Xinhua “China’s ancient alleys, place names lost to new makeover” Shanghai Daily 9 May 2006
ではあるのだが、古来の地名が急速に消滅している。
China has more than 700 counties, more than 1,000 towns and more than 300 cities with a standing of more than 1,000 years.
北京の胡同；
南京；
Beijing once boasted 3,679 hutongs in the 1980s, a number that has been reduced by 40 percent. As a result, old place names have been fading from maps and memories.
河北省
In East China’s Nanjing, once the capital of six ancient dynasties,, more than 180 old place names have disappeared in the past 15 years and the number of new place names has grown at a speed of 200 per ear since 2001, according to an earlier report by the People’s Daily.
地名の破壊というのは日本の問題でもあるわけだが、このような身近な変動（喪失）と、より抽象的なナショナリズムなどの炎上は様々な仕方で関係している筈である。
In North China’s Hebei Province, the name of the Wanxian County, with “wan” meaning “perfect rivers and mountains” inn ancient Chinese, was changed into “Shunping(county)” in 1993, simply because some overseas businessmen said the pronunciation of “wan” in modern oral Chinese may be understood as “got finished.”
