Names of China

中國

中国

Transcriptions
Gan
- Romanization	Chungkoet
Hakka
- Romanization	dung²⁴ gued²
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōng guó
- Wade–Giles	Chung-kuo
- Bopomofo	ㄓㄨㄥㄍㄨㄛˊ
Min
- Hokkien POJ	Tiong-kok
- Min-dong BUC	Dṳ̆ng-guók
Wu
- Romanization	tson^平 koh^入
Cantonese (Yue)
- Jyutping	zung¹ gwok³

Zhonghua

中華

中华

Transcriptions
Hakka
- Romanization	dung²⁴ fa¹¹
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōng huá
- Wade–Giles	Chung-hua
- Bopomofo	ㄓㄨㄥㄏㄨㄚˊ
Min
- Hokkien POJ	Tiong-hôa
- Min-dong BUC	Dṳ̆ng-huà
Wu
- Romanization	tson^平 gho^平
Cantonese (Yue)
- Jyutping	zung¹ waa⁴

China is called Zhōngguó in Mandarin Chinese. The first character zhōng (中) means "central" or "middle," while guó (國/国) means "state" or "states," and in modern times, "nation." In ancient texts, Zhongguo, which can be either singular or plural, referred to the group of states in the central plain or to a state or city. The official name of the imperial dynasties referred to the Empire of the Great Qing, Empire of the Great Ming, and so forth, not Zhongguo. Although it was a common name often used in both Chinese and Western literature and references,^[1] only after 1911 it became the official one.^[2] Many Western works, however, use the term "middle kingdom" or "central kingdom."^[3]

Zhongguo and the Siyi 四夷 "four barbarian/foreign tribes" on the borders: Dongyi (東夷) in the east, Nanman (南蠻) in the south, Xirong (西戎) in the west, and Beidi (北狄) in the north.

The term "zhōngguó" first appeared in text form in the Classic of History as the name for "the centre of civilization" or "Tianxia", depending on the interpretation.^[4] The first appearance of (中國) in an artifact was in the Western Zhou vessel He zun.^[5]

The general concept of the term "zhōngguó" originates from the belief that the Zhou Dynasty is the "centre of civilization" or "centre of the world", much like the "Middle Earth" concept of Europeans, while the ethnic groups in the four cardinals are called Eastern Yi, Southern Man, Western Rong and Northern Di respectively. However, there are different uses of the name "zhōngguó" in every period. It could refer to the guó (capital) of the Emperor, to distinguish from the guó of his vassals, as in Western Zhou; or it could refer to states in Central China, to distinguish from states in outer regions. It is also used, in later dynasties, by states who see themselves as the "legitimate" successors of previous dynasties, as in the case of the Southern Song Dynasty. Finally, it is used to mean the sovereignty in the traditional area "zhōngyuán (中原)" or "zhōnghuá (中華)", which both have the same origins, such as in the case of the Republic of China ("Zhōnghuá Mínguó (中华民国/中華民國)") and the People's Republic of China ("Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó (中华人民共和国/中華人民共和國)").

The Chinese character "guó" (国/國) originally had a different meaning from the English "state" or the modern Chinese concept "guójiā" (国家/國家), though it is taken to mean "state" today. In its origin, it refers to the area where the Tiānzǐ lives, while the outer areas governed by the same sovereign is called "yě" (野). For example, a riot of nobles living in the capital of Western Zhou is called "the Riot of the guó people".^[6] Gradually, the vassal states of the Tiānzǐ began to use the name "guó" as well. The Book of Han talked about an incident where the Gōng of one of the vassal states loved feeding cranes and gave them official posts in the government. "When the Northern Di attacked, the guó people were unwilling to fight, and the guó was destroyed." ^[7] Thus, there was the need to classify the "guó" of the Tiānzǐ from that of the Gōng. Gradually, the name "zhōngguó" is used to refer to the "guó" of the Tiānzǐ. Mao Heng of the Han Dynasty gave an explanation: "Zhōngguó: the capital." ^[8]

During the Spring and Autumn Period, it was used only to describe the states politically descended from the Western Zhou Dynasty, in the Yellow River (Huang He) valley, to the exclusion of states such as the Chu along the Yangtze River and the Qin to the west. However, by the time of the Han Dynasty, the states of Chu, Qin and others had linked themselves to the politics of "Zhōngguó" and were already considered integral parts of a newer "Zhōngguó". This usage of "Zhōngguó" has been translated into English as "the Central States."

