Editing Names of China (section)

== Names in non-Sinic records ==
Names used in other parts of Asia, especially East and Southeast Asia, are usually derived directly from words in one of the [[languages of China]]. Those languages belonging to a former tributary or Chinese-influenced country have an especially similar pronunciation to that of Chinese. Those used in [[Indo-European languages]], however, have indirect names that came via other routes and may bear little resemblance to what is used in China.

=== China ===
{{Further|Chinas}}

English, most [[Indo-European languages]], and many others use various forms of the name ''China'' and the [[Prefix (linguistics)|prefix]] "Sino-" or "Sin-" from the Latin {{Lang|la|Sina}}.<ref>The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed (AHD4). Boston and New York, Houghton-Mifflin, 2000, entries ''china, Qin, Sino-''.</ref><ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nIvqAC7FNBQC&pg=PA429 |title = ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese |author= Axel Schuessler |page=429 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |year= 2006 |isbn = 978-0-8248-2975-9 }}</ref> Europeans had knowledge of a country known in Greek as {{Lang|grc|Thina}} or {{Lang|grc|Sina}} from the early period;<ref name="yule" /> the ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]'' from perhaps the first century AD recorded a country known as {{Lang|grc|Thin}} (''θίν'').<ref name="middle kingdom">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kUn07EepBZ8C&pg=PA408 |title = The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts and History of the Chinese Empire and Its Inhabitants |author = Samuel Wells Williams |page=408 |publisher = Routledge |year = 2006 |isbn = 978-0-7103-1167-2}}</ref> The English name "China" itself is derived from [[Middle Persian]] ({{Lang|pal|Chīnī}} {{linktext|چین}}). The modern word was first used in Europe by Portuguese explorers of the 16th century – it was first recorded in 1516 in the journal of the Portuguese explorer [[Duarte Barbosa]].<ref>"China". ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (1989). {{ISBN|0-19-957315-8 }}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=edzW9fuOF-cC&q=%22Very+Great+Kingdom+of+China%22&pg=PA211 |title = The Book of Duarte Barbosa |chapter="The Very Great Kingdom of China" |isbn = 81-206-0451-2 |last1 = Barbosa |first1 = Duarte |last2 = Dames |first2 = Mansel Longworth |year = 1989 |publisher = Asian Educational Services |access-date = 2020-11-18 |archive-date = 2023-04-11 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230411170152/https://books.google.com/books?id=edzW9fuOF-cC&q=%22Very+Great+Kingdom+of+China%22&pg=PA211 |url-status = live }} In the [http://purl.pt/435/ Portuguese original] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508211742/http://purl.pt/435 |date=2013-05-08 }}, the chapter is titled "O Grande Reino da China".</ref> The journal was translated and published in England in 1555.<ref>[[Richard Eden (translator)|Eden, Richard]] (1555). ''Decades of the New World'': "The great China whose kyng is thought the greatest prince in the world."<br />{{cite book |title = Western Views of China and the Far East, Volume 1 |publisher=Asian Research Service |year=1984 |page=34 |first=Henry Allen |last = Myers }}</ref>

[[File:CEM-09-Asiae-Nova-Descriptio-China-2510.jpg|thumb|left|''China'' (referring to today's [[Guangdong]]), ''Mangi'' (inland of ''Xanton'' ([[Shandong]])), and ''Cataio'' (located inland of ''China'' and ''Chequan'' ([[Zhejiang]]), and including the capital ''[[Khanbaliq|Cambalu]]'', ''[[Shangdu|Xandu]]'', and a marble bridge) are all shown as separate regions on this 1570 map by [[Abraham Ortelius]]]]

