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This term is an alternative designation for China. According to The Book of History, the country consisted of nine zhou (州), namely Jizhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yuzhou, Liangzhou, and Yongzhou. There are similar references to the nine zhou in classic works of the same or later period, such as The Rituals of Zhou, Er Ya, and Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals. The nine zhou were never adopted as actual administrative divisions of the country, but they did show the general geographical area inhabited by the Chinese people since the late Spring and Autumn Period.
This term refers to the areas along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River where ancient Huaxia (华夏) people or the Han people lived. Originally, the term Zhongguo (中国) meant both this region and its culture. The Huaxia people established their states along the Yellow River. Believing the areas were located in the center of the world, they called it Zhongguo (the Central Country, as against other areas around it). Later, the term was used to refer to the Central Plains in North China and the states founded in that area. Since modern times, Zhongguo has been used to refer to the entire territory and sovereignty of China.
This term is an abbreviation of the compound word formed by Zhongguo (中国) and Huaxia (华夏). Here, hua (华) also means “flower” or “flowery,” which was used as an analogy for a splendid culture. The ancestors of the Huaxia people established their state in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, which they thought was the center (zhong) of the world and which had a flourishing culture (hua), so the state was called Zhonghua. This multi-ethnic state, with the Huaxia people as the predominant group of its population, later began its territorial expansions, and the places where it extended to became part of Zhonghua. In modern times, Zhonghua became a term denoting China, the Chinese people, and its culture.
The forefathers of the Han people living in the Central Plains referred to themselves by this term. Earlier on they called themselves Hua (华), Zhuhua (诸华), Xia (夏) or Zhuxia (诸夏). The term Huaxia (华夏) embodies the common identity of the way of life, language, and culture of the people living in the Central Plains, mainly the Han people, and the inheritance of such identity. The Huaxia people evolved into a fairly stable ethnic group in the Qin Dynasty, which established a unified country of many ethnic groups with Huaxia being the principal group. In the Han Dynasty, the term Han became an alternative name of Huaxia. Later, the term Huaxia was extended to refer to China or the Han people.
She (社) is the God of the Earth, and ji (稷 millet), represents the God of the Five Grains. Chinese kings and vassals of ancient times offered sacrifices to these gods. As the Han people depended on farming, these gods were the most important primitive objects of worship. The ancient rulers offered sacrifices to the gods of the Earth and the Five Grains every year to pray for peace and good harvests in the country. As a result, sheji became a symbol of the nation and state power.
This term referred mainly to all the land under the name of the Son of Heaven and the right to rule on such land. The ancient Chinese held that the rule of senior officials was over their enfeoffed land, and that of dukes and princes was over feudal states. The rule of the Son of Heaven was over all the land. Literally, tianxia (天下) means “all under heaven.” It actually refers to all the territory embracing the enfeoffed land and feudal states under the rule or in the name of the Son of Heaven, as well as all the subjects and the right to rule. The term has later evolved to refer to the whole nation or the whole world.
The term, similar in meaning to heshan (河山), literarily means rivers and mountains. It is used to refer to the sovereignty of a state and all its territory. The term has these implications: rivers and mountains provide natural barriers that protect the country and its sovereignty; territory is the key feature of a state.
Four Seas refer to the territory of China or the entire world. The ancient Chinese believed that China was a land surrounded by Four Seas – the East, West, North, and South seas. The term suggests what the ancient Chinese conceived to be the map of China and the world: Nine zhou (regions) were located at the center of tianxia (all under heaven). Tianxia consisted of nine zhou and its surrounding Four Seas. China was within the Four Seas, while foreign lands were outside the Four Seas. In ancient China, Four Seas referred to all under heaven in most cases, and did not denote a specific body of water. Therefore, the term was used sometimes to mean the seas surrounding the land, and sometimes to specify the land surrounded by the Four Seas.
Within the Four Seas means within the territory of China. The ancient Chinese thought China’s territory was surrounded by the Four Seas (the East, West, North, and South seas). Within the Four Seas refers to the landmass surrounded by the Four Seas. It reflected the ancient Chinese belief that the seas were the natural boundary of a country, demonstrating the influence of an agriculture civilization.
Outside the Four Seas refers to the territory outside China, foreign lands, or remote areas. The ancient Chinese thought that China’s territory was surrounded by the Four Seas (the East, West, North, and South seas). Therefore, places outside China were outside the Four Seas. It reflected the ancient Chinese belief that the seas were the natural boundary of a country. It also suggested that the ancient Chinese were on the one hand self-focused and on the other open-minded, longing to explore the unknown world outside the Four Seas.
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