Talk:National Key Buddhist Temples in Han Chinese Area

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Formatting of temple names

First, let me say I'm so pleased to see this article. When I first started seeking out these temples in 2009, I had to translate the names from the Chinese Wikipedia article!

However, I'm concerned about the naming conventions used here for the temples. In some cases, English names are used (e.g. Tianjin: Temple of Great Compassion). There are no agreed-upon English translations of temple names, and having some in English and others in Chinese seems inconsistent.

Then, in almost all cases, the temple's proper name is obscured behind the catch-all English term "temple." For examples, the majority of temples bear a name that is rendered in Pinyin as -si (Jile Temple = Jile-si, Dizang Temple = Dizang-si, etc.) But Guanyin Ancient Temple is actually Guanyin Gucha, the -cha being an entirely different character for "temple." Likewise, in Shuangguitang, -tang means temple (actually "hall," like the Japanese -do), so it should be rendered Shuanggui-tang. And so on. (Sometimes, synecdoche is used, where "hall," pagoda," etc., may be used in place of the word "temple.")

Incidentally, I am taking as my model here the formatting of Japanese temple names on Wikipedia, like this one on temples in Kyoto, using extensions such as -ji, -dera, -in, -dō, etc. (Though calling Toji "East Temple" is problematic). This formatting carries over into the names of articles about Japanese temples, and ultimately should do so with Chinese temples, too, IMO.

Another common convention that might be acceptable is to give the temple's full name in Chinese, then add the word "temple," so "Jile-si Temple," "Shuanggui-tang Temple," and so on. This is often done with geographic features, such as "Huangshan Mountain," where -shan already means "mountain." But the Japanese temple pages do not do so, and I don't think the Chinese pages should, either.

Thoughts?

--TheTempleGuy (talk) 14:12, 29 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]