Tweet
Like it used to say in my profile, I'm a pedant at heart. So I thought I'd give my (very minor) two cents to the Civ3 project:
Firaxis obviously pride themselves on authenticity and realism, as SMAC's amazingly detailed Planet description proves. I wondered why they were using old spellings of Chinese place names, which confuse a modern PinYin reader such as myself. I suspected that they might not know the official names of the places. Hence, here follows a somewhat pedantic but nonetheless highly accurate list of Chinese place names.
If anybody else hails from another country represented in Civ3 and knows of more accurate spellings of their native cities, then please feel free to post them here. Pedantry loves company.
Official names (old fashioned names)
Beijing (Peking), Guangzhou (Canton), Nanjing (Nanking), Qingdao (Tsingtao), Xinjiang (Xinjian), Hangzhou (Hangchow), Tianjin (Tientsin), Datong (Tatung), Shandong (Shantung), Jinan (Qinan), Baoding (Paoting).
Those are the names in-game. Following is a list of the modern day largest cities in China, which might deserve an honorary mention (and pull the game out of an 18th Century state of current affairs). I arbitrarily include comparative statistics with American cities to give a sense of proportion.
3million+: Beijing, Luda, Shenyang, Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Wuhan (home of Chairman Yang), Guangzhou.
(9 such cities in China, 6 such cities in USA - New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles)
1million-3million: Qiqihar, Harbin, Jilin, Changchun, Fushun, Benxi, Anshan, Dandong, Tangshan, Datong, Huhehaote, Baotou, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Handan, Jinan, Qingdao, Zaozhuang, Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Baoji, Lanzhou, Xining, Huainan, Hefei, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Huangshi, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Nanchang, Changsha, Kaolun (Kowloon), Xiang Gang (Hong Kong), Guiyang, Kunming, Chengdu.
(38 such cities in China, 9 such cities in USA - Seattle, San Francisco, San Deigo, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Boston)
If Firaxis can find the time to briefly skim through the lists and pick city names from those, they will lend a greater air of credence and recognizability to the game. This goes especially for the (probably very substantial) segment of Chinese or Chinese-American players like myself.
Anybody else want to suggest official Civ city names?
Firaxis obviously pride themselves on authenticity and realism, as SMAC's amazingly detailed Planet description proves. I wondered why they were using old spellings of Chinese place names, which confuse a modern PinYin reader such as myself. I suspected that they might not know the official names of the places. Hence, here follows a somewhat pedantic but nonetheless highly accurate list of Chinese place names.
If anybody else hails from another country represented in Civ3 and knows of more accurate spellings of their native cities, then please feel free to post them here. Pedantry loves company.
Official names (old fashioned names)
Beijing (Peking), Guangzhou (Canton), Nanjing (Nanking), Qingdao (Tsingtao), Xinjiang (Xinjian), Hangzhou (Hangchow), Tianjin (Tientsin), Datong (Tatung), Shandong (Shantung), Jinan (Qinan), Baoding (Paoting).
Those are the names in-game. Following is a list of the modern day largest cities in China, which might deserve an honorary mention (and pull the game out of an 18th Century state of current affairs). I arbitrarily include comparative statistics with American cities to give a sense of proportion.
3million+: Beijing, Luda, Shenyang, Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Wuhan (home of Chairman Yang), Guangzhou.
(9 such cities in China, 6 such cities in USA - New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles)
1million-3million: Qiqihar, Harbin, Jilin, Changchun, Fushun, Benxi, Anshan, Dandong, Tangshan, Datong, Huhehaote, Baotou, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Handan, Jinan, Qingdao, Zaozhuang, Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Baoji, Lanzhou, Xining, Huainan, Hefei, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Huangshi, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Nanchang, Changsha, Kaolun (Kowloon), Xiang Gang (Hong Kong), Guiyang, Kunming, Chengdu.
(38 such cities in China, 9 such cities in USA - Seattle, San Francisco, San Deigo, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Boston)
If Firaxis can find the time to briefly skim through the lists and pick city names from those, they will lend a greater air of credence and recognizability to the game. This goes especially for the (probably very substantial) segment of Chinese or Chinese-American players like myself.
Anybody else want to suggest official Civ city names?
Comment