The traditional etymology, proposed in the 17th century by [[Martin Martini]] and supported by later scholars such as [[Paul Pelliot]] and [[Berthold Laufer]], is that the word "China" and its related terms are ultimately derived from the polity known as [[Qin (state)|Qin]] that unified China to form the Qin dynasty ([[Old Chinese]]: ''*dzin'') in the 3rd century BC, but existed as a state on the furthest west of China since the 9th century BC.<ref name=yule>{{harvp|Yule|2005 |p= 2–3}} "There are reasons however for believing the word {{font|text=China|font=Century Gothic}} was bestowed at a much earlier date, for it occurs in the Laws of Manu, which assert the ''Chinas'' to be degenerate Kshatriyas, and the Mahabharat, compositions many centuries older that imperial dynasty of {{font|text=Ts'in|font=Century Gothic}} ... And this name may have yet possibly been connected with the Ts'in, or some monarchy of the like title; for that Dynasty had reigned locally in Shen si from the ninth century before our era..."</ref><ref name="Wade">{{harvp|Wade| 2009|pp= 8-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title= The Name China |author = Berthold Laufer |journal= T'oung Pao |volume= 13 |issue =1 |pages = 719–726 |year= 1912 |doi= 10.1163/156853212X00377 }}</ref> This is still the most commonly held theory, although the etymology is still a matter of debate according to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'',<ref name=OED>{{cite web |url= https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/31735 |title= China |work= Oxford English Dictionary |access-date= 2020-01-21 |archive-date= 2020-03-14 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200314143218/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/31735 |url-status= live }}{{ISBN|0-19-957315-8}}</ref> and many other suggestions have been mooted.<ref>{{harvp|Yule|2005 |p= 3–7}}</ref><ref name="wade13">{{harvp|Wade| 2009|pp= 12–13}}</ref>

The existence of the word {{Lang|san|Cīna}} in ancient Indian texts was noted by the Sanskrit scholar [[Hermann Jacobi]] who pointed out its use in the Book 2 of ''[[Arthashastra]]'' with reference to silk and woven cloth produced by the country of ''{{Lang|san|Cīna}}'', although textual analysis suggests that Book 2 may not have been written long before 150 AD.<ref>{{cite book |author=Bodde, Derk |editor1=Denis Twitchett |editor2=Michael Loewe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2HKxK5N2sAC&pg=PA20 |title=The Cambridge History of China: Volume 1, The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC – AD 220 |date=26 December 1986 |pages=20–21 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24327-8 |access-date=9 September 2017 |archive-date=11 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411170227/https://books.google.com/books?id=A2HKxK5N2sAC&pg=PA20 |url-status=live }}</ref> The word is also found in other Sanskrit texts such as the ''[[Mahābhārata]]'' and the ''[[Manusmṛti|Laws of Manu]]''.<ref name=wade>{{harvp|Wade|2009|p= 20}}</ref> The Indologist [[Patrick Olivelle]] argued that the word ''{{Lang|san|Cīna}}'' may not have been known in India before the first century BC, nevertheless he agreed that it probably referred to Qin but thought that the word itself was derived from a Central Asian language.<ref name="Liu">Liu, Lydia He, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=zxPpHkumqbEC&pg=PA78 The clash of empires]'', p. 77. {{ISBN|9780674019959}}. "Scholars have dated the earliest mentions of ''Cīna'' to the ''Rāmāyana'' and the ''Mahābhārata'' and to other Sanskrit sources such as the Hindu Laws of Manu."</ref> Some Chinese and Indian scholars argued for the state of {{Transliteration|zh|Jing}} ({{lang|zh-Hant|荆}}, another name for [[Chu (state)|Chu]]) as the likely origin of the name.<ref name="wade13" /> Another suggestion, made by Geoff Wade, is that the {{Lang|san|Cīnāh}} in Sanskrit texts refers to an ancient kingdom centered in present-day [[Guizhou]], called [[Yelang]], in the south Tibeto-Burman highlands.<ref name="wade" /> The inhabitants referred to themselves as {{Transliteration|zh|Zina}} according to Wade.<ref>{{harvp|Wade| 2009}} "This thesis also helps explain the existence of Cīna in the Indic ''Laws of Manu'' and the ''Mahabharata'', likely dating well before Qin Shihuangdi."</ref>

The term ''China'' can also be used to refer to:
* a modern state, indicating the PRC or ROC;
* "Mainland China" ({{zhi|t=中國大陸|s=中国大陆|p=Zhōngguó Dàlù}}), which is the territory of the PRC minus the two regions of Hong Kong and Macau;
* "[[China proper]]", a term used to refer to the historical heartlands of China without peripheral areas like Manchuria, [[Inner Mongolia]], Tibet, and [[Xinjiang]]

In economic contexts, "[[Greater China]]" ({{zhi|t=大中華地區|s=大中华地区|p=Dà Zhōnghuá dìqū}}) is intended to be a neutral and non-political way to refer to mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Sinologists usually use "Chinese" in a more restricted sense, akin to the classical usage of ''{{Transliteration|zh|Zhongguo}}'', to the Han ethnic group, which makes up the bulk of the population in China and of the overseas Chinese.

