무단장

Borrowed from Mandarin 牡丹江 (Mǔdānjiāng).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [muda̠ɲd͡ʑa̠ŋ]
• Phonetic hangul: [무단장]

무단장 • (Mudanjang)

1. Mudanjiang (a prefecture-level city of Heilongjiang, China)
2. Mudan (a river in Heilongjiang, China)

All Koreans used to refer to all place names in China by their Sino-Korean names.

In 1986, the South Korean government mandated that place names which have been used in modern China (defined as after 1911) should be referred to by transliterations of their Standard Mandarin names, while historical place names which have not been in use in modern times would still be referred to by their Sino-Korean names. Hence the ancient imperial capital of Chang'an would still be called 장안(長安) (Jang'an), while Xi'an, the modern city at the site of Chang'an, would be called 시안 (Sian), not the traditional Sino-Korean 서안(西安) (Seoan).

This is currently enforced by Chapter 4, Section 2, Paragraph 2 (4장 2절 2항) of the Law of Foreign Words Notation.

South Koreans today have generally accepted the use of Mandarin forms for most modern Chinese place names, although the traditional Sino-Korean place names remain common for:

• Locations of cultural or historical importance such as 낙양(洛陽) (Nagyang, “Luoyang”), 황하(黃河) (Hwangha, “Yellow River”), and 태산(泰山) (Taesan, “Mount Tai”)
• Certain large cities such as 북경(北京) (Bukgyeong, “Beijing”), 상해(上海) (Sanghae, “Shanghai”), and 청도(靑島) (Cheongdo, “Qingdao”), yet the Mandarin forms are increasingly common for some of these, especially among younger speakers.
• Certain provinces such as 사천(四川) (Sacheon, “Sichuan”) and 길림(吉林) (Gillim, “Jilin”); again, the Mandarin forms are increasingly common for some of these.

Use of such well-established Sino-Korean toponyms is permitted by Chapter 4, Section 2, Paragraph 4 of the Law. However, government institutions, most media outlets, and school textbooks use the Mandarin-derived forms even for these.

Nonetheless, in certain academic fields and literary genres in South Korea, it is conventional to use Sino-Korean toponyms. In academia, this includes history, literary studies, and Chinese linguistics.

Among Koreans in China, only the Sino-Korean forms are used. In North Korea, with China's capital Beijing being an exception, the rest of Chinese place names are Sino-Korean.