Literal Beijing Subway Station Names, Next Stop: Safe Chastity Gate
It must have been a slow news day over at The Wall Street Journal's China Real Time. Following the lead of some similarly busy people who translated the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway's (MTR) Chinese station names into literal English, the CRT crew cranked up Baidu's translation function and ran the Beijing Subway map through it.
The results are a mixed bag. It certainly makes Safe Chastity Gate (Anzhenmen) seem like less of a party destination, although it'd be nicer to walk home late at night through Safe Neighborhood (Pinganli). Cholera Camp (Huoying) is best avoided, but Dragon Pool (Longze) and Returning Dragon Temple (Huilongguan) can be visited together.
RELATED: See the Most Beautiful Map of Beijing's Subway Produced So Far
Not all the station names appear on the translated map. It's ironic that all of the stations have romanized names, although almost all are English place names or Hanyu Pinyin renderings of the station names. Have a look and see what you think. One thing's for sure: your daily commute from Double Well (Shuangjing) to Safe Forever Village (Yonganli) won't feel the same again.
See the enlarged map here. Did the China Real Time crew leave out your favorite literal station name? Let us know in the Comments section below.
