China's Ministry of Civil Affairs on Friday published implementation measures addressing the management of geographical names, which detailed the requirements for translation of place names in ethnic minority or foreign languages into Chinese characters.
Set to take effect from May 1, 2024, the implementation measures stipulated in Article 13 that "place name in foreign language that may harm China's territorial claims and sovereignty rights shall not be directly quoted or translated without authorization."
Translation of place names in foreign languages or minority languages should comply with standards formulated by related organs of the State Council. The standard translations are made public through notices, the national database for geographical names and official publications on geographical names, according to the implementation measures.
The measures released on Friday also clarified that names of a person, company or trademark should not be used as geographical names and specified the general rules and procedures of naming or renaming localities.
