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Village told to change name or it won't exist

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-25 09:12

A village had to change its name, or character, because the name includes two rarely used Chinese characters that can't be found in a new police computer system.

The characters for "Tang" and "Lu" have been used for decades but Tanglu residents who tried to get a marriage certificate had trouble since the computers didn't recognize their hometown marked on their ID cards.

The system also became a problem for those seeking employment, travelers and those doing real estate transactions.

Some villagers and experts said changing the village's name is damaging to their culture and customs but police said it would be too expensive to change the computer programs.

(Yangcheng Evening News)