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[[File:Nestorian-Stele-Budge-plate-X.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The [[Nestorian Stele]] {{zhi|c=大秦景教流行中國碑}} entitled "Stele to the propagation in China of the luminous religion of [[Daqin]]", was erected in 781, during the Tang dynasty]]
[[File:Hunminjeongum.jpg|thumb|upright|The most important Korean document, ''[[Hunminjeongeum]]'', dated 1446, where it compares [[Joseon]]'s speech to that of ''Zhongguo'' (''Middle Kingdom''), which was during the reign of Ming dynasty at the time. Korean and other neighbouring societies have addressed the various regimes and dynasties on the Chinese mainland at differing times as "Middle Kingdom"]]
{{zhi|c=中國|p=Zhōngguó|out=p}} is the most common [[Chinese language|Chinese]] name for China in modern times. The earliest appearance of this two-character term is on the bronze vessel [[He zun|He ''zun'']] (dating to 1038–{{circa|1000 BCE}}), 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
As early as the [[Spring and Autumn period]], ''Zhongguo'' could be understood as either the domain of the capital or used to refer to the Chinese civilization {{zhi|c=諸夏|p=zhūxià|l=the [[Huaxia|various Xia]]|out=p}}<ref>''[[Zuo Zhuan]]'' "[https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%98%A5%E7%A7%8B%E5%B7%A6%E6%B0%8F%E5%82%B3/%E9%96%94%E5%85%AC#%E5%82%B3 Duke Min – 1st year – zhuan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429050735/https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%98%A5%E7%A7%8B%E5%B7%A6%E6%B0%8F%E5%82%B3/%E9%96%94%E5%85%AC#%E5%82%B3 |date=2022-04-29 }}" quote: "諸夏親暱不可棄也" translation: "The various Xia are close intimates and can not be abandoned"</ref><ref>[[Du Yu]], ''Chunqiu Zuozhuan – Collected Explanations'', "Vol. 4" [https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&file=77348&page=136#%E8%AB%B8%E5%A4%8F p. 136 of 186] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511185015/https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&file=77348&page=136#%E8%AB%B8%E5%A4%8F |date=2022-05-11 }}. quote: "諸夏中國也"</ref> or {{zhi|c=諸華|p=zhūhuá|l=various [[Huaxia|Hua]]|out=p}},<ref>''Zuozhuan'' "[https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%98%A5%E7%A7%8B%E5%B7%A6%E6%B0%8F%E5%82%B3/%E8%A5%84%E5%85%AC#%E5%82%B3_4 Duke Xiang – 4th year – zhuan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429050735/https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%98%A5%E7%A7%8B%E5%B7%A6%E6%B0%8F%E5%82%B3/%E8%A5%84%E5%85%AC#%E5%82%B3_4 |date=2022-04-29 }}" quote: "諸華必叛" translation: "The various Hua would surely revolt"</ref><ref>Du Yu, ''Chunqiu Zuozhuan – Collected Explanations'', "Vol. 15". [https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&file=77350&page=102#%E8%AB%B8%E8%8F%AF p. 102 of 162] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511185018/https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&file=77350&page=102#%E8%AB%B8%E8%8F%AF |date=2022-05-11 }} quote: "諸華中國"</ref> 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, equivalent to [[Jiuzhou]]. In a more limited sense, it could also refer to the Central Plain or the states of [[Zhao (state)|Zhao]], [[Wei (state)|Wei]], and [[Han (Warring States)|Han]], etc., geographically central among the Warring States.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ban Wang |title=Chinese Visions of World Order: Tian, Culture and World Politics |pages=270–272}}</ref> Although ''Zhongguo'' 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 ''Zhongguo'' 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tackett |first1=Nicolas |title=Origins of the Chinese Nation: Song China and the Forging of an East Asian World Order |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-19677-3 |pages=4, 161–2, 174, 194, 208, 280}}</ref>
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''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 [[Qing dynasty in Inner Asia|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).<ref>{{harvp|Esherick|2006|pp=232–233}}</ref>
''Dulimbai Gurun'' is the [[Manchu language|Manchu]] name for China, with "Dulimbai" meaning "central" or "middle" and "Gurun" meaning "nation" or "state
[[File:滿蒙漢合璧教科書 (節錄).png|thumb|500px|Chapter ''China'' ({{zhi|t=中國}}) of "The Manchurian, Mongolian and Han Chinese Trilingual Textbook" ({{zhi|s=滿蒙漢三語合璧教科書}}) published during the Qing dynasty: ''"Our country China is located in [[East Asia]]... For 5000 years, culture flourished (in the land of China)... Since we are Chinese, how can we not love China."'']]
