Tianditan

Tianditan

In strict terms, any street or alleyway bearing the name “Zhengjie” (literally “Main Street”) should run in a true north-south direction. However, over time, the term “Zhengjie” has also come to be applied to streets and alleys that actually run east-west. Yet, it is extremely rare to find one like “Tianditan Zhengjie,” which runs neither north-south nor east-west, but instead stretches from the northwest to the southeast. How did such a phenomenon come about? To venture an unqualified opinion, it was a lapse in work. It is a concrete reflection of a skewed understanding of the concept of “zheng” (正) in the Chinese language. I imagine that the original namers of this street may have added the word “Zhengjie” to distinguish it from other derivative lanes—Tianditan Yi Xiang, Tianditan Er Xiang, and so on.