More than 30,000 old rural place names have been added to China's protection lists since a rural geographic naming project was launched last year, a senior official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) said Monday.

自“乡村著名行动”开展以来，全国23个省份建立了地名保护名录制度，已有3万多条乡村老地名纳入保护范围。

Tang Chengpei, vice-minister of civil affairs, said at a press conference that the project, which collects rural place names and inputs them into maps, aimed to improve geographic naming and cultural protection in rural areas.

民政部副部长唐承沛介绍，“著名”主要是以地名采集上图为牵引，全面推进命名设标、文化保护、信息服务、应用赋能，积极发挥地名的当下价值和传承作用，助力乡村高质量发展。

As of August this year, the government had standardized the naming of 430,000 locations, installed 330,000 place name signs, and placed 14.42 million building and door plaques in rural areas under the project, Tang said.

到今年8月，全国已规范命名乡村地名43万条，设置乡村地名标志33万块，安装楼门牌1442万块，乡村地区“有地无名”“一地多名”等问题持续改善。

The government has also provided guides for online map services to present correct and consistent rural place names, which has facilitated backpacking and road trips in rural areas as well as the delivery of both parcels into villages and rural goods to urban areas, Tang said.

民政部指导互联网地图平台规范标注乡村地名900余万条，发动群众依托图上地名，自主采集农家乐、采摘园等兴趣点80余万条，累计导航量超百亿人次，便利乡村百姓出行导航、“背包”“自驾”旅行指向和快递进村、山货进城，服务城乡资源要素双向流动。

Benefiting from the naming project, many places have created a range of geographic brands of agricultural products, and rural place naming has been integrated with the development of rural e-commerce and agricultural tourism, he added.

同时，各地挖掘发挥地名的品牌价值，打造了一批带有地名标志的“乡字号”“土字号”农产品，地名与农村电商、平台经济和农文旅发展等深度融合。

The MCA announced the launch of the rural place naming project as a measure to advance rural revitalization in May 2023.

据悉，“乡村著名行动”是2023年5月由民政部部署开展的。