Digital Mapping of Special Ethnic Minority Toponyms in Southwest China

 

"Dragon Street and Tiger Market: Digital Mapping of Special Ethnic Minority Toponyms in Southwest China" by Jiehai Liu (Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, China) and Xing Zhao (Leiden University, Netherlands) A particular category of highly reused toponyms exists in southwest China, composed of two naming templates— “12 earthly branches (Chinese Zodiac) + street/market”—with 24 variants, such as Dragon Street and Tiger Market. Previous studies have largely focused on the cultural and historical origins of this naming template, but there is a lack of quantitative research on their spatial distribution and the relationships between them. This study will extract data on this category of toponyms from the National Database for Geographical Names of China (2021) and analyse their geographical distribution and the spatial relationships between them using the CARTO GIS platform and a network analysis tool (Gephi). The article aims to answer two questions: (1) How are such place names spatially distributed in various provinces (Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi) of southwest China? (2) What are the spatial relationships between locations with such place names? This article will explore and provide visual information on the location distribution and frequency of appearance of the 24 place name variants, thus verifying the two major propositions about the origin of the naming pattern, expressly, that it is either of Yi cultural origin or Miao cultural origin. This article will also explore and provide visual information on the spatial relationship between, and administrative hierarchy of, locations with these place names, thus explaining why they mostly appear in villages and towns and the cycle pattern of rural fairs they display. Map Link: https://liujiehai.cn/maps.html JIEHAI LIU is an associate professor of English Language and Linguistics at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, China. He is now a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University, the Netherlands. His research interests include cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics, onomastics and digital humanities. XING ZHAO is a PhD candidate in Social and Behavioural Sciences at Leiden University, the Netherlands. Her research interests include education and child studies, social statistics, onomastics and digital humanities.