HOW THE CHINESE SEE OUR SIGHTS
LOVERS of science fiction won’t want to miss the Castle Of Love From Outer Space, while devotees of Greek mythology will find Poseidon’s Trident a mustsee. The Forest Of Chivalrous Thieves is an equally unmissable destination.
This may sound like the psychedelic travel itinerary of an imaginative bookworm, but these are the names that Chinese visitors have given to Balmoral Castle, The Needles on the Isle of Wight, and Sherwood Forest.
And these are the restrained suggestions. Outlandish names for the more materialistically minded include A Place Filled With Things To Attract Yuppies And Fashionable Ladies ( Knightsbridge in west London) and Custom- Made For Rich People Street ( London’s Savile Row).
These enigmatic and intriguing names come from a £ 1.6million campaign run in China by British tourist chiefs seeking to cash in on the Chinese habit of giving our landmarks and national customs new monikers rather than literal translations.
“The Chinese are fascinated with all things British,” says a spokesperson for VisitBritain, the national tourist agency that invited Chinese people to tweet alternative names. “They like to rename things as a term of endearment, so we decided to build on this.”
Each of the 101 UK destinations featured in the campaign will have a chance to vote on which of several top- polled names they wish to adopt. They can then use the Chinese characters in their advertising material in a bid to lure tourists.
How many of the new names will be formally adopted remains to be seen, but Mario Zanti, general manager of The Needles, is delighted by the new name for the majestic chalk pinnacles that soar from the English Channel. “Poseidon’s Trident is certainly a fitting alternative name – an association with the god of the sea befits a national coastal landmark of our stature,” he says proudly.
Last year, 200,000 Chinese tourists spent £ 500million here and tourism chiefs hope to see both figures double by 2020, by which point China is predicted to have become the number one global economy.
On average, Chinese visitors spend four times more than other nationalities during their stay.
Three years ago, Westfield shopping centre in west London introduced Cantonese and Mandarinspeaking concierges and translated the mall guides after it found more Chinese were flocking to the luxury area of the mall than any other nationality.
But for those who haven’t yet travelled here – or for those who simply want to relive their happy memories of such English icons as hedgerows, red telephone boxes and Tudor architecture – entire mock British towns have been built in China. One of these is Thames Town, 19 miles outside Shanghai and the go- to destination for affluent young couples seeking the perfect backdrop for their wedding photographs.
So what underlies the fascination for our sceptred isle by the burgeoning Chinese middle classes, and just how do they view a culture so very different from their own?
“One thing we don’t realise in the UK is that our reputation and influence in China is much better than we think. We are overly timid about our relevance,” says Professor Rana Mitter, director of Oxford University’s China Centre, Europe’s leading centre for the study of China.
A recent YouGov survey found Britain comes third in Chinese rankings of the most important leaders on the world stage ( behind America and Russia).
“There are a wide variety of areas where our reputation is appreciated, not only in business but also in the influence of our higher education,” he adds.
“Our universities are known as some of the best places you can study. Around 87,000 Chinese students study here and that makes a substantial group of cultural ambassadors who send their ideas back to families and colleagues.” Now there is a whole variety of places that have become “absolutely legendary” in China, says Prof Ritter.
But they are not always what you might expect.
“Bicester Village is absolutely key,” he says. “The discount luxury retailer in Oxfordshire is the place every middle class Chinese has either been to or aspires to visit. Upmarket tourists head to London, Oxford and Bicester, followed by Stratford- upon- Avon or the Cotswolds, in that order.”
A recent global brand survey asking Chinese people which country they would most like to visit “if money was no object” put Britain in the top four. It also ranked second out of 50 nations for the quality of what is on offer.
“Our ambition is to get the whole of China talking about Britain,” says Sally Balcombe, the chief executive of VisitBritain. “GREAT names for GREAT Britain is one of the most creative tourism campaigns ever seen.”
And if the new names are a brazen attempt to draw in tourists there is certainly a history for that. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychw y r n d r o b w l l l l a n t y s i l i - ogogogogoch, the Welsh town with the longest place name in the British Isles was named precisely because the town’s founder wished it to be memorable.
The Chinese want to rename it Healthy Lung Village, and this might not only be due to the effort of uttering the original Welsh.
“It looks like a nod to one of the most polluted countries in the world and an attempt to draw in visitors from smog- filled Shanghai,” says Professor Mitter, pointing out that there is a degree of marketing in any place name.
“Take a slightly literalistic interpretation of the word ‘ Oxford’. You might imagine a rural village with lowing oxen fording a river.
“Place names frequently sound more attractive than they might actually be.”