The Chinese renamed 101 British locations in Mandarin - here are the results
One hundred and one British tourist attractions have been renamed in Mandarin ahead of the Chinese New Year. It's part of a campaign promoted by VisitBritain, the British government body for supporting Chinese tourism in the UK.
The campaign started in November last year, with the launch of an apposite website to ask Chinese people to rename famous British locations and points of interest. According to the campaign, which was funded by the Home Office, more than 300 million Chinese have been reached either on the website or through social media such as Weibo and WeChat.
More than 15,ooo people, for example, voted for the small village of Llanfair-pwllgwyn-gyllgo-gery-chwyrn-drobwll-llanty-silio-gogo-goch, in north-west Wales, to be renamed ???, which in Chinese translates to Healthy-lung Village, a reference to the fact that pronouncing the name of the village is itself an exercise for lungs.
We put together a map of the British locations that got the most Chinese votes. A list at the bottom describes the meaning in Chinese (the full list of names will be released within the next few weeks).
Here is what those names mean:
- The Shard - Zhai Xing Ta (???) - "A tower allowing us to pluck stars from the sky" or "London cone."
- Savile Row - Gao Fu Shuai Zhi Lu (-?????) - "Tall, rich, handsome street" (refers to popular "meme" in China to describe the perfect man) or "Custom made rich people street"
- Blackpool - Le You Yuan - (???)- "A place that is happy to visit."
- Llanfair-pwllgwyn-gyllgo-gery-chwyrn-drobwll-llanty-silio-gogo-goch - Jian Fei Cun (???)- "Healthy-lung village."
- Loch Ness Monster - Ni Si Hu An Ying - (?????) - "The Loch Ness shadow."
- The Kelpies - Kai Po Ju Ma (????) - "Glorious armoured giant horses." It also sounds the same as "the Kelpies" when read out.
- Cerne Abbas Giant - Bai Se Da Luo Ben (?????) - "Big white streaker."
- Hadrian's Wall - Yong Heng Zhi Ji (-????) - "Wall of eternity."
- Brighton Pavilion - Qiao Zhi He Yue Han De Yin Du Gong (?????????) - "George and John's Indian palace."
- Stoke-on-Trent - Wan Bo Tao Ci (????) - "Diverse ceramics."
- Brimham Rocks - Bo Han Qi Yan (????) - "A lot of rocks in different shapes."
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- India Inc marks slowest quarterly revenue growth in January-March 2024: Crisil
- Nothing Phone (2a) India-exclusive Blue Edition launched starting at ₹19,999
- SC refuses to plea seeking postponement of CA exams scheduled in May
- 10 exciting weekend getaways from Delhi within 300 km in 2024
- Foreign tourist arrivals in India will cross pre-pandemic level in 2024
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market