The names of China include the many contemporary and historical appellations given in various languages for the East Asian country known as ''Zhōngguó'' (/, "middle country") in its national language,

Standard Mandarin Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern standar ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, the name in English for the country, was derived from Portuguese in the 16th century, and became common usage in the West in the subsequent centuries. It is believed to be a borrowing from

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...

, and some have traced it further back to

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

. It is also thought that the ultimate source of the name China is the Chinese word "Qin" (), the name of the

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

that unified China but also existed as a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

for many centuries prior. There are, however, other alternative suggestions for the origin of the word. Chinese names for China, aside from ''Zhongguo'', include '' Zhōnghuá'' (/, "central beauty"), '' Huáxià'' (/, "beautiful grandness"), ''Shénzhōu'' (, "divine state") and ''Jiǔzhōu'' (, "nine states"). '' Hàn'' (/) and '' Táng'' () are common names given for the Chinese ethnicity, despite the Chinese nationality (''Zhōnghuá Mínzú'') not referencing any singular ethnicity. The

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

() and

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

() are the official names for the two contemporary

sovereign state A sovereign state or sovereign country, is a polity, political entity represented by one central government that has supreme legitimate authority over territory. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defin ...

s currently claiming sovereignty over the traditional area of

. "

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

" is used to refer to areas under the jurisdiction of the PRC, usually excluding

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

. There are also names for China used around the world that are derived from the languages of ethnic groups other than the

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

; examples include "

Cathay Cathay (; ) is a historical name for China that was used in Europe. During the early modern period, the term ''Cathay'' initially evolved as a term referring to what is now Northern China, completely separate and distinct from China, which ...

" from the

Khitan language Khitan or Kitan ( in large script or in small, ''Khitai''; , ''Qìdānyǔ''), also known as Liao, is a now-extinct language once spoken in Northeast Asia by the Khitan people (4th to 13th century). It was the official language of the Liao Empir ...

and "Tabgach" from

Tuoba The Tuoba (reconstructed Middle Chinese pronunciation: *''tʰak-bɛt''), also known as the Taugast or Tabgach ( otk, 𐱃𐰉𐰍𐰲 ''Tabγač''), was a Xianbei clan in Imperial China.Wei Shou. '' Book of Wei''. Vol. 1 During the Sixteen King ...

Sinitic names

Zhongguo

Pre-Qing

''Zhōngguó'' (中國) is the most common

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

name for China in modern times. The earliest appearance of this two-character term is on the bronze vessel He ''zun'' (dating to 1038–), during the early

Western Zhou The Western Zhou ( zh, c=, p=Xīzhōu; c. 1045 BC – 771 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when the Quanrong noma ...

period. The phrase "zhong guo" came into common usage in the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...

(475–221 BCE), when it referred to the "Central States"; the states of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

Valley of the Zhou era, as distinguished from the tribal periphery. In later periods, however, ''Zhongguo'' was not used in this sense. Dynastic names were used for the state in Imperial China and concepts of the state aside from the ruling dynasty were little understood. Rather, the country was called by the name of the dynasty, such as "

" (), "

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

" (), "

Great Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

" (''Da Ming'' ), "

Great Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

" (''Da Qing'' ), as the case might be. Until the 19th century when the international system came to require a common legal language, there was no need for a fixed or unique name.
p. 93-94
As early as the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

, ''Zhongguo'' could be understood as either the domain of the capital or used to refer the Chinese civilization (''zhuxia'' 諸夏 "the various

Xia Xia (Hsia in Wade–Giles) may refer to: Chinese history * Xia dynasty (c. 2070 – c. 1600 BC), the first orthodox dynasty in Chinese history * Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms) (407–431), a Xiongnu-led dynasty * Xia (617–621), a state founded by Dou Ji ...

" or ''zhuhua'' 諸華 "various

Hua Hua or HUA may refer to: China * Hua, as in Huaxia and Zhonghua, a name of China ** Hoa people, Chinese people in Vietnam * Hua (state), a state in ancient China, destroyed by Qin * Hua (surname), a Chinese surname * Hua County, in Anyang, Hena ...

"), and the political and geographical domain that contained it, but

Tianxia ''Tianxia'' (), literally meaning "(all) under Heaven", is a Chinese term for a historical Chinese cultural concept that denoted either the entire geographical world or the metaphysical realm of mortals, and later became associated with polit ...

was the more common word for this idea. This developed into the usage of the Warring States period when, other than the cultural-civilizational community, it could be the geopolitical area of Chinese civilization, equivalent to

Jiuzhou The term Nine Provinces or Nine Regions (), is used in ancient Chinese histories to refer to territorial divisions or islands during the Xia and Shang dynasties and has now come to symbolically represent China. "Province" is the word used to ...

. In a more limited sense it could also refer to the Central Plain or the states of Zhao, Wei, and

, etc., geographically central amongst the Warring States. Although ''Zhongguo'' could be used before the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

period to mean the transdynastic Chinese culture or civilization to which Chinese people belonged, it was in the Song dynasty when writers used ''Zhongguo'' as a term to describe the transdynastic entity with different dynastic names over time but having a set territory and defined by common ancestry, culture, and language. There were different usages of the term ''Zhongguo'' in every period. It could refer to the capital of the emperor to distinguish it from the capitals of his vassals, as in

. It could refer to the states of the Central Plain to distinguish them from states in outer regions. The ''

Shi Jing The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...

'' defines ''Zhongguo'' as the capital region, setting it in apposition to the capital city. During the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

, three usages of ''Zhongguo'' were common. The ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

'' uses ''Zhongguo'' to denote the capital, and also uses the concept ''zhong'' ("center, central") and ''zhongguo'' to indicate the center of civilization: "There are eight famous mountains in the world: three in

Man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...

and Yi (the barbarian wilds), five in ''Zhōngguó''." () In this sense, the term ''Zhongguo'' is synonymous with ''Huáxià'' (/) and ''Zhōnghuá'' (/), names of China that were first authentically attested since

and Eastern Jin period, respectively. Fourmont-Zhongguo-Guanhua

From the Qin to Ming dynasty literati discussed ''Zhongguo'' as both a historical place or territory and as a culture. Writers of the Ming period in particular used the term as a political tool to express opposition to expansionist policies that incorporated foreigners into the empire. In contrast foreign conquerors typically avoided discussions of ''Zhongguo'' and instead defined membership in their empires to include both Han and non-Han peoples.

Qing

''Zhongguo'' appeared in a formal international legal document for the first time during the Qing dynasty in the

Treaty of Nerchinsk The Treaty of Nerchinsk () of 1689 was the first treaty between the Tsardom of Russia and the Qing dynasty of China. The Russians gave up the area north of the Amur River as far as the Stanovoy Range and kept the area between the Argun River ...

, 1689. The term was then used in communications with other states and in treaties. The Manchu rulers incorporated Inner Asian polities into their empire, and

Wei Yuan Wei Yuan (; April23, 1794March26, 1857), born Wei Yuanda (), courtesy names Moshen () and Hanshi (), was a Chinese scholar from Shaoyang, Hunan. He moved to Yangzhou, Jiangsu in 1831, where he remained for the rest of his life. Wei obtained the ...

, a statecraft scholar, distinguished the new territories from ''Zhongguo'', which he defined as the 17 provinces of "

China proper China proper, Inner China, or the Eighteen Provinces is a term used by some Western writers in reference to the "core" regions of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. This term is used to express a distinction between the "core" regions popu ...

