%0 Journal Article
%T ¡®Seoul Searching¡¯: The History, Politics and Prejudice behind the Re-naming of Korea¡¯s Capital in Chinese
%A Hyun Jin KIM
%A Peter Mauch
%A Niv Horesh
%J Provincial China
%D 2012
%I 
%X On 19 January 2005, Seoul Mayor at the time and South Korea¡¯s president at present, Lee Myung Bak, announced his desire to see the Chinese name for Seoul changed from the traditional rendition of Hancheng £¨�h³Ç£©, to Shouer (Ê× –). Lee made clear that he was motivated by a simple desire to remove a potential cause for Sino-Korean ¡°confusion.¡± He further suggested that the principal beneficiary of the name change would be those Chinese in some way connected to Seoul. If Mayor Lee had hoped for an uncontroversial re-naming, he was proven right for the most part. Not only did the Chinese government grant Mayor Lee¡¯s wish quickly and quietly, but regional media outlets also remained notably low-key on the naming issue. This article argues, nonetheless, that there is good reason to believe that Lee¡¯s move was driven by overarching concerns about China¡¯s growing regional clout, and that the significance of Seoul¡¯s name change in Chinese extends well beyond semantics; it can in a sense be seen as a test-case for the PRC¡¯s ability to leverage soft power in the region, and allay the concerns of its neighbours about the implications of its geo-strategic rise.
%K overseas Chinese
%K national identity
%K ethnic politics
%K People's Republic of China
%K Korea
%U http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/provincial_china/article/view/2842