The Economist has an article about the name change from Peking to Beijing. The other DrC and I had an interesting experience in that city with the confusion about its name.
The year was 1986 and the name "Beijing" was already in use. Our local guide was a young man whose name translated as "Stones."
A couple of university professors are accustomed to dealing with undergraduates, which he was. The other DrC asked him if he had a girlfriend - typically an issue for college age men. He replied that he did.
Already aware Stones was from upcountry, we asked if his lady was from the same northern province? "No," he replied. "She is Pekingese." In other words, a native of the capital.
I am proud to report we both kept straight faces, an almost superhuman task. Later in the hotel room we broke out laughing at the mental image of his girlfriend as a small, short-nosed long-haired hyperactive dog.
Clearly his English teachers hadn't communicated that, at least to Americans, Pekingese means "little lion dog" much more than it means native to Peking/Beijing. We did not enlighten him, fearing hurt feelings.
