Abstract
In this paper, I examine the trends of place names of Beijing's Hutongs, which have survived from the Ming and Qing periods into the modern era, and the manner in which these place names have changed during the Republican period, the Cultural Revolution period, and since the 1990s. My findings are as follows: firstly, in all periods, the place names of Hutongs have tended to be of 'expressive-form' type; secondly, the changed names have tended to be of 'ideographic-form' type; and thirdly, in recent years place names face the threat of obliteration due to urban development. In spite of government policy to conserve traditional Hutong place names and conservation action taken by citizens, there is an increase in use of mammonistic place names, that is, names incorporating the characters for "gold" or "silver", and of place names modeled on fashionable loan-words. These new trends are said to be threatening the identity which Beijing citizens have established over centuries of history and so, there is an urgent need to conserve the place names of Hutongs in order to preserve this traditional identity.
