Why is Zhongguo called China in English?

China truly is a land of many names – but the main name for china in Chinese is Zhongguo (中國/中国), so why is it called China in English? Well watch this video and find out!

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[themadmanwithapen]

It should be pronounced like "ching", not "quing". In Chinese romanisation (pinyin), the letter q has a soft ch sound.

[dillon]

you're saying "qin" wrong. you pronounce it like 'chin' not with an English 'qu'. You would've made a lot more sense if you said it correctly qin=chin=china

[superpowerdragon]

the "zh" in ZhongGuo is pronounced as "j" as in "Jam", just imagine it as JongGuo

[fluteboiz]

Dude you butchered the pronunciation. I'm not just being pedantic but by pronouncing "Qin" as "Quinn" not "chin" you completely lost the point of the video. English "china" comes from "Qin" because they sound similar. By saying it came from "Quinn", people can't see the correlation.

[SamButler]

The Quinn dynasty; I'm imagining an Irish family unifying China. Niall Quinn, Sunderland legend, Chinese Emperor

[azzamthegreata]

In indonesia most people still call it china (pronounced chee-nuh) but the government here have been encouraging people to call it tiongkok and the ethnic group tionghoa (both pronounced phonetically) to promote better relations with the PRC, the word obviously comes from zhonghua. The thing is, since the government and most major companies have started to use tiongkok and tionghoa instead of china, the word might actually fall out of use in a generation or two.

[mangzlusar]

2:00
"China" was also mentioned in the Kancana Inscription in 860 issued by the Medang kingdom (based in Central Java/Indonesia). This inscription regulates taxes for foreigner traders (China, Khmer, Champa/Cambodia, Aryya, Kling, Malayalam and several areas of India) who trading in the Medang kingdom territories.


FYI, the Medang kingdom is also mentioned in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription(LCI) found in the Philippines.

[tiffychevelure]

Please adjust your pronunciation next time you're a historian talking linguistic history, otherwise you sound like you're less than fully educated on the topic. q does not always equal q

[lth]

Why is Deutschland called Germany in English?

[KaneNova]

Love You Mate
No ClickBaits
Fun Vids
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I don't still understand how you are 20k it could have been 20 million...

[TheBestYoutubChannelInTheWorld]

chinese pronounciation status: Butchered

[manojoogo]

Waiting for him to pronounce Qara Qoyunlu. :D
On a serious note, if you go to Wikipedia Article of Qing or Qin Dynasty it tells you in the first few words how to pronounce it.

[Recoverel]

The theory that "China" is based in part or in whole the "Qin" dynasty is flawed. The word "Qin" refers to the Qin Dynasty that existed around 221 B.C. to 206 B.C. Mandarin as we know it today did not exist. Hence, the word "Qin" most likely was pronounced very differently. In Cantonese (more ancient dialect than Mandarin), for example, the character for "Qin" does not pronounced anything like "Qin". As such, the word "China" cannot have its roots in the word "Qin".

[TheAirborneRogue]

"You won't let the Jehovah’s witnesses in… " XD

[rateeightx]

Umm, No, "Qin" Is Pronounced "Chin" NOT "Quin", How Could It Be "Quin"?

[Robi]

I think Eastern Slavic countries (Russia, Ukraine etc.) have different name: Китай which is literally Kitaj or sometimes Cathay.

[MrsKoldun]

That dude mispronounces Qin... The "Q" is pronounced like the "Ch" in China. If you pronounce it the right way it sounds phonetically related, but not when mispronouncing it.

[timothytim]

zhongguo means middle country, because chinese especially in asia were the center kingdom there. Then meiguo which is america means beautiful country.

[Bunny]

qin is pronounce chin. there is no G for some of those who commented.

[certaindeathawaits]

Can you do why we call Japan Japan and not Nihon or Nippon? I think it has something to do with jipangu but I am not sure