215 Global News Post 2
Weiye Meng
[A road sign in Thailand heading towards Bangkok] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Khiri_Nakhon_Interchange_head_to_Bangkok.jpg
This article is about whether the capital of Thailand should be called Bangkok or Krung Thep Maha Nakhon.
The Royal Thai Academy has proposed that Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, should promote its traditional name Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, meaning the Great Sky City. This move has sparked much debate and according to official sources, both names are currently correct.
The article illustrates the advantages and concerns of the name change by giving examples of statements from proponents and opponents. At the same time, some people pointed out that the Thai government should be people-oriented and leave the decision to change the name to the people, while paying more attention to the city’s infrastructure development.
This article contains tweets by scholar Phacharaphorn Phanomvan and travel blogger Richard Barrow explaining the historical background of the name of Thailand’s capital and the local name for the city, which explains the reason for Bangkok’s name change.
The article’s references to khaosodenglish add to the different perspectives of the Thai masses on this incident. Also the article quotes some Twitter tweets from the Thai people emphasizing that the Thai government should have consulted the people instead of taking the decision without permission，which adds background material to the comments about the crowd’s anger at the government’s failure to repair the capital’s infrastructure.