China's richest and most cosmopolitan city, Shanghai, has banned the use of "feudal, aristocratic, foreign and immoral" names for buildings as it seeks to raise cultural standards, a spokeswoman said.
The city's building boom on the back of more than a decade of double-digit economic growth has spawned a forest of high rises, each trying to compete with its neighbour with outrageous names such as "Artistic Music" and "Graceful Oasis" to attract buyers. Most names bear no resemblance to their colourful descriptions and contribute to Shanghai's growing urban sprawl.
But in the city known in the swinging 1920s as the "Paris of the East" for its beautiful buildings, all names judged to offend "racial harmony" and "territorial integrity" will have to be changed by September next year, city spokeswoman Jiao Yang said on Wednesday.
"It is expressly ruled that you cannot use words that offend national sovereignty, territorial integrity or racial harmony, and also feudal and aristocratic titles or words that are immoral," Jiao told a news conference.
"It is to help improve the quality of the city," Jiao told a news conference.
Building complexes will no longer be able to call themselves "gardens" unless more than half their area is covered in greenery, she said. Anything purporting to be a "mountain village" will have to be near a mountain - somewhat hard in the flat-as-a-pancake metropolis.
Among the more outlandish building names are Buckingham Palace and Merlin Champagne Town.
Traditional Chinese characters - used in Hong Kong and Taiwan but phased out on the mainland by the Communists - are on the banned list too. Their use has been on the rise in China in recent years because they are seen as more classy and cultured.
It is unclear if the English names for buildings, which often draw gasps of astonishment from bemused foreigners, will also be subject to the new rule.
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