Editing Names of China (section)

=== 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.