China

en-proper noun

China (usually uncountable, plural Chinas)

→ Amharic: ቻይና (čayna)

→ Chinese: 猜拿 (Cāiná)

→ Hindi: चाइना (cāinā)

→ Maori: Haina

→ Telugu: చైనా (cainā)

→ Tigre: ቻይና (čayna)

→ Tigrinya: ቻይና (čayna)

→ Tokelauan: Haina

→ Yoruba: Ṣáínà

[ˈt͡ʃ(ʰ)aɪ̯nə]

China (disambiguation)
Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India
Duarte Barbosa
Garcia de Orta
Marco Polo
The Travels of Marco Polo
states of ancient China

From Portuguese China, probably under influence from Old French Chin, from Classical Persian چین (čīn), from Middle Persian 𐭰𐭩𐭭 (Čīn, “China”), from Sanskrit चीन (cīna, “the Chinese; China”) of uncertain etymology. It is usually thought to be derived from Chinese 秦 (Qín) (sm Qín, mc d͡ziɪn, oc *zin, "Qin"), the westernmost ancient Chinese state, but other theories have been proposed, including derivation from 晉／晋 (jìn) (sm Jìn, mc t͡siɪn, oc *ʔsins, "Jin"), another important ancient state; 荊／荆 (jīng) (sm Jīng, mc kˠiæŋ, oc *keŋ, "Chu"), the southernmost ancient Chinese state; or Zina, the endonym of the people of the Yelang kingdom. See "Names of China" and "Chinas" at Wikipedia. As a female name, usually derived via china (“porcelain”) and china doll, ultimately from the same source.

der

The gambling winnings were transferred from Macau to China.


Chinese

en-adj

Chinese (not generally comparable, comparative more Chinese, superlative most Chinese)

more Chinese (comparative)
most Chinese (superlative)

Chinese
Chinese Proficiency Test
Chinese Turkestan

/ˌt͡ʃʌɪˈniz/

/ˈt͡ʃʌɪˌniz/

[ˌt͡ʃəɪˈniːz]

[ˈt͡ʃəɪˌniˑz]

From China + -ese under influence of Portuguese chinês, replacing older Chinish. Doublet of chinois. In its orientalist sense of "generically exotic, backwards, or poorly organized", sometimes a deliberate marketing strategy to increase sales, as with the German Chinese checkers. In its sense related to the orientation of stage lighting's barn doors, a reference to a supposed resemblance to East Asian eyes.

sjinese

of, from, or relating to China, its people, its culture, and its language

Chinese fire belly newt

Cynops orientalis ⇒ Hypselotriton orientalis

Chinese gooseberry

especially Actinidia chinensis and Actinidia deliciosa

Chinese painted quail

Coturnix chinensis ⇒ Excalfactoria chinensis

Chinese radish Raphanus sativus var. niger ⇒ Raphanus sativus var. sativus)

Chinese spotbill

Anas poecilorhyncha zonorhyncha ⇒ Anas zonorhyncha

Chinese yam

Dioscorea opposita ⇒ Dioscorea polystchya

have got more chins than a Chinese phonebook

have got more chins than a Chinese phone book

Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang

China has been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party since 1949.

In this instance, when the Chairman of the "Accuracy in Media" spoke out strongly against the Chinese Communist system of "pin yin" spelling, he was not criticizing any bias or unreliability of news presentation but specifically the inconvenience and confusion caused by the "pin yin" spelling of Chinese names.

1980 November 30, “Communist China's 'Pin Yin' system causes confusion among foreigners”, in Free China Weekly, volume XXI, number 47, Taipei, page 1:

People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China

Of, from, or related to China, particularly now the People's Republic of China.

Important Chinese holidays celebrated around the world include the Chinese New Year ("Spring Festival"), Tomb Sweeping Day, and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In the early 1870’s anti-Chinese agitation in California became organized and focused under the leadership of Denis Kearney, who was, ironically, an immigrant from Ireland. A campaign of organized violence against Chinese communities took form, and the hysteria led to political pressure too violent to be resisted. President Hayes vetoed an act of Congress restricting Chinese immigration, but he did force renegotiation of the Burlingame Treaty under which the government of China agreed to restrict emigration voluntarily.

1964, John F. Kennedy, A Nation of Immigrants, Revised and Enlarged edition, Harper & Row, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 72–73:

Of, from, or related to the people of China, particularly the Han Chinese and their culture whether in China or overseas.

It's all Chinese to me.

(in phrases, sometimes offensive) As exotic, unusual, backwards, or unorganized as someone or something from China.


Chinese

/ˌt͡ʃʌɪˈniz/

/ˈt͡ʃʌɪˌniz/

[ˌt͡ʃəɪˈniːz]

[ˈt͡ʃəɪˌniˑz]

The Chinese have an incredible history.

