Chongqing Rail Transit Line 2. Photo/SCJiang
A small subway name is part of the landscape of a city. It reflects the water and soil of different places and carries the culture and history of each city.
"Next stop, four kilometers."
traveled to Chongqing. When I heard the subway report such a station name, I believe most people will be attracted. There are actually cities that use "km" to name subway stations, and have also created a series of "five kilometers", "six kilometers", "eight kilometers" and "nine kilometers" ? ! Such a unique naming method can always leave a deep impression on people from other places.
Of course, if you open the subway map of other cities in China, you will find that the subway stations in each city have their own unique naming characteristics.
In order to uncover the secrets of naming Chinese subway stations, we analyzed 177 subway lines, a total of 3,447 subway stations to see what common characteristics or uniqueness of subway stations in various cities in China have.
standard word for subway name
After sorting the data, first of all, what we want to know is what are the "standard" of Chinese subway station naming.
To solve this problem, we analyzed the word frequency of the station names operating subways across the country and drew a word cloud map:
Click to view the larger picture to see which subway names have the most words?
When you see this picture, do you smile knowingly and immediately think of the corresponding subway station?
If you live in Changchun, you will definitely see "Victory Park" or "People's Square" in your mind; if you live in Guangzhou, the first thing you think of may be "Tianhe Park" ; when you arrive in Wuhan, you may think of "Zhongshan Park" "Hongshan Square" ...
For a city, "park" and "plaza" are important cultural landmarks . Named after these two types of cultural landmarks, on the one hand, it is very clear in direction and can provide citizens or tourists with clear geographical positioning; on the other hand, using these landmarks as subway names can also help promote urban culture.
Guangzhou Metro, Park Front Station.
In addition to the "park" and "plaza", there is another common and important landmark building in the subway station name, that is, "train station" .
In traffic across cities or provinces, railway stations often take on important tasks, and for this reason, it has become a landmark building in various cities.
However, train stations are generally on the edge of the city. Self-driving or busing will increase people's transportation costs. Therefore, in order to facilitate people's travel, there are subway stations nearby, and the subway name will also be the same as the train station.
Wuhan Metro, Wuchang Railway Station.
favorite words for subway names
After counting the standard vocabulary, let’s take a look at what are the favorite words for Chinese subways.
By performing word frequency analysis on the station name texts of various subway lines across the country, we found that the word "road" ranks first with its absolute advantage!
Note: The names of the transfer stations may be counted many times, but because the number of these stations accounts for a very small proportion, it will not affect the final ranking results.
It can be said that no matter which city you go to, you can find different "roads" in the subway map.
Of course, this word can appear so many times, and there is a city that has made an indelible contribution, and it is "Shanghai". Among the six subway names with "roads", 264 are from Shanghai. What's more exaggerated is that subway stations named "roads" account for 62% of all subway stations in Shanghai!
Note: The transfer station will be calculated repeatedly, but the proportion is very small.
When opening the Shanghai subway line map, people always feel the illusion of looking at the map. "roads" extend in front of you, and where different lines meet, they are like intersections, :
Shanghai's subway network is particularly like maps?
What's amazing is that you can also see other provinces and cities on some routes. Taking Line 2, you can cross from "Jiangsu" to "Nanjing" ; taking Line 12, you will cross from "Shaanxi" to " Guilin " ; taking the train from Line 4, you can also go to "Tibet".... I took a Shanghai subway, as if I had traveled through most of China.
In fact, this unique naming method echoes the naming of roads in Shanghai.
Shanghai is a modern city. Many central urban areas have only developed in the past century. There are few landmark buildings, so many subway names are named after roads.
Influenced by the British Concession period "All streets that run north and south are named after provinces, and those travel east and west are named after cities" , Shanghai's road network has become an open "Map of China", and this network has also been extended to the naming of subway stations.
In Shanghai’s place names, you can find almost all provinces in China.
