Plan B Forum

Hard-to-pronounce British place names are getting a Mandarin makeover with sometimes surprising results, Britain's tourism agency said on Monday as part of a campaign to encourage more Chinese tourists.



VisitBritain released 101 new suggested names for famous landmarks provided by the Chinese public through online polling on social media.

London's iconic skyscraper "The Shard" could be "A tower allowing us to pluck stars from the sky" in Chinese, and Savile Row, well known for its high-end tailors, could become "Tall, rich, handsome street" or "Custom-made rich people street".

The proposed Mandarin name for the Scottish delicacy "haggis" is "Made of sheep's stomach and smells good", while Edinburgh's Royal Mile avenue is: "A beautiful street with long history and profound culture".

Hadrian's Wall, the ruin that marked the northern frontier of the Roman Empire, is the grand-sounding "Wall of Eternity" and the seaside resort of Blackpool could be "A place that is happy to visit".

"Digital engagement is one of our strengths and this campaign has been hugely effective at driving this with our potential Chinese visitors," Sally Balcombe, chief executive of VisitBritain said in a statement.

Chinese visitors to Britain spent nearly £500 million ($A987 million) in 2013 and the government is aiming to double that amount by 2020.

The number of tourists to Britain reached a record high of 34.8 million in 2014 - six per cent higher than in 2013, VisitBritain said.

Take a look at some of the other Chinese names for British attractions in the gallery above.

"Tall, rich, handsome street"

Fancy a visit to Healthy-lung Village or Silver Peak? Or a loaf of Good Morning Bread?

Believe it or not these phrases are among those which have been devised by thousands of Chinese people to describe well-known Welsh tourist sites and goods.

Healthy-lung Village was the phrase devised to describe Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch - because you need good lung power to produce it - and Silver Peak depicts Snowdonia.

Meanwhile Good Morning Bread is actually a description of laver bread.

Can you guess which Welsh tourist sites these phrases describe?

Grab a torch to visit the castle
Red shadow castle
Mountain River Walkway
Green Wave Bay
Perfect place with seaside view

It plays on the trend in China to give Mandarin names to favourite celebrities, places and foods, with the new names describing what people think of them.

So what next for the newly named places? Can we expect to see road signs to Sun Rise Beach (Rhossili Bay)?

Although Hay Festival shouldn't have any problems using their moniker Town of Literature, Abergavenny Food Festival might find their phrase Welsh Town Feast a bit harder to fit onto leaflets.


Answers: 1. Carreg Cennen Castle, 2. Castell Coch, 3. Brecon Beacons, 4. Freshwater West, 5. Pembrokeshire.