[[File:CEM-11-Chinae-nova-descriptio-2521.jpg|thumb|left|[[Luiz Jorge de Barbuda|Barbuda]]'s 1584 map, also published by Ortelius, already applies the name ''China'' to the entire country. However, for another century many European maps continued to show ''Cathay'' as well, usually somewhere north of the [[Great Wall]]]]

=== Seres, Ser, Serica ===
{{Main|Serica}}

{{lang|la|Sēres}} ({{lang|grc|Σῆρες}}) was the [[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]] and Roman name for the northwestern part of China and its inhabitants. It meant "of silk", or "land where silk comes from". The name is thought to derive from the Chinese word for silk, {{zhi|t=絲|s=丝|p=sī}}; [[Middle Chinese]] {{transliteration|ltc|sɨ}}, [[Old Chinese]] {{transliteration|och|*slɯ}}, per [[Zhengzhang Shangfang|Zhengzhang]]). It is itself at the origin of the Latin for "silk", {{lang|la|sērica}}.

This may be a [[back formation]] from {{transliteration|grc|sērikos}} ({{lang|grc|σηρικός}}), "made of silk", from {{transliteration|grc|sēr}} ({{lang|grc|σήρ}}), "silkworm", in which case {{transliteration|grc|Sēres}} is "the land where silk comes from".

{{anchor|Sinae|Sin|Sinæ}}

=== Sinae, Sin {{anchor|Sino-}} ===
[[File:PtolemyWorldMap.jpg|thumb|250px|A mid-15th century map based on Ptolemy's manuscript [[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]. Serica and Sina are marked as separate countries (top right and right respectively).]]

{{lang|la|Sīnae}} was an ancient Greek and Roman name for some people who dwelt south of Serica in the eastern extremity of the habitable world. References to the Sinae include mention of a city that the Romans called {{lang|la|Sēra Mētropolis}}, which may be modern [[Chang'an]]. The Latin prefix {{lang|la|Sino-}} as well as words such as {{lang|la|Sinica}}, which are traditionally used to refer to China, came from {{lang|la|Sīnae}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sino- |title=Sino- |work=Merriam-Webster |access-date=2015-07-14 |archive-date=2015-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714161815/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sino- |url-status=live }}</ref> It is generally thought that {{lang|la|Chīna}}, {{lang|la|Sīna}} and {{lang|la|Thīna}} are variants that ultimately derived from "Qin", the western Zhou-era state that eventually founded the Qin dynasty.<ref name="middle kingdom" /> There are other opinions on its etymology: [[Henry Yule]] thought that this term may have come to Europe through the Arabs, who made the China of the farther east into ''Sin'', and perhaps sometimes into {{lang|la|Thin}}.<ref name="yule2">{{harvp|Yule|2005 |p= xxxvii}}</ref> Hence the ''{{lang|la|Thin}}'' of the author of the [[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]], who appears to be the first extant writer to employ the name in this form; hence also the {{lang|la|Sinae}} and {{lang|la|Thinae}} of [[Ptolemy]].<ref name="yule" /><ref name="middle kingdom" />

Some denied that Ptolemy's {{lang|la|Sinae}} really represented the Chinese as Ptolemy called the country {{Transliteration|la|Sērice}} and the capital {{Lang|la|Sēra}}, but regarded them as distinct from {{lang|la|Sīnae}}.<ref name="middle kingdom" /><ref>{{harvp|Yule|2005 |p= xl }}</ref> [[Marcian of Heraclea]] reported that the "nations of the Sinae lie at the extremity of the habitable world, and adjoin the eastern [[Terra incognita]]". The 6th century [[Cosmas Indicopleustes]] refers to a "country of silk" called {{Lang|grc|Tzinista}}, which is understood as referring to China, beyond which "there is neither navigation nor any land to inhabit".<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/transcultural/article/view/6127/2962 |title=The World According to Cosmas Indicopleustes – Concepts and Illustrations of an Alexandrian Merchant and Monk |author=Stefan Faller |journal=Transcultural Studies |year=2011 |volume=1 |issue=2011 |pages=193–232 |doi=10.11588/ts.2011.1.6127 |access-date=2015-07-14 |archive-date=2015-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714212938/http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/transcultural/article/view/6127/2962 |url-status=live }}</ref> It seems probable that the same region is meant by both. According to [[Henry Yule]], Ptolemy's misrendering of the [[Indian Sea]] as a closed basin meant that Ptolemy must also have misplaced the Chinese coast, leading to the misconception of Serica and Sina as separate countries.<ref name="yule2" />

