China

[goododa]

There were three main ethnic groups in ancient China.
Hua-xia, Dong-yi, and Miao-man.
According to ancient documents, Hua means flourishing, and Xia
means China. Dong-yi means eastern barbarians, and Miao-man
means Miao barbarians.
These three groups eventually became the Han people. However, the name, Hua-xia, is now also a name for China. For example, many Chinese would call themselves "Hua-ren".

Zhong-guo (meaning the Centre of the nation, the most common
name for China) was also called Zhong-yuan (The Central Plains),
and Zhong-zho (The Central States). It originally meant only the
area around the midstream of the Yellow River.

Some other names of different states like Dong-guo (The eastern part of the nation) and Nan-guo (The southern part of the nation)
later fell into disuse.

The name for China tha Marco Polo used, Cathay, came from the
word, Kitan or Kitai. The Kitans were a minor ethnic group that
influenced China very much. During the early Tang Dynasty, the
Kitans were under the Turks. Later they became a tributary state to the Tang Dynasty. However, the relationship between Tang
and the Kitans was not stable. Finally the Kitans became strong
enough to declare independence from China in the early 900s and
established the Liao Dynasty in 916.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by goododa
There were three main ethnic groups in ancient China.
Hua-xia, Dong-yi, and Miao-man.
According to ancient documents, Hua means flourishing, and Xia
means China. Dong-yi means eastern barbarians, and Miao-man
means Miao barbarians.
These three groups eventually became the Chinese.

There're also many other groups who eventually were assimilated to become Chinese like the Toba Wei, Manchus, Jurchen Jin, Yue peoples, the Di and Qiang tribes etc etc thru out China's long history. China is probably the most successful cultural mixing pot in ancient/medieval times.

 

[Fayadi]

"The name for China tha Marco Polo used, Cathay, came from the
word, Kitan or Kitai"

Wrong!China the word comes from "Chin" the first Chinese dynasty you know?Chin Dynasty and the Chin Shi Huang stuffs.I watch from Discovery Channel.

 

[kobayashi]

Goododa is not wrong. He said the word 'Cathay' is derived from Kitan. He never said anything about where the word 'China' is derived from.

 

[€ønqui$tadør]

i am really curious as to why ancient Europeans put an 'a' or 'ia'at the end of Europeanised place names of other places, such as Africa, India, America, China, Ethiopia, Asia, Australia, Antarctica...as opposed to, um, Amerigo/Americus, Chin...?

just why?

i never knew that the Han chinese ethnic group was a result of the grouping of 3 different ethnic tribes. all i knew was that the Han chinese originated from the Zhonghua region. hence the name 'zhonghua' and 'hua'.

there are 55 ethnic minorities in China. do you think significant minorities such as tibetans and uighurs should be given political freedom or should they remain in the present state?

 

[milty]

Well actually Hua means Chinese and Xia means flourish in a way, it also means the Xia dynasty, the 1st recorded dynasty. It actually literally means summer though.

Regarding the peoples, I'm not sure if it's differentiated like that. From what I know, ancient Chinese came from the legendary Yellow emperor, who may take on his name from the Yellow river, since that was where the beginning of the Han people was. The 1st dynasty, Xia from 2000bc to 1600bc, is widely disregarded by western scholars as a myth rather than history. I feel that they certainly could not have been very big, but just because the Xia did not have much left in writing on turtle shells, doesn't mean they didn't exist. I think Hua-Xia came from the Xia dynasty.

The barbarians, meaning anyone non Han, really came into play during the Han dynasty. Before that, southern states such as Chu (really not south in today's terms, near Shanghai) were regarded as barbarians, and also the Qin from the west (in central China, Xi'an), and to an extent, the Yan of the north. Only the central Chinese states were regarded as Zhong-Yuan people (central plains). Zhong Guo probably came to use in this period. During the Han, conquests were made against the Hsiung-Nu to the Northwest, Yue to the South, and other central asian nomads along the silk road by Ban Chao. This was probably when the "Han" people were differentiated against the "barbarians". The Tang dynasty were widely known to be ethnically tolerant, employing many minorities in the government, and some have said invited rebellion from these barbarians, such as An Lushan.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by milty
The barbarians, meaning anyone non Han, really came into play during the Han dynasty. Before that, southern states such as Chu (really not south in today's terms, near Shanghai) were regarded as barbarians, and also the Qin from the west (in central China, Xi'an), and to an extent, the Yan of the north.

The Zhao (around modern Taiyuan) are regarded as semi-barbarians, not the Yan I think. Wu and Yue are purely barbarian states, in the south.

Only the central Chinese states were regarded as Zhong-Yuan people (central plains). Zhong Guo probably came to use in this period. During the Han, conquests were made against the Hsiung-Nu to the Northwest, Yue to the South, and other central asian nomads along the silk road by Ban Chao. This was probably when the "Han" people were differentiated against the "barbarians".

The differentiation began much earlier IMHO. In the ancient writings, there's already a clear definition of 'us' the agriculturalists vs 'them', the barbaric pastoralists.

The Tang dynasty were widely known to be ethnically tolerant, employing many minorities in the government, and some have said invited rebellion from these barbarians, such as An Lushan.

The Tang is half-Turkish. The Tang emperors (esp Li Shimin or Tang Taizong) were warrior-king types, rather untypical of Chinese emperors.

The An Lushan barbarian was due more to the fact that the Tang emperors devolved too much power to the frontier generals. The Song tried to fix this by holding all powers centrally; but this resulted in a weak military instead.

 

[Sodak]

Originally posted by €ønqui$tadør
i am really curious as to why ancient Europeans put an 'a' or 'ia'at the end of Europeanised place names of other places, such as Africa, India, America, China, Ethiopia, Asia, Australia, Antarctica...as opposed to, um, Amerigo/Americus, Chin...?

just why?

The same reason modern europeans do - that is how many indo-european languages identify place in a people's identity. (Not all retain that pronunciation tho. Try the examples you list in French, you'll find a different result. ) It's just a linguistic characteristic.

Different examples show that it is only a tendency, not a rule:
the Chin are called Chinese, and live in China (adjective and place name derived from people's name - fits the "rule")
the Duuts were called Dutch, and live in Holland. :hmmm: (adjective from people's (former) name, place name borrowed directly)
the Duits are called Germans, and live in Germany (people, adjective, and place all borrowed from latin)

Place names for countries or regions often derive from a primary geographic feature or people, and get the -ia ending:
Tunisia from Tunis
Nigeria from Niger
Arabia from Arab
Lilliputia from Lilliput

The -us suffix is latin. Many famous historical names we know are just latinized versions. E.g. Carolus = Karl, Martinus = Martin, Jesus = Iesu. The -o/-os suffix is romance language version of the old latin suffix -us. Marcus became Marco, Carolus became Carlos, etc.