Aerial photo shows a section of the Lhasa-Nagqu high-grade highway (R) and the Qinghai-Tibet railway in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Photo: Xinhua)

The Ministry of Civil Affairs released the fourth list of standardized geographical names in Zangnan (the southern part of Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region) on Saturday. According to the official website of the ministry, 30 additional publicly used place names in the Zangnan region has been officially revealed.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs standardized the names of 11 places in Zangnan using Chinese characters, Tibetan and pinyin in April 2023.

The April 2023 issuance was the third list of standardized geographical names in Zangnan published by the ministry. The first list of the standardized names of six places in Zangnan was released in 2017, while the second list of 15 places was issued in 2021.

The ministry published implementation measures on March 15 addressing the management of geographical names, which detailed the requirements for the translation of place names in ethnic minority or foreign languages into Chinese characters. 

Set to take effect from May 1, 2024, the implementation measures stipulate in Article 13 that "place names in foreign languages that may harm China's territorial claims and sovereignty rights shall not be directly quoted or translated without authorization."

Translation of place names in foreign languages or minority languages should comply with standards formulated by related organs of the State Council. Standard translations are made public through notices, the national database for geographical names and official publications on geographical names, according to the implementation measures. 

The measures also clarified that names of a person, company or trademark should not be used as geographical names and specified the general rules and procedures of naming or renaming localities. 

The State Council issued a revised regulation on place names in April 2022, which is applicable to naming, renaming, usage, cultural protection and other management on geographical names within Chinese territories.