Why are the roads in many cities in China named after other places in China?

Road naming is a special resource and a special productivity

Looking at the history and later effects of place names and road naming at home and abroad, it can be said that place names and road naming are special Resources are a special kind of productivity in the information society. This can be seen from the recent naming of Shangri-La County in my country, to the fact that county-level cities in Yunnan, Hubei, Hebei and other provinces have recently approached the Shanghai Municipal Place Name Management Office and requested that roads in Shanghai be named after their cities to increase their visibility.

From a historical perspective, road names are the "fossils" of a city's history and culture. From a strategic perspective, road names are the overall image and business card of a city, and are an important issue in city management. It can be said that road naming is a comprehensive reflection of urban culture, city image, city business card, city's history and future. It is a systematic project involving politics, economy, culture, geography, architecture and other fields as well as sustainable development. Academically it has developed into a fringe subject. Scientifically standardizing urban road naming from a strategic perspective will bring huge social benefits, economic benefits and a soft environment for sustainable development. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that road naming is a special resource and a special productivity in the information society.

Although road naming is so "sacred", not every city can participate in "equal competition." For Beijing, the historical baggage is too heavy to reconsider the road naming as a whole; for Shanghai, it not only has historical baggage, but also because most of the place names of provinces, cities, counties, and towns were used in the past, it currently seems "overwhelming" and "resources are insufficient". exhausted". Therefore, it is almost certain that large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, London, and Paris may never have such opportunities precisely because of their historical connotations. Shenzhen is an emerging city and a new immigrant city in the world. It has almost no historical baggage and no inherent stereotypes. It is also famous for being good at pioneering and innovation, so it can draw the latest and most beautiful pictures. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that for Shenzhen, this is another God-given opportunity to strive for innovation. We believe that a good Shenzhen road naming scheme will bring an almost unique new development opportunity to Shenzhen, and it will certainly bring huge social and economic benefits. Here, as an ordinary Shenzhen citizen, we also express some opinions on standardizing road naming in Shenzhen:

We believe that road naming should first consider five major principles, namely:

1. Strategic and comprehensive , considered as a whole, it is conducive to sustainable economic development, conducive to improving the city's image, and conducive to people's lives. That is to say, it is conducive to the development of advanced productive forces, the development of advanced culture, and the interests of the people. We cannot just consider the naming of Shennan Avenue, otherwise it will not mean much;

2. Scientific, it must be regular, easy to remember and expand;

3. Normative, it must be Hierarchical, easy to compile and easy to find;

4. Historical, we must consider history, consider Shenzhen’s past, present and future, and withstand the test of history. It can be rooted in the spirit of contemporary Chinese people and passed on to future generations;

5. Special characteristics, we must consider Shenzhen’s special zone characteristics, immigration characteristics, international characteristics, high-tech characteristics, and the development of large-scale tourism , and topographic and geographical characteristics.

After considering the above five principles, we believe that standardizing road naming in Shenzhen can be divided into five levels, namely

1. Avenues-horizontal and main roads. Road naming mainly considers political significance. , such as Deng Xiaoping Avenue, Spring Avenue, Beijing Avenue, Zhonghua Avenue, Shenzhen Avenue, Innovation Avenue...;

2. Road - vertical direction, main road, road naming mainly considers the concept of Greater China and some famous mountains Dachuan is named, Hong Kong Road, Macao Road, Taiwan Road, Yangtze River Road, Yellow River Road...;

3. Branch roads - horizontal and vertical branch roads, road naming mainly considers the immigration characteristics of Shenzhen. Shenzhen belongs to the people of the whole country. Road naming should increasingly highlight immigrant culture and reflect the inclusive spirit of "opening up to all rivers", including all provinces, municipalities, and provincial capitals across the country. It should also be placed on the map of Shenzhen according to geographical location. Such as Shanghai Road and Nanjing Road to the east, Heilongjiang Road and Harbin Road to the northeast, Hainan Road and Guangzhou Road to the south, Urumqi Road and Xi'an Road to the northwest, Sichuan Road, Chongqing Road, and Lhasa Road to the southwest... Road names also have great economic significance in the competition in the "attention economy". It is understood that county-level cities in Yunnan, Hubei, Hebei and other provinces have recently approached the Shanghai Municipal Place Name Management Office and requested that roads in Shanghai be named after their cities to increase their visibility. Shenzhen may be more competitive and operable.

4. Streets - Shenzhen's international characteristics, high-tech characteristics, and the development of large-scale tourism should be considered. The naming of roads should include major cities around the world, Chinese and foreign scientists, and Chinese and foreign celebrities. Such as Paris Street, London Street, Rome Street, Tokyo Street, Bangkok Street, Cairo Street, New York Street, Nobel Street, Madame Curie Street, Einstein Street, Zu Chongzhi Street, Balzac Street, Cao Xueqin Street... This kind of road naming with special international characteristics, high-tech characteristics, and large-scale tourism is of great significance to attracting investment and developing tourism.

5. Numbers - other small streets use a combination of street names and numbers, such as Paris 12th Street, Zu Chongzhi 66th Street...;

As for street house numbers, the roads are divided into five levels. Finally, street house numbers can be renamed and combined with partition coordinates, using five major components: road name, partition, coordinates, room number, and household number. That is, Shenzhen is divided into several districts A, B, C, D... and then each district is divided into specific areas. Streets are marked with X and Y coordinates, such as No. A1122-123, Deng Xiaoping Avenue, which means it is in Area A of Deng Xiaoping Avenue, 11 horizontally, 22 vertically, room 123; Sichuan Road N2368-33, Paris Street H3518-788, etc. .

Therefore, from a strategic perspective and a sustainable development perspective, we should make full use of this special resource and this special productivity to standardize road naming in Shenzhen. Today is the right time, location, and people. We should not miss it. This God-given opportunity, this opportunity for innovation.