Name subways with roads has become a unique label for Shanghai, and old citizens are used to it, but for tourists, this single naming method can often make them dizzy.
The main reason here is that "road" is a line, pointing to a narrow and linear area . Unlike parks and train stations, it is a specific and clear "point" . Therefore, for those who are not familiar with Shanghai roads, the geographical direction is unclear.
In addition to "road", from the previous word frequency diagram, we can see that orientation word is also the common word when naming China's subway. In Harbin, you can see "Hasi", "Hannan", and "Hadong"; near Central Park in Chongqing, you can find "Central Park West", "Central Park East"; in Guangzhou, there are "College City North" and "College City South".
Harbin Metro Line 1 , from Harbin East to Hannan.
These are closely related to the naming of the landmark building itself or the location of the regional center.
However, although the orientation word is common in subways throughout China, you will definitely not find a second one that emphasizes east, west, south and north like Beijing!
Don’t believe it, if you open the subway map in Beijing, the entire subway line is symmetrical and regular. There is the west of Tiananmen Gate on the left, the east of Tiananmen Gate on the right, the south is the Tiantongyuan south, and the north is the north of Tiantongyuan. Some netizens joked that "just happened to gather a wave of Tianbei Tiannan Tianxi West Tiandong" , does it feel like a compass?
emphasizes the southeast, northwest, and symmetrical Beijing Metro .
In fact, Beijing is a square city, and the roads are also horizontal and vertically from north to south, from east to west. Correspondingly, Beijing's subway lines are also straight crossed, consistent with the direction of the city's "south and north".
In this city that brings the concept of "round and round sky" to the extreme, the old Beijingers in seem to have embedded a coordinate system in their heads, pointing to the direction, regardless of front, back, left and right, only southeast, west and north.
So, it is not surprising to see a bunch of directional words in the Beijing subway.
The lake and mountain colors of the subway
After finding the common characteristics, we also made word-frequency statistics on the subway station names of each city, and listed the top three subway station names used in each city.
Note: Here only counts cities where subway lines are more than 3 (including 3).In addition, in order to remove the impact of common words on the results, the words "park, square, avenue, railway station, center, large, road, east, west, south, north" and other words are removed during statistics. The city name in the subway name will not be included in the statistics.
Have you found that is located in some places surrounded by mountains and rivers, the subway name must have more "mountains and rivers".
Cities like Nanjing with many hills around it, and many "mountains" emerge in the subway. Taking the subway to is like "crossing mountains and ridges". : After climbing Jiuhua Mountain on Line 4, Jubao Mountain and Lingshan, turn S7 and climb Wuxiang Mountain, and then turn S8, you can also see Phoenix Mountain .
Just by reciting these simple names, you can imagine the beautiful and quiet scene.
The subway is known as "mountain", while the subway "water content" will also rise rapidly in cities close to rivers, lakes and seas.
For example, in port cities like Dalian, there will be many "ports" in the subway name: Donggang , Lushun Newgang , and Double D Port with very cute names (Double D, namely Digital DNA, respectively, represents digital and life technology. Double D Port is also an emerging science and technology city in Dalian). Such a combination of Chinese and Western names is rare in the country.
The picture shows the part where Dalian Jiuli Line and Line 3 are intersected. Among the names of subway stations in Dalian, the words "gang", "wan", "sea", "tan" and other words appear.
When you arrive in Suzhou and Hangzhou, there will be many "river" and "lakes" in the subway, such as Suzhou's Fenhu , Xinghu, Yinshan Lake , Dushu Lake , Yangcheng Lake, Wujiang Yongjiang ... Moreover, in places with a lot of water, there will be more bridges, so in the subway lines in Suzhou and Hangzhou, you will also see various bridges, such as Baodai Bridge, Shentang Bridge, Xianing Bridge, Caojia Bridge, Longxiang Bridge ...
Although the range of these names may be a district, not necessarily a specific bridge, , from the words, you can also see the beautiful scenery that belongs to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.
