Chinese Place Names

Chinese names are used in China and in Chinese communities throughout the world. Note that depending on the Chinese characters used these names can have many other meanings besides those listed here. See also about Chinese names.
type
usage
Balin 巴林 (Country & Island) Chinese
Chinese form of Bahrain.
Beijing 北京 (Settlement) Chinese, English, Korean
From Chinese (běi) meaning "north" and (jīng) meaning "capital city". This is the name of the capital of China.
Chaoxian 朝鲜, 朝鮮 (Country) Chinese
Chinese form of Joseon, used in mainland China to refer to Korea.
Dongjing 东京, 東京 (Settlement) Chinese
Chinese form of Tokyo.
Feilubin 菲律宾, 菲律賓 (Country) Chinese
Chinese form of Philippines.
Huashengdun 华盛顿, 華盛頓 (Settlement & Political Subdivision) Chinese
Chinese form of Washington.
Jierjisisitan 吉尔吉斯斯坦 (Country) Chinese
Chinese form of Kyrgyzstan.
Laowo 老挝, 老撾 (Country) Chinese
Chinese form of Laos.
Meiguo 美国, 美國 (Country) Chinese
From Chinese (měi), referring to America, and (guó) meaning "country". This is the Chinese name for the United States of America.
Meizhou 美洲 (Region) Chinese
From Chinese (měi), referring to America, and (zhōu) meaning "continent, island". This is the Chinese name for the continents of North and South America.
Menggu 蒙古 (Country, Political Subdivision & Region) Chinese
Chinese form of Mongolia.
Miandian 缅甸, 緬甸 (Country) Chinese
Chinese form of Myanmar.
Riben 日本 (Country) Chinese
Chinese form of Nippon.
Shangdu 上都 (Settlement) Chinese
Chinese form of Xanadu.
Shanghai 上海 (Settlement) Chinese, English, German, French
Means "upon the sea" in Chinese, from (shàng) meaning "above" and (hǎi) meaning "sea, ocean". This is the name of the largest city in China.
Sudan 苏丹 (Country) English, Arabic, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Thai
From Arabic سُود (sud) meaning "black", referring to the darker skin of the inhabitants. This is the name of a country in Africa. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article: السُودان (al-Sudan).
Yaxiya 亚细亚, 亞細亞 (Region) Chinese (Archaic)
Chinese form of Asia.
Yazhou 亚洲, 亞洲 (Region) Chinese
From a short form of Yaxiya combined with (zhōu) meaning "continent, island". This is the modern Chinese name for Asia.
Yemen 也门, 也門 (Country) English, Danish, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Filipino, Tagalog
From Arabic يمن (Yaman), probably derived from يمين (yamin) meaning "right hand, south". This is the name of a country at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula.
Yindu 印度 (Country) Chinese
Chinese form of India.
Yuenan 越南 (Country) Chinese
Chinese form of Vietnam.
Zhongguo 中国, 中國 (Country) Chinese
Means "middle kingdom", from Chinese (zhōng) meaning "middle" and (guó) meaning "country, state". This is the Chinese name for China. The name originally referred to China's central regions, as opposed to the territory on the fringes.