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Elena Barabantseva also noted that the Manchu referred to all subjects of the Qing empire regardless of ethnicity as "Chinese" ({{Zhi|t={{linktext|中國|之|人}}|p=Zhōngguó zhī rén|l=China's person}}), and used the term ({{Zhi|t=中國|p=Zhōngguó}}) as a synonym for the entire Qing empire while using {{zhi|t={{linktext|漢人}}|p=Hànrén}}) to refer only to the core area of the empire, with the entire empire viewed as multiethnic.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=U3XFBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT59 Barabantseva 2010], p. 20.</ref>
[[William T. Rowe]] wrote that the name "China" ({{zhi|t=中國|s=中華}}) was apparently understood to refer to the political realm of the [[Han Chinese]] during the [[Ming dynasty]], and this understanding persisted among the Han Chinese into the early Qing dynasty, and 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
[[Joseph W. Esherick]] noted that while the Qing Emperors governed frontier non-Han areas in a different, separate system under the [[Lifan Yuan|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.<ref>{{harvp|Esherick|2006|p= 232}}</ref> 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 what the connotations of being Chinese were.<ref>{{harvp|Esherick|2006|p= 251}}</ref> 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" (''Da Qing Huangdi'') and to ''Zhongguo'' as well. The 1858 [[Treaty of Tientsin]] has similar language.<ref name="Zarrow" />
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",<ref>Liang quoted in {{harvp|Esherick|2006|p=235}}, from Liang Qichao, "Zhongguo shi xulun" ''Yinbinshi heji'' 6:3 and in Lydia He Liu, ''The Clash of Empires: The Invention of China in Modern World Making'' (Cambridge, MA: [[Harvard University Press]], 2004), pp. 77–78.</ref> and that the concept of ''tianxia'' had to be abandoned in favor of ''guojia'', that is, "nation
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 ''Zhongguo'' in the treaty (partly in response to China's earlier objections for the term ''Tennō'' or [[Emperor of Japan]] to be used in the treaty), declaring that the term ''Zhongguo'' 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 ''Zhongguo'' 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" (我中華之稱中國，自上古迄今，由來已久。即與各國立約，首書寫大清國字樣，其條款內皆稱中國，從無寫改國號之例). The Chinese representatives believed that ''Zhongguo'' (China) 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 ''Zhongguo'' in the same manner as "Great Qing" would be up to China's discretion.<ref name="zhongguoname"></ref><ref>{{cite book|author=黄兴涛|title=重塑中华|page=48|year=2023|publisher=大象出版社}}</ref>
[[File:Big Dragon stamps.jpg|thumb|right|Qing postal stamps released in 1878]]
Qing official Zhang Deyi once 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.<ref name="LIULiu2009">{{cite book |author1 = Lydia He. LIU |author2 = Lydia He Liu |title = The Clash of Empires: the invention of China in modern world making |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LkTO2_-XDa8C&pg=PA80 |date = 30 June 2009 |publisher = Harvard University Press |isbn = 978-0-674-04029-8 |pages=80–}}</ref> However, the Qing established [[legation]]s and [[consulate]]s known as the "Chinese Legation
During the late Qing dynasty, various textbooks with the name "Chinese history" (中國歷史) 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 [[Five thousand years of Chinese civilization|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...".<ref name="zhongguoname"></ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:NLC416-14jh007845-69291_%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E6%AD%B7%E5%8F%B2%E6%95%99%E7%A7%91%E6%9B%B8,%E5%8E%9F%E5%90%8D,%E6%9C%AC%E6%9C%9D%E5%8F%B2%E8%AC%9B%E7%BE%A9.pdf&page=15 |title=中國歷史教科書（原名本朝史講義）第1页 |access-date=2024-06-12 }}</ref> After the [[May Fourth Movement]] in 1919, educated students began to spread the concept of ''Zhonghua'', which represented the people, including [[Ethnic minorities in China|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 ''Zhonghua'' in their official names. Thus, ''Zhongguo'' became the common name for both governments and {{zhi|t=中國人|s=中国人|p=Zhōngguó rén|out=p}} for their citizens. [[Overseas Chinese]] are referred to as {{zhi|t=華僑|s=华侨|p=huáqiáo|l=Chinese overseas|out=p}}, or {{zhi|t=華裔|s=华裔|p=huáyì|l=Chinese descendants|out=p}}, i.e. Chinese children born overseas.