" plus the Manchu homelands in the Northeast. By the late 19th century the term had emerged as a common name for the whole country. The empire was sometimes referred to as Great Qing but increasingly as ''Zhongguo'' (see the discussion below). ''Dulimbai Gurun'' is the

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

name for China, with "Dulimbai" meaning "central" or "middle," and "Gurun" meaning "nation" or "state." The historian Zhao Gang writes that "not long after the collapse of the Ming, China hongguobecame the equivalent of Great Qing (Da Qing)—another official title of the Qing state", and "Qing and China became interchangeable official titles, and the latter often appeared as a substitute for the former in official documents." The Qing dynasty referred to their realm as "''Dulimbai Gurun''" in Manchu. The Qing equated the lands of the Qing realm (including present day Manchuria, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Tibet and other areas) as "China" in both the Chinese and Manchu languages, defining China as a

multi-ethnic state A multinational state or a multinational union is a sovereign entity that comprises two or more nations or states. This contrasts with a nation state, where a single nation accounts for the bulk of the population. Depending on the definition of ...

, rejecting the idea that China only meant Han areas; both Han and non-Han peoples were part of "China". Officials used "China" (though not exclusively) in official documents, international treaties, and foreign affairs, and the "Chinese language" (Manchu: ''Dulimbai gurun i bithe'') referred to Chinese, Manchu, and Mongol languages, and the term "Chinese people" (; Manchu: ''Dulimbai gurun i niyalma'') referred to all Han, Manchus, and Mongol subjects of the Qing. Ming loyalist Han literati held to defining the old Ming borders as China and using "foreigner" to describe minorities under Qing rule such as the Mongols, as part of their anti-Qing ideology. When the Qing conquered Dzungaria in 1759, they proclaimed that the new land was absorbed into ''Dulimbai Gurun'' in a Manchu language memorial. The Qing expounded on their ideology that they were bringing together the "outer" non-Han Chinese like the Inner Mongols, Eastern Mongols, Oirat Mongols, and Tibetans together with the "inner" Han Chinese, into "one family" united in the Qing state, showing that the diverse subjects of the Qing were all part of one family, the Qing used the phrase "" () or "" (), to convey this idea of "unification" of the different peoples. A Manchu language version of a treaty with the Russian Empire concerning criminal jurisdiction over bandits called people from the Qing as "people of the Central Kingdom (Dulimbai Gurun)". In the Manchu official Tulisen's Manchu language account of his meeting with the Torghut Mongol leader Ayuki Khan, it was mentioned that while the Torghuts were unlike the Russians, the "people of the Central Kingdom" (''dulimba-i gurun/'') were like the Torghut Mongols, and the "people of the Central Kingdom" referred to the Manchus. Mark Elliott noted that it was under the Qing that "China" transformed into a definition of referring to lands where the "state claimed sovereignty" rather than only the Central Plains area and its people by the end of the 18th century. Elena Barabantseva also noted that the Manchu referred to all subjects of the Qing empire regardless of ethnicity as "Chinese" (), and used the term () as a synonym for the entire Qing empire while using "Hàn rén" () to refer only to the core area of the empire, with the entire empire viewed as multiethnic.

Joseph W. Esherick Joseph W. Esherick (Chinese name: , born 1942) is an emeritus professor of modern Chinese history at the University of California, San Diego. He is the holder of thHwei-chih and Julia Hsiu Chair in Chinese Studies Esherick is a graduate of Harvard C ...

noted that while the Qing Emperors governed frontier non-Han areas in a different, separate system under the

Lifanyuan The Lifan Yuan (; ; Mongolian: Гадаад Монголын төрийг засах явдлын яам, ''γadaγadu mongγul un törü-yi jasaqu yabudal-un yamun'') was an agency in the government of the Qing dynasty of China which administered ...

and kept them separate from Han areas and administration, it was the Manchu Qing Emperors who expanded the definition of ''Zhongguo'' () and made it "flexible" by using that term to refer to the entire Empire and using that term to other countries in diplomatic correspondence, while some Han Chinese subjects criticized their usage of the term and the Han literati

used ''Zhongguo'' only to refer to the seventeen provinces of China and three provinces of the east (Manchuria), excluding other frontier areas. Due to Qing using treaties clarifying the international borders of the Qing state, it was able to inculcate in the Chinese people a sense that China included areas such as Mongolia and Tibet due to education reforms in geography which made it clear where the borders of the Qing state were even if they didn't understand how the Chinese identity included Tibetans and Mongolians or understand what the connotations of being Chinese were. The

Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanjing was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese later termed the Unequal Treaties. In the ...

(1842) English version refers to "His Majesty the Emperor of China" while the Chinese refers both to "The Great Qing Emperor" (''Da Qing Huangdi'') and to ''Zhongguo'' as well. The

Treaty of Tientsin The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several documents signed at Tianjin (then Postal Map Romanization, romanized as Tientsin) in June 1858. The Qing Empire, Qing dynasty, Russian Empire, Secon ...

(1858) has similar language. In the late 19th century the reformer

Liang Qichao Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啓超 ; Wade–Giles, Wade-Giles: ''Liang2 Chʻi3-chʻao1''; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Lèuhng Kái-chīu'') (February 23, 1873 – January 19, 1929) was a Chinese politician, social and political act ...

argued in a famous passage that "our greatest shame is that our country has no name. The names that people ordinarily think of, such as Xia, Han, or Tang, are all the titles of bygone dynasties." He argued that the other countries of the world "all boast of their own state names, such as England and France, the only exception being the Central States." The Japanese term "''

Shina Shina may refer to: * Shina language, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan * Shina people, a Dardic ethnic group in Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan People named Shina * Shina Matsudo (born 1973), Japanese freestyle swimmer * ...

''" was proposed as a basically neutral Western-influenced equivalent for "China". Liang and Chinese revolutionaries, such as

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...

, who both lived extensive periods in Japan, used ''Shina'' extensively, and it was used in literature as well as by ordinary Chinese. But with the overthrow of the Qing in 1911, most Chinese dropped ''Shina'' as foreign and demanded that even Japanese replace it with ''Zhonghua minguo'' or simply ''Zhongguo''. Liang went on to argue that the concept of ''tianxia'' had to be abandoned in favor of ''guojia'', that is, "nation," for which he accepted the term ''Zhongguo''. After the founding of the Chinese Republic in 1912, ''Zhongguo'' was also adopted as the abbreviation of ''Zhonghua minguo''. Qing official Zhang Deyi objected to the western European name "China" and said that China referred to itself as Zhonghua in response to a European who asked why Chinese used the term ''

guizi ''Guizi'' () is a pejorative Chinese slang term for foreigners. It has had a history of containing xenophobic connotations. History Starting with the arrival of European sailors in the sixteenth century, foreigners were often perceived in Chin ...

'' to refer to all Europeans. In the 20th century after the

May Fourth Movement The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chinese ...

, educated students began to spread the concept of ''Zhōnghuá'' (/), which represented the people, including 56 minority ethnic groups and the

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

, with a single culture identifying themselves as "Chinese". The Republic of China and the People's Republic of China both used the title "Zhōnghuá" in their official names. Thus, ''Zhōngguó'' became the common name for both governments, and "Zhōngguó rén" for their

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

s, though

Taiwanese people Taiwanese people may be generally considered the people of Taiwan who share a common culture, ancestry and speak Taiwanese Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka or indigenous Taiwanese languages as a mother tongue. Taiwanese people may also refer to the i ...

may reject being called as such.

Overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Terminology () or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...

are referred to as ''huáqiáo'' (/), "Chinese overseas", or ''huáyì'' (/), "Chinese descendants" (i.e., Chinese children born overseas).

Middle Kingdom

The English translation of ''Zhongguo'' as the "Middle Kingdom" entered

European languages Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. Within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Rom ...

through the Portuguese in the 16th century and became popular in the mid 19th century. By the mid 20th century the term was thoroughly entrenched in the English language to reflect the Western view of China as the inwards looking Middle Kingdom, or more accurately the ''Central Kingdom''. Endymion Wilkinson points out that the Chinese were not unique in thinking of their country as central, although China was the only culture to use the concept for their name. The term ''Zhongguo'' was also not commonly used as a name for China until quite recently, nor did it mean the "Middle Kingdom" to the Chinese, or even have the same meaning throughout the course of history ( see above).

= "Zhōngguó" in different languages

= * Burmese: * ca, País del Mig (The Middle's Country/State) * cs, Říše středu ("The Empire of the Center") * nl, Middenrijk ("Middle Empire" or "Middle Realm") *

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''Middle Kingdom'', ''Central Kingdom'' * fi, Keskustan valtakunta ("The State of the Center") * french: Empire du milieu ("Middle Empire") or ("Middle Kingdom") * german: Reich der Mitte ("Middle Empire") *

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: (, "Middle Empire") or (, "Central Empire") * hmn, Suav Teb (), (), () * hu, Középső birodalom ("Middle Empire") * id, Tiongkok (from , the

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

name for China) * it, Impero di Mezzo ("Middle Empire") *

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: (; ) * Kazakh: () *

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

: (; ) * Li: *

Lojban Lojban (pronounced ) is a logical, constructed, human language created by the Logical Language Group which aims to be syntactically unambigious. It succeeds the Loglan project. The Logical Language Group (LLG) began developing Lojban in 1987. ...

: jugygu'e or .djunguos. *

: () or () were the official names for "China" in

Manchu language Manchu (Manchu:, ) is a critically endangered East Asian Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China. As the traditional native language of the Manchus, it was one of the official languages of the Qing dyn ...

* Mongolian: (), the official name for "China" used in

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

* pl, Państwo Środka ("The State of the Center") * pt, Estado Central ("Central State") * russian: Срединное Царство (; "Middle Kingdom") * sk, Ríša stredu ("The Empire of the Center") * es, País del Centro (The Middle's Country/State) * sv, Mittens rike (The Middle's Kingdom/Empire/Realm/State) *

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

: (), a PRC-era loanword from Mandarin; the normal Tibetan term for China (proper) is rgya nak (རྒྱ་ནག), lit. the "black country." * tok, ma Sonko * ug, جۇڭگو, Junggo * vi, Trung Quốc () * ii, ꍏꇩ(''Zho guop'') * Zhuang: (older orthography: )

= "Zhōnghuá" in different languages

= * id, Tionghoa (from , the

counterpart) *

: (; ) *

: (; ) * Kazakh: () * Li: *

: () *

: (''krung hwa'') * ug, جۇڭخۇا, Jungxua * vi, Trung hoa () * ii, ꍏꉸ (''Zho huop'') * Zhuang: (Old orthography: )

Huaxia

The name ''Huaxia'' (/; ) is generally used as a

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...

in Chinese text. Under traditional interpretations, it is the combination of two words which originally referred to the elegance of the traditional attire of the Han Chinese and the Confucian concept of rites. * ''Hua'' which means "flowery beauty" (''i.e.'' having beauty of dress and personal adornment ). * ''Xia'' which means greatness or grandeur (''i.e.'' having greatness of social customs/courtesy/polite manners and rites/ceremony ). In the original sense, Huaxia refers to a confederation of tribes—living along the Yellow River—who were the ancestors of what later became the Han ethnic group in China. During the Warring States (475–221 BCE), the self-awareness of the Huaxia identity developed and took hold in ancient China.

Zhonghua minzu

''Zhonghua minzu'' is a term meaning Chinese

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...

in the sense of a multi-ethnic

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or to one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

. Though originally rejected by the PRC, it has been used officially since the 1980s for

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

politics.

Tianchao and Tianxia

''Tianchao'' (; ), translated as "heavenly dynasty" or "Celestial Empire;" and ''Tianxia'' (; ) translated as " under heaven," are both phrases that have been used to refer to China. These terms were usually used in the context of

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

s or periods of division, with the term ''Tianchao'' evoking the idea of the realm's ruling dynasty was appointed by heaven; or that whoever ends up reunifying China is said to have ruled ''Tianxia'', or everything under heaven. This fits with the traditional Chinese theory of rulership in which the emperor was nominally the political leader of the entire world and not merely the leader of a nation-state within the world. Historically the term was connected to the later

Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

(c. 1046–256 BCE), especially the

(eighth to fourth century BCE) and the

(from there to 221 BCE, when China was reunified by the

Qin state Qin () was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Traditionally dated to 897 BC, it took its origin in a reconquest of western lands previously lost to the Rong; its position at the western edge of Chinese civilization permitted ex ...

). The phrase ''Tianchao'' continues to see use on Chinese internet discussion boards, in reference to China. The phrase ''Tianchao'' was first translated into English and French in the early 19th century, appearing in foreign publicans and diplomatic correspondences, with the translated phrase "Celestial Empire" occasionally used to refer to China. During this period, the term ''celestial'' was used by some to refer to the subjects of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

in a non-prejudicial manner, derived from the term "Celestial Empire". However, the term ''celestial'' was also used in a pejorative manner during the 19th century, in reference to Chinese immigrants in Australasia and North America. The translated phrase has largely fallen into disuse in the 20th century. Translations for ''Tianxia'' include: *

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Поднебесная (''Podnebésnaya''; lit. "under the heaven")

Jiangshan and Heshan

''Jiangshan'' (; ) and ''Heshan'' (; ) literally mean "rivers and mountains". This term is quite similar in usage to ''Tianxia'', and simply refers to the entire world, and here the most prominent features of which being rivers and mountains. The use of this term is also common as part of the phrase ''Jiangshan sheji'' (; ; lit. "rivers and mountains,

soil and grain __NOTOC__ Soil and grain was a common political term in the Sinosphere for the state. Shejitan, the altars of soil and grain, were constructed alongside ancestral altars. Chinese monarchs of the Ming and Qing dynasties performed ceremonies of soil ...

"), suggesting the need to implement good governance.

Jiuzhou

The name ''Jiuzhou'' (; ) means "nine provinces". Widely used in pre-modern Chinese text, the word originated during the middle of

of China (c. 400–221 BCE). During that time, the

river region was divided into nine geographical regions; thus this name was coined. Some people also attribute this word to the mythical hero and king,

Yu the Great Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures prominen ...

, who, in the legend, divided China into nine provinces during his reign. (Consult Zhou for more information.)

Shenzhou

This name means ''Divine Realm'' or ''Divine Land'' (; ) and comes from the same period as Jiuzhou meaning "nine provinces". It was thought that the world was divided into nine major states, one of which is Shenzhou, which is in turn divided into nine smaller states, one of which is Jiuzhou mentioned above.

