Cathay, name by which North China was known in medieval Europe. The word is derived from Khitay (or Khitan), the name of a seminomadic people who left southeastern Mongolia in the 10th century ce to conquer part of Manchuria and northern China, which they held for about 200 years.
Over the centuries, Zhongguo was at times used in diplomatic dispatches to foreign vassal states but the dynastic name was still the official one. The first time Zhongguo was used as the Chinese nation's official name was in the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689.
The medieval era was a pivotal time for Chinese culture. Under the Tang it saw poetry, painting and calligraphy; under the Song and Yuan Chinese fiction and drama made their appearance. The period also saw accumulating achievements in those literary branches pioneered in ancient times, history and geography.
In fact, because they believed they were in the middle of the world, surrounded by natural barriers on all sides, the Chinese thought of themselves as "Zhong Guo" — the Middle Kingdom.
Yuan dynasty, Wade-Giles romanization Yüan, also called Mongol dynasty, dynasty established by Mongol nomads that ruled portions and eventually all of China from the early 13th century to 1368.
Europeans gave China several names in 1492, when knowledge about the country was extremely limited. Marco Polo referred to the region as Catai, meaning the northern part of China under control of the Mongols, which morphed into a common term Cathay, describing the entire region.
Marco Polo, the famous explorer who familiarized China to Europe in the 13th century CE, referred to the land as 'Cathay. In Mandarin Chinese, the country is known as 'Zhongguo' meaning "central state" or "middle empire".
China – The Red Dragon
The dragon is as much part of Chinese culture today as it has been throughout the centuries; hence it has become the country's nickname.
With more than four thousand years of recorded history, China is the world's oldest continuous civilization. The largest country in Asia, China stretches from the continent's eastern seaboard to the borders of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakstan in the west.
Led by Genghis Khan, the Mongols built a vast empire. Under his son, Kublai Khan, they went on to conquer China as well.
The invading forces of the Manchu people from the northern border eventually ended the Ming dynasty in 1644 C.E. and ushered in the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty marks the last of the Chinese emperors, ruling from 1644 C.E. to 1911/12 C.E. The Qing were Manchu people rather than Han Chinese.
At different times China was called the Middle or Central Kingdom, implying its superior role, the Centre of Civilisation or even the World.
'people's country') were used as short forms of the official country name Zhonghua Minguo (Chinese: 中華民國; lit. 'Chinese people's state') in Chinese. Both "Beiyang government" (from 1912 to 1928), and "Nationalist government" (from 1928 to 1949) used the name "Republic of China" as their official name.
The notion of China as the “Middle Kingdom” (Zhongguo 中國) comes from the fact that Chinese universality is inseparable from a certain idea of civilization, with a centre shining upon surrounding regions.
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.
One of the most common Chinese nicknames that Chinese couples use for their significant other is 亲爱的 qīn'ài de. It is used the same way as the English term “darling” or “dearest.” You can call your loved one 亲爱的 regardless of gender, and the term is used not only by dating couples but also by married couples.
Explain that in China the dragon is the symbol of the emperor, the man who ruled the country. The emperor he was the most powerful man in China and, as his representative, the dragon was the most powerful symbol.
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.
Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC)
The findings at Anyang include the earliest written record of the Chinese so far discovered: inscriptions of divination records in ancient Chinese writing on the bones or shells of animals—the "oracle bones", dating from around 1250 to 1046 BC.
China: 2100 BC
Amongst the oldest nations in the World, the next on the list is China as it has been known to exist for over 3500 years. The Shang Dynasty ruled in China in 17th century B.C to 11th century B.C. This is considered as the longest-ruling period for any dynasty.
Answer and Explanation: Early pre-imperial China was a collection of various semi-autonomous kingdoms with royal power and nobility shared with a clan based system. The government of the Hsia and Shang dynasties were not as uniform as later dynasties.
Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren (simplified Chinese: 中国人; traditional Chinese: 中國人) or as Huaren (simplified Chinese: 华人; traditional Chinese: 華人) by speakers of standard Chinese, including those living in Greater China as well as overseas Chinese.
Qing dynasty, Wade-Giles romanization Ch'ing, also called Manchu dynasty or Pinyin Manzu, the last of the imperial dynasties of China, spanning the years 1644 to 1911/12.
Tianchao and Tianxia. Tianchao (天朝; pinyin: Tiāncháo), translated as "heavenly dynasty" or "Celestial Empire;" and Tianxia (天下; pinyin: Tiānxià) translated as "under heaven," are both phrases that have been used to refer to China.