Etymology of People's Republic of China

Main article: Names of China

China
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese:	中国
Traditional Chinese:	中國
Literal meaning:	Middle Kingdom[25][26]
[show]Transliterations
People's Republic of China
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese:	中华人民共和国
Traditional Chinese:	中華人民共和國
[show]Transliterations
Mongolian name
Mongolian:
Tibetan name
Tibetan:	ཀྲུང་ཧྭ་མི་དམངས་སྤྱི མཐུན་རྒྱལ་ཁབ
[show]Transliterations
Uyghur name
Uyghur:	جۇڭخۇا خەلق جۇمھۇرىيىت
[show]Transliterations
Zhuang name
Zhuang:	Cunghvaz Yinzminz Gunghozgoz

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

The word "China" is derived from Cin (چین), a Persian name for China popularized in medieval Europe by the account of the 13th-century Venetian explorer Marco Polo.^[27][28] The first recorded use in English dates from 1555.^[29] The Persian word is, in turn, derived from the Sanskrit word Cīna (चीन),^[30] which was used as a name for China as early as AD 150.^[31] There are various scholarly theories regarding the origin of this word. The traditional theory, proposed in the 17th century by Martino Martini, is that "China" is derived from "Qin" (秦), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms during the Zhou Dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC).^[32] The word Cīna is used in two Hindu scriptures – the Mahābhārata of the 5th century BC and the Laws of Manu of the 2nd century BC – to refer to a country located in the Tibetan-Burman borderlands east of India.^[33][34]

In China, common names for the country include Zhōngguó (Chinese: 中国; literally "the Central State(s)") and Zhōnghuá (Chinese: 中华), although the country's official name has been changed numerous times by successive dynasties and modern governments. The term Zhongguo appeared in various ancient texts, such as the Classic of History of the 6th century BC,^[35] and in pre-imperial times it was often used as a cultural concept to distinguish the Huaxia from the barbarians. The term, which can be either singular or plural, referred to the group of states in the central plain. It was only in the nineteenth century that the term emerged as the formal name of the country. The Chinese were not unique in regarding their country as "central", since other civilizations had the same view.^[36]