Sihai

This name, ''

Four Seas The Four Seas () were four bodies of water that metaphorically made up the boundaries of ancient China. There is a sea for each for the four cardinal directions. The West Sea is Qinghai Lake, the East Sea is the East China Sea, the North Sea is ...

'' (; ), is sometimes used to refer to the world, or simply China, which is perceived as the civilized world. It came from the ancient notion that the world is flat and surrounded by sea.

Han

The name ''Han'' (/; ) derives from the

(206 BC–AD 220), who presided over China's first "golden age". The Han dynasty collapsed in 220 and was followed by a long period of disorder, including

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...

Sixteen Kingdoms The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded by ...

, and

Southern and Northern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...

periods. During these periods, various non-Han ethnic groups established various dynasties in northern China. It was during this period that people began to use the term "Han" to refer to the natives of North China, who (unlike the minorities) were the descendants of the subjects of the

. During the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

, subjects of the empire was divided into four classes:

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

Semu Semu () is the name of a caste established by the Yuan dynasty. The 31 Semu categories referred to people who came from Central and West Asia. They had come to serve the Yuan dynasty by enfranchising under the dominant Mongol caste. The Semu were ...

or "Colour-eyeds", Hans, and "Southerns". Northern Chinese were called Han, which was considered to be the highest class of Chinese. This class "Han" includes all ethnic groups in northern China including Khitan and Jurchen who have in most part sinicized during the last two hundreds years. The name "Han" became popularly accepted. During the

, the

rulers also used the name Han to distinguish the natives of the Central Plains from the Manchus. After the fall of the Qing government, the Han became the name of a nationality within China. Today the term "Han Persons", often rendered in English as

, is used by the People's Republic of China to refer to the most populous of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups of China. The "Han Chinese" are simply referred to as "Chinese" by some.

Tang

The name ''Tang'' (; ) comes from the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

(618–690, 705–907) that presided over China's second golden age. It was during the Tang dynasty that South China was finally and fully

Sinicized Sinicization, sinofication, sinification, or sinonization (from the prefix , 'Chinese, relating to China') is the process by which non-Chinese societies come under the influence of Chinese culture, particularly the language, societal norms, cul ...

; Tang would become synonymous with China in Southern China and it is usually Southern Chinese who refer to themselves as "''People of Tang''" (, ). For example, the sinicization and rapid development of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

during the Tang period would lead the Cantonese to refer to themselves as ''Tong-yan'' () in Cantonese, while China is called ''Tong-saan'' (; ).

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

s worldwide, often dominated by Southern Chinese, also became referred to ''Tang people's Street'' (, Cantonese: Tong-yan-gaai; ). The Cantonese term ''Tongsan'' (Tang mountain) is recorded in

Old Malay Malay was first used in the first millennia known as Old Malay, a part of the Austronesian language family. Over a period of two millennia, Malay has undergone various stages of development that derived from different layers of foreign influence ...

as one of the local terms for China, along with the Sanskrit-derived ''Cina''. It is still used in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

today, usually in a derogatory sense. Among Taiwanese, ''Tang mountain'' (Min-Nan: Tn̂g-soaⁿ) has been used, for example, in the saying, "has Tangshan father, no Tangshan mother" (; ). This refers how the Han people crossing the

Taiwan Strait The Taiwan Strait is a -wide strait separating the island of Taiwan and continental Asia. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide. The Taiwan Strait is itself a s ...

in the 17th and 18th centuries were mostly men, and that many of their offspring would be through intermarriage with

Taiwanese aborigine Taiwanese indigenous peoples (formerly Taiwanese aborigines), also known as Formosan people, Austronesian Taiwanese, Yuanzhumin or Gaoshan people, are the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, with the nationally recognized subgroups numbering about 5 ...

women. In Ryukyuan,

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

was originally called ''tii'' (, hand) or ''karatii'' (, Tang hand) because ''too-nu-kuku'' or ''kara-nu-kuku'' () was a common Ryukyuan name for China; it was changed to ''karate'' (, open hand) to appeal to Japanese people after the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...

Dalu and Neidi

''Dàlù'' (/; ), literally "big continent" or "mainland" in this context, is used as a short form of ''Zhōnggúo Dàlù'' (/, Mainland China), excluding (depending on the context) Hong Kong and

, and/or

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. This term is used in official context in both the mainland and Taiwan, when referring to the mainland as opposed to Taiwan. In certain contexts, it is equivalent to the term ''Neidi'' (; , literally "the inner land"). While ''Neidi'' generally refers to the interior as opposed to a particular coastal or border location, or the coastal or border regions generally, it is used in Hong Kong specifically to mean mainland China excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Increasingly, it is also being used in an official context within mainland China, for example in reference to the separate judicial and customs jurisdictions of mainland China on the one hand and Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan on the other. The term ''Neidi'' is also often used in Xinjiang and Tibet to distinguish the eastern provinces of China from the minority-populated, autonomous regions of the west.

Official names

People's Republic of China

The name New China has been frequently applied to China by the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

as a positive political and social term contrasting pre-1949 China (the establishment of the PRC) and the new name of the socialist state, Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó (in the older postal romanization, Chunghwa Jenmin Konghokuo) or the "People's Republic of China" in English, was adapted from the CCP's short-lived

Chinese Soviet Republic The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was an East Asian proto-state in China, proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese communist leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. The discontiguous territories of the CSR ...

in 1931. This term is also sometimes used by writers outside mainland China. The PRC was known to many in the West during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

as "Communist China" or "Red China" to distinguish it from the

which is commonly called "Taiwan", "Nationalist China" or "Free China". In some contexts, particularly in economics, trade, and sports, "China" is often used to refer to

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

to the exclusion of Hong Kong,

and

. The official name of the People's Republic of China in various official languages and scripts: *

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...

: () – Official language and script, used in mainland China,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

: () – Official script in Hong Kong and Macau, and commonly used in Taiwan (ROC) * English: People's Republic of China – Official in Hong Kong * Kazakh: As used within the

Republic of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekis ...

, Қытай Халық Республикасы (in

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, ...

), ''Qıtay Xalıq Respwblïkası'' (in

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...

), (in

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the ...

); as used within the People's Republic of China, (in

), Жұңxуа Халық Республикасы (in

), ''Juñxwa Xalıq Respwblïkası'' (in

). The

is the predominant script in the Republic of Kazakhstan, while the

is normally used for the Kazakh language in the People's Republic of China. *

: (; ''Junghwa Inmin Gonghwaguk'') – Used in Yanbian Prefecture (

Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

) and

Changbai County Changbai Korean Autonomous County, or simply Changbai County (; Chosŏn'gŭl: 장백현; Hangul: 창바현) is a county in southern Jilin province, China, facing Hyesan, North Korea. It is under the administration of the city of Baishan, to the ...

(

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

) * Manchurian: (''Dulimbai niyalmairgen gunghe' gurun'') or (''Junghūwa niyalmairgen gungheg'o'') * Mongolian: (''Bügüde nayiramdaqu dumdadu arad ulus'') – Official in

; Бүгд Найрамдах Хятад Ард Улс (''Bügd Nairamdakh Khyatad Ard Uls'') – used in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: República Popular da China – Official in

* – Official in PRC's Tibet ** – Official in Tibet Government-in-Exile * (''Jungxua Xelq Jumhuriyiti'') – Official in

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

* Yi: (''Zho huop rep mip gop hop guop'') – Official in Liangshan (

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

) and several Yi-designated autonomous counties *

Zaiwa Zaiwa (autonym: '; Tsaiwa, Tsaiva, 载瓦; Burmese: ဇိုင်ဝါး/အဇီး) is a Burmish language spoken in parts of southwest China and eastern Burma. There are around 100,000 speakers. It is also known as ''Atsi'', its name in ...

