In retrospect, the word "China" first appeared in the "Zi Cai" section of Shangshu, the first official history book in China. The original text says: "The emperor paid the people of China to cross the border to the former king", which means that "the gods entrusted the people of China and their land to the former king of Zhou Dynasty". The author of this article is a very famous "Zhou Gongdan" in history, namely "Duke Zhou", the son of Zhou Wenwang, the brother of Zhou Wuwang, a politician, thinker and strategist in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Zhou Wuwang's son, Zhou Chengwang, was very young when he succeeded to the throne. He was the regent of the Duke of Zhou. It can be inferred that Shangshu Zicai was written in the era of Zhou Chengwang, the third king of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and it is the earliest historical document we can find in China, with a history of more than 3,000 years. It can be seen that the word "China" was officially used at least in the Zhou Dynasty.
In addition, there are three references to "China" in China's first poetry collection "The Book of Songs". They are:
1, "The Book of Songs, Yashi Minlao" mentioned "China" four times, specifically:
(1) "benefit China and the Quartet" means "benefit the people of China and appease the people of the Quartet in China".
(2) "Benefit China, thinking that the people are outstanding", that is, "benefit the people of China, so as to fulfill their wishes".
(3) "To benefit China so that people can vent their worries" means "to benefit the people of China so that people can vent their worries".
(4) "If China is benefited, the country will be harmless", that is, "If China people are benefited, the country will be free from cruelty".
2. There is a reference to "China" in "The Book of Songs, Daya Sang Rou", specifically: "Mourning China means dying more", which means "Mourning China means starving more".
3. China was mentioned twice in The Book of Songs, Ya Dang, specifically:
(1) "Ask Yin merchants, and women are immersed in China", which means "You are the king of Yin merchants and do evil in China".
(2) "Immersed in China, Qin and Ghost Face" means "You have aroused the public indignation of China, and even other foreign races can't stand it".
These three poems were written in the Zhou Dynasty by Zhao and Rui Bo, two important ministers in the Zhou Dynasty. They suggested that Wang cherish "China" and treat the people well through poetry. Three poems in The Book of Songs once again prove that China was used in the Western Zhou Dynasty three thousand years ago.
In addition to historical documents, the inscription "He Zun" on a five-year-old bronze wine vessel found in China also mentioned "China", but writing "Zhong OR" or "Guo" was an early method. The inscription reads: "Yu Qi lives in China, and I am the king of our people", which means "I (Zhou Wuwang) have occupied China, and I have become the king of China people". The inscription "China" on the bronze ware "He Zun" further confirmed that "China" had been used in the Western Zhou Dynasty from the perspective of archaeology.
According to textual research, in the Western Zhou Dynasty, China was a political structure in which the empire and other countries (i.e. vassal states) coexisted. When Zhou Chengwang was in office, he adopted the general plan of building a vassal state proposed by the Duke of Zhou, and enfeoffed 7 1 state to undertake the task of defending Kyoto. At this time, "China" should refer to the whole boundary of the country of the Son of Heaven and all enfeoffment countries. Among them, the Kingdom of the Son of Heaven is the area directly ruled by the King of China (that is, the Son of Heaven). The land and people of all countries belong to "China" in name, and they have autonomy in other aspects except the deployment of troops and "rites and music".
According to the records in Shangshu and Shijing, the cycle of Shang Dynasty was also called "China", but the word "China" was not found in Oracle Bone Inscriptions's dedication of Shang Dynasty. According to the research of experts and scholars, businessmen do not call the country "country", but are used to calling it "city". When Oracle Bone Inscriptions was consecrated to China, Shang Dynasty called its country "Dayi Merchants" and its neighboring countries "East China", "South China", "West China" and "North China". In Oracle Bone Inscriptions during the Yin and Shang Dynasties, merchants also called their country "China Merchants". In this regard, Hu Houxuan, a famous historian and Oracle Bone Inscriptions scholar in China, once said that "businessmen are called Chinese businessmen, which is the origin of China's title in later generations".
In Records of the Historian, The Book of Songs, The Analects of Confucius and other documents, most of them refer to the Shang Dynasty as "Yin" and "Great Country Yin", and "Yin" said in the annotation of Shuowen, the first dictionary in ancient China that "it is a great Yin, and it is also public and China". In the study of Historical Records, it is directly interpreted as "Yin and Zhong also". Deduced from this, Yin State means China, which indirectly shows that Shang people also called their country China, but only expressed it with China Merchants, Great Country Yin and Yin. The "China" of the Zhou Dynasty probably came from this transition. After the Shang Dynasty was overthrown, its original name was changed to "China", and the word "Guo" was probably officially used in the Zhou Dynasty.
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