Zhongguo Pre-Qing rubbing and transcription; framed is the phrase .
Zhongguo () is the name for China most commonly used in
Chinese in modern times. The name has ancient origin: the earliest appearance of this two-character term is on the
He zun, a bronze vessel dating to 1038–, during the early
Western Zhou period. The phrase "" 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, 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", "
Great Qing", etc. Until the 19th century, when the globalizing world began to require a common legal language, there was no need for a fixed or unique name. As early as the
Spring and Autumn period, '
could be understood as either the domain of the capital or used to refer to the Chinese civilization or , 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 community, it could be the geopolitical area of Chinese civilization as well, 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 among the Warring States. Although ' could be used before the
Song dynasty period to mean the trans-dynastic Chinese culture or civilization to which Chinese people belonged, it was in the Song dynasty that writers used '''' as a term to describe the trans-dynastic entity with different dynastic names over time but having a set territory and defined by common ancestry, culture, and language. The term ''
was used differently 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 the outer regions. The Shi Jing'' defines '
as the capital region, setting it in opposition to the capital city. During the Han dynasty, three usages of ' were common. The
Records of the Grand Historian use
Zhongguo to denote the capital and also use the concepts '
("center, central") and ' to indicate the center of civilization: "There are eight famous mountains in the world: three in
Man and
Yi (the barbarian wilds), five in " (). In this sense, the term '''' is synonymous with and , names of China that were first authentically attested in the
Warring States period and
Eastern Jin period, respectively. From the Qin to the Ming dynasty, literati discussed '
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 ' and instead defined membership in their empires to include both Han and non-Han peoples. File:"Five stars rising in the East" armband.jpg|The
brocade armband with the words "Five stars rising in the east, being a propitious sign for
Zhongguo ()", made during the Han dynasty File:Nestorian-Stele-Budge-plate-X.jpg|The
Nestorian Stele entitled "Stele to the propagation in China of the luminous religion of
Daqin", was erected in 781, during the Tang dynasty File:Hunminjeongum.jpg|The 1446 Korean document,
Hunminjeongeum, compares
Joseon's speech to that of
Zhongguo (
Middle Kingdom), at the time the Ming dynasty. Korean and other neighbouring societies referred to various Chinese regimes and dynasties as "Middle Kingdom"
Qing '
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 ', 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 ''''. 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 became the equivalent of Great 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) with "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" referred to Chinese, Manchu, and Mongol languages, and the term "Chinese people" (; ) 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 and Tibetans, as part of their anti-Qing ideology. When the Qing
conquered Dzungaria in 1759, they proclaimed that the new land was absorbed into in a Manchu language memorial. The Qing expounded on their ideology that they were bringing together the "outer" non-Han Chinese, like the Tibetans, Inner, Eastern, and Oirat Mongols, 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 "people of the Central Kingdom ()". 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" (
/) were like the Torghut Mongols, and the "people of the Central Kingdom" referred to the Manchus. in 1742 The geography textbooks published in the late Qing period gave detailed descriptions of China's regional position and territorial space. They generally emphasized that China was a large country in Asia but not the center of the world. For example, the "Elementary Chinese Geography Textbook" () published in 1905 described the boundaries of China's territory and neighboring countries as follows: "The western border of China is located in the center of Asia, bordering the (overseas) territories of
Britain and
Russia. The terrain is humped, like a hat. So all mountains and rivers originate from here. To the east, it faces
Japan across the
East China Sea. To the south, it is adjacent to the
South China Sea, and borders
French Annam and
British Burma. To the southwest, it is separated from
British India by mountains. From the west to the north and the northeast, the three sides of China are all Russian territories. Only the southern border of the northeast is connected to
Korea across the
Yalu River." It further stated that "There are about a dozen countries in Asia, but only China has a vast territory, a prosperous population, and dominates East Asia. It is a great and world-famous country." The Qing enacted the first
Chinese nationality law in 1909, which defined a Chinese national () as any person born to a Chinese father. Children born to a Chinese mother inherited her nationality only if the father was
stateless or had unknown nationality status. These regulations were enacted in response to a 1907 statute passed in
The Netherlands that retroactively treated all Chinese born in the
Dutch East Indies as Dutch citizens.
Jus sanguinis was chosen to define Chinese nationality so that the Qing could counter foreign claims on
overseas Chinese populations and maintain the perpetual allegiance of its subjects living abroad through paternal lineage.
