2006-06-29 02:50:14 · 5 answers · asked by John T 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
We called it Peking until the 1970's (I think that's when), when we revised our pronunciation of several Chinese words to make the English match the sound of the Chinese words better. That's why we have Peking duck, even though the city is now spelled Beijing.
2006-06-29 06:17:21 · answer #1 · answered by cross-stitch kelly 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Beijing is a very old city and it has actually had more than two names in its long history, YanJing and BeiPing were also once used to refer to what is now Beijing. By the way Bei = Northern. Jing = Capital. NanJing = Southern Capital, and the word Tokyo in Mandarin is DongJing, or Eastern Capital.
2006-07-03 18:24:01 · answer #2 · answered by W.L.O. Global 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Peking is in the Cantonese dialect, which is the dialect spoken by most "Western" Chinese.
Beijing is the same name in the Mandarin dialect, spoken by the majority in mainland China.
2006-06-29 19:14:53 · answer #3 · answered by JP 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Peking was the original name Bejing is what the communists call it.
2006-06-29 02:54:25 · answer #4 · answered by booboo 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
different dialects of different rulers at different times.
2006-06-29 02:53:46 · answer #5 · answered by Black Fedora 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