The Origin of the Name “China”
China is the appellation of our country given by foreigners. The porcelain china is the transliteration of the place name Changnan, which was the old name for the porcelain town of today’s Jingdezhen. In the Eastern Han Dynasty (25— 220), people built their cave-houses and cut logs to make pottery. And in the Tang Dynasty (618— 907), people combined the advantages of celadon from the southern Yue Kiln and white porcelains from the northern Xing Kiln, and with the high-quality earth of the Gaoling Mountain in Changnan Town they produced a kind of white and green porcelain. This porcelain was smooth and bright, and hence earned another name of artificial jade. It became famous both home and abroad and was exported to Europe in large quantities since people there did not know how to make porcelain before the 18th cen- tury.
In Europe, people regarded Changnan porcelain as something precious and delicate and would take pride in possessing one. As time passed, people in Europe forgot the meaning of Changnan and switched the original meaning of porcelain of the word “china” to the place of its origin—China. Therefore, Changnan in people’s eyes represented por- celain and China. In the Jingde reign of the Song Dynasty (960— 1279), Emperor Zhenzong loved Changnan porcelain so much that he ordered to build official cave-houses to make porcelain of all kinds. And porcelains paid as tributes to the emperor were required to print with “made in the Jingde reign” at the bottom. From then on, Changnan Town be- came Jingde Town and it remained as such until today.
Ancient Alternative Names: Chixian and Shenzhou
- Chixian, Shenzhou
In the Chinese historical book Shiji: Biographies of Mencius and Xunqing, there was a man named Zouyan in the Qi State in the Warring States Period (475— 221 BC) who said that China was Chixian Shenzhou (the sacred earth and divine land). From then on, people sometimes called China Chixian Shenzhou. But people usually used this name separately by calling China Chixian or Shenzhou.
More Alternative Names: Jiuzhou, Hua, and Huaxia
- Jiuzhou
After DayuÕs fighting against the flood in the Xia Dynasty (21st-17th century BC), China was divided into nine administrative divisions: Ji, Yan, Qing, Jing, Yang, Liang, Yong, Xu and Yu.
- Hua
In ancient times Hua meant flowers denoting something beautiful and glorious. There are three interpretations of Hua: Firstly, ancient people in the Central Plains regarded themselves as civilized people who dressed neatly and elegantly, so they named themselves as Hua. Secondly, Hua denotes the red color. People in the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC) liked the red color so much that they took it as the symbol of blissfulness and so called themselves Hua. Thirdly, Hua is of a long history as the shortened form of the ancient name Huaxia of China.
- Huaxia
In ancient times Xia meant big and huge. After the Xia Dynasty was established by Dayu (Yu the Great), China was frequently referred to as Xia. The Huaxia nationality living in the Central Plains and other nationalities in the north and south all gave in to the Shang Dynasty (17th-11th century BC). And later on China was referred to as Huaxia since it was the largest nationality at that time.
The Names Zhonghua and Hainei
- Zhonghua
Before the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), the Huaxia nationality named their motherland Zhongguo, and after that, it developed into a nation of various nationalities, and was then called Zhonghua Nation (known as Chinese Nation). Zhong denotes China, and Hua is the Huaxia nationality for short. Zhonghua Nation is the collective name for all the nationalities in China.
- Hainei
The ancient people thought that China was surrounded by seas, so they named China Hainei (within the seas) and foreign countries Haiwai (overseas).
