A city in northern China has abandoned its attempt to rename dozens of streets after famous Chinese idioms linked to the city’s ancient past, after admitting that even locals found the phrases “difficult to remember.”

Handan, a city of nearly 10 million people in the northern Hebei province, is well-known in China for being the nation’s capital of chengyu — pithy, four-character idioms that often reference famous stories from Chinese history.

By some estimates, the former ancient capital has over 1,500 chengyu associated with it, including a number of popular phrases that reference the city directly.

In an attempt to take advantage of this unusual claim to fame, local authorities in Handan renamed 33 streets in one of the city’s main business districts after some of these well-known idioms and historical figures in 2020.

The move — which local officials said was designed to give the city a “unique cultural flavor” — was widely praised at the time, winning Handan nationwide publicity.

But just four years later, the city is scrapping the project, after conceding that using chengyu as road names had often proved to be impractical.

On July 30, local authorities announced that 19 of the streets that had been renamed — 16 of which are chengyu-inspired — would have their names changed once again. It added that the new names would be short and straightforward.

Many of the chengyu associated with Handan spring from its history as the capital of the ancient kingdom of Zhao, which fought — and lost — a bitter war against the rival states of Qin and Chu for control of ancient China over 2,000 years ago.

One of the street names to be abandoned, for example, referenced a chengyu dating from this period: yiyanjiuding, which roughly translates as “one word is worth nine sacred tripods.”

The idiom has a meaning similar to the English phrase “a word worth its weight in gold,” and refers to an incident during the Warring States period (475–221 BC) when a courtier from the Zhao state managed to convince the king of Chu to send troops to aid Handan, which was under siege by Qin forces at the time.

Though the story is well-known in China, the name Yiyanjiuding Lu (meaning road) hardly tripped off the tongue, and the same went for other chengyu-inspired names, such as Jiangxianghe Lu, or “Harmony Between the General and Prime Minister Road.”

Handan residents mostly appear to be relieved to hear that the street names will be changed. “The original intention of highlighting the city’s heritage was good, but they underestimated the difficulty of accepting and using chengyu,” read a highly upvoted comment on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Zhao Xuyi, a Handan resident who works near one of the affected roads, echoed this view. In 2020, she was initially in favor of the plan, she told Sixth Tone.

“When this district was first planned, we felt that using idioms for street names added cultural depth and was quite unique. It highlighted Handan’s reputation as the ‘city of chengyu,’” Zhao said.

But it soon became clear that the names were troublesome to use on a daily basis, Zhao said. Delivery drivers, taxi drivers, and local residents alike struggled to remember the names, let alone use them to give directions.

“From a practical perspective, especially for commuters, renaming the roads will make traveling more convenient,” she said.

Zhao added that there are more effective ways to use street names to reflect the city’s heritage. Several streets in Handan, for example, are named after historical figures, such as Lian Po Street and Mao Sui Street, both prominent individuals from the Warring States period.

“These names are unique yet easy to remember,” said Zhao.

Meanwhile, local residents have sought assurances from the government that the decision to rename the roads once again won’t cost them anything. Many are concerned that they will need to waste time and money reapplying for official documents now that their official address has changed.

Despite authorities in Handan promising that documents linked to the old street names will remain valid, and that they will issue new documents with the updated names, these concerns persist.

Sun Tianran, a Chinese teacher based in Handan, said that there was no need to name roads after chengyu in the first place, as the phrases are already ingrained in people’s minds anyway.

“If a change is just about (the city’s) image, and doesn’t consider the convenience of the public, it can backfire, wasting time, money, and effort,” said Sun.

Renaming the streets was bound to cause people inconvenience, he added. “If streets are to be renamed, the affected residents’ documents and IDs should be updated; otherwise, it will create confusion.”

(Header image: Children use an interactive exhibit showing the origins of famous Chinese idioms at Handan Museum in Handan, Hebei province, Jan. 21, 2024. IC)