First of all, let me correct your mistake. "Guangzhou" is not called "Yangchengtong". Guangzhou's nicknames are "Yangcheng" and "Suicheng".
"Yangchengtong (Card)" is a (ride) IC card used for taking buses or subways in Guangzhou. You need to recharge it first, and then just swipe the card directly when you get on the bus. No need to pay cash.
Having said the above two points, I think it is easy to understand why it is called "Yangcheng Tong". "Yangcheng" is the nickname of Guangzhou, and this card is used for "public transportation" , so it is called "Yangchengtong". The word Tong can also be understood as "a card common to every train (train)".
As for why Guangzhou is called Yangcheng, read the following text:
You may have heard that Guangzhou has several beautiful nicknames. I will test you now to see if you can Can't say it all. Yes, everyone is right. Guangzhou is also known as Huacheng, Yangcheng and Suicheng. Huacheng has been briefly introduced to you before, but everyone knows and remembers Huacheng more through the famous prose "Flower City" written by the late Qin Mu, one of the four great essayists in China. It has been included in middle school Chinese textbooks, and generations of Chinese people have remembered that Guangzhou is a city named after flowers. So, why is Guangzhou also called "Yangcheng" and "Suicheng"? There is a very beautiful legend in it.
According to legend, one year, due to successive disasters in Chu Ting, the fields were barren, the agricultural harvest was lost, and the people were starving. One day, five auspicious clouds appeared in the sky. There were five immortals on them, wearing red, orange, yellow, green and purple clothes. They were riding five fairy sheep of different colors. Each of the fairy sheep held a stalk of rice with six ears in its mouth. Slowly landed in this city. The immortal gave the rice to the people, left five sheep behind, and wished that there would never be famine here, and then flew away.
Since then, Guangzhou has become the richest place in Lingnan, and has also begun to be known as "Yangcheng", "Wuyangcheng" and "Suicheng". Later, the people of Guangzhou also built the "Five Immortals Temple" on Huifu West Road to commemorate these five immortals who benefited Guangzhou. If you don't believe it, you can go to the east side of the Five Immortals Temple and take a look. There is still a huge red sandstone footprint-shaped depression there, which is the "immortal's thumb mark". If you still don't believe it, you can go to the foothills of Yuexiu Mountain and there is a stone archway of "Ancient Chu Ting" in Yeli. It tells people that the oldest name in Guangzhou is "Chu Ting".
People who like to use their brains and are good at thinking may wonder: In this myth and legend, why do the immortals ride sheep instead of other animals? Why are the clothes of the five immortals in five colors and the clothes of the sheep in five colors? Is there any mystery in this?
Yes, behind this myth and legend, there is also a very rich historical, cultural and ideological connotation. In other words, it is not accidental that the immortal comes riding a sheep, that the immortal has five numbers, his clothes are five colors, and that the sheep is also five colors. First let’s talk about why it is sheep. Here I will tell you a basic fact. Animal husbandry scientists have proven that the sheep in Guangdong come from the north. This shows that the Five Sheep Myth is a prehistoric colonization myth. The Ming Dynasty began to move southward and brought northern culture and civilization to the Lingnan people. It also proved that Guangzhou was an immigrant city very early. Some people may also ask, the ancestors who moved to Yangcheng could also bring dogs, pigs, etc., why did they just bring sheep?
This may be due to the long distance and the behavior of pigs. It is slow and inconvenient to drive in groups. In addition, pigs have a bad image in ancient legends. Dogs were the totems and ancestral gods of many ethnic groups in ancient times and were rarely raised as livestock with economic value. Compared with dogs and pigs, sheep have strong fecundity and adaptability, and also have high economic value. To this day, there are still "planting ginger and raising sheep in Guangdong, which saves money but makes a profit" and "sheep never leave the womb" said. In addition, it moves quickly and is easy to drive away.
It can be seen that the immortal riding a sheep in the Wuyang myth not only symbolizes its coming from the north, but also has psychological, moral and economic considerations. There is a certain scientific reason why sheep became the ideal livestock for the ancestors who migrated south.
Today, Wuyang has become the city emblem of Guangzhou.
Careful tourists will find that the nickname "Yangcheng" has penetrated into all aspects of life in Guangzhou: the book "Yangcheng Ancient Banknotes", the publication "Yangcheng Ancient and Modern", the newspaper "Yangcheng Evening News", and the scenery "Eight Scenes of Yangcheng" ; Even many building trademarks, companies, associations, and places of interest are named after "Yangcheng"; the "Five Immortals Temple" still exists today, and the "Immortal Thumb Traces" are still visible; Xianhu Street, Xianlin Lane, Wuxian Gate, etc. are still there There is a bit of "immortal" spirit - the myth of "Five Sheep Immortal" can be said to have far-reaching influence.