Capitalization for directions

[Musicgold]

Hi,

I am confused about the use of capitalization in the case of directions. For example, in the case of sentence #1 below, I was told to change ‘North’ to ‘north’ and ‘South’ to ‘south’.
When searched the net, I found different variations of the use. For example sentence #2 capitalizes the words central and western. What is the standard for these words?

1.What people in north China think about south Chinese people?

2.Some Central and Western Canadian cities have used federal infrastructure funding to subsidize the building of natural gas infrastructure.

Thanks,

MG.

[Haihao]

1.What people in north China think about south Chinese people? -> What do people in North China think about those in the South?
2.Some Central and Western Canadian cities... -> Some central and western Canadian cities...

[Mister Micawber]

.
It depends primarily, Musicgold, on whether the direction is a part of the name of the region. There is a difference, for instance, between West Hollywood (the name of a municipality) and west Hollywood (the western part of the city of Hollywood).

The adjectival forms ('western', 'northern') are perhaps more likely to be merely geographical than are the directional forms ('west', 'north'), but I think you will find all permutations with careful scrutiny of a gazetteer.
.
_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mister Micawber

[Musicgold]

Thanks.