Place name campaign should be prudent, ministry says

The Ministry of Civil Affairs on Friday instructed local authorities to act prudently and appropriately in a campaign against improper place names.

Regulations and guidelines should be strictly observed to prevent the campaign from being expanded in an arbitrary manner, the ministry said in a statement published on its website.

The campaign, which started in December, mainly targets improper names of newly built residential areas and major projects that have had a negative social effect and have stirred strong public reactions-those featuring exaggeration, unrelated foreign elements, strange and vulgar words and repetitive names, it said.

While the rectification campaign has been well-received by the public in general, some "individual places" have failed to understand the guidelines accurately and implement them appropriately, the ministry said. It urged local authorities to regulate their work procedures, solicit public and expert opinions and produce a list of proposed name corrections cautiously.

The statement came after recent reports on proposed name corrections in some provinces aroused heated discussion.

In Hainan province, the local civil affairs authority targeted the names of residential buildings including "Victorian Garden" and "Los Angeles Community", and two Vienna International Hotels in Haikou, saying they contain transliterations of foreign place names.

In response, the Vienna Hotels Group released a statement on Tuesday via Sina Weibo, saying its chain hotel names are trademarks registered with the market regulator and have been used legally.

The civil affairs department later said the list was only a draft and was publicized to solicit public opinion.

Dai Mengyu, 28, a bank employee in Beijing, said she is favor of the cleanup campaign as some place names are misleading, or even blatantly promote superstition. But she said authorities should be cautious not to use a one-size-fits-all approach.

Some netizens have expressed concern that changes could lead to a cascade of costly adjustments, including road signs, bus schedules, official seals and hukou, or household registration documents.

Xinhua News Agency published a commentary on Friday calling for local authorities to further regulate their work procedures in the rectification of existing names.

While acknowledging the cleanup as a correct move, as geographic names are basic social information that needs to be regulated, the commentary also said soliciting the opinions of professionals and the public is necessary for a well-intentioned campaign to be welcomed. It also suggested establishing a mechanism to prevent strange names from appearing again.

Gu Yan, a researcher at the National Development and Reform Commission's Academy of Macroeconomic Research, said improper names involving geographic locations should not have been approved in the first place.

Xinhua contributed to this story.