The Origin and Evolution of China’s Names II: Domestic and Foreign Appellations

This is the second volume of a two-volume set on the names of China, focusing on the domestic and foreign names of the country in ancient and modern times.

Using interdisciplinary approaches from fields such as history, geography, ethnic studies, linguistics, psychology and toponymy, this two-volume set examines the origin and evolution of China’s names over more than 4,000 years of history. The second volume is divided into two parts. The first part explains the habitual self-names for China, which remain unaffected by political regime changes. The author explores the complex reasons for the emergence and evolution of indigenous names such as Zhongguo, Zhonghua, Jiuzhou and Sihai. The second part discusses the names of China in foreign languages. It looks at the origin, development, use and popularity of foreign names of China such as China, Serice, Taugas, Cathay and those associated with Han, Tang, the dragon and the lion.

This book will appeal to both academic and general readers interested in Chinese history, Chinese historical geography and Chinese toponymy.

HU A-Xiang is Professor and Ph.D. supervisor at the School of History, Nanjing University, China. His primary research interests lie in Chinese history, Chinese historical geography, and Chinese toponomy.