改革开放以来中国县改市地名中的专名更名问题及其建议

Rename in county-to-city upgrading in China since the reform and opening-up

改革开放以来,我国75例县改市更改专名的历史经验是,应尽量维持地名稳定,能不改的尽量不要改,必须更改专名时,要严格执行相关法律法规的规定,新市名的命名要参考更名经验中得出的禁止性、建议性原则,原有政区专名存在问题的,应借区划调整之机加以改正。禁止性原则包括,全国范围内县市及以上政区不能同名、同音;不能以跨政区的地物、驻地以外的乡镇、捏造的历史政区和不稳定时期或破坏领土主权完整、民族团结的地名命名新市名。建议性原则包括,不以驻地为名;不要改掉重要的历史地名;不应出现单名市;不要叠加政区通名;以历史政区命名,应尽量与当时所代表的地域范围相吻合。新时期有序推动县改市应谨慎更名、科学命名。

With the adoption of county-to-city upgrading policy,75 cases of places have been renamed since 1978.Under current regulations on administrative divisions,namely‘The Provisions on Administrative Division Management by the State Council’and‘Regulations of Place-name Management’,49 cases have a requisite for the name change,whereas 26 cases do not.The circumstances of renaming a place with rationality in the county-to-city upgrading require special consideration:one is a county with a single-character place-name,the other is one sharing the same name with another one or causing homophone problems.There are five types of substitution:38 cases are renamed after their historical administrative districts;29 cases are named after their cities that house county government;12 cases are in honour of wellknown towns,ports,mountains,scenic spots or institutions within respective jurisdiction;and other instances including additional characters to pre-existing single-character name and substitute an inappropriate or embarrassing name with an elegant one.Principles that emerge out of previous experience come as follows:the stability of place-name should be maintained;renaming under requisite circumstances;to ensure full compliance with relevant laws and regulations when renaming;follow the principles which are prohibited and recommended;change the problematic place-names when administrative divisions will be adjusted,for example,by resolving the problem of simplifying Chinese characters in place-name,restoring and promoting place-names’culture.Prohibition principles include that counties and cities should not share the same name or cause homophone problems;the names of crossing-district geographic entities,of towns without county seat,of no historical fact in administrative divisions,of historical periods without political stability,of aiming at undermining the territorial integrity of sovereignty and national unity are unacceptable and prohibited.Recommended principles of renaming a new city include:no implication of the seat of local government;no change of important historical place-names;no use of single-character name;no use of generic name as specific name;the application of historical place-name should be identical to the administrative area it represents.In the process of county-to-city upgrading,cautions should be taken on the basis of historical experience and scientific principles.