How China Got Its Name Confusion.?
Posted by China Sourcing CommentatorSep 30
I am confused about how china came to be called that.
some say that it comes from the qin dynasty and some sources say that the Chinese thought they were the middle kingdom and the direct translation of china is the middle kingdom?
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English and many other languages use various forms of the name “China” and the prefix “Sino-” or “Sin-”. These forms are thought to derive from the name of the Qin Dynasty that first unified the country (221–206 BCE). The pronunciation of “Qin” is similar to the phonetic “cheen”, which is considered the possible root of the word “China”.
The word “China” is “Zhong Guo”(in Mandarin),
Zhong means middle, and Guo means country.
The name of “China” could originate from “Qin” dynasty, which was considered the first chinese empire. “Qin” would be pronounced as “Chin”.
The word “chink” comes from the description of the ‘Qing’ dynasty in China. During the late 1800′s, the Qing empire fell very weak as 7 European powers and Japan fought successful wars with the Qing government carving out cities and islands to themselves. China had been one of the world’s most technologically advanced and wealthiest nation for over 1500 years before and to shame or insult this history, Westerners degrade China’s history by referring to the Qing dynasty as ‘chinks’.
It was a Jeopardy question today. I think it was Emperor Chin.