: ' – Official in

Dehong The Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture is located in western Yunnan province, People's Republic of China, and is one of the eight autonomous prefectures of the province, bordering Baoshan to the east and Burma's Kachin State to the west. ...

(

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

) * Zhuang: ''Cunghvaz Yinzminz Gunghozgoz'' (Old orthography: ''Cuŋƅvaƨ Yinƨminƨ Guŋƅoƨ'') – Official in

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

The official name of the People's Republic of China in major neighboring countries official languages and scripts: *

: (, ''Chūka Jinmin Kyōwakoku'') – Used in Japan *

: (''Kitayskaya Narodnaya Respublika'') – Used in Russia and Central Asia *

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

: (''Cheenee janavaadee ganaraajy'') – Used in India *

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Burmese: (''Tarotepyishusammataninengan'') – Used in Myanmar *

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

: – Used in Vietnam *

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

: (''S̄āṭhārṇrạṭ̄h Prachāchn Cīn'') – Used in Thailand * Khmer: – Used in Cambodia * Lao: (''Sathalanalad Pasasonchin'') – Used in Laos * Nepali: (''Jana Gaṇatāntrika Cīna'') – Used in Nepal

Republic of China

, t5 = , s5 = , l5 = beautiful island , bpmf5 = ㄈㄨˊ ㄦˇ ㄇㄛˊ ㄕㄚ , w5 = Fu²-êrh³-mo²-sha¹ , p5 = Fú'ěrmóshā , tp5 = Fú'ěrmósha , mps5 = Fúěrmóshā , gr5 = Fwueelmosha , mi5= , myr5=Fúěrmwóshā , j5 = Fuk1ji5mo1saa1 , poj5 = Hok-ní-mô͘-sa , phfs5 = , altname6 = Republic of Taiwan , t6 = , s6 = , bpmf6 = ㄊㄞˊ ㄨㄢ
ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ , w6 = Tʻai²-wan¹ Min²-kuo² , p6 = Táiwān Mínguó , tp6 = Táiwan Mínguó , myr6 = Táiwān Mín'gwó , mps6 = Táiwān Mínguó, gr6 = Tair'uan Min'gwo , psp6 = Taiwan Minkuo , poj6 = Tâi-oân Bîn-kok, tl6 = Tâi-uân Bîn-kok, phfs6 = Thòi-vàn Mìn-koet Thòi-vân Mìn-koet In 1912, China adopted its official name, Chunghwa Minkuo (rendered in pinyin Zhōnghuá Mínguó) or in English as the "Republic of China", which also has sometimes been referred to as " Republican China" or the "Republican Era" (), in contrast to the empire it replaced, or as " Nationalist China", after the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

). (''Chunghwa'') is a term that pertains to "China" while (''Minkuo''), literally "People's State" or "Peopledom", stands for "republic". The name had stemmed from the party manifesto of

Tongmenghui The Tongmenghui of China (or T'ung-meng Hui, variously translated as Chinese United League, United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, Chinese Alliance, United Allegiance Society, ) was a secret society and underground resistance movement ...

in 1905, which says the four goals of the Chinese revolution was "to expel the

rulers, to revive ''Chunghwa'', to establish a Republic, and to distribute land equally among the people.()." The convener of Tongmenghui and Chinese revolutionary leader

proposed the name ''Chunghwa Minkuo'' as the assumed name of the new country when the revolution succeeded. With the separation from mainland China in 1949 as a result of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, the territory of the Republic of China has largely been confined to the island of

and some other small islands. Thus, the country is often simply referred to as simply "

", although this may not be perceived as politically neutral. (See

Taiwan Independence Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

.) Amid the hostile rhetoric of the

, the government and its supporters sometimes referred to itself as "Free China" or "Liberal China", in contrast to People's Republic of China (which was historically called the "Bandit-occupied Area" () by the ROC). In addition, the ROC, due to pressure from the PRC, was forced to use the name "

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

" () whenever it participates in international forums or most sporting events such as the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Taiwanese politician Mei Feng had criticised the official English name of the state "Republic of China" fails to translate the Chinese character "Min" ( English: people) according to Sun Yat-sen's original interpretations, while the name should instead be translated as "the People's Republic of China," which confuses with the current official name of China under communist control. To avoid confusion, the

Chen Shui-ban Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whic ...

led

DPP DPP may stand for: Business *Digital Production Partnership, of UK public service broadcasters * Direct Participation Program, a financial security * Discounted payback period Photography * Digital Photo Professional, Canon software Law en ...

administration began to put an aside of "Taiwan" next to the nation's official name since 2005. The official name of the Republic of China in various official languages and scripts: * English: Republic of China – Official in Hong Kong, commonly used by the United States until 1979, Chinese Taipei – official designation in several international organizations (

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

), Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu –

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

, Governing authorities on Taiwan – Official name used by the United States from 1979 *

: (), (), (), () – Official script in Hong Kong,

and Taiwan and the islands controlled by the ROC *

: (), (), (), () – Official language and script, used in

and

* Kazakh: As used within

, Қытай Республикасы (in

), ''Qıtay Respwblïkası'' (in

), (in

); as used within the People's Republic of China, Жұңxуа Республикасы (in

), ''Juñxwa Respwblïkası'' (in

), (in

). The

is the predominant script in the

, while the

is normally used for the

Kazakh language The Kazakh or simply Qazaq (Latin: or , Cyrillic: or , Arabic Script: or , , ) is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia by Kazakhs. It is closely related to Nogai, Kyrgyz and Karakalpak. It is the official lan ...

in the People's Republic of China. *

: (; ''Junghwa Minguk'') – Official in

Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture Yanbian (; Chosŏn'gŭl: , ''Yeonbyeon''), officially known as the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the east of Jilin Province, China. Yanbian is bordered to the north by Heilongjiang Province, on the west by ...

* Manchurian: (''Dulimbai irgen' gurun'') * Mongolian: Дундад иргэн улс (''Dumdadu irgen ulus'') – Official for its history name before 1949 in

and Mongolia; Бүгд Найрамдах Хятад Улс (Bügd Nairamdakh Khyatad Uls) – used in

for Roc in Taiwan *

: ''República da China'' – Official in

, ''Formosa'' – former name * , – Official in PRC's Tibet ** – Official in Tibet Government-in-Exile * – Official in

* Yi: (''Zho huop mip guop'') – Official in Liangshan (

) and several Yi-designated autonomous counties *

: ' – Official in

(

) * Zhuang: ''Cunghvaz Mingoz'' (Old orthography: ''Cuŋƅvaƨ Minƨƅoƨ'') – Official in

The official name of the Republic of China in major neighboring countries official languages and scripts: *

: (; ''Chūka Minkoku'') – Used in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

: (; ''Junghwa Minguk'') – Used in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

: (''Kitayskaya Respublika'') – Used in Russia and Central Asia *

: (''Cheenee ganaraajy'') – Used in India *

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Burmese: (''Tarotesammataninengan'') – Used in Myanmar *

: – Used in Vietnam *

: (''S̄āṭhārṇrạṭ̄h Cīn'') – Used in Thailand (during 1912–1949) * Khmer: – Used in Cambodia * Lao: (''Sathalanalad Chin'') – Used in Laos * Nepali: (''Gaṇatāntrika Cīna'') – Used in Nepal

Names in non-Chinese records

Names used in the parts of Asia, especially

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

and Southeast Asia, are usually derived directly from words in one of the

languages of China There are several hundred languages in China. The predominant language is Standard Chinese, which is based on central Mandarin, but there are hundreds of related Chinese languages, collectively known as ''Hanyu'' (, 'Han language'), that are spo ...