Looking further south, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, which have the same high moisture content, are not "jianghu", but "bays" with great geographical characteristics. Shenzhen has "Mangrove Bay", "Qianhai Bay" and "Shenzhen Bay" located between the northwest of the New Territories of Hong Kong and the Nanshan District of Shenzhen. Hong Kong has Kowloon Bay, Tsuen Wan, Causeway Bay , Shau Kei Wan, and Chai Wan.
Hong Kong Metro, just one Hong Kong Island Line , there are 5 "wans" including Wan Chai , Causeway Bay, Sai Wan He , Shau Kei Wan, Chai Wan and other 5 "wans".
These two cities are geographically close to the sea and have a longer coastline than other cities, so this terrain feature is also reflected in the subway name.
The subway name "water content" is relatively easy to understand, it depends on water. However, there is a city's subway that is very puzzling with a very high "sand content" , which is Guangzhou.
Some tourists were shocked by the "sand" in the subway line map when they first came to Guangzhou for fun. The most typical one here is Line 6, which is nicknamed "sand" in the history of Chinese subways. It includes five subway stations with sand, including " Hengsha , Shabei, River Sha , Huangsha, Shahe Ting".
Guangzhou Metro Line 6 , the line with the highest "sand content" in the history of China's subway.
Seeing so many names with sand, everyone’s first reaction may be beaches or sand, but in fact, in Guangzhou, “sand” has a special meaning.
It represents a small island formed by in the middle of the river due to the accumulation of silt in the river, or a small piece of flat land formed by the accumulation of silt along the coastal riverside. , for example, the large sandy land on Line 5, turned out to be a small island in the water.
Therefore, for those islands that have disappeared due to urban changes, the "sand" in the subway name has become a symbolic symbol, representing the terrain characteristics of Guangzhou and witnessing the changes in water and land.
Historical imprints in subway names
In addition to the lake and mountains, in subway names in China, you can also feel the heavy historical atmosphere.
If you go to Wuhan and Chongqing, you will definitely find that "home" appears the most frequently in the subway. Wuhan has 18 "homes" in subways and Chongqing has 22.
Take Wuhan as an example. Open the subway map and you can see Songjiagang, Wangjiadun, Yangjiawan, Luojiazhuang, Zhaojiatiao, Taojialing, Mengjiapu... From this, it turns out that in the subway station name, the word "jia" is used to connect it with the surname. Shuttle through these subway stations feels like visiting door to door.
In Wuhan, there are many place names named after surnames, all of which marks the origin and surname of the pioneers of that land. Finally, these names were also placed in the subway as landmark indicators.
Like Wuhan, it is particularly common in Chongqing to use surnames as place names.
According to Li Zhengquan, Chongqing’s place name culture research expert, before the Ming Dynasty, Chongqing had a relatively small population and its economy was backward; after the Ming Dynasty, economic exchanges in the upper and lower reaches of the Yangtze River increased, and Chongqing gradually developed. At this time, some aristocratic families appeared. The residences of these big families often occupy a large area and even form streets, so these areas were named , such as "Cao Family".
Another category is the big place names outside the old city, such as Yangjiaping and Xiaojiawan. These are the land that has occupied by poor farmers in the Huguang area of after the 20th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, and the land that has been occupied was after the period of the Qing Dynasty. So, the Yangjiaping and Xiaojiawan we saw today on the subway name also came with these place names.
In addition to the special naming format of "short name + home", the word "door" is also the word .
From the picture, we can see that Beijing subway uses the most "doors".
If you take the Beijing Metro Line 2 train, among the 18 subway stations, you will pass through "Fuchuangmen, Fuxingmen, Xuanwumen, Hepingmen, , Qianmen, Chongwenmen, Jianguomen, Chaoyangmen, Dongzhimen, Andingmen, , Xizhimen", and is like taking a train shuttle through the time tunnel. Each "door" is a history of rise and fall, witnessing the strong historical heritage of the imperial capital.