The area governed by the Qin Dynasty. The Qin Dynasty, surviving for only a short period before being replaced by the Han Dynasty, is credited for the unifying and creation of a Han ethnicity. Thus, one of the usages of "Zhōngguó" is to refer to the areas which Qin occupied, or to the states which are occupying the area.

By the Han Dynasty, three usages of "Zhōngguó" are common. The Book of Poetry explicitly gives this definition that "Zhōngguó" is the capital; the Records of the Grand Historian uses the concept that China is the centre of civilization: "Eight famous mountains are there in Tianxia. Three are in Man and Yi. Five are in Zhōnghuá." The Records of Three Kingdoms uses the concept of the central states in "Zhōnghuá", or the states in "Zhōnghuá" which is the centre, depending on the interpretation. It records the following monologue: "If we can lead the host of Wu and Yue to oppose Zhōngguó, then let us break off relations with them soon." In this sense, the term Zhōngguó is synonymous with Zhōnghuá (中华/中華) and Huáxià (华夏/華夏), a name for "China" that comes from the Xia Dynasty.

During the period of division after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the term Zhōngguó was subjected to denote political legitimacy apart from the previous usages. It was used in this manner from the tenth century onwards by the competing dynasties of Liao, Jin and Song. The term Zhōngguó came to be related to geographic, cultural and political identity and less to ethnic origin.

Zhōngguó quickly came to include areas farther south, as the cultural and political unit (not yet a "nation" in the modern sense) spread to include the Yangtze River and Pearl River systems. By the Tang Dynasty it sometimes included barbarian regimes such as the Xianbei and Xiongnu, which submitted to the Han people.

In the nineteenth century, the term changed in its significance. The late Qing 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." Another reformer wrote 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." ^[9] Liang argued that in order to preserve the race (minzu, a term which he adopted from the Japanese usage) that the concept tianxia had to be abandoned in favor of guojia, that is, "nation," for which he accepted the term Zhongguo. ^[10]

Finally, since the May Fourth Movement, educated students began to spread the concept of Zhōnghuá (中华/中華), which represented the people, including 56 minor 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 official names for both sovereigns. Overseas Chinese are referred to as huaqiao (华侨/華僑), literally "Chinese overseas", or huayi (华裔/華裔), literally "Chinese descendant" (i.e., Chinese children born overseas).

"Zhōngguó" in different languages

French: Empire du Milieu (literally: "Middle Empire")
Dutch: Rijk van het Midden (literally: "Middle Empire")
Finnish: Keskustan valtakunta (literally: "The State of the Center")
German: Reich der Mitte (literally: "Middle Empire")
Italian: Impero di Mezzo (literally: "Middle Empire")
Japanese: Chūgoku (中国; ちゅうごく)
Korean: Jungguk, Chungguk (중국; 中國)
Indonesian: Tiongkok (from Tiong-kok, the Hokkien name for China)
Kazakh: Juñgo (جۇڭگو)
Hmong: Suav Teb, Roob Kub, Tuam Choj, 中國. literally: Land of China, The Golden Throne, (Land of the)Stepped Bridge.
Li: Dongxgok
Manchu: (Dulimbai gurun)^{[FN 1]}
Mongol: (Dumdadu ulus)^{[FN 2]}
Polish: Państwo Środka
Russian: Срединное Царство (Sredínnoye Tsárstvo) (literary: "Middle Empire"); Поднебесная (Podnebésnaya) - related to 天下 (Tiānxià).
Tibetan: Krung-go (ཀྲུང་གོ་)
Uyghur: Junggo (جۇڭگو)
Vietnamese: Trung Quốc (中國)
Zhuang: Cunghgoz (older orthography: Cungƅgoƨ)

