{"id":84292,"date":"2026-09-12T09:32:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T01:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=84292"},"modified":"2026-09-12T09:32:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T01:32:58","slug":"reflections-amid-trumps-lake-america-stink-the-chinese-emperor-whose-renaming-campaign-backfired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=84292","title":{"rendered":"Reflections | Amid Trump\u2019s \u2018Lake America\u2019 stink, the Chinese emperor whose renaming campaign backfired"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">I suspect many Americans are embarrassed by their president\u2019s recent actions. On August 27, Donald Trump signed an executive order <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">renaming Lake Ontario \u201cLake America\u201d<\/span> following the collapse of trade talks between the United States and Canada.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\"><span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">The change applies only in the US<\/span>, while Canada and the rest of the world continue to call it Lake Ontario. Doug Ford, premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, has put up a sign declaring \u201cLake Ontario Now and Always\u201d. The lake, meanwhile, remains impressively indifferent.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">This is not the first time Trump has renamed something. In January 2025, he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the \u201c<span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Gulf of America<\/span>\u201d. The rest of the world, and many in the US, have ignored the change.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">His recent attempt to rename The John F. Kennedy Memorial Centre for the Performing Arts \u201cThe Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Centre for the Performing Arts\u201d was thwarted when <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">a judge ruled the change illegal<\/span>.<\/div>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-d3pq8q e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lake Ontario remains impressively indifferent to the recent furore. Photo: AFP\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/09\/08\/b814d8f5-2aaf-4de5-a441-da22c16186f6_d3a60670.jpg\" title=\"Lake Ontario remains impressively indifferent to the recent furore. Photo: AFP\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Lake Ontario remains impressively indifferent to the recent furore. Photo: AFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Nearly 2,000 years ago, a Chinese ruler took renaming to an altogether more ambitious \u2013 and absurd \u2013 level.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In AD9, Wang Mang replaced the Western Han dynasty (202BC-AD9), which he had served as an official and whose imperial family he was related to by marriage, with his own. As emperor of the Xin \u2013 literally \u201cNew\u201d \u2013 dynasty, he then embarked on what might be described as a massive government rebranding exercise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/chinese-culture\/article\/3366754\/amid-trumps-lake-america-stink-chinese-emperor-whose-renaming-campaign-backfired?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I suspect many Americans are embarrassed by their president\u2019s recent actions. On August 27, Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario \u201cLake America\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[5673,16129,5638,107,18047,2558,5433,29899,29898,4306],"class_list":["post-84292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-america","tag-backfired","tag-campaign","tag-chinese","tag-emperor","tag-lake","tag-reflections","tag-renaming","tag-stink","tag-trumps","wpcat-33-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}