It sounds like Harry Potter but Londoners can now catch a train from ‘Magic Station’. And while in the city, you can do some shopping in the ‘Sea of Gorgeous Lights’.

King's Cross St Pancras known as Magic Station in Mandarin

King’s Cross St Pancras known as Magic Station in Mandarin. Image by Mark Hillary / CC BY 2.0

No you are not going crazy – it’s just some of the Mandarin names which have been given to some of London’s most famous landmarks ahead of the Chinese New Year. For the record, Magic Station is Kings Cross St Pancras and Sea of Gorgeous Lights is Leadenhall Market.

ITV news reports that following the invitation by the VisitBritain agency to Chinese visitors to come up with suggestions to change the names of their favourite attractions into Mandarin, they then put their offerings on social media, asking the public to vote for their favourites.

More than 30,000 Chinese visitors voted to rename Savile Row and it is now called ‘Tall, Rich, Handsome Street’. The Shard also had plenty of name calling, and it is ended up being translated as ‘The London Cone’.

A few others which translated either well or a little strangely were Shoreditch (Novelty Seeker Area), Knightsbridge (Street of the Rich) and Kensington Palace (Royal Garden).