Ever feel like some of the names of subway stations in Beijing can be a little too wordy? Have you ever wondered why the announcer has to add a 站 zhàn (station) character at the end of each subway station? Take, 东大桥站 dōng dàqiáo zhàn (Dongdaqiao Station) for example, wouldn't it be nice to call it 东大桥 dōng dàqiáo without the last character?
We're going to go out on a limb and guess that you haven't wondered that, because it's quite an odd conjecture. But that's exactly what one netizen suggested this week, making waves among Beijingers on Weibo.
But will this ever happen? The short answer, according to Beijing's transit authorities who actually felt the need to weigh in on this "controversy," is No!
Why is that? According to them, it is the announcers' job to make it loud and clear that passengers have arrived at a subway station, not an entire area. Imagine what kind of confusion it might cause when the announcer said: "We've arrived at Shunyi!" That might leave some drowsy Beijinger commuters thinking: "Oh, yeah! But Shunyi is big. Where exactly in Shunyi are you talking about? Chaobaihe area? Or Hanshiqiao Wetland Park?" Therefore, it only makes sense to add a zhan character to give commuters a specific context and clarity.
But authorities admitted that sometimes it does sound a little bit unnecessary to add the zhan character. For instance, how repetitive would it sound if the announcer said: "The next station is Wangjing station"?
But on the other hand, for some subway stations, getting rid of the zhan character may seem downright ridiculous. Yes, it sounds about right to call Shuangjing Station Shuangjing – But what about Beijing Railway Station, a well-known Railway Station in Dongcheng district known in Chinese simply as 北京站 Beijing Zhan– how misleading would it sound if the announcer said: "The next station is Beijing?"
The conclusion is that this netizen might benefit from a study of Chesterton's Fence. As an early twentieth century thinker, G. K. Chesterton puts it like this:
There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”
This netizen saw something that they considered a nuisance but failed to consider that it might actually serve a purpose. In fact, the "fence" that is the zhan character serves to alleviate confusion rather than muddy the waters as the netizen suggests. So, at the next station, let's send this know-it-all packing.
READ: Finally! Subway Convenience Stores Have Arrived at Three Stations
Images: Dianping
Or is this yet another chapter in the ongoing series of me incorrectly superimposing a linguistic structure from my mother tongue onto Chinese? *smile*
Yep that's it.
Big things to smaller things.
`Subway' is a bigger thing than `Shunyi' which is a circumscribed area, which is bigger than a `station' located within that area. Very logical once you get used to it.
Actually for me it's not the “站” at the end of the station names that draws my attention; it's the “地铁” at the beginning! We see in the photo accompanying the article: “地铁顺义站”. Do we really need the two characters "地铁“ at the beginning of the name? It's the name of the particular station (顺义) that is the most important bit of information, so it should be first. Wouldn't "顺义地铁站" be more logical and ever-so-slightly-more practical?
Or is this yet another chapter in the ongoing series of me incorrectly superimposing a linguistic structure from my mother tongue onto Chinese? *smile*
