In China, are there any cities in China with good-sounding ancient place names that changed their names to bad ones? Why change the name?

The ancient place names are so nice, why do they need to be renamed? A person's name, just like his appearance, will form an initial impression in people's minds from the first sight. The same is true for the name of a city. It is often the first impression that people get about the city.

But place names are different from people’s names. In the long river of history, human life is like a drop in the ocean, which is too small and short. The land beneath our feet has experienced ups and downs through the vicissitudes of life. The glory and gloom in history have all been accumulated here. The voices and footprints of all the characters in history are engraved here. The emergence of place names often embodies profound historical and cultural heritage and also contains rich values.

As times change, many places have been renamed several times. Those charming place names that we occasionally see in ancient poems or costume dramas may be the predecessor of your hometown.

The ancient capitals well-known to the public, such as Chang'an, Jinling, Bianjing, Yanjing, etc., every time I read these names, I can feel the heavy atmosphere of history, as if I can see the scenes of history. The joys and sorrows in the long river can be heard from the long chants and short sighs of the literati. But if the names are changed, those poems that have been passed down for thousands of years will change, such as: "Autumn wind stirs up the Weishui River, and fallen leaves fill Xi'an", "Warm wind smooches tourists" Drunk, just call Hangzhou Kaifeng? Wait.

Of course, the changes in the above place names are not excessive and are still within the acceptable range. However, there are still a number of place names that have been changed in outrageous ways.

Makino was changed to Xinxiang. When you hear the name Makino, you will have a sense of vastness and majesty. If you change it to Xinxiang, it will suddenly have a strong rural atmosphere. Sima Qian wrote in "Historical Records": "Wei abandoned Ji, and became prosperous in the West; King Muye of Wu actually controlled the world." The Battle of Muye, in which King Wu conquered Zhou, is one of the famous battles in history. If it were changed to the Battle of Xinxiang, the style would directly change from the battle that destroyed the Yin and Shang Dynasties to that of villagers in two villages rioting.

The Battle of Makino

In fact, Makino is not alone, because Lanling was also changed to have a very rural atmosphere, and Lanling was changed to Zaozhuang. Just imagine, on one side is a highland planted with orchids, where the breeze blows, "Lanling fine wine and tulips", and more importantly, "people on the road are like jade, the prince is unparalleled"; on the other side is a village full of jujube trees, with loess blowing in your face, It's like a gray filter has been added. At this time, Lanling King Gao Changgong quit, because he became the "King of Zaozhuang", looking like a gangster. Of course, Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng, the author of "Jin Ping Mei", stopped working because he changed his name to Zaozhuang Xiaoxiaosheng and "Jin Ping Mei" became unsaleable. ?

Stills of "The King of Lanling"

In fact, many place names in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" have already become the hardest hit areas for name changes. For example, Zhao Zilong, who is most familiar to the audience, is from Changshan County, Hebei Province, and Changshan is called Shijiazhuang today. Imagine Zhao Yun reining in his horse, swinging his silver gun, and shouting: "Don't run away, the thief Cao, I am Zhao Zilong of Shijiazhuang!" ?Did the momentum suddenly disappear?

Stills from "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms"

Yuan Shao, a great warlord during the Three Kingdoms period, was born into a prominent family in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Runan Yuan family, and Runan has now been changed to Zhumadian. Yuan Shao could only be heard saying: "I am the fourth and third prince of Zhumadian, Yuan Benchu, the son of the Yuan family!" ?This sentence sounds too shamate style and seriously affects Yuan Shao's aristocratic temperament.

Also in an embarrassing situation was Lu Bu from Jiuyuan County. When he introduced himself, he said: "I am Lu Fengxian, Baotou!" ?

Zhang Fei stood in front of Dangyang Bridge and shouted loudly; ?Bah! Baoding Zhang Yide is here! ?

Seeing these places where names have been changed, many people may have a question. The names in ancient times were so nice, why did they need to change their names?

In fact, in ancient history, place names were often changed due to changes in dynasties, avoidance of the emperor's name, adjustment of administrative regions, expansion of territory, etc.

The avoidance of the emperor’s name involves all aspects of society, and there are actually many in history. After Zhao Guangyi, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, came to the throne, all place names with the word "yi" suffered. For example, Jiangsu Yixing was changed to Yixing, Hunan Yizhang was changed to Yizhang, Sichuan Yibin was changed to Yibin, etc.

According to records, the names of places have been changed more than 800 times in history to avoid taboos.

Speaking of territorial expansion, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Huo Qubing defeated the Xiongnu and established Wuwei County in Gansu, which means "martial power". At the same time, Zhangye in Gansu was also established because of the defeat. A great victory in the battle, with the intention of taking Zhang Guo's arm to connect with the Western Region.

Territory Map of the Western Han Dynasty

After the founding of New China, the large-scale changes in place names in our country were mainly due to the following three situations.

