This article is devoted to the problem of the name of the Qing settlement, commonly referred to as Maymachen. The toponym Maymachen was one of the most well-known geographical names mentioned in various texts dedicated to Russian-Qing relations. It was usually used as the name of the settlement, which had been located on the Russian-Qing border on the opposite side of Russian towns of Kyakhta and Troitskosavsk. In the 18th century this area became the center of Russian-Qing trade and the place, where diplomatic contacts between Russian and Qing governments were conducted. As such, it was repeatedly described in travelogues and reference books, regularly mentioned in dictionaries and diplomatic correspondence; a number of articles and books devoted to local commerce and language contacts were compiled. However, the history of the local Qing settlement has been poorly studied to date and even its name has been incorrectly used in Russian texts, which referred to it as “Maymachen”. The real Chinese name of this place was “Qiaketu”, which also, like the Russian word “Kyakhta”, originated from the Mongolian toponym “Hyagt”. The name “Maymachen” (or maimaichen according to the modern norms of transcription) was used in Chinese for the trade settlements and there were several “maimaichens” in other Mongolian cities. Thus, in the case of Qiaketu, a generic term for a specific part of the town (maimaichen) was used as the name of the whole town. The article considers the circumstances that contributed to the emergence of this peculiar situation, and the resulting errors in the interpretation of the content of geographic and historical materials.
