1,006 Nameless Beijing Roads Finally Gifted Titles

Last Thursday (Jul 5), the government announced that they had successfully named the third batch of Beijing's nameless roads since last August, bringing the total to 1,006. Local authorities are on a mission to name all such undesignated streets in the capital in order to catalog them, make them easier to navigate, and we would assume, save the city's legion of kuadi and postal workers a life's worth of hair pulling.

Led by Beijing Municipal Commission for City Planning and Land Resources Management, the project completed the first batch of naming last November and the second in February. Names were taken into consideration based on a number of factors, including what the local residents referred to the roads by, nearby sites of interests, or allusion to the roads by historical documents. Experts, the related government departments, and even the public were then consulted before the names were settled on. One example of how research steered the process came after the planning department intended to name one hutong in Xicheng district Boxue Hutong until historians used documents to prove that the alley had in fact been called Bobo Hutong previously, explained Deputy Commissioner Guo Jian via people.cn (in Chinese).

One of the more controversial namings (or unnamings, for that matter) was that of Geyu Lu near Baiziwan. Back in 2013, China Central Academy of Fine Arts' student Ge Yulu (pictured above) noticed that the 100-meter stretch of road was unmarked. As an "artistic performance" he went about putting up signs that designated it as Geyu Lu, after himself. It wasn't long before the prank was legitimized, first appearing on popular map app Gaode later that year, then by local authorities who printed the name on metal tags for the road's street lights, and then finally by Baidu Maps in 2016. As harmless as Ge Yulu's trick was, one can begin to imagine the government's less than humored reaction when you consider that there are only three roads in the entirety of Beijing named after people: Zhangzizhong Lu (张自忠路), Zhaodengyu Lu (赵登禹路), and Tonglinge Lu (佟麟阁路), all named after famous generals who fought during the Sino-Japanese War.

According to Guo Jian, many hutongs will be reunited with their old names, such as the nameless “snack street” near Xidan Mingzhu Mall, which will reacquire the name Guoxia Hutong, as well as Dongsi's Xiangfeng Hutong.

If you happen to stumble across a road that appears to be unnamed, the Beijing Municipal Planning Commission is asking citizens to help by calling their road hotline on 6805 6699 (which is no doubt off the hook 24-7).

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
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Photos: sohu, qq, takefoto,, sinaimg