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Literal Meaning
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Origin
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City
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Western Peace
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Originally "Chang'an" meaning "Eternal Peace", the capital of several of the most important dynasties in Chinese history and the starting point of the silk road. The current name was adopted in 1369 under the early Ming dynasty.
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Xi'an
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Become a Metropolis
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The ninth king of Shu's Kaiming dynasty (early 4th century BC) named his new capital after a statement by King Tai of Zhou that a settlement needed "one year to become a town, two to become a city, and three to become a metropolis".
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Chengdu
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"Guang" County
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Taken from the ancient Guang Province (AD 226), means "broad" or "expansive" and refers to the intention to dispense imperial grace broadly in the region with the founding of county of Guangxin in Han Dynasty.
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Guangzhou
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"Su" County
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A contraction of the mountain and old name Gusu. The sū in its name refers to the mint perilla (shiso)
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Suzhou
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Upon-the-Sea
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During the Tang dynasty the city was literally on the sea. In the 11th-century Song dynasty, there was already a river confluence and a town with this name in the area.
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Shanghai
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Doubled Celebration
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In 1189, the city was renamed after Prince Zhao Dun of the Southern Song dynasty described his crowning as king and then Emperor Guangzong as a "double celebration"
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Chongqing
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The Emperor's Ford
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Bestowed by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming, who crossed the Gu River on his way south to overthrow his nephew the Jianwen Emperor in the Jingnan Campaign (1399-1402)
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Tianjin
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Northern Capital
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Applied to the city in 1403 during the Ming dynasty to distinguish the two cities, after the Jingnan Campaign (1399-1402) Yongle Emperor began the preparation for relocating the imperial capital from the south to the north.
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Beijing
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Southern Capital
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Nanjing
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Beautiful Pasture (in Oirat)
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The Dzungar Khanate controlled the city before it was taken by the Qing in 1755 in the Dzungar genocide. The Manchus began to construct a walled city in 1763, and the Qianlong Emperor had named the new settlement "Dihua", meaning "to enlighten". Following the founding of the People's Republic of China, the city's name was officially changed back to its Dzungar Oirat name in 1954.
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Ürümqi
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Fragrant Harbour
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"Fragrance" may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's fresh water influx from the Pearl River estuary or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The name was recorded in the Treaty of Nanking (1842) between the United Kingdom and the Qing dynasty of China after the First Opium War.
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Hong Kong
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Green Island
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Refer to a small lush island on Jiaozhou Bay, the fortification was seized by German troop in 1897 and the area conceded to Germany who then outfitted the impoverished fishing village and built a modern city, including the establishment of the Germania Brewery in 1903, which later became the world-famous Tsingtao Brewery.
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Qingdao
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Distant or Remote (in Russian)
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Built by the Russian as part of Kwantung Leased Territory leased in 1898 for 25 years and called Dalniy (Дальний). After the Russo-Japanese War, it was transferred to the Japanese and renamed to Dairen (大連/だいれん)
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Dalian
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Place of Drying Fishnets (in Manchu)
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Founded in 1898 with the coming of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which the Russian Empire had financed, the city grew from a small rural settlement and prospered as a region inhabited by an overwhelming majority of the immigrants from the Russian Empire.
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Harbin
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Wu[chang] and Han[kou]
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In 1926, the Northern Expedition decided to merge Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang into one city in order to make a new capital for Nationalist China. Wuchang (literally "prospering from military", regarding its logistics role of the military bases established before the Battle of Red Cliffs) was renamed in AD 221 when warlord Sun Quan moved the capital of Eastern Wu. The "Han" in Hankou (literally means "Mouth of the Han") is from its position at the confluence of the Han with the Yangtze River.
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Wuhan
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