In the [[Hebrew Bible]], there is a mention of the faraway country "[[Sinim]]" in the [[Book of Isaiah]] 49:12 which some had assumed to be a reference to China.<ref name="middle kingdom" /><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/dictionarybible03smit#page/1328/mode/2up |title= Encyclopaedic dictionary of the Bible|editor1=William Smith |editor2=John Mee Fuller |page=1328 |year= 1893 }}</ref> In Genesis 10:17, a tribes called the "[[Sinite]]s" were said to be the descendants of [[Canaan]], the son of [[Ham, son of Noah|Ham]], but they are usually considered to be a different people, probably from the northern part of [[Lebanon]].<ref>{{cite book |url = https://archive.org/stream/cyclopediaofbibl02kitt#page/772/mode/2up |title=A cyclopædia of biblical literature|year=1845|editor = John Kitto |page=773 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url = https://archive.org/stream/dictionarybible03smit#page/1322/mode/2up |title= Encyclopaedic dictionary of the Bible |editor1=William Smith |editor2=John Mee Fuller |page=1323 |year= 1893 }}</ref>

=== Cathay or Kitay ===
{{Main|Cathay}}

These names derive from the [[Khitan people]] that originated in [[Manchuria]] and conquered parts of northern China during the early 10th century to form the [[Liao dynasty]], and dominated Central Asia during the 12th century as the [[Kara Khitan]] Khanate. Due to the long period of political relevance, the name {{Lang|oui|Khitan}} become associated with China. Muslim historians referred to the Kara Khitan state as {{Lang|oui|Khitay}} or {{Lang|oui|Khitai}}; they may have adopted this form of {{Lang|oui|Khitan}} via the [[Uyghurs]] of [[Kingdom of Qocho|Qocho]], in whose language the final 
''-n'' or ''-ń'' became ''-y''.<ref>{{citation |last = Sinor |first = D. |chapter = Chapter 11 – The Kitan and the Kara Kitay |year = 1998 |title = History of Civilisations of Central Asia |editor1-last = Asimov |editor1-first = M.S. |editor2-last = Bosworth |editor2-first = C. E. |volume = 4 part I |publisher = UNESCO Publishing |isbn = 92-3-103467-7 }}</ref> The name was then introduced to medieval and early modern Europe through Islamic and Russian sources.<ref name="millward" /> In English and in several other European languages, the name "Cathay" was used in the translations of the adventures of [[Marco Polo]], which used this word for northern China. Words related to Khitay are still used in many [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] and [[Slavic languages]] to refer to China. However, its use by Turkic speakers within China, such as the Uyghurs, is considered pejorative by the Chinese authority who tried to ban it.<ref name="millward">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XuvqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43 |editor=S.F.Starr |author1=James A. Millward |author2=Peter C. Perdue |title = Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland |year= 2004 |page = 43 |publisher = M.E. Sharpe |isbn = 978-1-317-45137-2 }}</ref>

There is no evidence that either in the 13th or 14th century, Cathayans, ''i.e.'' Chinese, travelled officially to Europe, but it is possible that some did, in unofficial capacities, at least in the 13th century. During the campaigns of [[Hulagu]] (the grandson of [[Genghis Khan]]) in [[Persian Empire|Persia]] (1256–65), and the reigns of his successors, Chinese engineers were employed on the banks of the [[Tigris]], and Chinese astrologers and physicians could be consulted. Many diplomatic communications passed between the Hulaguid [[Ilkhan]]s and Christian princes. The former, as the great khan's liegemen, still received from him their [[Seal (emblem)|seals]] of state; and two of their letters which survive in the archives of France exhibit the vermilion impressions of those seals in [[Chinese character]]s—perhaps affording the earliest specimen of those characters to reach western Europe.

=== Tabgach ===
The word ''[[Tabgach]]'' came from the metatheses of ''[[Tuoba]]'' (''*t'akbat''), a dominant tribe of the [[Xianbei]] and the surname of the [[Northern Wei]] emperors in the 5th century before sinicisation. It referred to Northern China, which was dominated by part-Xianbei, part-Han people.