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. ... For 5000 years, culture flourished (in the land of China)... Since we are Chinese, how can we not love China."'' 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 () to refer only to the core area of the empire, with the entire empire viewed as multiethnic.
William T. Rowe wrote that the name "China" () was apparently understood to refer to the political realm of the
Han Chinese during the
Ming dynasty, that this understanding persisted among the Han Chinese into the early Qing dynasty, and that the understanding was also shared by
Aisin Gioro rulers before the
Ming–Qing transition. The Qing, however, "came to refer to their more expansive empire not only as the Great Qing but also, nearly interchangeably, as China" within a few decades of this development. Instead of the earlier (Ming) idea of an ethnic Han Chinese state, this new Qing China was a "self-consciously multi-ethnic state". Han Chinese scholars had some time to adapt this, but by the 19th century, the notion of China as a
multinational state with new, significantly extended borders had become the standard terminology for Han Chinese writers. Rowe noted that "these were the origins of the China we know today.". He added that while the early Qing rulers viewed themselves as multi-hatted emperors who ruled several nationalities "separately but simultaneously", by the mid-19th century, the Qing Empire had become part of a European-style community of sovereign states and entered into a series of treaties with the West, and such treaties and documents consistently referred to Qing rulers as the "
Emperor of China" and his administration as the "Government of China".
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 '
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 ' only to refer to the seventeen provinces of China and three manchurian provinces of the east, excluding other frontier areas. Due to the Qing usage of treaties clarifying the international borders of the Qing state, they were able to inculcate in the Chinese people a sense that China included areas such as Mongolia and Tibet by education reforms in geography, which made it clear where the borders of the Qing state were, even if the populace didn't understand how the Chinese identity included Tibetans and Mongolians or what the connotations of being Chinese were. The English version of the 1842
Treaty of Nanking refers to "His Majesty the Emperor of China" while the Chinese refers both to "The Great Qing Emperor" () and to '
as well. The 1858 Treaty of Tientsin contains similar language. and that the concept of had to be abandoned in favor of , that is, "nation", for which he accepted the term '. On the other hand, American Protestant missionary
John Livingstone Nevius, who had been in China for 40 years, wrote in his 1868 book that the most common name which the Chinese used in speaking of their country was '
, followed by ' () and other names such as () and the particular title of the reigning dynasty. Also, the Chinese geography textbook published in 1907 stated that "Chinese citizens call their country '
or '", and noted that China (''
) was one of the few independent monarchical countries in the whole Asia at that time, along with countries like Japan. The Japanese term "Shina''" was once proposed by some as a basically neutral Western-influenced equivalent for "China". But after the founding of the
Republic of China in 1912, '
was also adopted as the abbreviation of , and most Chinese considered foreign and demanded that even the Japanese replace it with ', or simply ''''. Before the signing of the
Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty in 1871, the first treaty between Qing China and the
Empire of Japan, Japanese representatives once raised objections to China's use of the term '''' in the treaty, partly in response to China's earlier objections for the term or
Emperor of Japan to be used in the treaty, declaring that the term '
was "meant to compare with the frontier areas of the country" and insisted that only "Great Qing" be used for the Qing in the Chinese version of the treaty. However, this was firmly rejected by the Qing representatives: "Our country China has been called ' for a long time since ancient times. We have signed treaties with various countries, and while
Great Qing did appear in the first lines of such treaties, in the body of the treaties
Zhongguo was always being used. There has never been a precedent for changing the country name" (). The Chinese representatives believed that '
as a country name equivalent to "Great Qing" could naturally be used internationally, which could not be changed. In the end, both sides agreed that while in the first lines "Great Qing" would be used, whether the Chinese text in the body of the treaty would use the term ' in the same manner as "Great Qing" would be up to China's discretion. Qing official Zhang Deyi once objected to the western European name "China" and said that China referred to itself as '
. However, the Qing established legations and consulates known as the "Chinese Legation", "Imperial Consulate of China", "Imperial Chinese Consulate (General)" or similar names in various countries with diplomatic relations, such as the United Kingdom and United States. Both English and Chinese terms, such as "China" and "'", were frequently used by Qing legations and consulates there to refer to the Qing state during their diplomatic correspondences with foreign states. Chinese diplomat
Zeng Jize's 1887 profile, "China: the Sleep, and the Awakening", originally published in the
Asiatic Quarterly Review, was widely noticed in the West. Moreover, the English name "China" was also used domestically by the Qing, such as in its officially released stamps since Qing set up a modern postal system in 1878. The
postage stamps (known as in Chinese) had a design of a large dragon in the centre, surrounded by a boxed frame with a bilingual inscription of "CHINA" (corresponding to the Great Qing Empire in Chinese) and the local denomination "CANDARINS". During the late Qing dynasty, various textbooks with the name "Chinese history" () had emerged by the early 20th century. For example, the late Qing textbook "Chinese History of the Present Dynasty" published in 1910 stated that "the history of our present dynasty is part of the history of China, that is, the most recent history in its whole history. China was founded as a country
5,000 years ago and has the longest history in the world. And its culture is the best among all the Eastern countries since ancient times. Its territory covers about 90% of East Asia, and its rise and fall can affect the general trend of the countries in Asia...". After the
May Fourth Movement in 1919, educated students began to spread the concept of '''', which represented the people, including
55 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 '
in their official names. Thus, ' became the common name for both governments and for their citizens.