. Those languages belonging to a former dependency (tributary) or Chinese-influenced country have an especially similar pronunciation to that of Chinese. Those used in

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

, however, have indirect names that came via other routes and may bear little resemblance to what is used in China.

Chin, China

English, most

, and many others use various forms of the name ''China'' and the

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

"Sino-" or "Sin-" from the Latin ''Sina''. Europeans had knowledge of a country known in

as ''Thina'' or ''Sina'' from the early period; the ''

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...

'' from perhaps the first century AD recorded a country known as ''Thin'' (''θίν''). The English name for "China" itself is derived from

(''Chīnī'' ). This modern word "China" was first used by Europeans starting with Portuguese explorers of the 16th century – it was first recorded in 1516 in the journal of the Portuguese explorer

Duarte Barbosa Duarte Barbosa (c. 14801 May 1521) was a Portuguese writer and officer from Portuguese India (between 1500 and 1516). He was a Christian pastor and scrivener in a ''feitoria'' in Kochi, and an interpreter of the local language, Malayalam. Barbosa ...

. The journal was translated and published in England in 1555. CEM-09-Asiae-Nova-Descriptio-China-2510

The traditional etymology, proposed in the 17th century by

Martin Martini Martino Martini () (20 September 1614 – 6 June 1661), born and raised in Trento (Prince-Bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire), was a Jesuit missionary. As cartographer and historian, he mainly worked on ancient Imperial China. Early years Mar ...

and supported by later scholars such as

Paul Pelliot Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French Sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and his discovery of many important Chinese texts such as the Dunhuang manuscripts. Early life and caree ...

and

Berthold Laufer Berthold Laufer (October 11, 1874 – September 13, 1934) was a German anthropologist and Historical geography, historical geographer with an expertise in East Asian languages. The American Museum of Natural History calls him, "one of the most dis ...

, is that the word "China" and its related terms are ultimately derived from the polity known as

Qin Qin may refer to: Dynasties and states * Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China * Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC * Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...

that unified China to form the

Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...

Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...

: ''*dzin'') in the 3rd century BC, but existed as a state on the furthest west of China since the 9th century BC. "There are reasons however for believing the word was bestowed at a much earlier date, for it occurs in the Laws of Manu, which assert the ''Chinas'' to be degenerate Kshatriyas, and the Mahabharat, compositions many centuries older that imperial dynasty of ... And this name may have yet possibly been connected with the Ts'in, or some monarchy of the like title; for that Dynasty had reigned locally in Shen si from the ninth century before our era..." This is still the most commonly held theory, although the etymology is still a matter of debate according to the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'', and many other suggestions have been mooted. The existence of the word ''Cīna'' in ancient Indian texts was noted by the

scholar

Hermann Jacobi Hermann Georg Jacobi (11 February 1850 – 19 October 1937) was an eminent German Indologist. Education Jacobi was born in Köln (Cologne) on 11 February 1850. He was educated in the gymnasium of Cologne and then went to the University of Be ...

who pointed out its use in the Book 2 of ''

Arthashastra The ''Arthashastra'' ( sa, अर्थशास्त्रम्, ) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, political science, economic policy and military strategy. Kautilya, also identified as Vishnugupta and Chanakya, is ...

'' with reference to silk and woven cloth produced by the country of ''Cīna'', although textual analysis suggests that Book 2 may not have been written long before 150 AD. The word is also found in other Sanskrit texts such as the ''

Mahābhārata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

'' and the ''

Laws of Manu The ''Manusmṛiti'' ( sa, मनुस्मृति), also known as the ''Mānava-Dharmaśāstra'' or Laws of Manu, is one of the many legal texts and constitution among the many ' of Hinduism. In ancient India, the Rishi, sages often wrot ...

''. The Indologist

Patrick Olivelle Patrick Olivelle is an Indologist. A philologist and scholar of Sanskrit Literature whose work has focused on asceticism, renunciation and the dharma, Olivelle has been Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions in the Department of Asian Studi ...

argued that the word ''Cīnā'' may not have been known in India before the first century BC, nevertheless he agreed that it probably referred to Qin but thought that the word itself was derived from a Central Asian language.Liu, Lydia He,
The clash of empires
', p. 77. . "Scholars have dated the earliest mentions of ''Cīna'' to the ''Rāmāyana'' and the ''Mahābhārata'' and to other Sanskrit sources such as the Hindu Laws of Manu." Some Chinese and Indian scholars argued for the state of Jing (, another name for Chu) as the likely origin of the name. Another suggestion, made by Geoff Wade, is that the '' Cīnāh'' in Sanskrit texts refers to an ancient kingdom centered in present-day

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

, called

Yelang Yelang, also Zangke, was an ancient political entity first described in the 3rd century BC in what is now western Guizhou province, China. It was active for over 200 years. The state is known to modern Chinese from the idiom, "Yelang thinks too ...

, in the south Tibeto-Burman highlands. The inhabitants referred to themselves as ''Zina'' according to Wade. The term ''China'' can also be used to refer to: * a modern state, indicating the People's Republic of China (PRC) or the Republic of China (ROC), where recognized; * "

" (/, ''Zhōngguó Dàlù'' in Mandarin), which is the territory of the PRC minus the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and

; * "

", a term used to refer to the historical heartlands of China without peripheral areas like

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, and

In economic contexts, "

Greater China Greater China is an informal geographical area that shares commercial and cultural ties with the Han Chinese people. The notion of "Greater China" refers to the area that usually encompasses Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan in East A ...

" (/, ''dà Zhōnghuá dìqū'') is intended to be a neutral and non-political way to refer to Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and

Sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

s usually use "Chinese" in a more restricted sense, akin to the classical usage of ''Zhongguo'', to the

ethnic group, which makes up the bulk of the population in China and of the

overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Terminology () or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...

List of derived terms

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

: ''Sjina,'' spelling now obsolete and spelled as ''China'' (pronunciation is the same) () *

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

: ''Kinë'' () *

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

: ''Chayna'' (from English) *

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

: Չինաստան () * Assamese: () *

Azeri Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...

: ''Çin'' () *

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

: ''Txina'' () *

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

: () *

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

: ''တရုတ်'' () *Catalan: ''Xina'' () *Chinese: ''Zhīnà'' (obsolete and considered offensive due to historical Japanese usage; originated from early Chinese translations of Buddhist texts in Sanskrit) * Chinese: Zhèndàn transcription of the Sanskrit/Pali "Cīnasthāna" in the Buddhist texts. *

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

: ''Čína'' () *

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

: ''Kina'' () *

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: ''China'' () *English: ''China'' *

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

: ''Ĉinujo'' or ''Ĉinio'', or ''Ĥinujo'' (archaic) *

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

: ''Hiina'' () *

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

: ''Tsina'' () *

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

: ''Kiina'' () *French: ''Chine'' () * Galician: ''China'' () *

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

: ჩინეთი () *German: ''China'' ( and , in the southern part of the German-speaking area also ) *

: Κίνα (''Kína'') () *

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

: ''Cīn'' (IPA ) * Hindustani: ''Cīn'' or (IPA ) * Hungarian: ''Kína'' () * Icelandic: ''Kína'' () *

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

: ''Cina'' () *

Interlingua Interlingua (; ISO 639 language codes ia, ina) is an international auxiliary language (IAL) developed between 1937 and 1951 by the American International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). It ranks among the most widely used IALs and is t ...

