Beijing restores ancient city gate

Beijing started Wednesday rebuilding the Yongding Gate, a city gate built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and demolished 47 years ago.

The project is scheduled to be completed in October this year, according to the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau.

The original Yongding Gate consisted of a watchtower in the front, a small town, which was actually an enclosure for defense, in the middle, and a city gate tower at the back.

The restoration project will focus on rebuilding the city gate tower and its foundation, which is 31.4 meters long from east to west, 16.96 meters wide from north to south, and 7.9 meters high. The whole tower building is 25.2 meters high.

A section of ancient city wall, 15.9 meters long, 12.7 meters wide and 6.2 meters high, will also be rebuilt on both sides of the city gate tower.

Yongding Gate was one of the seven gates of the outer city of Beijing during the Ming and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It is the southern tip of the 7.8-kilometer central axis line, along both sides of which the ancient Beijing city extended. The Drum Tower is the northern tip of the central axis line.

Nearly half of the facilities such as gymnasiums serving the 2008 Olympic Games will be located along the central axis line. The planned Olympic Park will be located at the northern tip of the extended section of the central axis line.

Yongding Gate was demolished in 1957 due to claims that it obstructed transportation and was a dangerous building.

However, archaeologists and experts of cultural heritage protection have long appealed for restoration of the ancient city gate.

The Beijing city government gave the green light to the restoration project in May of 2001.

從上述英語資訊報道，我們也許可以得出這樣的結論，中國古代的城門，我們在用英文泛泛而談稱呼它們的時候，它們叫做city gate，這時候它們的意思是“城門”，但是，如果它們是表示某一個具體的城門的稱呼時，比如說“永定門”，“中山門”，“太平門”，這時候的英文表達應該是城門的名稱拼音加上英文單詞Gate。至此，“中山門”英語譯文是不妥的。而且，更為嚴重的是，該譯文在City與Gate之間加上了一個英文連字符“-”，這就更加不妥，可以說是錯上加錯了，因為根據英語語言規則，單詞之間以連字符相連接表示它們是作為一個單一單詞使用的，只是它們可能是根據約定俗成原則中間以連字符號相接而已。其次，連字符號也是構詞法中的合詞法原則，即兩個或兩個以上的詞按照一定的次序排列構成新詞

至于“中山門”的另外兩個譯文，Zhongshan Gate比較符合當前的表達習慣，就如同上文提到的北京永定門的譯文，而Zhongshanmen事實上并非是譯文，只是漢語拼音而已，這一處理原則實際上符合上文提到的我國有關部門關于我國地名標志上的地名書寫的原則，即使用漢語拼音。從這一點來說，將“中山門”標記為Zhongshanmen是符合有關規定的。目前南京市的所有街道名稱全部用漢語拼音標記就是一個證明。不過，這種標記方式的一個缺點是，對于那些對中國幾乎一無所知的“老外”來說，它們可能是毫無意義的，因為“老外”不能根據這些漢語拼音推斷出這個名稱表示的是什么意思。正因為如此，將地名這個專有名稱以漢語拼音表示，而地名的屬性則用英文來

Beijing restores ancient city gate

Beijing started Wednesday rebuilding the Yongding Gate, a city gate built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and demolished 47 years ago.

The project is scheduled to be completed in October this year, according to the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau.

The original Yongding Gate consisted of a watchtower in the front, a small town, which was actually an enclosure for defense, in the middle, and a city gate tower at the back.

The restoration project will focus on rebuilding the city gate tower and its foundation, which is 31.4 meters long from east to west, 16.96 meters wide from north to south, and 7.9 meters high. The whole tower building is 25.2 meters high.

A section of ancient city wall, 15.9 meters long, 12.7 meters wide and 6.2 meters high, will also be rebuilt on both sides of the city gate tower.

Yongding Gate was one of the seven gates of the outer city of Beijing during the Ming and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It is the southern tip of the 7.8-kilometer central axis line, along both sides of which the ancient Beijing city extended. The Drum Tower is the northern tip of the central axis line.

Nearly half of the facilities such as gymnasiums serving the 2008 Olympic Games will be located along the central axis line. The planned Olympic Park will be located at the northern tip of the extended section of the central axis line.

Yongding Gate was demolished in 1957 due to claims that it obstructed transportation and was a dangerous building.

However, archaeologists and experts of cultural heritage protection have long appealed for restoration of the ancient city gate.

The Beijing city government gave the green light to the restoration project in May of 2001.

從上述英語資訊報道，我們也許可以得出這樣的結論，中國古代的城門，我們在用英文泛泛而談稱呼它們的時候，它們叫做city gate，這時候它們的意思是“城門”，但是，如果它們是表示某一個具體的城門的稱呼時，比如說“永定門”，“中山門”，“太平門”，這時候的英文表達應該是城門的名稱拼音加上英文單詞Gate。至此，“中山門”英語譯文是不妥的。而且，更為嚴重的是，該譯文在City與Gate之間加上了一個英文連字符“-”，這就更加不妥，可以說是錯上加錯了，因為根據英語語言規則，單詞之間以連字符相連接表示它們是作為一個單一單詞使用的，只是它們可能是根據約定俗成原則中間以連字符號相接而已。其次，連字符號也是構詞法中的合詞法原則，即兩個或兩個以上的詞按照一定的次序排列構成新詞

至于“中山門”的另外兩個譯文，Zhongshan Gate比較符合當前的表達習慣，就如同上文提到的北京永定門的譯文，而Zhongshanmen事實上并非是譯文，只是漢語拼音而已，這一處理原則實際上符合上文提到的我國有關部門關于我國地名標志上的地名書寫的原則，即使用漢語拼音。從這一點來說，將“中山門”標記為Zhongshanmen是符合有關規定的。目前南京市的所有街道名稱全部用漢語拼音標記就是一個證明。不過，這種標記方式的一個缺點是，對于那些對中國幾乎一無所知的“老外”來說，它們可能是毫無意義的，因為“老外”不能根據這些漢語拼音推斷出這個名稱表示的是什么意思。正因為如此，將地名這個專有名稱以漢語拼音表示，而地名的屬性則用英文來