QA问答：学中文的老外好奇：中国有北京、南京，为何没有西京、东京呢

【来源龙腾网】

@Daniel Cheng

Dongjing, Nanjing, xijing, Beijing are all romanizations for the capital cities of the 4 cardinal directions (North, South, East, West)

Dongjing exists as Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Both kanji in Japan and Chinese characters write it as 東京.Tokyo’s old name was Edo, meaning mouth of a river.

In China:

Datong was named “Datong xijing governate” and once one of the five capitals of the Liao Dynasty and the temporary capital of the three dynasties of Liao, Jin and Yuan.

Fengxiang also known as the “Fengxiang governate” of xijing established in the Tang Dynasty

The former name of Chengdu, called xijing by a short-lived successor state to the Ming under the warlord Zhang xianzhong

The former name of xi’an under the Republic of China.

In Korea:

Old name of Pyongyang during the Goryeo dynasty, as its temporary capital city.

Cheongju, was one of the five small capitals of Unified Silla on the Korean peninsula.

In Vietnam:

xijing was a Chinese name for Thanh Hóa, the western capital of Lê dynasty in the 15th century.

东京、南京、西京、北京都是四个方位（北、南、东、西）的首都的汉字拼音。

东京存在于日本，是日本的首都。日本的汉字和中国的汉字都写作“东京”。东京的旧名是江户，意思是河口。

在中国：

大同被命名为“大同西京府”，曾经是辽朝五个首都之一，以及辽、金和元三个朝代的临时首都。

凤翔，也被称为唐朝建立的“西京凤翔府”。

成都的前名，在明末军阀张献忠的一个短命国家中被称为西京。

中华人民共和国时期西安的旧名也叫西京。

在韩国：

在高丽王朝期间，平壤的旧名叫西京，作为其临时首都。

清州是朝鲜半岛上统一新罗的五个小首都之一。

在越南：

西京是15世纪黎朝西部首都清化的中文名称。

评论翻译

@Minh Nguyễn

Also, Hanoi was called Đông Kinh, meaning 'Eastern Capital during the Le dynasty.

此外，河内在黎朝期间被称为东京，意思是“东方首都”。

@Văn Trung Hiếu Official

The terms "xijing" and "Dongjing"are not commonly used for major cities in China due to historical and political reasons.

"xijing" means "Western Capital" and "Dongjing" means "Eastern Capital." Historically, these terms were used to refer to temporary capitals when the Chinese imperial court relocated.

For instance, xi'an was once called xijing when it served as the western capital.

Similarly, Dongjing refers to cities like Kaifeng or Nanjing when they were the eastern capitals.

However, these temporary capitals were not named as such in official records or common usage.

The more well-known names, such as Beijing (Northern Capital) and Nanjing (Southern Capital), have become the official names over time.

Beijing is currently the capital of China and is more prominent than xi'an or Kaifeng.

In summary, the lack of widespread use of "xijing" and "Dongjing" as city names can be attributed to historical context and the eventual official recognition of Beijing and Nanjing as the primary capitals.

由于历史和政治原因，“西京”和“东京”这些术语在中国的主要城市中并不常用。

“西京”意味着“西部首都”，“东京”意味着“东部首都”。历史上，这些术语用来指代中国帝国朝廷搬迁时的临时首都。

例如，西安曾经被称为西京，当它作为西部首都服务时。

同样，东京指的是像开封或南京这样曾经是东部首都的城市。

然而，这些临时首都在官方记录或常用语中并不是这样称呼的。

更知名的名字，如北京（北部首都）和南京（南部首都），随着时间的推移成为了官方名称。

北京目前是中国的首都，比西安或开封更为突出。

总结来说，“西京”和“东京”作为城市名称的广泛使用缺乏，可以归因于历史背景以及最终官方承认北京和南京为主要首都。

原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

@Văn Trung Hiếu Official

The absence of "xijing" (Western Capital) and "Dongjing" (Eastern Capital) in modern usage can be attributed to historical and linguistic factors.

