A COMPANY'S title has long been considered an intrinsic part of China's spiritual civilization, and censorship of the wording of a firm's title has also become a significant issue.

According to relevant title registration regulations by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), words with a negative impact on social interests and words easily leading to misunderstanding and fraud are banned.

Also, names of overseas places, international organizations, political parties, associations, social bodies and army numbers are forbidden for use in an enterprise's title.

Moreover, "China", "all China", "state" and "international" cannot appear in an enterprise's title unless the company was established by the State Council.

SAIC has also several times launched campaigns to remove some titles which were considered to have a negative influence.

In September of 1996, SAIC issued a special circular with a specific list for clean-up work. As ruled, words with a colonial colour infringing upon ethical dignity should be removed, for instance "Big East Asia" was a phrase used by Japanese aggressors in World War II. Words such as "landlord" or villains' names are also forbidden. In addition, vulgar and pornographic words or phrases violating particular ethnic groups' traditions cannot be used. (Star News)