This name is re-translated back into Chinese as {{Transliteration|zh|Taohuashi}} ({{lang-zh|c=桃花石|p=táohuā shí}}).<ref>{{cite book | last=Rui | first=Chuanming | title=On the Ancient History of the Silk Road | publisher=World Scientific | date=2021 | isbn=978-981-12-3296-1 | doi=10.1142/9789811232978_0005 | page=}}</ref> This name has been used in China in recent years to promote ethnic unity.<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Tuoba and Xianbei: Turkic and Mongolic elements of the medieval and contemporary Sinitic states
| author = Victor Mair 
| work = Language Log
| date = May 16, 2022
| access-date = 5 April 2024
| url = https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=54658
| language =  
| quote = 
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
| title = 在全国民族团结进步表彰大会上的讲话
| author = 习近平
| work = National Ethnic Affairs Commission of the People's Republic of China
| date = 2019-09-27
| access-date = 5 April 2024
| url = https://www.neac.gov.cn/seac/xwzx/201909/1136990.shtml
| language = zh
| quote = 分立如南北朝，都自诩中华正统；对峙如宋辽夏金，都被称为“桃花石”；统一如秦汉、隋唐、元明清，更是“六合同风，九州共贯”。
}}</ref>

=== Taugast ===
In the works of [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] Historian [[Theophylact Simocatta]], written in the early 7th Century, [[Tang dynasty|Tang China]] was referred to as {{Transliteration|grc|Taugast}} ([[Medieval Greek|Byzantine Greek]]: Ταυγάστ).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Zhang |first=Xushan |date=2010 |title=On the Origin of "Taugast" in Theophylact Simocatta and the Later Sources |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44173113 |journal=Byzantion |volume=80 |pages=485–501 |jstor=44173113 |issn=0378-2506}}</ref> This name is likely related to Tabgach.<ref name=":0" />

=== Nikan ===
{{Transliteration|mnc|Nikan}} ([[Manchu language|Manchu]]: {{ManchuSibeUnicode|lang=mnc|ᠨᡳᡴᠠᠨ}}) was a Manchu ethnonym of unknown origin that referred specifically to the Han Chinese; the stem of this word was also conjugated as a verb, {{transliteration|mnc|nikara(-mbi)}}, which meant 'to speak the Chinese language'. Since ''{{Transliteration|mnc|Nikan}}'' was essentially an [[ethnonym]] and referred to a group of people rather than to a political body, the correct translation of "China" into Manchu is ''{{Transliteration|mnc|Nikan gurun}}'', 'country of the Han'.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} <!-- cf Pamela Crossley, [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~crossley/comments_1.html Note on Nikan] -->

This exonym for the Han Chinese is also used in the [[Daur language]], in which it appears as {{Transliteration|dta|Niaken}} ({{IPA|[njakən]}} or {{IPA|[ɲakən]}}).<ref>Samuel E. Martin, ''Dagur Mongolian Grammar, Texts, and Lexicon'', Indiana University Publications Uralic and Altaic Series, Vol. 4, 1961</ref> As in the case of the Manchu language, the Daur word ''{{Transliteration|dta|Niaken}}'' is essentially an ethnonym, and the proper way to refer to the country of the Han Chinese (i.e., "China" in a cultural sense) is ''{{Transliteration|dta|Niaken gurun}}'', while ''{{Transliteration|dta|niakendaaci}}'' is a verb meaning "to talk in Chinese".

=== Kara ===
Japanese: {{Transliteration|ja|Kara}} ({{lang|ja|から}}; variously written as {{lang|ja|唐}} or {{lang|ja|漢}}). An identical name was used by the ancient and medieval Japanese to refer to the country that is now known as [[Korea]], and many Japanese historians and linguists believe that the word {{Transliteration|ja|Kara}} referring to China and/or Korea may have derived from a [[metonymy|metonymic]] extension of the appellation of the ancient city-states of [[Gaya confederacy|Gaya]].

The Japanese word ''[[karate]]'' ({{lang|ja|空手}}, lit. "empty hand") is derived from the [[Okinawan language|Okinawan]] word {{Transliteration|ryu|karatii}} ({{lang|ja|唐手}}, lit. "Chinese/Asian/foreign hand/trick/means/method/style") and refers to Okinawan martial arts; the character for ''{{Transliteration|ja|kara}}'' was changed to remove the connotation of the style originating in China.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_o73NOjb4p4C&pg=PA60 | page = 60 |title= Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts
|author1=Donn F. Draeger | author2= Robert W. Smith
|publisher=Kodansha International | date= 1980
| isbn =978-0-87011-436-6}}</ref>

=== Morokoshi ===
Japanese: {{Transliteration|ja|Morokoshi}} ({{lang|ja|もろこし}}; variously written as {{lang|ja|唐}} or {{lang|ja|唐土}}). This obsolete Japanese name for China is believed to have derived from a {{Transliteration|ja|kun'yomi}} reading of the Chinese compound {{lang|zh-Hant|諸越}} {{Transliteration|zh|Zhūyuè}} or {{lang|zh-Hant|百越}}
''[[Baiyue]]'' as "all the Yue" or "the hundred (i.e., myriad, various, or numerous) Yue," which was an ancient Chinese name for the societies of the regions that are now southern China.