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The name ''Han'' ({{zhi|t=漢|s=汉|p=Hàn}}) derives from the [[Han dynasty]] (206 BC–AD 220), which presided over China's first "golden age
During the [[Yuan dynasty]], subjects of the empire were divided into four classes: [[Mongols]], [[Semu]], Han, 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 people|Khitan]] and [[Jurchen people|Jurchen]] who have, for the most part, sinicized during the last two hundreds years. The name "Han" became popularly accepted.
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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 [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China|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, which was adapted from the CCP's short-lived [[Chinese Soviet Republic]] in 1931. This term is also sometimes used by writers outside of 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
=== Republic of China ===
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In 1912, China adopted its official name, '''Chunghwa Minkuo''' (rendered in pinyin '''Zhōnghuá Mínguó''') or in English as the "Republic of China", which has also sometimes been referred to as "[[History of the Republic of China|Republican China]]" or the "Republican Era" ({{lang|zh-Hant|民國時代}}), in contrast to the [[Qing dynasty]] it replaced, or as "'''[[Nationalist Government|Nationalist China]]'''", after the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party ([[Kuomintang]]). {{lang|zh-Hant|中華}} (''Chunghwa'') is a term that pertains to "China
Since the separation from mainland China in 1949 as a result of the [[Chinese Civil War]], the territory of the Republic of China has largely been confined to the island of Taiwan and some other small islands. Thus, the country is often simply referred to as simply "Taiwan", although this may not be perceived as politically neutral. Amid the hostile rhetoric of the [[Cold War]], the government and its supporters sometimes referred to themselves as "Free China" or "Liberal China
Taiwanese politician Mei Feng had criticised the official English name of the state, "Republic of China
== Names in non-Chinese records ==
Names used in the parts of Asia, especially East and Southeast Asia, are usually derived directly from words in one of the [[languages of China]]. 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]], however, have indirect names that came via other routes and may bear little resemblance to what is used in China.
===
{{Further|Chinas}}
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''Nikan'' ([[Manchu language|Manchu]]: {{ManchuSibeUnicode|lang=mnc|ᠨᡳᡴᠠᠨ}}) was a Manchu ethnonym of unknown origin that referred specifically to the Han Chinese; the stem of this word was also conjugated as a verb, {{transliteration|mnc|nikara(-mbi)}}, which meant 'to speak the Chinese language'. Since ''Nikan'' was essentially an [[ethnonym]] and referred to a group of people rather than to a political body, the correct translation of "China" into Manchu is ''Nikan gurun'', 'country of the Han'.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} <!-- cf Pamela Crossley, [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~crossley/comments_1.html Note on Nikan] -->
This exonym for the Han Chinese is also used in the [[Daur language]], in which it appears as ''Niaken'' ({{IPA|[njakən]}} or {{IPA|[ɲakən]}}).<ref>Samuel E. Martin, ''Dagur Mongolian Grammar, Texts, and Lexicon'', Indiana University Publications Uralic and Altaic Series, Vol. 4, 1961</ref> 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 ===
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''[[Baiyue]]'' 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'' ({{lang|ja|トウモロコシ}}, {{lang|ja|玉蜀黍}}), 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]]
=== Mangi ===
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