Village told to change name or it won't exist

BEIJING, May 25 -- A village had to change its name, or character, because
the name includes two rarely used Chinese characters that can't be found in a
new police computer system.

The characters for "Tang" and "Lu" have been used for decades but Tanglu
residents who tried to get a marriage certificate had trouble since the
computers didn't recognize their hometown marked on their ID cards.

The system also became a problem for those seeking employment, travelers
and those doing real estate transactions.

Some villagers and experts said changing the village's name is damaging to
their culture and customs but police said it would be too expensive to change
the computer programs.

(Source: China Daily/Yangcheng Evening News)