Why did Seoul change its name to Seoul?

Seoul was called Hanyang in ancient times, and there is also a very famous university in Seoul called Hanyang University.

It was renamed "Seoul" during the Korean dynasty.

Later, Korea became a Japanese colony and was forced to change its name to "Beijing"

1945 After South Korea declared its independence, it was renamed "Seoul". The word "Seoul" means "capital" in Korean. At that time, people didn't want to keep the memory of Japanese rule or restore the memory of ancient China as a subordinate country, so they just called the capital "Seoul" without a name.

However, due to South Korean protests, China kept its previous name "Seoul" until 2005 when it was translated into today's "Seoul".

Actually, South Korea changed its name to "Seoul" a long time ago, that is, 1945, but China has never changed its translation.

Author: anonymous user

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Why did South Korea change its capital to the Chinese name "Seoul"? The explanations of South Korean officials such as Lee Myung-bak, mayor of Seoul, South Korea, are far-fetched. Because even if the Chinese name of "Seoul" is changed to "Seoul", there is still confusion in translation and usage habits. And not all foreign place names in Chinese are translated on the basis of pronunciation. For example, Oxford and Cambridge in Britain are not transliterated, while SsltLakeCity in the United States and LittleRock in Arkansas are both free translations. ?

The title of "Seoul" follows the usage of ancient Korean historical dynasties. 1394, Li Chenggui moved from Jingkai to Hanyang, officially named Hansong. This name has been used in Chinese for more than 600 years. After World War II, South Korea called Seoul the "capital" of Korean, which was transliterated as Seoul in English, but the written Chinese characters in South Korea were still written as Seoul. Therefore, it can be said that the change of the Chinese name of the Korean capital is by no means as simple as it seems, but contains profound reasons and other complicated considerations. ?

With the rise of nationalism at the end of 19, there appeared a trend of thought in South Korea, which believed that we could not correctly understand our national culture and objectively evaluate the influence of China culture on Korean national culture, but should get rid of the influence of China culture. After World War II, Korean nationalism developed further, and Korean phonetic characters were used as special characters by law. Since 1970, Chinese characters in Korean primary and secondary school textbooks have been cancelled, and phonography has been used completely. ?

With the rise of South Korea's economy, this ultra-nationalist sentiment has further developed. 1988 Before the Seoul Olympic Games, the South Korean government ordered the cancellation of all Chinese characters on the plaque to emphasize the national culture of South Korea. ?

It was not until1February 1999 that President Kim Dae-jung ordered the partial lifting of the restrictions on the use of Chinese characters. However, there are fierce opposition forces in South Korea, fearing that this measure will lead to the proliferation of Chinese characters and the demise of Korean. ?

Therefore, in a sense, South Korea's Chinese name "Seoul" is a manifestation of the continuation and development of its nationalism in the new situation. ?

In addition, "Seoul" is a name used by China people hundreds of years ago. Although it was written by ancient Korean ancestors, modern Koreans always feel that it is not their own name, and it is easily associated with the Han Dynasty in China. For the Han Dynasty, some Koreans lacked a correct view of history and thought that the four counties (special topics and galleries) established by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in Korea were an invasion of the Korean Peninsula. ?

Therefore, some Koreans have a bad psychological complex about this name and intend to change the translation. ?

So in this sense, the Korean official's explanation of the name change is only superficial. It is an attempt to cover up a deeper psychological complex with international practices, facilitate international exchanges, and try to get rid of the profound influence of Chinese character culture on South Korea. ?

We should take a more peaceful and understanding attitude towards this. The Korean nation has been enslaved by Japanese invaders in history. It is understandable to vigorously carry forward the culture of the Korean nation, strengthen the dominant position of the national culture, and strive to get rid of the influence of foreign culture. Should not be casually labeled as narrow. ?

On the other hand, while maintaining and developing its own national culture, South Korea should also adopt a sublation attitude towards foreign cultures, especially the profound China culture, and should not reject them regardless of good or bad. In fact, the profound China culture has made great contributions to the emergence and development of Korean national culture. ?

South Korea has the right to change the Chinese translation of its capital, but China and other countries with Chinese rights also have the right to accept or not accept this new translation. Whether to accept or not is also the right of China and other Chinese-speaking countries, and South Korea should respect it. Because for China and other countries, it is not only a translation problem, but also involves historical habits, economic costs and other issues.