Seoul City Announces New Chinese Name
Seoul City announced its new Chinese name _ ``首爾 (soual),'' meaning ``leading city'' _ Wednesday.
Seoul city officals have spent about a year selecting the name.
The new name is aimed at solving confusion caused by the differences between the Chinese characters ``漢城 (hancheng)'' as used by China and the original pronunciation of the city's name.
The official said the city had received ``very passive'' responses from the Chinese Embassy in Seoul regarding the name change.
Despite the city's intentions, the new name is not likely to meet ready acceptance among Chinese speakers.
``Seoul City is treating this as a very simple matter, but it could be a big issue in Chinese-speaking countries. The city should have at least cooperated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea,'' Xu Baokang, a correspondent from China's People's Daily, said during the news conference.
Citity officials note the Chinese names of some foreign cities, such as London and Moscow, are similar to the original pronunciation of those cities' names, but those names have been used naturally by Chinese people for over a hundred years
Seoul city officals have spent about a year selecting the name.
The new name is aimed at solving confusion caused by the differences between the Chinese characters ``漢城 (hancheng)'' as used by China and the original pronunciation of the city's name.
The official said the city had received ``very passive'' responses from the Chinese Embassy in Seoul regarding the name change.
Despite the city's intentions, the new name is not likely to meet ready acceptance among Chinese speakers.
``Seoul City is treating this as a very simple matter, but it could be a big issue in Chinese-speaking countries. The city should have at least cooperated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea,'' Xu Baokang, a correspondent from China's People's Daily, said during the news conference.
Citity officials note the Chinese names of some foreign cities, such as London and Moscow, are similar to the original pronunciation of those cities' names, but those names have been used naturally by Chinese people for over a hundred years
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