While "Beijing" means Northern Capital and "Nanjing" means Southern Capital, "xijing" and "Dongjing" were names of past capitals during different dynasties in Chinese history.

"xijing" was the name of the capital during the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC – 771 BC), located in present-day xi'an, Shaanxi Province.

After the fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the term "xijing" fell into disuse.

Similarly, "Dongjing" was the name of the capital during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (771 BC – 256 BC), located in present-day Luoyang, Henan Province.

Over time, the names of these capitals changed, and the terms "xijing" and "Dongjing" were replaced by the names of the current cities.

As a result, they are no longer commonly used today.

Furthermore, the names "Beijing" and "Nanjing" have become more prominent due to the long history of these cities serving as capitals during various dynasties, shaping their identities and influencing their development.

现代使用中缺少“西京”（西部首都）和“东京”（东部首都）可以归因于历史和语言因素。

虽然“北京”意味着北部首都，“南京”意味着南部首都，“西京”和“东京”是中国古代不同朝代首都的名字。

“西京”是西周王朝（公元前1046年至公元前771年）首都的名字，位于今天的陕西省西安市。

西周王朝灭亡后，“西京”这个术语就不再使用了。

同样，“东京”是东周王朝（公元前771年至公元前256年）首都的名字，位于今天的河南省洛阳市。

随着时间的推移，这些首都的名字发生了变化，“西京”和“东京”这些术语被当前城市的名字所取代。

结果就是，它们今天不再常用。

此外，由于这些城市在各个朝代长期作为首都，塑造了它们的身份并影响了它们的发展，“北京”和“南京”的名字变得更加突出。

原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

@General on an Armchair

Tokyo is not part of China.

If we want to talk about Japan, Kyoto was also a capital of Japan. That’s why its kanji name is 京都

东京不是中国的一部分。

如果我们谈论日本，京都也是日本的首都。这就是为什么它的汉字名称是京都。

@Shiwen Tang

There cannot be two dongjing in East Asia. It would have been absurd bearing in mind written Classical Chinese was the undisputed lingua franca of this region until the mid-20th century.

beijing and nanjing are quite recent names - albeit slightly older than dongjing - dating only to the establishment of the Ming Empire.

东亚不会有两个东京。考虑到书面的古典汉语直到20世纪中叶依然是这个地区无可争议的通用语言，这将是荒谬的。

北京和南京是相当近期的名称——尽管比东京略早——只追溯到明朝的建立。

@Dong An

China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam actually have many identical place names. There were even duplicate place names within China itself, but the duplicate place names were later changed, and now there are no duplicates. What you said is not a reason

中国、日本、韩国和越南实际上有很多相同的地方名称。中国国内甚至有过重复的地名，但后来重复的地名被更改了，现在没有重复的了。你说的不是理由。

@Changyu

This is really ridiculous. A few Vietnamese and Japanese pretend to know Chinese history and discuss the names of Chinese cities here.

Have you asked any Chinese history experts?

Why do Vietnam and Japan have the same city names? Have you ever thought about it?

这真的很可笑，几个越南人和日本人假装很懂中国历史，在这里讨论中国的城市名字。

你们问过中国人的历史专家了吗？

为什么越南和日本会有同样的城市名字？你们想过吗？

@Shiwen Tang

I am sure that the duplicates abound even to this day were one to go within the county level.

However, major administrative centres are quite a different matter, and only major centres could bear a name using 京.

Of course, the true reason why 西京 and 东京 were out of the question when 北京 and 南京 were renamed as such by the Ming court is that it would have been too liable to misunderstandings.

Luoyang was still referred casually to as the Eastern Capital, and Changan as the Western capital for old historical reasons (historical from the perspective of the 14th

我确信即使到今天，如果在县级范围内，重复的地名也比比皆是。

然而，主要的行政中心是相当不同的事情，只有主要的中心才能使用带“京”的名字。

当然，当北京和南京被明朝朝廷这样重新命名时，西京和东京之所以不可能，是因为它太容易引起误解。