If the Chinese were a people like the Russians, the Germans or the French, we (I address chiefly American and British readers) would observe any marked increase in their industrial activity or in their national aggressiveness with some misgiving, possibly, but […]

1900, Jared Sparks, Edward Everett, Henry Cabot Lodge, The North American Review, volume 171, page 390:

I have given these points to make it clear that the Chinese are a people of strong emotion; and that this emotion is highest and purest when running in the channels of filial piety and loyalty.

1934, Chinese Affairs, volume 65, page 23:

After Pearl Harbor, American sympathy for the Chinese grew even stronger, for the Chinese were a people who had long been bravely resisting Japanese aggressors.

2002, Sino-American Relations, volume 28, page 60:

China is a country with a 5,000 year uninterrupted civilisation, and the Chinese are a people that keep moving forward amid trials and tribulations.

2019 September 30, Jiang Jiang, “I am proud of my country”, in Times of Malta:

(uncountable, collective) The citizens of China, particularly citizens of the People's Republic of China.

The Chinese are present in all parts of the world.

(uncountable, collective) The Han Chinese, whether in China or overseas.

the people of China — see also Han Chinese, overseas Chinese


Chinese

en-noun

Chinese (countable and uncountable, plural Chinese or Chineses)

/ˌt͡ʃʌɪˈniz/

/ˈt͡ʃʌɪˌniz/

[ˌt͡ʃəɪˈniːz]

[ˈt͡ʃəɪˌniˑz]

Han

ethnic Chinese regardless of the residence

Chinaman

properly of a man only, now usually considered an offensive slur

If the Chineſe had Liberty to ſettle in Formoſa, ſeveral Families would gladly tranſplant themſelves thither ; but in order thereto they muſt obtain Paſsports from the Mandarins of China, who grant them with Difficulty, and not without taking Security.
The Mandarins are very careful to examine all that paſs into or out of the Iſland, and ſome of them extort Money under-hand. This extraordinary Precaution is the Effect of good Policy eſpecially as the Tartars are Maſters of China ; for Formoſa is a Place of great Importance, and if a Chineſe ſhould ſeize it, he might raiſe great Troubles in the Empire : ſo that the Emperor keeps a Garriſon there of ten thouſand Men, commanded by a Tſong-ping, or Lieutenant-General, two Fû-tſyang, or Major-General, and ſeveral inferior Officers; who are chang’d duely every three years, or oftner, if there be Occaſion.

1738, J. B. Du Halde, “PROVINCE IV. FO-KYEN.”, in A Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary, Together with the Kingdoms of Korea, and Tibet, volume I, London, →OCLC, page 88:

But I had the unmitigated pleasure of watching a family of four Chinese struggle to use knives and forks to [eat] their bacon and eggs.

1999, Lydia Laube, Bound for Vietnam, →ISBN, page 24:

(countable, chiefly in the plural) A person/people from China or of Chinese descent.


Hong Kong

[hɔŋ˥ kʰɔŋ˥]

Columbia University Press
Hong Kong
Saul B. Cohen

Etymology tree
Cantonese 香港 (hoeng¹ gong²)bor.
English Hong Kong
From Cantonese 香港 (hoeng¹ gong², “fragrant harbor”), the former name of a settlement in what is now Aberdeen on the southwest side of Hong Kong Island, where incense was stored for export.

bor

A special administrative region of China, which includes the city and island of the same name as well as nearby islands and the Kowloon Peninsula.

Ҳонқонг

coastal administrative region in south-east China


South China Sea

The Philippine Islands are an archipelago southeast of Asia. They extend almost due north and south from Formosa to Borneo, and they separate the South China Sea from the Pacific Ocean.

1898 May, “The Philippine Islands”, in The Locomotive, volume XIX, number 5, Hartford, Conn.: Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, →OCLC, page 77:

Ignoring international law, the Chinese have claimed sovereignty over most of the South China Sea and are embarked upon a massive land reclamation and construction program to bolster these claims.

2015, Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney, Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America, Threshold Editions, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 222:

The western arm of the Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland and Taiwan, Borneo and the Philippines.


CSS

en-noun

CSS (countable and uncountable, plural CSSs or CSSes)

(military) Initialism of Chinese surface-to-surface (missile), a NATO prefix-code for systems developed by the People's Republic of China.


