China

Chinese names

Zhōngguó (simplified Chinese: 中国; traditional Chinese: 中國, Mandarin pronunciation: [tʂʊ́ŋkwɔ̌]) translates traditionally as the "Middle Kingdom" or as the "Central Nation". The official name of China changed with each dynasty or with each new government, the imperial governments referred to themselves as the Empire of the Great Qing, Empire of the Great Ming, etc. Only in the nineteenth century, Zhongguo became the common name for the country. In earlier times the term was used in various senses. In pre-imperial times, it was often as a cultural concept to distinguish the Huaxia from the barbarians. Sometimes Zhongguo, which can be either singular or plural, referred to the group of states in the central plain. The Chinese were not unique in regarding their country as "central", since other civilizations had the same view.^[21]

The term Zhōngguó first appeared in the Classic of History (6th century BC), and was used to refer to the late Zhou Dynasty, as they believed that they were the "center of civilization," ^[22] while peoples in the four cardinals were called Eastern Yi, Southern Man, Western Rong and Northern Di respectively. Some texts imply that "Zhōngguó" was originally meant to refer to the capital of the sovereign, to differ from the capital of his vassals.^[23] The use of "Zhōngguó" implied a claim of political legitimacy, and "Zhōngguó" was often used by states who saw themselves as the sole legitimate successor to previous Chinese dynasties; for example, in the era of the Southern Song Dynasty, both the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song state claimed to be "Zhōngguó." ^[24]

Zhōngguó was used as a common name for the Republic of China (Zhonghua Minguo) after its establishment in 1912. After the Communists took over control of mainland China in 1949, they established the People's Republic of China (PRC). After the ROC's loss of the UN "China" seat in 1971, the PRC gained the ability to be the "representative" of "China" under the One-China policy and as a result is now commonly known as "China" or "Zhōngguó" in Chinese. The Republic of China nowadays is commonly known as "Taiwan".