Unfortunately, most of these "doors" in Beijing only have "false names". If you leave these "doors", you may not see the actual scenery.
Many "ancient city gates" in Beijing subway are no longer visible now.
Like the familiar "Chaoyang Gate" (called "Qihua Gate" in the Yuan Dynasty), it disappeared into the smoke of history. In ancient times, Chaoyang Gate was a major transportation route to Beijing because it was very close to the "Tongzhou Wharf", a very important wharf at the northern end of the Grand Canal of Beijing. The grain and rice transported to Beijing from the south of entered the city through this gate and existed in the granary in the city. In 1900, when the Eight-Nation Alliance attacked Beijing, Chaoyang Gate was broken. Later, due to years of disrepair, Chaoyang Gate was also demolished.
1975, a ring railway station has been built inside the canal and suspension bridge junction outside Chaoyang Gate. / Wikipedia
However, it is gratifying that in the ancient capitals Xi'an and Nanjing, which also have rich historical accumulation, some ancient city gates have been repaired and preserved, so today we can still see them after walking out of the subway station.
When you arrive in Xi'an, you can see the "Yuxiang Gate" dug to commemorate General Feng Yuxiang, the most complete and beautiful " Yongning Gate " rebuilt among the gates of the Xi'an city wall, and the "Chaoyang Gate" located in the east of the city, symbolizing "rise against the sun".
"Six Dynasties Golden Powder Land, Jinling Imperial Prefecture", in Nanjing, which also has a long history, you can enjoy the largest existing "China Gate" in China, known as the "No. 1 Gun City in the World", and the "Yuhua Gate" with a very elegant and poetic name.
There are many things worth exploring in China's subway names. For example, some subway names are very elegant and sound like a pleasant feeling. For example, Beijing's Jintai Sunset, Xi'an's Taohuatan, Nanjing's Mochou Lake, Hong Kong's Xinghua Estate...
It can be said that a small subway name is part of the style of a city. It reflects the water and soil of different places and also carries the culture and history of each city.
Beijing's solemn and grandeur, Shanghai's modern and diverse, Hangzhou's poetic elegance, Guangzhou's Lingnan style, Chongqing's urban atmosphere... these are all hidden in the subway name.
So, if you want to quickly learn about a city, you might as well try starting with the subway name, you will definitely have a lot of unexpected gains!
Ps: Among the names of 3447 subway stations, the transfer station will be counted repeatedly, but this subway station accounts for a small proportion and its impact on the statistical results can be ignored. What subway station names are there in
that left a deep impression on you?
Come to the comment area and leave us a message!
References:
1. Qu Yanan. Sociolinguistic analysis of the name of subway stations in Nanjing [J]. Journal of Shijiazhuang Railway University: Social Sciences Edition, 2016, 10(4):56-61.
2. Yang Yang. Studying subway station names from a sociolinguistic perspective—taking Kunming as an example [J]. Journal of Hunan Mass Media Vocational and Technical College, 2014, 14 (6):75-77.
3. Yang Shiyu, Guo Min. Research on the naming method and cultural significance of Wuhan subway station names [J]. Modern Chinese (Language Research Edition), 2015(10): 104-106.
4. Wen Jicong. Viewing the construction of urban communication landscape from subway naming [D]. Zhejiang University, 2013.
5. Kong Delin, An Hao. On the cultural factors behind the translation of subway station names - Taking Beijing Metro Line 2 as an example [J]. Journal of Lanzhou University of Education, 2014, 30(08): 140-141+143.
6. Yang Yaomei. Sociolinguistics Analysis of Tianjin Subway Station Names[J]. Journal of Lanzhou University of Education, 2019, 35(01): 69-71.
7. Guan Zhong: Take "Prince of Horse" to walk on the roads in Shanghai to explore the magical road names, Guan Zhong, 2015.03.18
8. Revealing these place names with surnames in Chongqing, NetEase Chongqing, 2016.02.22
✎Author | Qian Tingting
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