The word China first appeared in the diplomatic document treaty of nanking, which started at 1842.
The official country name of China is the Republic of China, or simply China, also known as China.
Now China is People's Republic of China (PRC).
The origin of the word China.
The word "China" first appeared in The Book of Songs (Zhou Dynasty), such as elegance? 6? 1 People's labor, "for the benefit of China". However, the China in The Book of Songs is actually a country, not a real country. The word "China", referring to the country, has been very common in the books of the warring States philosophers. Such as "Mencius? 6? 1 Teng Wengong cloud: "The source of Chen Liang, the way sought by Zhou Gong, and the way to learn from China in the north", "The way of animal hoof and bird trail, handed over to China"; Zhuangzi? 6? Tian Zifang (1): "A gentleman in China knows his courtesy and righteousness, but his heart is neither humble nor supercilious" ... All these show that the so-called "China" in ancient times refers to the "Central Plains" of later generations. But the area is not as wide as the Central Plains in later generations, which is equivalent to Shanxi, Shandong, Henan and Hebei today.
About the meaning of the word "China", there are roughly two explanations: 1. The word China means Kyoto and Shi Jing. The earliest use of the word China was the Book of Songs? 6? 1 elegant? 6? In the labor of 1 person, "people work hard, and caves can be well-off, benefiting China and embracing all directions." ..... People also work hard, Mao can take a small interest, benefit the capital and connect the four countries. "It is said that these poems are to persuade the tyrant Zhou Liwang to start caring about the people of Kyoto and then settle the world. A scholar of the Book of Songs in the Han Dynasty, Scapharca subcrenata, made an annotation for "China is eclectic": "China is also the capital. "Mencius recorded a passage that the King of Qi said to his ministers:" I want China and give it to Mencius. "According to the meaning now, I just want to build a house for Master Meng in Beijing. Liu Xi, a scholar at the end of the Han Dynasty, also said: "The emperors are all in the middle of the country, so they called China. "2. The word" China "refers to the area where ancient China people lived in compact communities. The Yellow River is the cradle of the Chinese nation. In ancient times, it was called Central China, or midsummer China. China, of course. These terms actually refer to the Yellow River basin area. For example, Historical Records? 6? 1 Chu family "contains:" I am a barbarian, not arrogant in the name of China! " At that time, Chu was in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the China mentioned here was actually the collective name of several countries in the Yellow River Basin.
In ancient China, the country was sometimes unified and sometimes divided. The word China had different meanings in different times. Generally speaking, it refers to the whole country in the period of reunification and the Central Plains in the period of division. With the change of the emperor's ruling territory, the scope of the word China is also different. During the period of Western Zhou Wuwang, "China" meant "a country with a central government". According to legend, 3000 years ago, Duke Zhou measured the sun shadow in Yangcheng (now Dengfeng, Henan Province) and found that there was no sun shadow in the surrounding scenery at noon from the summer solstice, thinking it was the center of the earth, so he called the Zhou Dynasty China. Since the Han Dynasty, people often refer to the Central Plains dynasty established by the Han nationality as "China", and the Central Plains dynasty established by ethnic minorities also calls itself "China". During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Southern Dynasty called itself "China" and the Northern Dynasty called itself "Wei Lu"; The Northern Dynasties also called themselves "China" and the Southern Dynasties also called themselves "islanders". Liao and the Northern Song Dynasty, Jin and the Southern Song Dynasty all called themselves "China" and did not recognize each other as China. By the Qing Dynasty, all the territories under the jurisdiction of the Qing government were named after China. /kloc-After the middle of the 0/9th century, "China" only refers to the whole country and is not used for other purposes.
After the Revolution of 1911, 19 12 established the Republic of China. At that time, the five major ethnic groups of Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Hui and Tibetan merged into one family, named China, and all of them were referred to as "Republic of China" or "China", which officially became a political term with the concept of modern state. June 1, 1949, when New China was founded, it was named "People's Republic of China (PRC)" or "China" for short.
The word "China" has been around for 3000 years? 6? The use history of 1, but it has always been used only as a pronoun noun. No dynasty explicitly used the word "China" as the direct name of its regime. The title of the Han Dynasty is "Han". The title of the Tang Dynasty was "Tang", and the titles of subsequent dynasties were Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan and Ming, all of which were signed by the Qing government and foreign countries. 6? 1 The country name of the department is "anniversary".
At present, there is only one "China: China" in the world, namely, the people of China and China. China appeared in diplomatic literature, starting with treaty of nanking in 1842.
1949 after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the word "China" still has multiple meanings such as region, culture and politics in actual language operation, but it generally refers to Chinese mainland in the international media.