#68 𝙄 𝙇𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙈𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 (𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚) 𝙄𝙣 𝙎𝙖𝙣 𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤

The Chinese names of local cities in China and sometimes foreign cities with Chinatowns are interesting as they do reveal some historical backgrounds like how this post demonstrates.

Dec 05, 2023

With the recent APEC Leaders' meeting being held at San Francisco, I think it is interesting to visit its Chinese name as it is unique. This is because it is common for the Chinese to call it 旧金山 (Jiu Jin Shan) lit. old gold mountain than the transliterated name 三藩市 (San Fan Shi). This is evident as both China CCTV news and BBC (Chinese version) reported as such (see above).

When referring to names of countries and cities, you will find that transliterated names are preferred like New York which is 纽约 (Niu Yue) as I think it is helpful as foreigners could pick up what you mean when you are trying to strike up a conversation.

Actually one misconception I find on the internet is that some people think that Chinese are admirers of the US given that its Chinese name is 美国 lit. beautiful country. This is incorrect as 美国 is an abbreviation of the full name 美利坚合众国 and 美利坚 (Mei Li JIan) is the transliteration of America and 合众国 is the literal translation of "United States". You might have noticed that "A" sound is missing in the transliteration but actually in the unequal Treaty of Wanghia (望厦条约) signed in 1844, US was known as 亚美理驾洲大合众国 and 亚美理驾 (Ya Mei Li Jia) is actually a complete transliterated name than 美利坚. A snapshot of the treaty is shown below.

As for 旧金山, the gold mountain refers to the gold mine and with the California gold rush that began in 1848, it attracted mainly Chinese from Guangdong region to seek a better life for himself and his family by working at the gold mines, and we know these are risky jobs. But if San Francisco is "old" gold mountain, then what is the "new" gold mountain? Indeed 新金山 (new gold mountain) refers to the discovery of gold mines in Melbourne from 1950s onwards which attracted Chinese workers too.

Below are some captivating photos of 旧金山.