The Japanese common noun {{Transliteration|zh|tōmorokoshi}} ({{lang|ja|トウモロコシ}}, {{lang|ja|玉蜀黍}}), which refers to [[maize]], appears to contain an element cognate with the proper noun formerly used in reference to China. Although ''{{Transliteration|zh|tōmorokoshi}}'' is traditionally written with Chinese characters that literally mean "jade [[Shu (state)|Shu]] [[proso millet|millet]]", the etymology of the Japanese word appears to go back to "Tang {{Transliteration|ja|morokoshi}}", in which {{Transliteration|ja|morokoshi}} was the obsolete Japanese name for China as well as the Japanese word for [[sorghum]], which seems to have been introduced into Japan from China.

=== Mangi ===
[[File:1837 Malte-Brun Map of the Mongol Empire in Asia and Europe - Geographicus - AsiaMongol-mb-1837.jpg|thumb|1837 map of Mongol Empire, showing {{lang|la|Mangi}} in southern China]]
From Chinese {{Transliteration|zh|Manzi}} (southern barbarians). The division of north and south China under the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] and [[Song dynasty]] weakened the idea of a unified China, and it was common for non-Han peoples to refer to the politically disparate North and South by different names for some time. While Northern China was called [[#Cathay or Kitay|Cathay]], Southern China was referred to as Mangi. {{Transliteration|zh|Manzi}} often appears in documents of the Mongol-led [[Yuan dynasty]] as a disparaging term for Southern China. The Mongols also called Southern Chinese {{Transliteration|mn|Nangkiyas}} or {{Transliteration|mn|Nangkiyad}}, and considered them ethnically distinct from North Chinese. The word ''{{Transliteration|zh|Manzi}}'' reached the Western world as {{lang|la|Mangi}} (as used by Marco Polo), which is a name commonly found on medieval maps. The Chinese themselves considered ''{{Transliteration|zh|Manzi}}'' to be derogatory and never used it as a self-appellation.<ref>{{harvp|Yule|2005|p=177}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bnCMBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 |title=Dynastic China: An Elementary History|author= Tan Koon San |date=15 August 2014|page=247 |publisher=The Other Press|isbn=9789839541885 }}</ref> Some early scholars believed {{lang|la|Mangi}} to be a corruption of the Persian {{Transliteration|fa|Machin}} ({{lang|fa|ماچين}}) and Arabic {{transliteration|ar|Māṣīn}} ({{lang|ar|ماصين}}), which may be a mistake as these two forms are derived from the Sanskrit {{Transliteration|sa|Maha Chin}} meaning Great China.<ref>{{harvp|Yule|2005|p=165}}</ref>

===Sungsong===
In some{{Which|date=April 2025}} Philippine languages, ''Sungsong'' or ''Sungsung'' was a historical and archaic name for China.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pambansang Diksyunaryo |url= https://diksiyonaryo.ph/search/sungsong |website=Diksyunaryo.ph}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Vocabulario de la lengua tagala |date=1613 |publisher=Pedro de San Buena Ventura |page=187}}</ref> In [[Teduray language|Tiruray]], the name meant specifically [[Hong Kong]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary |url=https://acd.clld.org/values/433-b5502c4a803eb21e3013dfb7a1b08e7d-1|website=The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary |publisher=Blust, Robert & Trussel, Stephen & Smith, Alexander D. & Forkel, Robert}}</ref> The name comes from [[Proto-Malayo-Polynesian]] *suŋsuŋ, which meant "to go against wind or current". Its application to China in Philippine languages presumably is connected with sailing problems in reaching mainland China from the Philippines.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary |url=https://acd.clld.org/cognatesets/30713#4/4.82/114.59 |website=The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary |publisher=Blust, Robert & Trussel, Stephen & Smith, Alexander D. & Forkel, Robert}}</ref>