Tibet

Of unclear origin, but probably from Old Turkic 𐱅𐰇𐰯𐰇𐱅 (Töpüt) ('hilly, mountainous place') via Classical Persian تبت (tabbat, tubbat). In one proposed etymology the ultimate origin is Tibetan བོད (Bod), used in the compound name sTod-bod (pronounced Tö-pöt), meaning “Upper Tibet”. In another proposal, the name comes via Mongolian Töpüt from an alteration of Old Turkic 𐱅𐰇𐰯𐰇 (töpü, “height, summit”). Bialek instead derives the name from Old Tibetan དཔོན (dpon, “leader, ruler”), with addition of the Old Turkic plural suffix -𐱅 (-t²) and a epenthetic vowel to break up the non-Turkic initial consonant cluster [tp]; according to her, Middle Chinese 吐蕃 (tʰuo^X pʉɐn) comes from the same source.

شِيزَانْغ

shorthand for the Tibet Autonomous Region

Tibet Autonomous Region
Tibet Autonomous Region#English

An autonomous region of China. Official name: Tibet Autonomous Region. Capital: Lhasa.


circuit

From Middle English circuit, from Old French circuit, from Latin circuitus (“a going round”), from circuire (“go round”), from circum (“around”) + ire. As a Chinese administrative division, a calque of Chinese 道 (dào) or 路 (lù).

piiri

Methodist Church: district in which an itinerant preacher labors

dao

Imperial Chinese administrative divisions

(historical) Various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China, including:

The counties at the fringes of the empire, usually with a non-Chinese population, from the Han to the Western Jin.

The 10 or so major provinces of the empire from the Tang to the early Yuan.

Major provincial divisions from the Yuan to early Republican China.


Great Wall of China

First used by Daniel Defoe on page 29 of his 1729 pamphlet The Advantages of peace and commerce: with some remarks on the East-India trade; attested but not much in currency until the early 1900s, when it supplanted "the Chinese wall" (not to be confused with the later jargon term Chinese Wall), perhaps in response to or as part of exaggerated accounts of the wall's size and construction.

Of the Mongall Tartars.
The Mongalls are a numerous people, and occupy a large extent of country, from this place to the Kallgan, which ſignifies the everlaſting Wall, or the great wall of China. From this wall they ſtretch themſelves northward as far as the river Amoor; and from the Amoor, weſtward, to the Baykail ſea ; where they border with the territories of the Kontayſha, or prince of the black Kalmucks. On the ſouth, they are bounded by a nation called Tonguts, among whom the Delay Lama has his residence.

1767, Annual register, or a view of the history and politics and literature for the year, page 38, column 2:

The Mongalls are a numerous people, and occupy a large extent of country, from this place to the Kallgan, which ſignines the everlaſting Wall, or the great wall of China.

1796, The Annual Register, or, a view of the History, Politicks, and Literature for the Year 1767, 5th edition, London: J. Dodsley, page 38:

Near that same fortieth parallel of latitude on which our Asiatic journey was begun and ended, we now struck, at its extreme western limit, the Great Wall of China. The Kiayu-kuan, or "Jade Gate," by which it is here intersected, was originally so called from the fact that it led into the Khotan country, whence the Chinese traders brought back the precious mineral.

1894, Thomas Gaskell Allen, Jr., William Lewis Sachtleben, “Over the Gobi Desert and through the Western Gate of the Great Wall”, in Across Asia on a Bicycle: The Journey of Two American Students from Constantinople to Peking, New York: The Century Co., →OCLC, pages 190-191:

A northern section of the Great Wall of China collapsed after a period of heavy rain last month, with many blaming poor-quality renovations for the deterioration of the iconic landmark.

2018 August 2, Christina Zhao, “Great Wall of China Collapse: Poor Renovation Works And Heavy Rainfall Blamed”, in Newsweek, archived from the original on 2018-08-02:

Backhoes moved house by house, laying waste to a community called Xitai that was built in a plush green valley on the northern edge of Beijing, only a short walk from the Great Wall of China.

2020 August 7, Steven Lee Myers, Keith Bradsher, “Beijing Launches Another Demolition Drive, This Time in Its Bucolic Suburbs”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-08-07, Asia Pacific:

Sadowski-Synnott scored 92.88 on her final run, landing back-to-back 1080s on a challenging course resembling the Great Wall of China.
Asked how she felt about making history as the island nation's first Winter Games gold medallist, she said it made her a "proud Kiwi".

2022 February 6, Mari Saito, Winni Zhou, “Snowboarding-Proud Kiwi Sadowski-Synnott bags New Zealand's first Winter Games gold”, in Jacqueline Wong, Clare Fallon, editors, Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-05-30:

An ancient Chinese fortification, almost 4,000 miles long, originally designed to protect China from the Mongols.


dumpling

A folk word, first attested in c. 1600s, apparently from a Norfolk dialect, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from some Low German word or from dialectal dump (“lump”) (first attested in the late 1800s), + -ling (diminutive suffix).