: ''China'' *

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

: ''An tSín'' () *

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

: ''Cina'' () *Japanese: ''Shina'' () – considered offensive in China, now largely obsolete in Japan and avoided out of deference to China (the name ''Chūgoku'' is used instead); See

Shina (word) is a largely archaic Japanese name for China. The word was originally used neutrally in both the Chinese and Japanese languages, but came to be perceived as derogatory by the Chinese during the course of the Sino-Japanese Wars. As a result, ...

and

kotobagari is a sardonic term which refers to the reluctance to use words that are considered potentially offensive or politically incorrect in the Japanese language. For instance words such as , , , , ''kichigai'' ( or "crazy"), , and are currently not u ...

. * Javanese: ''Cina'' (low speech level); ''Cinten'' (high speech level) *

Kapampangan Kapampangan, Capampañgan or Pampangan may refer to: *Kapampangan people of the Philippines *Kapampangan language Kapampangan or Pampangan is an Austronesian language, and one of the eight major languages of the Philippines. It is the primary ...

: ''Sina'' * Khmer: () *

: ''Jina'' (; ) * Latvian: ''Ķīna'' () * Lithuanian: ''Kinija'' () * Macedonian: ''Кина'' (Kina) () *

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

: ''Cina'' () *

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

: ''Cheenan''/''Cheenathi'' * Maltese: ''Ċina'' () *

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

: ''Cīn'' (IPA ) * Nepali: ''Cīn'' (IPA ) *

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

: ''Kina'' () * Pahlavi: ''Čīnī'' *

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: ''Chīn'' () *

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

: ''Chiny'' () *

: ''China'' () *

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

: ''China'' () *

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...

: ''Kina'' or () * Sinhala: ''Chinaya'' චීනය * Slovak: ''Čína'' () *

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: ''China'' () * Somali: ''Shiinaha'' *

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

: ''Kina'' () *

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

: ''Cīnam'' () *

: (' ) *

: ''Rgya Nag'' () * Turkish: ''Çin'' () *

: ''Chấn Đán 震旦'' ( or Chi Na 支那 ()(in Buddhist texts). *

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

: ''Tsieina'' ()

Seres, Ser, Serica

''Sēres'' (Σῆρες) was the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

name for the northwestern part of China and its inhabitants. It meant "of silk," or "land where silk comes from." The name is thought to derive from the Chinese word for silk, ''sī'' (/;

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...

''sɨ'',

*''slɯ'', per

Zhengzhang Zhengzhang Shangfang (; ; 9 August 1933 – 19 May 2018) was a Chinese linguist, known for his reconstruction of Old Chinese. Zhengzhang was born as Zheng Xiangfang ( ; ) in Yongjia County, on the outskirts of Wenzhou. As and have the same ...

). It is itself at the origin of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for silk, "''sērica''". See the main article

Serica Serica (, grc, Σηρικά) was one of the easternmost countries of Asia known to the Ancient Greek and Roman geographers. It is generally taken as referring to North China North China, or Huabei () is a List of regions of China, geogr ...

for more details. *

: Σῆρες ''

Seres Seres are the people of Serica, one of the easternmost countries of Asia known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Seres may also refer to: People * * * Brands and enterprises * See also * Celes (disambiguation) Celes may refer to: * ...

'', Σηρικός ''Serikos'' *

: ''Serica'' *

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

: ''Seiria'', as seen in Dúan in chóicat cest This may be a

back formation In etymology, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via inflection, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes associated with the ...

from ''sērikos'' (σηρικός), "made of silk", from ''sēr'' (σήρ), "silkworm", in which case ''Sēres'' is "the land where silk comes from."

Sinae, Sin

''Sīnae'' was an ancient Greek and Roman name for some people who dwelt south of the

(Serica) in the eastern extremity of the habitable world. References to the Sinae include mention of a city that the Romans called ''Sēra Mētropolis'', which may be modern

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

. The Latin prefixes ''Sino-'' and ''Sin-'' as well as words such as ''Sinica'', which are traditionally used to refer to China or the Chinese, came from ''Sīnae''. It is generally thought that ''Chīna'', ''Sīna'' and ''Thīna'' are variants that ultimately derived from Qin, which was the westernmost state in China that eventually formed the Qin Dynasty. There are however other opinions on its etymology (See section on China above).

Henry Yule Sir Henry Yule (1 May 1820 – 30 December 1889) was a Scottish Oriental studies, Orientalist and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of Marco Polo and ''Mirabilia'' by the 14th-century Dominican ...

thought that this term may have come to Europe through the Arabs, who made the China of the farther east into ''Sin'', and perhaps sometimes into ''Thin''. Hence the ''Thin'' of the author of the

, who appears to be the first extant writer to employ the name in this form; hence also the Sinæ and Thinae of

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

. Some denied that Ptolemy's Sinae really represented the Chinese as

called the country ''Sērice'' and the capital ''Sēra'', but regarded them as distinct from ''Sīnae''.

Marcian of Heraclea Marcian of Heraclea ( grc-gre, Μαρκιανὸς Ἡρακλεώτης, ''Markianòs Hērakleṓtēs''; la, Marcianus Heracleënsis; fl. century AD) was a minor Greek geographer from Heraclea Pontica in Late Antiquity. His known works are: * ...

(a condenser of Ptolemy) tells us that the "nations of the Sinae lie at the extremity of the habitable world, and adjoin the eastern

Terra incognita ''Terra incognita'' or ''terra ignota'' (Latin "unknown land"; ''incognita'' is stressed on its second syllable in Latin, but with variation in pronunciation in English) is a term used in cartography for regions that have not been mapped or do ...

". The 6th century

Cosmas Indicopleustes Cosmas Indicopleustes ( grc-x-koine, Κοσμᾶς Ἰνδικοπλεύστης, lit=Cosmas who sailed to India; also known as Cosmas the Monk) was a Greek merchant and later hermit from Alexandria of Egypt. He was a 6th-century traveller who ma ...

refers to a "country of silk" called ''Tzinista'', which is understood as referring to China, beyond which "there is neither navigation nor any land to inhabit". It seems probable that the same region is meant by both. According to

, Ptolemy's misrendering of the

Indian Sea The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

as a closed basin meant that Ptolemy must also have misplaced the Chinese coast, leading to the misconception of Serica and Sina as separate countries. In the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

, there is a mention of a faraway country Sinim in the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...

49:12 which some had assumed to be a reference to China. In Genesis 10:17, a tribes called the

Sinite This list contains tribes or other groups of people named in the Bible of minor notability, about whom either nothing or very little is known, aside from any family connections. A Accaba, descendants of For the descendants of "Accaba" (1 Esd ...

s were said to be the descendants of

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

, the son of

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...

