城南 (chéngnán): south of the city

Meanings

1 south of the city
2 southern part of town

Characters

城

Examples

他住在城南。

Tā zhù zài chéngnán.

He lives in the south part of the city.

城南的房价比城北便宜。

Chéngnán de fángjià bǐ chéngběi piányi.

Housing prices in the south of the city are cheaper than in the north.

Tips

culture

Paired with 城北/城东/城西 to locate parts of a city relative to the (historic) walled center. 《城南旧事》 ("My Memories of Old Beijing"), 林海音's 1960 autobiographical novella and its 1983 film adaptation, cemented 城南 as a nostalgic literary reference to pre-1949 Beijing.