By Austin Ramzy

New York Times

HONG KONG >> There is a Vancouver Forest in Beijing, a Thames Town in Shanghai and an Oriental Yosemite in Dalian, China. But the wave of names like those that have been tacked onto new housing developments around China in recent years could end after a call to stamp out “foreign” and “bizarre” names.

The minister of civil affairs, Li Liguo, said Tuesday that names that “damage sovereignty and national dignity” or “violate the socialist core values and conventional morality” would be targeted, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

Li said that odd names of roads, bridges, buildings and residential compounds would face scrutiny. Housing developments have been a big source of bizarre monikers. Beijing alone has Chateau Regalia, Merlin Champagne Town, La Grande Villa, Australian Garden and Chateau Regency.

Developers in China say the international flavor helps sell houses. On the outskirts of Beijing, the Jackson Hole resort community, known as Hometown America in Chinese, attracts residents dreaming of a “free and uncomplicated life,” The New York Times reported last year.

The concern over names has been raised as part of an official Chinese geographical survey that began in 2014. In addition to the explosion in foreign names, there has been a noticeable disappearance of traditional names, Li said. The survey found that since 1986, 60,000 township names and 400,000 village names have fallen from use as a result of development and urbanization, The Beijing News reported.

Rectifying the names could face hurdles, however. A 1996 regulation prohibits the use of foreign people or place names for locations in China, including housing developments, The Beijing News said. But the rules have had little impact.

Henan province has tried to put in effect its own set of rules governing place names that also prohibits foreign names. But a lack of enforcement powers and procedures means it has had little consequence, China National Radio reported.

One effort to alter a street name in the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou stalled after opposition by local residents. The official reason for the change was not because of a foreign name, but because the Chinese character used for the street was often mispronounced by people unfamiliar with the place, China National Radio said. Residents objected to the move and filed a lawsuit to block it, citing the potential loss of historical identity.

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