, but they are usually considered to be a different people, probably from the northern part of

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. *

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: ''Ṣīn'' * French/English (prefix of adjectives): ''Sino-'' (i.e. Sino-American), ''Sinitic'' (the Chinese language family). *

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: ''Sin'' * ga, An tSín * la, Sīnae * gd, Sìona

Cathay

This group of names derives from Khitan, an ethnic group that originated in

and conquered parts of Northern China early tenth century forming the

Liao dynasty The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...

, and later in the twelfth century dominated Central Asia as the Kara Khitan Khanate. Due to long period of domination of Northern China and then Central Asia by these nomadic conquerors, the name Khitan become associated with China to the people in and around the northwestern region. Muslim historians referred to the Kara Khitan state as ''Khitay'' or ''Khitai''; they may have adopted this form of "Khitan" via the Uyghur people, Uyghurs of Kingdom of Qocho, Kocho in whose language the final -n or -ń became -y. The name was then introduced to medieval and early modern Europe through Islamic and Russian sources. In English and in several other European languages, the name "Cathay" was used in the translations of the adventures of Marco Polo, which used this word for northern China. Words related to Khitay are still used in many Turkic languages, Turkic and Slavic languages to refer to China. However, its use by Turkic speakers within China, such as the Uyghurs, is considered pejorative by the Chinese authority who tried to ban it. * Belarusian language, Belarusian: Кітай (''Kitay'', ) * Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: Китай (''Kitay'', ) * Buryat language, Buryat: Хитад (''Khitad'') * Classical Mongolian: ''Kitad'' * English: ''Cathay'' *French: ''Cathay'' * Kazakh: Қытай (''Qıtay''; ) * Tatar language, Kazan Tatar: Кытай (''Qıtay'') * Kyrgyz language, Kyrgyz: Кытай (''Kıtaj''; ) * * Mongolian: Хятад (''Khyatad'') (the name for China used in the State of

) *

: ''Kitaj'' (; now archaic) *

: ''Catai'' () *

: Китай (''Kitay'', ) * Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian: Kitaj or Китај (now archaic; from Russian) * Slovene language, Slovene: ' () *

: ''Catay'' * Tajik language, Tajik: Хитой ("Khitoy") * Turkmen language, Turkmen: Hytaý ("Хытай") * Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Китай (''Kytai'') * * Uzbek language, Uzbek: ''Xitoy'' (Хитой) There is no evidence that either in the 13th or 14th century, Cathayans, ''i.e.'' Chinese, travelled officially to Europe, but it is possible that some did, in unofficial capacities, at least in the 13th century. During the campaigns of Hulagu (the grandson of Genghis Khan) in Persian Empire, Persia (1256–65), and the reigns of his successors, Chinese engineers were employed on the banks of the Tigris, and Chinese astrologers and physicians could be consulted. Many Diplomacy, diplomatic communications passed between the Hulaguid Ilkhans and Christian princes. The former, as the great khan's liegemen, still received from him their seal (device), seals of state; and two of their letters which survive in the archives of France exhibit the vermilion impressions of those seals in Chinese characters—perhaps affording the earliest specimen of those characters to reach western Europe.

Tabgach

The word ''Tabgach'' came from the metatheses of ''

'' (''*t'akbat''), a dominant tribe of the Xianbei and the surname of the Northern Wei emperors in the 5th century before sinicisation. It referred to Northern China, which was dominated by part-Xianbei, part-Han people. * Medieval Greek, Byzantine Greek: ''Taugats'' * Old Turkic language, Orhon Kok-Turk: ''Tabgach'' (variations ''Tamgach'')

Nikan

''Nikan'' (

: , means "Han/China") was a Manchu ethnonym of unknown origin that referred specifically to the ethnic group known in English as the

; the stem of this word was also conjugated as a verb, ''nikara(-mbi)'', and used to mean "to speak the Chinese language." Since ''Nikan'' was essentially an ethnonym and referred to a group of people (i.e., a

) rather than to a political body (i.e., a Sovereign state, state), the correct translation of "China (proper)" into the Manchu language is ''Nikan gurun'', literally the "Nikan state" or "country of the Nikans" (i.e., country of the Hans). This exonym for the Han Chinese is also used in the Daur language, in which it appears as ''Niaken'' ( or ). As in the case of the Manchu language, the Daur word ''Niaken'' is essentially an ethnonym, and the proper way to refer to the country of the Han Chinese (i.e., "China" in a cultural sense) is ''Niaken gurun'', while ''niakendaaci-'' is a verb meaning "to talk in Chinese."

Kara

Japanese: ''Kara'' (; variously written in kanji as or ). An identical name was used by the ancient and medieval Japanese to refer to the country that is now known as

, and many Japanese historians and linguists believe that the word "Kara" referring to China and/or Korea may have derived from a metonymy, metonymic extension of the appellation of the ancient city-states of Gaya confederacy, Gaya. The Japanese word ''karate'' (, lit. "empty hand") is derived from the Okinawan language, Okinawan word ''karatii'' (, lit. "Chinese/Asian/foreign hand/trick/means/method/style") and refers to Okinawan martial arts; the character for ''kara'' was changed to remove the connotation of the style originating in China.

Morokoshi

Japanese: ''Morokoshi'' (; variously written in kanji as or ). This obsolete Japanese name for China is believed to have derived from a kun'yomi, ''kun'' reading of the Chinese compound ''Zhūyuè'' or Baiyue, Bǎiyuè as "all the Yue" or "the hundred (i.e., myriad, various, or numerous) Yue," which was an ancient Chinese name for the societies of the regions that are now southern China. The Japanese common noun ''tōmorokoshi'' (), which refers to maize, appears to contain an element cognate with the proper noun formerly used in reference to China. Although ''tōmorokoshi'' is traditionally written with Chinese characters that literally mean "jade Shu (state), Shu proso millet, millet," the etymology of the Japanese word appears to go back to "#Tang, Tang morokoshi," in which "morokoshi" was the obsolete Japanese name for China as well as the Japanese word for sorghum, which seems to have been introduced into Japan from China.

Mangi

1837 Malte-Brun Map of the Mongol Empire in Asia and Europe - Geographicus - AsiaMongol-mb-1837

From Chinese ''Manzi'' (southern barbarians). The division of North China and South China under the Jin dynasty (1115–1234), Jin dynasty and

weakened the idea of a unified China, and it was common for non-Han peoples to refer to the politically disparate North and South by different names for some time. While Northern China was called #Cathay, Cathay, Southern China was referred to as Mangi. Manzi often appears in documents of the Mongol-led

as a disparaging term for Southern China. The Mongols also called Southern Chinese ''Nangkiyas'' or ''Nangkiyad'', and considered them ethnically distinct from North Chinese. The word ''Manzi'' reached the Western world as ''Mangi'' (as used by Marco Polo), which is a name commonly found on medieval maps. Note however that the Chinese themselves considered ''Manzi'' to be derogatory and never used it as a self-appellation. Some early scholars believed ''Mangi'' to be a corruption of the Persian ''Machin'' () and Arabic ''Māṣīn'' (), which may be a mistake as these two forms are derived from the Sanskrit ''Maha Chin'' meaning Great China. *Chinese: ''Manzi'' () *

: ''Mangi''

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Countries and languages lists Names of China, History of China Country name etymology, China Lists of country names in various languages, China Articles containing Mongolian script text Geographical naming disputes