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Interesting Saying on Place Names

 

Xuzhou

The name comes from the ancient Xuyi or one of nine zhou (cantons).

Zhenjiang (suppress floods)

Since the place often suffered from floods, people put zhen(suppress) before jiang (lake) to pray for safety.

Yancheng (Salt City)

The place is famous for salt.

Hefei

Fei water flows out from Zipeng Mountain and divides into two branches. Then the two rivers converge to the place. So it is called Hefei.

Bengbu (mussel dock)

In the ancient time, people collected pearls from mussels here where many boats got together on the dock. Then the place is called bengbuji (mussel dock) and in 1946 it was set up as Bengbu city.

Hangzhou

Legend has it that when Dayu (the Great Yu, a hero who prevented floods by water control) regulated rivers he left his ship to land here. In Chinese, the pronunciation of on ship is the same as that of hang so the place is called Hangzhou now.

Jilong

There is a small hencoop outside of the harbor and a big hencoop to the east of the harbor. At that time the place was called hencoop. Later an emperor of the Qing Dynasty who didn't think it was a good name for the place changed it to Jilong. The two names have the same pronunciations but different meanings. Nowadays the name means prosperity.

Hengyang (south of Hengshan Mountains)

The place is located south of Hengshan Mountains so it is called Hengyang (south of Heng Mountains).

Lhasa

In the Tibetan language it means Holy Land. Since the place is full of sunshine and rare fog or rains it has another name Sunshine City.

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