"Zhōnghuá" in different languages

Japanese: Chūka (中華; ちゅうか)
Korean: Junghwa, Chunghwa (중화; 中華)
Kazakh: Juñxwa (حالىق)
Li: Dongxhwax
Indonesian: Tionghoa (from Tiong-hôa, the Hokkien counterpart)
Vietnamese: Trung Hoa (中華)
Zhuang: Cunghvaz (Old orthography: Cuŋƅvaƨ)
Uyghur: جۇڭخۇا (Jungxua)
Tibetan: ཀྲུང་ཧྭ (krung hwa)

Han

Chinese name

Transcriptions
Gan
- Romanization	Hon
Hakka
- Romanization	hon⁵⁵
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin	hàn
Min
- Hokkien POJ	hàn
Wu
- Romanization	hoe^去
Cantonese (Yue)
- Jyutping	hon³

Japanese name

かん

Transcriptions
- Romaji	kan

Korean name

한

Transcriptions
- Revised Romanization	han

Vietnamese name

hán

The name Han (漢/汉; pinyin: hàn) comes from the Han Dynasty, who presided over China's first golden age. During the Sixteen Kingdoms and Southern and Northern Dynasties periods, various non-Chinese ethnic groups invaded from the north and conquered areas of North China, which they held for several centuries. It was during this period that people began to use the term "Han" to refer to the natives of North China, who (unlike the invaders) were the descendants of the subjects of the Han Dynasty.

During the Yuan Dynasty Mongolian ruler divided people into four classes: Mongolians, "Color-eyeds", Hans, and "Southerns". Northern Chinese were called Han, which was considered to be the highest class of Chinese. It must be noted that 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 local Chinese 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

Chinese name

Chinese

唐

Transcriptions
Gan
- Romanization	Tong
Hakka
- Romanization	tong¹¹
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin	táng
Min
- Hokkien POJ	tông/tn̂g
Wu
- Romanization	daon^平
Cantonese (Yue)
- Jyutping	tong⁴

Japanese name

とう (On), から (Kun)

Transcriptions
- Romaji	tō (On), kara (Kun)

Korean name

당

Transcriptions
- Revised Romanization	dang

Vietnamese name

đường

The name Tang (唐; pinyin: táng; Jyutping: tong4) comes from the Tang Dynasty (唐朝), who presided over China's second golden age. It was during the Tang Dynasty that South China was finally and fully Sinicized; hence it is usually South Chinese who refer to themselves as "Tang". For example, Chinatowns worldwide are usually referred to generally as Tong-yan-gaai/Tng-lang-kay (唐人街; pinyin: tángrénjiē), or "Street of Tang People", while China is called Tong-saan/Tng-sua (唐山), or "Tang Mountain".

Among Taiwanese, Tangshan has been used, for example, in the saying, "has Tangshan father, no Tangshan mother" (有唐山公、無唐山媽). This refers how the Han people crossing the Taiwan Strait were mostly men, whereas their offspring would be through marriage with Taiwanese aborigine women.

Ryukyuan: 唐ぬ国 tō-nu-kuku, the Ryukyuan name for China

Huaxia

Main article: Huaxia

The name Huaxia (华夏/華夏; pinyin: huáxià), generally used as a sobriquet in Chinese text, is the combination of two words:

Hua which means prosper.
Xia which could mean the Xia dynasty or grandiose.

This word has been widely used to refer to the Huang He river valley, by analogy with Zhonghua, which means "middle prosper", before Han became popular.

Tianxia and Tianchao

Main article: All under heaven

Tianxia (天下; pinyin: Tiānxià) literally means "under heaven"; and Tianchao (天朝) means "Heavenly Dynasty". These terms were usually used in the context of civil wars or periods of division, in which 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.

Jiangshan

Jiangshan (江山; pinyin: Jiāngshān) literally means "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. Use of this term is also common as part of the phrase "designing rivers and mountains" meaning maintaining and improving government and policy in the world.

Jiuzhou

Main article: Jiuzhou

The name Jiuzhou (九州; pinyin: jiǔ zhōu) means "nine domains". Widely used in pre-modern Chinese text, the word originated during the middle of Warring States Period of China. During that time, the Huang He river region was divided into nine geographical regions; thus this name was coined. (Consult Zhou for more information.)

