Chinese Place Names Put You on the Right Path

Province Names Identify Their Geographical Features in China

Sep 25, 2009

Most Chinese provinces are named along with location, e.g. to the north or south of a mountain or a river. Knowing this fact helps in learning the Chinese language.

Many people, when learning the Chinese language or planning to visit China, find that it is very difficult to get the Chinese place names fixed in their mind. However, once they know the meaning of the place names, not only does the task become less painful but they also discover that the place names, along with the directions, are mostly practical common words.

Within the 23 provinces in China, including Hainan Island (to the south of the sea) which has recently become a province, many of their names are chosen according to the area’s position relative to a geographical location such as a large and hence important river. This reiterates the fact that most towns and cities of the world civilizations were built in the vicinity of rivers.

Ancient Chinese Developments around Rivers

There are three provinces “Hei Long Jiang” (Black Dragon River), “Zhe Jiang” (Zhe River), and “Qing Hai” (Green Sea) that derive their names from the famous rivers in their districts respectively, although the “Zhe River” was historically called “Qian Tang Jiang” (Money Embankment River).

As for “He Bei” (River North), it means “to the north of the Yellow River” whilst “He Nan” (River South) is “to the south of the Yellow River”. And, “Hu Bei” (Lake North) and “Hu Nan” (Lake South) are to be found to the north and south of the “Dong Ting Hu” (Dong Ting Lake) in that order.

Further, “Si Chuang” (Four River), located in the western part of the Yangtze River Basin, derives its name from the fact that there are four major rivers: Min Jiang (Mountain Min River), Jialing Jiang (Fine Hill River), Tuo Jiang (Wailing River) and Wu Jiang (Crow River) within the province.

Ancient Chinese Communities Near Mountains

The names of two neighboring provinces, “Shan Dong” (Mountain East) and “Shan Xi” (Mountain West) come from their being situated with Tai Hang Shan (Mountain Tai Hang) between them.

From its location in the east of the “Yun Gui Plateau” (Cloud Valued Plateau), the “Valued State” acquires its name “Gui Zhou”. Although “Yuan Nan” (Cloud South) is to be found in the Southwest of China, it was named according to its actual position: to the south of “the Ridge of Cloud”.

Ancient Chinese Expecting Good Luck

Also, the Chinese tend to choose auspicious words to capture the essence of the location. “Ning” meaning “Tranquil” or “peaceful” occurs in “Liao Ning” (distant/faraway/spacious peaceful) and “Ning Xia” (Peaceful Summer).

The former, located in Northeast China, lies downstream on the Liao River. The latter historically belonged to a regime called “West Summer” (Xi Xia) and hence took its name from a wishful saying at the time: “Peaceful Xi Xia” (xi xia an ning). The “West Summer” government, in the northwest of China, was established, by a nomadic ethnic group called “Xia” (Summer) about 800 years ago which lasted for 189 years.

Jilin Province situated upstream on the Songhua River, was sounded in the Manchu language “Jilin” and had the meaning “along the river”; however, from the many phonetically similar possible translations, the Chinese chose the meaning “auspicious woods”.

Ancient Chinese Regions Still Extant

Some of the provinces in China get their names by combining two adjacent ancient regions. Four such examples are: Jiang Su, An Hui, Fu Jian and Gan Su.

Jiang Su (River Su) however was not derived from a river called Su, but a combination of “Jiang Ning” (River Tranquil) and “Su Zhou” (Su State). The River Tranquil was a reference to the Yang-zi River, because the site was situated along the east part of the river.

As to “An Hui” (Peaceful Hui), next to Jiang Su, was known as “An Qin” (Peaceful Celebration) and “Hui Zhou” (Hui State) in the past. Also, extending along the southeast coast of China, “Fu Jian” (Fortune Establish) was the old “Fu Zhou” (Fortune State) and “Jian Ning” (Establishing Tranquil).

“Gan Su” (Sweet Serious), located upstream on the Yellow River, is the union of two ancient states “Gan” (Sweet) and “Su” (Serious).

Ancient Paths in China

“Jiang Xi” (River West), sited along the Southeast section of the Yang-zi River, was established as “the West Path of the South Yang-zi River” in the Tang Dynasty and hence the name.

“Shan Xi” (Mountain Path West), located in the Yellow River area, was assigned “the West Way Mountain Path” in the Song Dynasty and has retained that name ever since.

Interestingly, “Guang Dong” (Broad/Extensive East), developed in the most southern part of China, was given the name in the Ming Dynasty. It was never to the east of the capital.

In a similar fashion, the name "Connecticut", an American state, means "beside the long tidal river"; "Michigan" is "large lake"; "Massachusetts" is "at the great hill" and "Texas" is "friends" in Indian language. In Canada, Yukon named after the Yukon River which means "great river" in Gwich'in and Ontario takes its name from the Lake Ontario, meaning "beautiful lake" in a Native American language.

However, the words used in the names of Chinese provinces are still remaining the same in the modern Chinese langage. So that when you learn their names, you learn the common words for directions, colors, and some most popular auspicious expressions in Chinese society until nowadays.

The copyright of the article Chinese Place Names Put You on the Right Path in Learning Chinese is owned by Hsiao Ying Chang. Permission to republish Chinese Place Names Put You on the Right Path in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.