Jilin City
It was called Jilinwula in the past. In the Mongolian language it means along river.
Xi'an
It was called Chang'an in the past. In the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) the place was named as Xi'an office that is a strongpoint to control the west of China. So it is called Xi'an now.
Yinchuan
It is a famous old city and once was called Ningxia City (also Xia City or Yin City for short). The place name comes from its beautiful scene that is between Helan Mountain and the Yellow River.
Urumqi
In the Mongolian language, it means beautiful prairie.
Akesu
In the Uygur language it means water.
Jinan
Since the city is located at the south of old Ji River, it gets the name.
Wuxi (no stannum)
In Zhou (11th century-256BC) and the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC), the place was abundant with copper and stannum, but in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) all stannum was mined. Then the place was named Wuxi (no stannum).
Lianyungang
Since it is located between Yuntai Mountain and a sea island, the place is called Lianyungang (a harbor connecting to clouds).
Xuzhou
The name comes from the ancient Xuyi or one of nine zhou (cantons).
Zhenjiang (suppress floods)
Since the place often suffered from floods, people put zhen(suppress) before jiang (lake) to pray for safety.
Yancheng (Salt City)
The place is famous for salt.
Hefei
Fei water flows out from Zipeng Mountain and divides into two branches. Then the two rivers converge to the place. So it is called Hefei.
Bengbu (mussel dock)
In the ancient time, people collected pearls from mussels here where many boats got together on the dock. Then the place is called bengbuji (mussel dock) and in 1946 it was set up as Bengbu city.
Hangzhou
Legend has it that when Dayu (the Great Yu, a hero who prevented floods by water control) regulated rivers he left his ship to land here. In Chinese, the pronunciation of on ship is the same as that of hang so the place is called Hangzhou now.
Jilong
There is a small hencoop outside of the harbor and a big hencoop to the east of the harbor. At that time the place was called hencoop. Later an emperor of the Qing Dynasty who didn't think it was a good name for the place changed it to Jilong. The two names have the same pronunciations but different meanings. Nowadays the name means prosperity.
Hengyang (south of Hengshan Mountains)
The place is located south of Hengshan Mountains so it is called Hengyang (south of Heng Mountains).
Lhasa
In the Tibetan language it means Holy Land. Since the place is full of sunshine and rare fog or rains it has another name Sunshine City.