The Chinese name is "Shéshān" (佘山). "Shé" (佘) is the name of a Chinese family, and "shān" (山) is a word that can mean "mountain", "mountains", "hill", or "hills". Some people say that the hills' name used to be "Shéshān" (蛇山), meaning "Snake Hill", but that the Chinese character was changed because people don't like snakes.