Why is China Called “Zhongguo”?
posted at 2011-08-01 01:37 Sharon
posted at 2011-08-01 01:37 Sharon
China - Zhongguo. China is called Zhongguo in Mandarin Chinese (Simplified: 中国, Traditional: 中国;also romanized as Jhongguo or Chung-kuo), which is usually translatedas “Middle Kingdom”, but could also be translated as “Central State” or“Central Country”. One explanation, sometimes disputed, is that the Chinese regarded China as the centre of the civilised world ,surrounded by barbarians.Zhong (中) means “middle” or “center” while guo (国 or 国)means “country,” “kingdom,” “state,” or “land”, referring to the claimthat China stood at the centre of that society’s “known world” .
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English and many other languages use various forms of the name “China”and the prefix “Sino-” or “Sin-”. These forms are thought to derivefrom the name of the Qin Dynasty that first unified the country(221-206 BCE) during which the Great Wall was built.”Qin” is pronouncedas “Chin” which is considered the possible root of the word “China”.
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In modern China, the term Zhongguo 中国is used to refer to all of China, including China proper (includingTaiwan), Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet. By contrast, Han 汉refersto the Han Chinese ethnic group, who are mostly concentrated in Chinaproper, Manchuria, and only parts of the other three regions. There isno general Chinese term for just China proper, or just the territoriesinhabited by Han Chinese 汉族.
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Poetic names for China include Jiuzhou 九州, ‘Nine Regions’ - China was supposed to have been divided into nine regions in ancient times - and Shenzhou 神 州 ’Divine Region’.
Between 1912 and 1949, the official name for China was Zhonghua Minguo 中华民国,‘The Republic of China’. Hua was the name taken by the early Hanpeople, and the word is often used to mean ‘China’ in names such asXinhua Shudian, ‘New China Bookshop’.
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Since 1949, China has been called Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo中华人民共和国, ‘The People’s Republic of China’, although in everyday speech it is still called Zhongguo 中 国. You often come across zuguo 祖 国, ‘the motherland’, and wo guo, ‘my country’, as synonyms for China.
Zhonghua 中华 is a more literary term used synonymously with Zhongguo;it appears in the official names of both the People’s Republic of China中华人民共和国 and the Republic of China 中华民国.
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English and many other languages use various forms of the name “China”and the prefix “Sino-” or “Sin-”. These forms are thought to derivefrom the name of the Qin Dynasty that first unified the country(221-206 BCE) during which the Great Wall was built.”Qin” is pronouncedas “Chin” which is considered the possible root of the word “China”.
______________________________
In modern China, the term Zhongguo 中国is used to refer to all of China, including China proper (includingTaiwan), Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet. By contrast, Han 汉refersto the Han Chinese ethnic group, who are mostly concentrated in Chinaproper, Manchuria, and only parts of the other three regions. There isno general Chinese term for just China proper, or just the territoriesinhabited by Han Chinese 汉族.
_________________________
Poetic names for China include Jiuzhou 九州, ‘Nine Regions’ - China was supposed to have been divided into nine regions in ancient times - and Shenzhou 神 州 ’Divine Region’.
Between 1912 and 1949, the official name for China was Zhonghua Minguo 中华民国,‘The Republic of China’. Hua was the name taken by the early Hanpeople, and the word is often used to mean ‘China’ in names such asXinhua Shudian, ‘New China Bookshop’.
________________________________
Since 1949, China has been called Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo中华人民共和国, ‘The People’s Republic of China’, although in everyday speech it is still called Zhongguo 中 国. You often come across zuguo 祖 国, ‘the motherland’, and wo guo, ‘my country’, as synonyms for China.
Zhonghua 中华 is a more literary term used synonymously with Zhongguo;it appears in the official names of both the People’s Republic of China中华人民共和国 and the Republic of China 中华民国.