In modern Japan, the term Chūka Minkoku (中華民国) refers to the Republic of China, while Chūka Jinmin Kyōwakoku (中華人民共和国) refers to the People's Republic of China; the terms use the same Chinese characters (with Japanese shinjitai simplifications) used officially in both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of ...
Because the characters 中国 chuugoku just mean 'Middle Country'. So China, always being the center of the world (and it was for most of its history) came to be known as the Middle Kingdom or 中国 chuugoku.
Zhōngguó (中國) is the most common Chinese name for China in modern times.
Alternative suggestions include the names for Yelang and the Jing or Chu state. The official name of the modern state is the "People's Republic of China" (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó).
While Japanese people usually refer to their country as Nihon or Nippon these days, in early texts, the names Oyashima (mother island) or Yamato (which was written with the Chinese characters for great and wa, see below) were used.
Nippon is the English spelling of what Americans called Japan at the time. However, in 1921, the name was ruled Japanese in origin. From then on, U.S. Customs no longer accepted pottery stamped with Nippon, and imported china was instead stamped with Japan.
In the English language, the word Cathay was sometimes used for China, although increasingly only in a poetic sense, until the 19th century, when it was completely replaced by China.
China has several different nicknames for different reasons; the 3 most popular being the Middle Kingdom, the Red Dragon, and the Sleeping Giant. The Middle Kingdom: Ancient China believed they were the center of the world.
The first time Zhongguo was used as the Chinese nation's official name was in the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689. In 1912, Zhongguo was designated the short-form Chinese name for the Republic of China, and the People's Republic inherited the name in 1949.
The Romans and the Greeks knew the country as 'Seres', “the land where silk comes from”. The name 'China' does not appear in print in the west until 1516 CE in Barbosa's journals narrating his travels in the east (though the Europeans had long known of China through trade via the Silk Road).
Huaxia (Chinese: 華夏; pinyin: huáxià) is a historical concept representing the Chinese nation, and came from the self-awareness of a common cultural ancestry by the various confederations of pre-Qin ethnic ancestors of Han people.
Japan in Japanese is “Nippon” or “Nihon” while in English it is called “Japan”. In most languages around the world, it is called a name similar to “Japan” (for example, “Japon” in French or “Giappon” in Italian). “Japan” and “Nippon” do not sound similar.
Shina (支那, pronounced [ɕiꜜna]) is a largely archaic Japanese name for China.
Zhonghua minzu (the "Chinese nation")
The term zhongguo renmin (Chinese: 中国人民), "Chinese people", was the government's preferred term during the early communist era; zhonghua minzu is more common in recent decades.
Shanghai is China's most-populous city, and the municipality is its most-populous urban area. Shanghai was one of the first Chinese ports to be opened to Western trade, and it long dominated the nation's commerce.
Australia is colloquially known as "the Land Down Under" (or just "Down Under"), which derives from the country's position in the Southern Hemisphere, at the antipodes of the United Kingdom.
These four countries have been called 'the four little dragons' in Asia — China being the large dragon — and 'the four tigers' in the west. The dragon is a symbol of serene and prestigious power in Asia. The tiger, while also powerful, is regarded as less majestic and self-confident.
The hanja for Joseon often translated into English as "morning calm/sun", and Korea's English nickname became "The Land of the Morning Calm"; however, this interpretation is not often used in the Korean language, and is more familiar to Koreans as a back-translation from English.
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BC, in the late Shang dynasty.
Around the 7th or 8th century, Japan's name changed from 'Wakoku' (倭国) to 'Nihon' (日本). Some records say that the Japanese envoy to China requested to change the name because he disliked it; other records say that the Chinese Empress Wu Zetian ordered Japan to change its name.
Igirisu – means “English” and comes via the Portuguese word Inglês. It is usually used by Japanese people to mean the UK as a whole.”
Westerner ("seiyohjin" or "western ocean person") is used by Japanese in formal speech or writing to refer to Euramericans in general. But often they'll just use the term "gaijin" or, more politely "gaikokujin", (gai means "outside", and koku means "country"), meaning "foreigners" .
To further illustrate that these kanji are used for phonetic reasons only, consider that France is futsu (仏 – Buddha), the abbreviation for India is in (印 – seal or stamp) and Germany gets the sad name doitsu (独逸 – alone).