Shenzhou

This name means Divine Land (神州; pinyin: Shénzhōu) and comes from the same period as Jiuzhou. It is still the most used sobriquet for China in contemporary Chinese text.^{[dubious – discuss]} 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 (四海; pinyin: sìhǎi), 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.

Dalu

Dalu (大陆/大陸; pinyin: dàlù), literally "great land", means "continent" or "mainland". It is used as a short form of Zhōnggúo Dàlù (中国大陆/中國大陸, Mainland China), excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. This term is used in official context in both the mainland and Taiwan, when referring to the mainland as opposed to Taiwan. Often also called 内地； pinyin: nèidì) by Hong Kongers.

Official names

People's Republic of China

Chinese name

中华人民共和国

中華人民共和國

Transcriptions
Gan
- Romanization	Chungfa Ninmin Khungfokoet
Hakka
- Romanization	dung²⁴ fa¹¹ ngin¹¹ min¹¹ kiung⁵⁵ fo¹¹ gued²
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó
- Bopomofo	ㄓㄨㄥㄏㄨㄚˊ ㄖㄣˊ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄥˋ ㄏㄜˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ
Min
- Hokkien POJ	Tiong-hôa jîn-bîn kiōng-hô-kok
- Min-dong BUC	Dṳ̆ng-huà Ìng-mìng Gê̤ṳng-huò-guók
Wu
- Romanization	tson^平 gho^平 zin^平 min^平 gon^去 ghu^平 koh^入
Cantonese (Yue)
- Jyutping	zung¹ waa⁴ jan⁴ man⁴ gung⁶ wo⁴ gwok³

Japanese name

Kanji

中華人民共和国

ちゅうかじんみんきょうわこく

Transcriptions
- Romaji	Chūka Jinmin Kyōwakoku

Korean name

중화인민공화국

Hanja

中華人民共和國

Transcriptions
- Revised Romanization	Junghwa Inmin Gonghwaguk

Vietnamese name

Trung Hoa Nhân dân Cộng hòa quốc (Sino-Viet.)
Cộng hòa Nhân dân Trung Hoa (native)

Hán-Nôm

中華人民共和國 (Sino-Viet.)
共和人民中華 (native)

The name New China has been frequently applied to China by the Communist Party of China as a positive political and social term contrasting pre-1949 China (the establishment of the PRC) and the new socialist state. 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. In reporting by western news services, "China" typically refers to the People's Republic of China including Hong Kong and Macau^{[citation needed]}, particularly when reporting politics. The official name of the People's Republic of China in various official languages and scripts.

Simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国 (pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó) - Official language and script, used in Mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia
Traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國 (pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó, Jyutping: zung1 waa4 jan4 man4 gung6 wo4 gwok3) - Official in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau
English: People's Republic of China - Official in Hong Kong.
Kazakh: As used within Republic of Kazakhstan, Қытай Халық Республикасы (in Cyrillic script), Qıtay Xalıq Respwblïkası (in Latin script), قىتاي حالىق رەسپۋبلىيكاسى (in Arabic script); as used within People's Republic of China, Жұңxуа Халық Республикасы (in Cyrillic script), Juñxwa Xalıq Respwblïkası (in Latin script), جۇڭحۋا حالىق رەسپۋبليكاسى (in Arabic 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 People's Republic of China.
Korean: 중화 인민 공화국 (Junghwa Inmin Gonghwaguk) - Used in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture
Mongolian: ^{[FN 3]} (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
Tibetan: ཀྲུང་ཧྭ་མི་དམངས་སྤྱི་མཐུན་རྒྱལ་ཁབ, Wylie: krung hwa mi dmangs spyi mthun rgyal khab, ZYPY: Zhunghua Mimang Jitun Gyalkab - Official in PRC's Tibet
- Tibetan: རྒྱ་ནག་མི་དམངས་སྤྱི་མཐུན་རྒྱལ་ཁབ, Wylie: rgya nag mi dmangs spyi mthun rgyal khab - Official in Tibet Government-in-Exile
Uyghur: جۇڭخۇا خەلق جۇمھۇرىيىت‎, ULY: Jungxua Xelq Jumhuriyiti - Official in Xinjiang
Zaiwa: Zhunghua Mingbyu Muhum Mingdan - Official in Dehong
Zhuang: Cunghvaz Yinzminz Gunghozgoz (Old orthography: Cuŋƅvaƨ Yinƨminƨ Guŋƅoƨ) - Official in Guangxi

