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CONTENTS:
Notes about China
(Almost Seriously)
Short names of Chinese provinces
The official names of Chinese administrative-territorial units are well-known. To see them is easy — simply by glancing at the map of China. They consist of usually two (except for Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia) characters.
But they also have other names consisting of only one hieroglyph. Those are less known outside China.
Their origins are not the same. In some cases they are the historical names of ancient China's areas, in other cases they are simply the parts of full names.
The table below contains the names of provinces, autonomous regions, directly administered or province-level cities and special administrative regions, followed by putonghua transcription.
| Peking | 北京 | běijīng | 京 | jīng |
| Tientsin | 天津 | tiānjīn | 津 | jīn |
| Shanghai | 上海 | shànghǎi | 沪 | lú |
| Chongqing | 重庆 | chóngqìng | 渝 | yú |
| Hebei | 河北 | héběi | 冀 | jì |
| Shanxi | 山西 | shānxī | 晋 | jìn |
| Liaoning | 辽宁 | liáoníng | 辽 | liáo |
| Jilin | 吉林 | jílín | 吉 | jí |
| Heilongjiang | 黑龙江 | hēilóngjiāng | 黑 | hēi |
| Jiangsu | 江苏 | jiāngsū | 苏 | sū |
| Zhejiang | 浙江 | zhèjiāng | 浙 | zhè |
| Anhui | 安徽 | ānhuī | 皖 | wǎn |
| Fujian | 福建 | fújiàn | 闽 | mǐn |
| Jiangxi | 江西 | jiāngxī | 赣 | gàn |
| Shantung | 山东 | shāndōng | 鲁 | lǔ |
| Henan | 河南 | hénán | 豫 | yù |
| Hubei | 湖北 | húběi | 鄂 | è |
| Hunan | 湖南 | húnán | 湘 | xiāng |
| Guangdong | 广东 | guǎngdōng | 粤 | yuè |
| Hainan | 海南 | hǎinán | 琼 | qióng |
| Sichuan | 四川 | sìchuān | 川 | chuān |
| Guizhou | 贵州 | guìzhōu | 黔 or 贵 | qián or guì |
| Yunnan | 云南 | yúnnán | 滇 or 云 | diān or yún |
| Shaanxi | 陕西 | shǎnxī | 陕 or 秦 | shǎn or qín |
| Gansu | 甘肃 | gānsù | 甘 or 陇 | gān or lǒng |
| Qinghai | 青海 | qīnghǎi | 青 | qīng |
| Tibet | 西藏 | xīzàng | 藏 | zàng |
| Guangxi | 广西(壮) | guǎngxī(zhuàng) | 桂 | guì |
| Inner Mongolia | 内蒙古 | nèiměnggǔ | 蒙 | měng |
| Ningxia | 宁夏(回) | níngxià(huí) | 宁 | níng |
| Xinjiang | 新疆(维吾尔) | xīnjiāng(wéiwúěr) | 新 | xīn |
| Hong Kong | 香港 | xiānggǎng | 港 | gǎng |
| Macau | 澳门 | àomén | 澳 | ào |
| Taiwan | 台湾 | táiwān | 台 | tái |
Despite of being less common, these names have their sphere of usage. For example, on motor vehicles' licence plates.
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© Dmitry Alemasov
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