No Longer Everest-Westerners Urged to Recognize Original Name of World's Highest Peak

Xinhuanet News Service ^ | Staff Writers

[ewing]

Blindly believing themselves the first to discover the tallest mountain straddling the border of China's Tibet and Nepal, Britsh people named the peak in honor of George Everest, a British surveyor general of India who led a team in surveying the Himalayan ranges in the early 1840's.

In a paper published in 1958, Lin Chao, a late prestigious expert on geographic history and topography with Beijing University, noted that the British man did not deserve the honor, as it was Tibetans themselves who first discovered the peak.

According to Lin's reasearch, the Manchurian and Han (or Chinese) language name of 'Qomolangma' first appeared in different versions of the Atlas of the Whole Imperial Territory in 1719 and 1721 respectively during the reign of Emporer Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The survey and marking of Qomolangma on the map by Chinese people preceded the British colonists mapping by more thaan 130 years.

In the Tibetan language, Qomolangma represents the mother goddess of the earth.

[ewing]

Didn't Hillary claim that she was named after the British explorer until she was confronted with the fact that she was alive when it happened?

[SunStar]

Once China releases the Tibetan people from their enslavement and gives them back their nation, then we'll talk about changing the mountain's name. OK, commies?

[Mr. Bird]

as it was Tibetans themselves who first discovered the peak.

Talk about stating the obvious. Who was under the impression that they weren't? What do these people want, an asterisk next to Hillary? Who cares? It's not news when a sherpa goes up, it's news when a pasty-faced white boy does. (related phenomenon: dunking in the WNBA).

[dead]

For a different article on the same subject:

China's pique at peak of colonial cheek (they want us to call Mt. Everest “Qomolangma”)

[RightWhale]

Didn't we learn a few months ago that Everest isn't the highest peak after all? There is another behind it that is a few feet higher.

[Cyber Liberty]

I think she was alive when it happened. It's just that most parents don't rename their children when they're almost five, which was, IIRC, her age when Edmund Hillary climbed Everest.

And...I'm still calling it "Everest", so there.

[dead]

Talk about stating the obvious. Who was under the impression that they weren't?

Actually, the people who first discovered the mountain probably did so long before there was an England, China, or Tibet.

The whole brouhaha is only illustrative of the silliness of the Chinese government.

[Landru]

"Didn't Hillary claim that she was named after the British explorer until she was confronted with the fact that she was alive when it happened?"

But she was named after the damned thing!

...Hillary Rodham "Qomolangma" Clinton.

[WaveThatFlag]

Breaking News:

CHINESE LECTURING WESTERN WORLD OF THE FINER POINTS OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.

Film at eleven.

[Landru]

Oh yea; & I almost forgot.

...Tibet was *invented* by Al Gore, too.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Dear Politically Correct Crowd, MOUNT
FREAKING
EVEREST!!!!

Sincerely Glad To Be A
Recovering_Democrat.

[trebb]

A mountain by any other name is still a bitch to climb...

[tuckrdout]

Why not just call it "Bob"?

[pittsburgh gop guy]

Nope, Mt. Everest is the highest peak in the world. In the last couple of years, "they" have changed the elevation for it from 29,028 feet to 29,035 feet. The change was made by the National Geographic Society and geological groups after using lasers and other high tech equipment to figure out how high it is. http://classic.mountainzone.com/features/everestht/

There are none higher.

K2 - the second highest is 28,250 feet.

See here for more about rumor you mentioned:
http://www.jimloy.com/geology/everest.htm

[TopQuark]

the border of China's Tibet and Nepal

This is the communist propaganda machine at its best: in an article on another topic, the claim that Tibet belongs to Chine is just "dropped in" for a succonsciense to consume.

[jdege]

I thought "Qomolangma" was Tibetan for "why are you pointing at the mountain?"

[ewing]

LOL!

[sultan88]

"Hillary Rodham "Qomolangma" Clinton"

BWAHAHAHA

[hosepipe]

Actually Mt.McKinley is the tallest...
Everest sits on a 3000 ft plateau.....
Mt.Kinley goes all the way from sea level to just a few feet less than Everest...and is a far larger mountain besides...Mt.Kinley(Denali) is in Alaska..

[abner]

It was named Everest after the guy that first thought it was the highest. I believe he worked for the cartography arm of the British Alpine Club or something.

It will always be Everest to me.