A student, Ge Yulu, (also written Geyu Lu,) who discovered a road without name in Beijing in 2013 named it after himself, Geyu Road (Lu means road in English).

He even made his own road sign and posted it on the road. By 2014, the road could be found in almost all navigation software such as Baidu Maps, Gaode Maps and some websites.

Later, some nearby residents began calling the road Geyu Road, though they did not know why and how it was given the name. The road is located in Dongcheng District of Beijing.

Ge Yulu, born in 1990 in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province, acted in a similar manner when he was in college. In 2014, Ge was admitted by China Central Academy of Fine Arts for a Master’s degree.

Ge said he began wondering about the connection between him and his name during an art history lesson, saying to himself that it would be fun to put up a private road sign in public.

He said Geyu Road was discovered through navigation software by mere coincidence as he has previously named other roads in Beijing that did not appear on map apps.

Nearby residents said the south-north road was formed after a residential community was built in 2007, and that they did not use “Geyu Road” as address when they called for delivery services.

A staff with the construction office of the residential area said the road has not been officially named and that a road sign can only be set up after it is examined and approved by road and traffic authorities.

The Beijing city planning authority explained that the name of a road is decided by a specialized department and that citizens are not allowed to name roads after themselves.

“Being searchable on navigation software or websites doesn’t mean a road is officially recognized,” a staff with Beijing city planning authority said. “Therefore, privately marking a road should be considered as a small advert,” the official clarified.

Gaode Maps said their navigation software finds new roads through information and data, float vehicle data and user report.