Other languages:

Arabic: علم جمهورية الصين الشعبية
Bengali: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী চীন Gônoprojantontri Chin (People's Republic of China) or গণচীন Gônochin (People's China)
Bishnupriya Manipuri: গণচীনর জাতীয় ফিরালহান
Burmese: တရုတ်ပြည်သူ့သမ္မတနိုင်ငံ၏
Catalan: República Popular de la Xina
Czech: Čínská lidová republika
Danish: Folkerepublikken Kina
Dutch: Volksrepubliek China
Esperanto: Popolrespubliko de Ĉinio
Estonian: Hiina Rahvavabariik
Filipino language: Republikang Popular ng Tsina
Finnish: Kiinan kansantasavalta
French: République populaire de Chine
Gaelic: Daon-Phoblacht na Síne
German: Volksrepublik China
Greek: Λαϊκή Δημοκρατία της Κίνας
Hebrew: הרפובליקה העממית של סין
Hindi: चीनी जनवादी गणराज्य Chīnī Janvādī Gaņarājya
Hungarian: Kínai Népköztársaság
Indonesian language: Republik Rakyat Tiongkok (also for commonly use Republik Rakyat Cina, the latter also used in Malaysia)
Italian: Repubblica popolare cinese
Japanese 中華人民共和国 (Kana: ちゅうかじんみんきょうわこく; Romaji: Chūka Jinmin Kyōwakoku)
Khmer: សាធារណរដ្ឋប្រជាមានិតចិន (Sathearanakroth Prorcheaminet Chen)
Kirghiz: Kıtay El Respublikası
Latvian Ķīnas Tautas Republika
Lithuanian Kinijos liaudies respublika
Macedonian: Народна Република Кина (Narodna Republika Kina)
Novial: Populen Republike de China
Persian: جمهوری خلق چین
Polish: Chińska Republika Ludowa (abbreviation: ChRL)
Romanian: Republica Populară Chineză
Russian: Китайская народная республика (abbreviation: КНР, Kitaiskaya Narodnaya Respublika)
Serbian: Народна Република Кина (Narodna Republika Kina)
Slovak: Čínska ľudová republika
Slovenian: Ljudska republika Kitajska
Spanish: República Popular de China
Tajik: Çumhurii Xalqii Cin
Tatar: Kıtay Xalık Cömhüriyaten
Thai: สาธารณรัฐประชาชนจีน (Satharanarat Prachachon Cheen : People's Republic of China)
Turkish: Çin Halk Cumhuriyeti
Urdu: جۇڭخۇا خەلق جۇمھۇرىيىتى
Uzbek: Xitoy Xalq Respublikasi
Vietnamese: Cộng Hòa Nhân Dân Trung Hoa (Hán-Nôm: 共和人民中華)
- Sino-Vietnamese: Trung Hoa Nhân dân Cộng hòa quốc (Hán-Nôm: 中華人民共和國)
Yiddish: רעפובליקע פון כינע

Republic of China

Chinese name

中華民國

中华民国

Transcriptions
Gan
- Romanization	Chungfa Minkoet
Hakka
- Romanization	dung²⁴ fa¹¹ min¹¹ gued²
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōnghuá Mín'guó
- Wade–Giles	Chung-hua Min-kuo
- Bopomofo	ㄓㄨㄥㄏㄨㄚˊ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ
Min
- Hokkien POJ	Tiong-hôa Bîn-kok
- Min-dong BUC	Dṳ̆ng-huà Mìng-guók
Wu
- Romanization	tson^平 gho^平 min^平 koh^入
Cantonese (Yue)
- Jyutping	zung¹ waa⁴ man⁴ gwok³

Japanese name

Kanji

中華民国

ちゅうかみんこく

Transcriptions
- Romaji	Chūka Minkoku

Korean name

중화민국

Hanja

中華民國

Transcriptions
- Revised Romanization	Junghwa Minguk

Vietnamese name