Name game far from being major play for China
- Buildings with fancy titles or international connotations may not go down well with the state and face a crackdown, but there is no need to fear foreign appeal
What is so bad in the name of a building that warrants a purge by the state? Intriguingly, the central government has initiated a sweeping crackdown on places that are deemed inappropriately named.
As in Hong Kong, many mainland property projects are given fancy titles or named after foreign landmarks and places to make them sound more upscale.
Arguably, they are merely marketing strategies and should be left to the wisdom of consumers and market forces. But the mainland authorities see them as “a violation of the core values of socialism and damaging to national confidence”.
The move came last year when six government departments joined hands to demand provincial and country authorities get rid of the “exaggerating, foreign or weird” – the so-called irregular names of buildings and places.
With tens of thousands of housing estates, hotels and commercial buildings being affected, a public backlash is inevitable. Some netizens branded it a waste of effort and money, saying it was like the Cultural Revolution, during which many old names and practices were purged.