It's just two different spellings for the same Chinese name 北京.
Peking used the old Wade-Giles system, which is what the West used until the 1970s. Beijing used the Chinese Pinyin system which was created by the Communists. Teaching Chinese using Pinyin has been adopted by basically every country in the world, and even Taiwan, becuase its just better at transliteration than previous systems.
Chinese people themselves don't actually give a shit what system Westerners use, and the Wade-Giles system isn't really seen as a product of colonialism. Like the Beijing Airport still uses the PEK code, Peking and Tsinghua University still use the old spelling, and Canton is still frequently used in China despite the Pinyin spelling being Guangdong. Some Chinese writers even prefer to translate Mao Zedong as Mao TseTung becuase English audiences will have a deeper connection with the Wade-Giles spelling.
This National Review article is just western cope, like just trying to make themselves feel better even when no one could possibly give a shit.
Can someone explain this to me? I have no idea why using Peking would be a dunk on communism or the history of why/when the switch to Beijing was made
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So basically it's westerners being racist to own China. Sounds on brand
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It's just two different spellings for the same Chinese name 北京.
Peking used the old Wade-Giles system, which is what the West used until the 1970s. Beijing used the Chinese Pinyin system which was created by the Communists. Teaching Chinese using Pinyin has been adopted by basically every country in the world, and even Taiwan, becuase its just better at transliteration than previous systems.
Chinese people themselves don't actually give a shit what system Westerners use, and the Wade-Giles system isn't really seen as a product of colonialism. Like the Beijing Airport still uses the PEK code, Peking and Tsinghua University still use the old spelling, and Canton is still frequently used in China despite the Pinyin spelling being Guangdong. Some Chinese writers even prefer to translate Mao Zedong as Mao TseTung becuase English audiences will have a deeper connection with the Wade-Giles spelling.
This National Review article is just western cope, like just trying to make themselves feel better even when no one could possibly give a shit.
I didn't realize Tsinghua was Wade-Giles. Also cool that Canton is just Wade-Giles for Guangdong. Thanks for sharing.