Last week a bank in Dongguan refused to open an account for a guy named Li Jun. Common sense would tell us that Li either must have had a bad credit rating, is bankrupt or is suspected of fraudulence. Wrong, wrong, wrong oh rational reader. It’s because Li Jun’s name is Li Jun. The bank in question already has 300 account holders with that name, which makes things a bit complicated. Tough luck no. 301.

The problem of similar names has of course been around for a while. After the 1949 Communist takeover millions of babies were blessed with beautiful names translated as “Liberation”, “Nation Founding” or even better, “Resisting America.” In the ultra-leftist Cultural Revolution, the fashion was for such names as “Safeguard Red”, “Leap Forward” or the more original “Cultural Revolution.” With an estimated 100 million Lis and Wangs currently living in China, this problem will continue to get worse. Unless of course China unilaterally decides to rename half the population.