Overseas Chinese are referred to as , or , i.e. Chinese children born overseas.
Middle Kingdom The English translation of as the "Middle Kingdom" entered European languages through the Portuguese in the 16th century and became popular in the mid-19th century. By the 20th century, the term was thoroughly entrenched in the English language, reflecting the Western view of China as the inward-looking Middle Kingdom, or more accurately, the "Central Kingdom" or
"Central State
". 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 its name. However, the term '''' was not initially used as a name for China. It did not have the same meaning throughout the course of history, (
see above). During the 19th century, China was alternatively, although less commonly, referred to in the west as the "Middle Flowery Kingdom", "Central Flowery Kingdom", or "Central Flowery State", translated from (), or simply the "
Flowery Kingdom", translated from (). However, some have since argued that such a translation (fairly commonly seen at that time) was perhaps caused by misunderstanding the () that means "China" (or "magnificent, splendid") for the () that means "flower".
Huaxia The name is generally used as a
sobriquet in Chinese text. Under traditional interpretations, it is the combination of two words that originally referred to the elegance of traditional Han attire and
the Confucian concept of rites. •
, which means "flowery beauty" (i.e., having beauty of dress and personal adornment ). •
, which means greatness or grandeur (i.e., having greatness in social customs, courtesy, polite manners and rites/ceremony ). In the original sense, 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 identity developed and took hold in ancient China.
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 (; ), translated as 'heavenly dynasty' or 'Celestial Empire', and (; ) translated as '
All under heaven', have both been used to refer to China. These terms were usually used in the context of civil wars or periods of division, with the term '''' evoking the idea that the realm's ruling dynasty was appointed by heaven, 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 in a non-prejudicial manner, For example, the sinicization and rapid development of
Guangdong during the Tang period would lead the Cantonese to refer to themselves as () in Cantonese, while China is called (; ).
Chinatowns worldwide, often dominated by Southern Chinese, also became referred to as ''Tang People's Street'' (, Cantonese: Tong-yan-gaai; ). The Cantonese term (Tang mountain) is recorded in
Old Malay as one of the local terms for China, along with the Sanskrit-derived . It is still used in
Malaysia and
Indonesia today, at times in a derogatory sense. Among Taiwanese,
Tang mountain (Min-Nan: ) has been used, for example, in the saying, "has Tangshan father, no Tangshan mother" (; ). This refers to 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 (, hand) or (, Tang hand) because or () was a common
Ryukyuan name for China; it was changed to (, open hand) to appeal to Japanese people after the
First Sino-Japanese War.
Zhu Yu, who wrote during the Northern Song dynasty, noted that the name "Han" was first used by the northwestern 'barbarians' to refer to China, while the name "Tang" was first used by the southeastern 'barbarians' to refer to China, and these terms subsequently influenced the local Chinese terminology. During the Mongol invasions of Japan, the Japanese distinguished between the "Han" of northern China, who, like the Mongols and Koreans, were not to be taken prisoner, and the Newly Submitted Army of southern China, whom they called "Tang", who would be enslaved instead.
Dalu and Neidi (/; ), literally "big continent" or "mainland" in this context, is used as a short form of (/, mainland China), excluding (depending on the context) Hong Kong,
Macau, or Taiwan. This term is used in official contexts on both the mainland and Taiwan when referring to the mainland as opposed to Taiwan. In certain contexts, it is equivalent to the term (; , literally "the inner land"). While '''' 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. , 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 '''' 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 ==