Why Do We Still Call It ‘China’?
The name ‘China’ was given to that country by the early Western explorers, derived from the corrupted (or mispronounced) word ‘Qin’, the name of the empire of Emperor Shi Huangdi.
But why are we still using that name? Since it sounds so dissimilar to its correct Mandarin name of ‘Chung Kuo’. Shouldn’t China just change its name to Chung Kuo?
Oh, no, if they do, they would outdo other pointless, nationalist name changes like Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu), Mumbai (Bombay), Tshwane (Pretoria), Cote d’Ivoir (Ivory Coast)….
Comment by Rajan R — June 19, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
Ahh, but putting on our nationalist hats for a moment, there are certain valid points in their arguments as well, don’t you think?
I mean, who decreed that the world has to be looked at from the West’s perspective?
Just playing the devil’s advocate here
. Although I personally think it would be cooler if ‘China’ is changed to ‘Chung Kuo’, I also understand the rationales for retaining its Western-centric name.
Comment by sigma — June 20, 2007 @ 8:19 am
it’s to make it easier for single-minded people like you to identify
and it’s Zhong Guo. Not Chong Kuo
Comment by delwyn — June 20, 2007 @ 3:50 pm
Hanyu pinyin fucker. At least I’m no poser with an angmoh (is that even angmoh???) name
Comment by sigma — June 20, 2007 @ 3:57 pm
since u cant even write it properly( i cant imagine u pronouncing it then) so wouldnt it be best to stick with china?
plus zhong guo means middle country. wont that make no sense then?
Comment by delwyn — June 20, 2007 @ 4:28 pm
Well, sigma, English is a Western language…
(And, OMG, hanyu pinyin nazi? I, a non-Chinese with full access to Wikipedia, can do better: Zhōngguó)
Comment by Rajan R — June 21, 2007 @ 9:30 am