Premier Li Keqiang recently signed a State Council order to promulgate the revised regulations on the administration of geographical names (hereinafter referred to as the regulations), which will come into force on May 1, 2022. Place names are the basic public information of society and an important carrier of history and culture. In order to further strengthen and standardize the management of place names, meet the needs of economic and social development, people's life and international exchanges, and inherit and develop Chinese excellent culture, the regulations have been revised according to some new situations and problems faced by the management of place names on the basis of summarizing the implementation experience of the current regulations for many years. The revised regulations, with 44 articles in 7 chapters, have made comprehensive and systematic provisions on the management of geographical names, which will further improve the legalization, scientization and standardization of geographical names management, and provide legal guarantee for promoting the high-quality development of geographical names in the new era. First, clarify the management principles. The Regulations stipulates that the management of place names should adhere to and strengthen the leadership of the party, which is conducive to safeguarding national sovereignty and national unity, promoting the core socialist values, promoting the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity, and inheriting and developing excellent Chinese culture; Geographical names should remain relatively stable. Second, improve the system and mechanism. In accordance with the principle of unified supervision and administration and responsibility at different levels and classifications, the regulations stipulate that the Civil Affairs Department of the State Council shall be responsible for the unified supervision and administration of place names throughout the country, clarify the responsibilities of other relevant departments of the State Council, the administrative departments of place names of local people's governments at or above the county level and other relevant departments, and stipulate that people's governments at or above the county level shall establish and improve the coordination mechanism of place name management. Third, strengthen the management of naming and renaming. The regulations further improve the naming rules of geographical names, clarify the application materials to be submitted for naming and renaming of geographical names and the requirements for comprehensive evaluation, expert demonstration and solicitation of opinions, stipulate the approval procedures for naming and renaming of geographical names at different levels, and establish the filing and announcement system of geographical names. Fourth, standardize the use of place names. The Regulations stipulates that the words, pronunciation and spelling of place names shall comply with the norms. The Civil Affairs Department of the State Council shall uniformly establish a national place name information database to clarify the requirements of the joint construction and sharing mechanism of place name information resources, the scope of use of standard place names, the management of place name signs, the preparation of standard addresses, and the publication of standard place names. Fifth, emphasize cultural protection. The regulations stipulate that the naming and renaming of domestic famous physical and geographical entities with important historical and cultural values, reflecting the Chinese historical context and having significant social impact shall be reported to the State Council for approval; Set up a special chapter on the protection of geographical names and culture, and clarify the requirements for strengthening the protection of geographical names and cultural heritage, formulating a protection directory, doing a good job in file management and encouraging social participation. In addition, the regulations specify the general requirements and specific measures for supervision and inspection; It stipulates the corresponding legal responsibilities for the acts of naming and renaming place names in violation of regulations, failing to submit for the record or failing to submit for the record in time, failing to standardize the use of standard place names, damaging place name signs, etc. The following is the full text of the regulations: Regulations on the administration of geographical names Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 These Regulations are formulated for the purpose of strengthening and standardizing the administration of geographical names, adapting to the needs of economic and social development, people's life and international exchanges, and inheriting and developing excellent Chinese culture. Article 2 These Regulations shall apply to the naming, renaming, use, cultural protection and related administrative activities of place names within the territory of the people's Republic of China. Article 3 the place names mentioned in these Regulations include: （1） Name of physical geographical entity; （2） Name of administrative division; （3） The name of the place where the villagers' committee and residents' committee are located; （4） Names of urban parks and nature reserves; （5） Names of streets and lanes; （6） Names of residential areas and buildings with important geographical significance; （7） Names of transportation, water conservancy, electric power, communication, meteorological and other facilities with important geographical significance; （8） Names of other geographical entities with important geographical significance. Article 4 the administration of place names shall adhere to and strengthen the leadership of the party. The naming and renaming of administrative divisions at or above the county level, as well as the naming, renaming and use of place names involving major matters such as national territorial sovereignty, security, foreign affairs and national defense, shall be reported to the Party Central Committee in accordance with relevant regulations. Place name management should be conducive to safeguarding national sovereignty and national unity, promoting socialist core values, promoting the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity, and inheriting and developing excellent Chinese culture. Geographical names should remain relatively stable. Without approval, no unit or individual may decide to name or rename a place name without authorization. Article 5 the naming, renaming, use and cultural protection of place names shall comply with laws, administrative regulations and relevant provisions of the state, reflect the local geographical, historical and cultural characteristics, respect the wishes of the local people and facilitate production and life. Article 6 the people's governments at or above the county level shall establish and improve a coordination mechanism for the administration of geographical names to guide, supervise and supervise the administration of geographical names. Article 7 the Civil Affairs Department of the State Council (hereinafter referred to as the administrative department of place names under the State Council) shall be responsible for the unified supervision and administration of place names throughout the country. The foreign affairs, public security, natural resources, housing and urban-rural construction, transportation, water conservancy, culture and tourism, market supervision, forestry and grassland, language work, press and publication and other relevant departments of the State Council shall be responsible for the relevant management of place names within their respective functions and responsibilities. The administrative departments of local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the administration of geographical names. Other relevant departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the division of responsibilities prescribed by the people's governments at the corresponding levels, be responsible for the administration of relevant geographical names in their respective administrative areas. Article 8 the administrative department for geographical names of the local people's government at or above