PEKING DUCKED

You opened Paul Rafaelle’s marvellous recollections of life as a resident correspondent in the Chinese capital by noting that Mr Rafaelle had been stationed in “Peking (now Beijing)”. Actually, it is still Peking, just as Moskva is Moscow, Warszawa is Warsaw, Praha is Prague, Wien is Vienna and Baile Atha Cliath is Dublin.

The modern habit of using the local name of major world cities, rather than the established English name, is rooted in politics and is much too readily accepted by British, Australian and US media organisations.

Outside the Anglosphere, the politico-cultural cringe of switching to “Beijing” has not been universally adopted. German, French, Italian and Russian media still call it “Peking” or “Pekin”. The most prestigious university in the city is still generally known as ... Peking University.

The People’s Republic began to demand the use of “Beijing” in 1979, and one by one the English-speaking newspapers of the world caved in. The Times held out until 1997 when its then correspondent was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and told that co-operation would be withdrawn if his newspaper did not kowtow. And it did.

Imagine, by contrast, what would happen, and what every sensible person would think, if (for instance) the London Foreign Office tried to put pressure on Le

Monde or Le Figaro to switch from “Londres” to “London”. Those who have no need to submit to such pressure really shouldn’t. No wonder the Chinese leadership think they can push us around. Peter Hitchens

London