Names of China

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. China, 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, and some have traced it further back to Sanskrit. It is also thought that the ultimate source of the name China is the Chinese word "Qin" (), the name of the dynasty that unified China but also existed as a state 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 () and Republic of China () are the official names for the two contemporary sovereign states currently claiming sovereignty over the traditional area of China. "Mainland China" is used to refer to areas under the jurisdiction of the PRC, usually excluding Hong Kong and Macau.

There are also names for China used around the world that are derived from the languages of ethnic groups other than the Han; examples include " Cathay" from the Khitan language and "Tabgach" from Tuoba.

Sinitic names

Zhongguo

Pre-Qing

''Zhōngguó'' (中國) is the most common Chinese 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 period. The phrase "zhong guo" came into common usage in the Warring States period (475–221 BCE), when it referred to the "Central States"; the states of the Yellow River 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 "Han" (), "Tang" (), "Great Ming" (''Da Ming'' ), "Great Qing" (''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.
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As early as the Spring and Autumn period, ''Zhongguo'' could be understood as either the domain of the capital or used to refer the Chinese civilization (''zhuxia'' 諸夏 "the various Xia" or ''zhuhua'' 諸華 "various Hua"), and the political and geographical domain that contained it, but Tianxia 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. In a more limited sense it could also refer to the Central Plain or the states of Zhao, Wei, and Han, etc., geographically central amongst the Warring States. Although ''Zhongguo'' could be used before the Song dynasty 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 Western Zhou. It could refer to the states of the Central Plain to distinguish them from states in outer regions. The ''Shi Jing'' defines ''Zhongguo'' as the capital region, setting it in apposition to the capital city. During the Han dynasty, three usages of ''Zhongguo'' were common. The ''Records of the Grand Historian'' 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 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 Warring States period and Eastern Jin period, respectively.

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, 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, a statecraft scholar, distinguished the new territories from ''Zhongguo'', which he defined as the 17 provinces of "China proper" 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 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, 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 noted that while the Qing Emperors governed frontier non-Han areas in a different, separate system under the Lifanyuan 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 Wei Yuan 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 (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 (1858) has similar language.

In the late 19th century the reformer Liang Qichao 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''" was proposed as a basically neutral Western-influenced equivalent for "China". Liang and Chinese revolutionaries, such as Sun Yat-sen, 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'' to refer to all Europeans.

In the 20th century after the May Fourth Movement, educated students began to spread the concept of ''Zhōnghuá'' (/), which represented the people, including 56 minority ethnic groups and the Han Chinese, 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 citizens, though Taiwanese people may reject being called as such. Overseas Chinese 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 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: ''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: (, "Middle Empire") or (, "Central Empire")
* hmn, Suav Teb (), (), ()
* hu, Középső birodalom ("Middle Empire")
* id, Tiongkok (from , the Hokkien name for China)
* it, Impero di Mezzo ("Middle Empire")
* Japanese: (; )
* Kazakh: ()
* Korean: (; )
* Li:
* Lojban: jugygu'e or .djunguos.
* Manchu: () or () were the official names for "China" in Manchu language
* Mongolian: (), the official name for "China" used in Inner Mongolia
* 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: (), 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 Hokkien counterpart)
* Japanese: (; )
* Korean: (; )
* Kazakh: ()
* Li:
* Manchu: ()
* Tibetan: (''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 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 in the sense of a multi-ethnic national identity. Though originally rejected by the PRC, it has been used officially since the 1980s for nationalist 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 wars 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 (c. 1046–256 BCE), especially the Spring and Autumn period (eighth to fourth century BCE) and the Warring States period (from there to 221 BCE, when China was reunified by the Qin state). 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 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: 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"), 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 Warring States period of China (c. 400–221 BCE). During that time, the Yellow River 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, 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'' (; ), 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 Han dynasty (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, Sixteen Kingdoms, and Southern and Northern dynasties 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 Han dynasty.

During the Yuan dynasty, subjects of the empire was divided into four classes: Mongols, Semu 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 Qing dynasty, the Manchu 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 Han Chinese, 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 (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; 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 during the Tang period would lead the Cantonese to refer to themselves as ''Tong-yan'' () in Cantonese, while China is called ''Tong-saan'' (; ). Chinatowns 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 as one of the local terms for China, along with the Sanskrit-derived ''Cina''. It is still used in Malaysia 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 in the 17th and 18th centuries were mostly men, and that many of their offspring would be through intermarriage with Taiwanese aborigine women.

In Ryukyuan, Karate 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.

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 Macau, and/or Taiwan. 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 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 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 as "Communist China" or "Red China" to distinguish it from the Republic of China 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 to the exclusion of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

The official name of the People's Republic of China in various official languages and scripts:
* Simplified Chinese: () – Official language and script, used in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia
* Traditional Chinese: () – 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, Қытай Халық Республикасы (in Cyrillic script), ''Qıtay Xalıq Respwblïkası'' (in Latin script), (in Arabic script); as used within the People's Republic of China, (in Arabic script), Жұңxуа Халық Республикасы (in Cyrillic script), ''Juñxwa Xalıq Respwblïkası'' (in Latin script). The Cyrillic script is the predominant script in the Republic of Kazakhstan, while the Arabic script is normally used for the Kazakh language in the People's Republic of China.
* Korean: (; ''Junghwa Inmin Gonghwaguk'') – Used in Yanbian Prefecture (Jilin) and Changbai County (Liaoning)
* Manchurian: (''Dulimbai niyalmairgen gunghe' gurun'') or (''Junghūwa niyalmairgen gungheg'o'')
* Mongolian: (''Bügüde nayiramdaqu dumdadu arad ulus'') – Official in Inner Mongolia; Бүгд Найрамдах Хятад Ард Улс (''Bügd Nairamdakh Khyatad Ard Uls'') – used in Mongolia
* Portuguese: República Popular da China – Official in Macau
* – Official in PRC's Tibet
** – Official in Tibet Government-in-Exile
* (''Jungxua Xelq Jumhuriyiti'') – Official in Xinjiang
* Yi: (''Zho huop rep mip gop hop guop'') – Official in Liangshan (Sichuan) and several Yi-designated autonomous counties
* Zaiwa: ' – Official in Dehong (Yunnan)
* Zhuang: ''Cunghvaz Yinzminz Gunghozgoz'' (Old orthography: ''Cuŋƅvaƨ Yinƨminƨ Guŋƅoƨ'') – Official in Guangxi

The official name of the People's Republic of China in major neighboring countries official languages and scripts:
* Japanese: (, ''Chūka Jinmin Kyōwakoku'') – Used in Japan
* Russian: (''Kitayskaya Narodnaya Respublika'') – Used in Russia and Central Asia
* Hindi: (''Cheenee janavaadee ganaraajy'') – Used in India
* Urdu