Chinese student, police don't "C" eye-to-eye over name on ID card

NANCHANG, Feb. 26 (Chinese media) -- Is a strange name a crime?

When a certain Zhao family in east China's Jiangxi Province hada son 23

years ago, they decided to give him a highly unusual name-- namely, C. As the

family tells it, C stood for China, and it was also intended to encourage the

boy to learn English.

But it caused the college student trouble with the police, and the case

ended up in court.

The Yuehu branch of the Yingtan public security bureau in Jiangxi went on

trial Thursday afternoon, as Zhao C sued it for alleged infringement of his

rights, a court source said.

The trial started at 3 p.m. in the Yingtan Intermediate People's Court.

According to Zhao, the police office said no when he sought a new ID card

as part of a nationwide replacement program. The police claimed that English

letters couldn't appear in names and told him to get a new name.

"I was registered at birth under that old name," Zhao said. He contended

that allowing the first registration meant the name was accepted by local

security officials.

The case first went to trial in January 2008, when Zhao's father, Zhao

Furong, sued the Yuehu branch on his son's behalf. The People's court of Yuehu

District sided with Zhao and ordered the security bureau to issue a new ID card.

But Wan Cheng, director of the Yuehu branch, refused, saying: "It is

against China's regulations to include letters in people's names." The branch

appealed last June.

It's not known when the verdict will be reached.