Zhongguo. Jiuzhou. Serice. Cathay. All are names for China: respectively, “Central State,” which gives rise to the poetic sobriquet “Middle Kingdom”; “Nine Provinces” in the Chinese language; “Land Where Silk Comes From,” by way of ancient Greek and Roman; and a derivative of “Khitay,” in reference to the Khitan people, who ruled from the 10th to the 12th century.
So what’s in a name? A lot, according to The Origin and Evolution of China’s Names by Hu Axiang. A professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of History at Nanjing University, Hu holds several other academic and research positions, including curator of the Six Dynasties Museum.

In this academic masterpiece, Hu uses interdisciplinary approaches from fields such as ethnic studies, geography, history, linguistics, psychology, and toponymy to explain the origin and evolution of China’s names and national titles. Divided into two volumes and totaling 560 pages, this work spans more than 4,000 years of Chinese history.

“The Origin and Evolution of China’s Names offers a novel perspective, detailed research, strong argumentation, and clear viewpoints,” says editor Wang Baoding, who is also the president of Jiangsu People’s Publishing House. “It would appeal to both academic and general readers interested in Chinese history, historical geography, and toponymy. This English edition will help international readers deepen their understanding of Chinese history and culture and promote academic exchanges and cultural dialog between China and foreign countries.”

The first volume, The Reigning Dynasties, examines approximately 60 official names of the country given by the rulers or government, including the names of the imperial dynasties, from the earliest Xia in the 21st century BCE to the prosperous People’s Republic of China in the 21st century CE. Every Chinese ruler who possessed territory and political power established a national title at the beginning of their reign.

“Prof. Hu sets out to examine the common features as well as the cultural contexts and historical traditions that underlie these diverse titles,” Wang says. “The origins and meanings of national titles, their secondary connotations, evolving understandings, and related implications are also explored in detail.”

The second volume, Domestic and Foreign Appellations, explores the complex reasons for the emergence and evolution of indigenous names that were used domestically regardless of political regime change and is divided into two parts. The first part explains the habitual self-names, such as Zhongguo, Jiuzhou, and Sihai, which means “Four Seas” in Chinese, in reference to the four bodies of water that formed the boundaries of ancient China. The second part discusses the origin, development, use, and popularity of foreign names for China, such as Serice, Taugas, and those associated with Han, Tang, the dragon, and the lion, for instance, in foreign languages. “The academic significance of Prof. Hu’s book lies in its reflection on the naming psychology in Chinese culture as well as its clarification of the vague understanding of relevant issues among various strata of society, both in China and abroad,” Wang says.

The Origin and Evolution of China’s Names is one of the select academic works published under PPMG’s Jiangsu Scholars Translated series. Launched in March 2023, this series is dedicated to translating, publishing, and introducing outstanding academic works by Jiangsu scholars to the world. It aims to deepen academic dialog and the exchange between the East and the West of the ideas and fruits of Jiangsu academic research.

Originally published by Jiangsu People’s Publishing House, an imprint of PPMG and one of the most important humanities and social science publishers in town, The Origin and Evolution of China’s Names has been translated into English by Ye Danmin and is now available from Routledge. It is part of the Routledge China Perspective series, which features three other Jiangsu People’s Publishing House humanities titles: Xu Yong’s Nationalisation, Peasanty and Rural Integration in China, Ye Xiushan’s A Hope for Philosophy, and Zhang Wenxi’s Property and Justice.