ancient place names. The creation of such ancient place names is not only 'naming with words' but also 'naming by making words'."

Miao miǎo, describing the water is large, Changshu City, Jiangsu Miaoquan town to the territory of the river longitudinal and horizontal, the water network is densely packed name, and its orthographies, "mu" but there is a tiny meaning; irrigation zhèn, "the root of the mountain under the mountain by the mountain running water is said to irrigation" ("interpretation of the name, release of the mountain"), Ninghai County, Zhejiang Province, Deepwater, the name of the city, and the name of the city. The town of Shenyu in Ninghai County, Zhejiang Province, was named in the Song Dynasty a thousand years ago, and "irrigation" was originally the original word, but today's orthography, "圳" (圳) is commonly used in Lingnan; "tún" (緑) means "strongholds" in Guizhou Province, and is also used in the name of the town. In the foot town of Xingren County, Guizhou Province, the image shows the geographical characteristics of its "village built on an earthen platform".

Of course, the language is fluid, liquid, some of today's errors may become tomorrow's correct sound, which is gradually created, the dictionary is just a specific era of voice norms. But to pronounce the name of a place correctly is to show a minimum of respect to others.

The oddball of place-name culture: Beijing hutong culture

In Chinese place names, the most distinctive, when it comes to Beijing hutong. Most of the place names in Beijing are called hutongs, and most of them are concentrated in the urban areas, while the number of suburban areas is relatively small. It can be said that hutongs are the most characteristic place names in Beijing, as well as the most representative regional landscape and cultural landscape. Old Beijing is composed of hutongs, and hutongs are the essence of Beijing. Therefore, the study of hutongs has become one of the main contents of toponymic research in Beijing. Over the past few hundred years, there have been countless writings about hutongs, and the origin, formation, naming, changes and cultural connotations of hutongs have been examined and researched at a deeper level from different perspectives, gradually forming a "hutong culture" with unique Beijing characteristics.

The origin of the place name "Hutong" is mainly characterized by the following six statements.

The first, and most common, is that the word "hutong" originally meant "well" in Mongolian, and was originally pronounced "kudong". Now Inner Mongolia with "well" as the name of the place is also a lot of, "Saiin Khudong" (good well), "Ha Ye Khudong" (double well). Because the townspeople can not survive without wells, so there are people living in the place will have wells, so "wells" will become the people living in the pronouns. After the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty, they also brought this language into the Central Plains, so the people will be "Hu Dong" gradually harmonized as "Hutong".

The second theory is that the original meaning of "hutong" is "haote". Mongolian language towns called "HaoTe", the Mongols entered the Central Plains, Beijing as the metropolitan city, so according to their habits, the Central Plains towns and alleys are also known as "HaoTe", after the capital of the Han Chinese blackmailed into the "Hutong". Hutong".

The third theory is that during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, the Han Chinese in the central plains called the northern minorities "hutongs". After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty by the Mongols, the Han Chinese in the capital still privately called them "hu people", and the place where they live is called "hutong", for the "hu people of the same" meaning.

The fourth theory is completely different from the first, that the origin of the word "hutong" has nothing to do with wells, but is closely related to fire, that is, directly related to the Chinese "fire lane". This "fire lane" is the Southern Song Dynasty people set up in the city of firebreaks. Because the city is densely populated, the houses are lined up, the lack of water, once the fire will burn hundreds of people, in order to prevent the spread of fire, they set up a fire protection isolation zone - "fire lane". The word "fire lane" is Chinese, but read from the Mongolian mouth, and then by its pronunciation into Chinese, it became "Hutong".

The fifth theory is that the word "hutong" is written as "hu mong", which is the Mongolian word for "hu mong". In the Mongol settlements, tribes larger than villages were called "hu mong". When the Yuan Dynasty built the metropolis, it initially constructed the residential areas in pieces, and each piece was a settlement smaller than a village, so the mongolians called it the "hu mongol". The mongolian custom of calling them "hukongs" was followed. The mongolian name "hukong" was abbreviated to "hutong" as the mongolian name was too cumbersome to be written.

The sixth theory is that at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, when the Mongols began to build the Yuan Capital, the residents were housed in small blocks with passages in between, which is pronounced as "huitong" in Mongolian, and the people of Beijing called the small passages, passages, streets and alleys that connected the residential areas "huitong". Later, Beijingers called the small passages, cross-streets, alleys, etc. that connected residential areas "hutong", which was later harmonized as "hutong".

Beijing's hutongs are dotted with more than 7,000 of them, each of which has its own legend. Hutongs have a variety of names, some named after characters, such as the prime minister of Wen Chancellor Hutong; some named after the market, commodities, such as the goldfish Hutong; some named after the Beijing dialect, such as the boring gourd cans Hutong and so on. Such as Secretary Hutong, Gongjian Hutong (Inner Palace Supervisory variant from), Weaving and Dyeing Bureau Hutong, Wine and Vinegar Bureau Hutong, Bell and Drum Division Hutong, Shiyu Si Hutong, Wax Library Hutong, Porcelain Library Hutong and so on, are the successive generations of the Imperial Household Supervisors of the Supervisory Bureau, Bureau, Division, Library, the location of the Yamen, showing the scope of the Imperial City at that time. Once upon a time, many government offices also left a lot of hutong names, such as the East Factory Hutong is the Ming Dynasty, the famous location of the Jinyiwei, is the eunuchs brutalized the place of the loyal and conscientious. South and North Taichang Hutong, is named after the Taichang Temple. Gongyuan Hutong, for the Ming and Qing dynasties, the examination room. Many of the powerful residence location, also became the name of the hutong, such as Li Gelao Hutong, "Chang'an Guest" said Li Dongyang's residence Wuding Hou Hutong, for the Yongle period of the minister Guo Ying's residence is located. Wangjia Hutong original Qing Yongzheng, Qianlong when the favorite minister Wang by Guo's residence. At the same time, good craftsmen, fair trade vendors, but also because of the residence is called familiar, and slowly formed a hutong. Such as Liu Lanshou Hutong, Grinding Knife Hutong, Powder Room Liu Hutong, Tofu Chen Hutong, Casserole Liu Hutong, etc. Even the names of ordinary people became the names of hutongs. Even the name of the general public also became the name of the hutong, such as Wang Lao Hutong, Shi Lao Niang Hutong, Song Girl Hutong, and so on, it is said that this kind of hutong named after the poor and lowly greatly more than the powerful and noble named hutong, which is the name of Beijing hutong commendable place.

The culture of geographical names has a long history

The profound Chinese culture, which unites the spirit and emotion, thought and morality, wisdom and value of the Chinese people, permeates every level of social life, and geographical names are a unique level. Geographical names are the products of human activities in every historical era. It records the splendor of human exploration of the world and the self, records wars, diseases, catastrophes and tribulations, records the change and integration of nationalities, and records the changes of the natural environment, and has rich scientific connotations of history, geography, language, economy, nationality, society, etc. It is a special cultural phenomenon, and is a living fossil of the history of mankind. As a member of the Chinese nation, we not only need to understand the profound historical and cultural heritage of our motherland, but also need to protect some of the gradually disappearing geographical names in order to better inherit and carry forward our traditional culture. In order to make the ancient geographical names better for the present and future generations, we must enhance the awareness of the protection of geographical names and cultural resources, and start from our side. ......