Chinese Place Names Trivia Quiz

Answer: Middle country

The word 'zhong' means 'middle, center' and the word 'guo' means 'land, country'. Taken together, the term means 'middle country', something of an ethnocentric name really. However, one must put this into perspective. In naming China the 'middle country' the Chinese were making reference to the 'four directions', each of which contained a 'paradise'. China itself just happened to be in the middle of these distant lands! In ancient times people did not have the benefits of accurate mapmaking and/or globes...

Answer: Eastern

Indeed, 'Dong-jing' translates as 'eastern capital' in English. This makes sense when one considers that Japan is to the east of China! Incidentally, there is no 'western capital' or 'Xi-jing'. As you might have guessed: jing = capital, bei = north, nan = south, dong = east and xi = west.

Answer: Europe

This is a transliteration of the first syllable of 'Europe', though the pronunciation is slightly off. Many Chinese terms have been taken directly from English and have been simply modified with Chinese characters!

Answer: England

'Ying-guo' is a very interesting name. Not only is it a transliteration, with 'ying' mimicking the sound of 'Eng' in England, but it also has a literal meaning that is quite flattering. The Chinese word 'Ying' means 'very talented person' or 'hero'. This name is a bit ironic considering the early history of relations between England and China, but it stuck nonetheless!

Answer: Canada

Though 'Jia' doesn't have the hard 'C' sound, it's about the closest the transliterators could get. So far as I am aware, there is no specific meaning that can be drawn from this name...it's merely a sound-alike.

Answer: Auckland

The Chinese term 'Ao-ke-lan' is used to represent both the New Zealander city of Auckland and the United States bay area city Oakland. Once again, there is no specific meaning for this name, it is simply a mimic of the English versions. If you ever order plane tickets from Shanghai to one of these two cities, be sure to specify which one or you could end up on the wrong side of the world!

Answer: Italy

'Yi-da-li' is the home of that 'other' pasta, the kind that comes covered with tomato sauce, according to the Chinese. Incidentally, the Italians were among the first Westerners to visit and write extensively about China, with individuals like Carpini, Marco Polo and Matteo Ricci among the most famous!

Answer: Shanghai

'Shang' means 'above, higher, upper, etc.' in Mandarin Chinese, while 'hai' means 'sea'. This name makes some sense if we consider that Shanghai is built so close to the East China Sea, just above the water. Shanghai was a relative backwater before the 20th century, but its phenomenal growth has made it the largest in the country and still growing.

Answer: San Francisco

San Francisco was called the 'old gold mountain' because of the great gold rush of the mid 1800s which attracted prospectors from around the world, including many from China. In the late 20th century the Chinese began calling San Francisco 'San-fan-zhi', a transliterated name, because the 'Old gold mountain' seemed like a ridiculous and archaic term to them.

These days, it appears that the name 'San-fan-zhi' is prevailing.

Answer: Salt Lake City

Yes, a city close to my own heart. The Chinese word for salt is 'yan', the word for lake is 'hu' and city is 'cheng' (though this usually refers to 'town', while the word 'shi' normally translates better as city.) Forgive me for the self-indulgence, I once called Salt Lake home!

Answer: Japan : Nip-pon

Thought I might attempt to trick the Japanese experts out there. 'Nippon' is actually the Japanese name for Japan (or Nihon), while the Chinese call Japan 'Ri-ben', which means essentially 'rising sun' (or 'source of the sun'). This is the Chinese name for Japan, which is to the east of China and hence exists where the sun rises! Australia is called 'Ao-da-li-ya' or 'Ao-zhou', if it's referred to as a continent.

The name 'Vietnam' is derived from the Chinese name 'Yue-nan'...the Vietnamese people were initially called the 'Yue' and came from what is now south China a couple thousand years ago. 'Fa-guo' is another transliterated name, with 'guo' added for good measure.

Answer: True

Absolutely! The Chinese government considers Taiwan a renegade province of the 'homeland', though Taiwan and the mainland have quite a mixed history. Taiwan only came to be dominated by the Chinese beginning in the 17th century, when large scale migrations occurred due to the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

In the modern era, Taiwan was always an outlying province at best before it was turned over to Japan after the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-5. When Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan in 1949 he established a separate government and administration there, a virtual Nationalist Chinese government in exile.

Ever since that year, the two sides have butted heads over the status of the island.

Answer: Korea

The Chinese name 'Chao-xian' is a transliteration from 'Chosun', the name of the first and last Korean dynasties. The Koreans call themselves the 'Han' people, and the Chinese sometimes do too, thus the name 'Han-guo'.

Answer: London : Lin-tin

Sorry for the tricky one. London is in fact called 'Lun-dun' by the Chinese, a pretty obvious transliteration. The other examples: Luo-ma (Rome), Ba-li (Paris, think of the French pronunciation) and Hua-sheng-dun (Washington) are all pretty obvious transliterations as well. No deeper meaning for any of these cities can be derived, so far as I know.

Answer: True

The Chinese name for the United States is 'Mei-guo', which translates literally as 'beautiful country'. Whether the Chinese all really believe America to be beautiful, or if they even have enough data to establish such a judgement, is questionable. Regardless, the name has held and continues to do so. Well...I hope you learned a thing or two from this quiz...and enjoyed it as well. Please try your hand at a few more of my Chinese language quizzes if you feel so inclined! Thanks for playing.