The first type: out of considerations of national unity.

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a large number of place names were changed that were considered to reflect the superiority of Chinese culture. Basically, as long as these place names contain words such as An, Sui, Hua, Ping, Zhen, and Xuan that highlight the influence of the central dynasty and Chinese civilization, they have been rectified in large or small ways.

For example, Xinjiang’s Dihuatai was changed to Urumqi, Suiyuan’s Guisui was changed to Hohhot, and the town border area in western Guangxi was changed to Napo, Ningxia The "Zhenrong" in the central part was changed to "Tongxin", the "Pingyi" in Yunnan was changed to "Fuyuan", the "Jinghua" in Sichuan was changed to "Jinchuan" and so on.

However, Ningxia, Pingliang and Dingxi in Gansu, Huaihua in Hunan, Zhenan in Shaanxi, Suihua in Heilongjiang, Pingnan in Guangxi, Zhenyuan in Guizhou and so on. ?

The second type: the Chinese characters for place names are too uncommon.

For example, Heilongjiang Aihui was renamed Aihui. Although only two radicals were changed, it severed the connection between the place name and important historical events such as the 1858 Treaty of Aihui. Fortunately, in 2015, Ai Hui changed back to Ai Hui.

Aihui Ancient City

Also renamed is Mianyang, Hubei Province. Mianyang is originally derived from the meaning of "Yang of Mianshui" and is one of the important birthplaces of Jingchu culture. . However, due to complicated reasons, Mianyang in Hubei was changed to Xiantao, and this ancient name of Mianyang, which had been used for thousands of years, completely disappeared.

Mianyang Ancient City

In addition, in Du Fu's poem "Tonight the moon is in Yanzhou, I can only watch it alone in the boudoir", Shaanxi's Shazhou was changed to Fuxian; Shaanxi's Jiaxian Now it has been changed to Jiaxian County. People in Shaanxi joke that "rich counties are not rich, but good counties are not good", which is really sad.

The third type: the rise of tourism in order to pursue economic benefits. Although this wave of name changes continues to this day, there are very few successful people on the economic level. After most place names were changed, not only did they not produce obvious economic effects, but they caused a lot of unnecessary controversy.

The typical representative of failure is Huizhou City, Anhui Province. The name of Anhui originated from the two prefectures of Anqing and Huizhou under its jurisdiction. Huizhou is known as the "Southeast Zoulu and the Land of Etiquette". It is the representative place of "Hui Style Architecture" and the origin of Huizhou Ink, one of the "Four Treasures of the Study". Origin. Tang Xianzu had high praise for Huizhou: "I have never dreamed of going to Huizhou in my entire life." When Huizhou was renamed Huangshan City, it meant that it lost its unique cultural symbol of Huizhou, which meant that the unique ancient city eventually became a victim of tourism.

Hui Style Architecture

Like Huizhou, Chong'an in Fujian and Tongshi in Hainan also suffered the same fate. Chong'an, Fujian Province, gave birth to a generation of great talents like Liu Yong, the poet, and now it was established as a city for tourism and changed to Wuyishan City. As a settlement of the Li ethnic group, Hainan Tongshi means rich food in the Li language, but in order to develop tourism But it was changed to Wuzhishan City, which is extremely disrespectful to the culture of ethnic minorities.

In the final analysis, it is not a bad thing to improve a city's economic level and expand its popularity, but if it is done at the cost of destroying history and culture, it is like destroying the environment in order to develop the economy. own feet.

These place names, which often last for hundreds of thousands of years, are no longer just place names. The cultural genes and historical codes contained within them have already formed the cultural bloodline of the Chinese nation that has lasted for thousands of years.

Actually speaking, the word "Handan" is actually a rare word, but the people of Handan are lucky, because this city is the only city in Chinese history that has never changed its name after three thousand years of ups and downs. When we talk about Handan today, what do we think of? We will think of the great capital of the State of Zhao three thousand years ago, of the heroes of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, of riding and shooting in Hu robes, of returning the jade to Zhao, of bearing a thorn to plead guilty, and of everything that has happened here? When we set foot on this land that has gone through so many years again, A land that has experienced thousands of years of wind and rain will definitely give rise to a sense of weight and vicissitudes in the face of history.

Handan? Hufu riding and shooting? Like

Each of these place names that have been passed down to this day are witnesses of historical ups and downs. Every city that has changed its name is gradually losing its name. temperament. Chinese people are very particular about naming, which not only contains beauty, but also contains connotations. Artificially erasing it will only cause cultural and historical ruptures.

Place names are an integral part of Chinese civilization. If you do not respect history and culture and change place names indiscriminately, you are abandoning Chinese culture in disguise. Change Lanling to Zaozhuang, Runan to Zhumadian, Langya to Linyi, Luzhou to Hefei, and Chencang to Baoji? I believe readers know the difference between the old and new names.