Elementary - China's Most Famous Tourist Destinations

Hi, in the supplementary sentences section for this lesson, it would be really helpful to actually have some descriptive sentences for the famous destinations, instead of just listing them. Such as, "The Summer Palace covers nearly three square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water," or some such. It's much easier to memorize the vocabulary that way. 

Chinesepod,

Would someone help to clarify? Is the second character in Tibet (zang4 藏) the same character as that to mean - conceal or to hide. If it is, then it is very clever - Xanadu connotation; unless, of course, it is straight translation from Tibetan. Are they pronounce the same?

/rl

Hi rloh10

You are correct-- the character 藏 can also be read cang2, meaning "to conceal, to store."

There is a common misconception that the Chinese word for Tibet, 西藏 means "Western Treasure House." Some commentators even take this so far as to say it reveals the exploitative attitude of the Chinese toward Tibet.

Politics aside, there is no solid linguistic proof for this argument. The origin of the name is actually related to a nearby river, written Tsang in English. Many province names include a cardinal direction and a relevant bit of geography-- 江西，山东，河北， etc.

Thanks, Pete. Unlike the West, it is quite interesting that almost all place names in China are based on the topography or terrain of that named spot, and that covers airports, street, etc. (unless, of course, names of family or clans) I do not recall any places named after an individual (e.g. there will never be a Mao Zedong Airport).

Hi Rich,

Is Confucius considered an individual ?

rioh10, Taipei used to call its main airport, Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (changed under 陈水扁 in 2006).  Also, there are streets and such named after Sun Yat-sen.

Still, I agree that it's unlikely that we will see a Mao Zedong airport anytime soon on the mainland.