Thanks, Edmund, now I understand that the old "Peiping" is not a different pronunciation but a different name entirely! And I agree with Bald Eagle that our attempts to "authenticize" our pronunciation of foreign words is often inconsistent and silly. I recall a professor in a college art class who made a big point of pronouncing the name "Velazquez" with a "th" sound for the "z". But it was a course about Picasso, and in pronouncing his name she invariably used an East Coast "a" (as in "cat") that I'm sure would never pass the lips of any self-respecting Catalan! Of course, I could be wrong about that...

Still, I think that those attempts at authenticity, when done in earnest, do show a degree of respect for other languages and cultures that is sorely needed in this too-angry world.

Aloha,
Mark