the county level shall, in conjunction with the relevant departments, formulate the plan for geographical names of its administrative region, which shall be implemented after being approved by the people's government at the corresponding level. Chapter II naming and renaming of place names Article 9 a place name consists of a proper name and a general name. The naming of place names shall comply with the following provisions: （1） The meaning is clear, healthy and does not violate public order and good customs; （2） Conform to the actual region, scale, nature and other characteristics of geographical entities; （3） Use the national common language and avoid using rare words; （4） Generally, people's names are not used as place names, and the names of state leaders are not used as place names; （5） Do not use foreign names or place names as place names; （6） Do not use the enterprise name or trademark name as a place name; （7） The names of domestic well-known physical and geographical entities and the names of administrative divisions at or above the county level throughout the country should not be duplicated and homonymy should be avoided; （8） The names of townships and towns in the same provincial administrative region, the names of villagers' committees and residents' committees in the same county administrative region, the names of streets and lanes in the same built-up area, and the names of residential areas and buildings with important geographical significance in the same built-up area should not be duplicated and homonymy should be avoided; （9） The names of domestic famous natural geographical entities, historical and cultural heritage sites and geographical entities beyond the scope of their own administrative regions shall not be used as the special names of administrative divisions; （10） The names of transportation, water conservancy, electric power, communication, meteorology and other facilities with important geographical significance shall generally be unified with the local place names. Where there are other provisions in laws and administrative regulations on the naming rules of place names, such provisions shall prevail. Article 10 after a place name is named according to law, if the name of the place name is inconsistent with the reality due to changes in administrative divisions, urban and rural construction, natural changes and other reasons, it shall be renamed in time. The renaming of place names shall comply with the provisions of Article 9 of these regulations. Place names with important historical and cultural values and reflecting the Chinese historical context shall not be renamed in general. Article 11 when applying for the naming and renaming of place names, government organs, enterprises and institutions and grass-roots mass autonomous organizations shall submit an application. The application shall include the following materials: （1） Scheme and reasons for naming and renaming; （2） The location, scale, nature and other basic information of the geographical entity; （3） Other materials required to be submitted by the administrative department for geographical names under the State Council. For the naming and renaming of administrative divisions, risk assessment reports, expert demonstration reports, soliciting opinions of the public and other reports shall be submitted in accordance with the provisions of the regulations on the administration of administrative divisions. The naming and renaming of other place names shall comprehensively consider the social impact, professionalism, technicality, closeness to people's lives and other factors, organize and carry out comprehensive evaluation, expert demonstration, solicit opinions and submit relevant reports. Article 12 the following provisions shall be followed in approving the naming and renaming of place names: （1） The naming and renaming of well-known domestic physical and geographical entities with important historical and cultural values, reflecting the historical context of China and having significant social impact, or physical and geographical entities involving more than two provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, border areas involving the direction of national boundaries, maritime islands and reefs, as well as physical and geographical entities and villagers' committees included in boundary treaties and protocols The people's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government shall submit an application for the naming and renaming of residential areas such as the location of the residents committee to the State Council for approval; The naming and renaming of uninhabited islands, sea areas and seabed geographical entities shall be approved by the Department in charge of natural resources under the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments; The naming and renaming of other physical geographical entities shall be approved in accordance with the provisions of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government; （2） The naming and renaming of administrative divisions shall be approved in accordance with the provisions of the regulations on the administration of administrative divisions; （3） The naming and renaming of the locations of villagers' committees and residents' committees other than those specified in paragraph 1 of this article shall be approved in accordance with the provisions of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government; （4） The naming and renaming of urban parks and nature reserves shall be approved in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state; （5） The naming and renaming of streets, roads and lanes shall be approved by the people's governments of municipalities, cities and counties directly under the central government; （6） The naming and renaming of residential areas and buildings with important geographical significance shall be approved by the competent department of housing and urban rural development of the people's Government of the municipality directly under the central government, city and county after soliciting the opinions of the competent administrative department of geographical names of the people's government at the same level; （7） For the naming and renaming of transportation, water conservancy, electric power, communication, meteorological and other facilities with important geographical significance, the opinions of the relevant local people's governments at or above the county level shall be solicited according to the circumstances and approved by the relevant competent departments. Article 13 after a place name is named or renamed, the approval authority shall submit it for the record in accordance with the following provisions within 15 days from the date of approval: （1） The place names approved by the relevant departments of the State Council shall be submitted to the State Council for the record, and the record materials shall be directly sent to the competent administrative department of place names under the State Council; （2） The place names approved by the local people's government at or above the county level shall be submitted to the people's government at the next higher level for the record, and the record materials shall be directly submitted to the competent administrative department of place names of the people's government at the next higher level; （3） The place names approved by the administrative department of place names of the local people's government at or above the county level shall be submitted to the administrative department of place names of the people's government at the next higher level for the record; （4） Place names approved by other relevant departments shall be submitted to the competent administrative department of place names of the people's government at the same level for the record. Article 14 in accordance with the provisions of these regulations, place names approved by the people's governments at or above the county level or by the competent administrative department of place names of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall be announced to the public by the competent administrative department of place names of the people's governments at the same level within 15 days from the date of approval;