A Vienna International Hotel in Sanya City in southern China's Hainan Province is seen on June 20, 2019. The hotel chain is amongst 84 names listed by the Civil Affairs Department in Hainan whose names are in need to be "cleaned up" due to various reasons including "worship and have blind faith in foreign things." China is cracking down on "foreign" names under a new campaign, stirring controversy amid a government-backed tide of rising nationalistic sentiment. Chinatopix via AP
BEIJING—The Manhattan neighborhood, Venice Garden, the Vienna hotel chain—to the ears of the Chinese regime, the names are too foreign-sounding and must go.
Provinces and cities across China have been issuing notices pressuring both private and public officials to rename businesses, bridges and neighborhoods, reflecting renewed efforts by Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government to “sinicize” China.