(cooking) A ball of dough that is cooked and may have a filling and/or additional ingredients in the dough.

By restriction, a food composed of a dough wrapper around a filling.


yin-yang

Borrowed from Mandarin 陰陽／阴阳 (yīnyáng), from Middle Chinese 陰陽 (MC 'im yang), from Old Chinese 陰陽 (OC *qrɯm laŋ), from 陰 (“dark” → “negative force”) + 陽 (“bright” → “positive force”).

zh-l

陰陽／阴阳 (yīnyáng)


Macau

Borrowed from Portuguese Macau, from a southern seaward variety of Chinese, possibly Hokkien, possibly either 媽閣／妈阁 (Má Koh) or 媽港／妈港 (Má Káng), short for 阿媽港／阿妈港 (A-má Káng), from 阿媽／阿妈 (a-má, “grandma Mazu, patron goddess of sailors”) + 港 (káng, “port”), both referring to the A-Ma Temple (媽閣廟／妈阁庙) or Templo de A-Má in Portuguese, built in 1488 before the city of Macau came into being. Compare Spanish Macán, Japanese 媽港(マカオ) (makao), Latin Machao.

媽閣／妈阁 (Má Koh)

媽港／妈港 (Má Káng)

阿媽港／阿妈港 (A-má Káng)

When you depart from Macau to ye other coaſt, you must put out at the Eaſt chanel, if the wind bee Northweſt, if not, then you cannot paſſe, that way, but you muſt ſayle thorough the ſouthweſt chanel, which is a good way to paſſe out, running from the point of Varella, right unto the land on the other ſide of Macau,[…]

1598, “24 Of the courſe out of the Hauen of Macau in China to the Iſland of Pulo Tymon, & the ſtraight of Sincapura.”, in W. P., transl., The Nauigation of the Portingales into the Eaſt Indies, London: John Wolfe, page 349:

SOuthward from the County of Quancheufu, lie many ſmall Iſlands in the Sea ; on one of which, being a little hanging Iſle, or rather a Rock, joyn'd to a great Iſland, lieth the City Makao, otherwiſe call'd Amacao, Machao, and Makau, poſſeſs'd by the Portugueſe, on a Promontory, ſo naturally Fortifi'd, that it is almoſt invincible.

[1671, Arnoldus Montanus, translated by John Ogilby, Atlas Chinensis, London: Tho. Johnson, translation of original in Dutch, →OCLC, page 531:

Within 20 years, Macau had become an international city and one of the richest places on earth, thanks to investment in the cargoes shipped through the port.

1990, Shann Davies, Macau, Passport Books, →ISBN Invalid ISBN, page 10:

Open 24 hours a day and seven days a week, Macau's 35 casinos entertain around 30 million visitors each year, making over 30 billion euros in revenue. These are figures which make the US gambling city of Las Vegas look like a desert village.[…]
Macau is the only place in China where gambling is officially permitted. Until the end of 1999, the peninsula was a Portuguese colony. Since it was handed back to China, the city of 600,000 people located at the mouth of the Pearl River has been a largely autonomous Special Administrative Region (SAR).

2015 September 12, Jochen Faget, “Crisis in China's gambling paradise”, in DW News, archived from the original on 2015-09-12:

At the height of the Covid wave, some mainland residents ventured across the border to the Chinese territory of Macau to find foreign-made mRNA vaccines.

2023 March 22, Nicole Hong, Alexandra Stevenson, “China Approves an mRNA Covid Vaccine, Its First”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-23, Business:

special administrative region
special administrative region

A special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, west of Hong Kong, previously under Portuguese control.

Anhui · Fujian · Guangdong · Gansu · Guizhou · Henan · Hubei · Hebei · Hainan · Heilongjiang · Hunan · Jilin · Jiangsu · Jiangxi · Liaoning · Qinghai · Sichuan · Shandong · Shaanxi · Shanxi · Taiwan · Yunnan · Zhejiang

Guangxi · Inner Mongolia · Ningxia · Tibet Autonomous Region · Xinjiang

Beijing · Tianjin · Shanghai · Chongqing


PRC

Coordinate term: ROC

(c) Ratification: It falls outside the scope of this calendar to describe the process of ratification for each agreement. Under the 1954 Constitution of the PRC the function of ratification is to be exercised jointly by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the Chairman of the Government. Ratification is mandatory for treaties of peace, mutual non-aggression, friendship, alliance and assistance, and all other treaties which expressly provide for ratification. All other agreements may be submitted for approval by the State Council.

1968, Douglas M. Johnston, Hungdah Chiu, Agreements of the People's Republic of China 1949-1967: A Calendar, Harvard University Press, page x:

Since the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC) established diplomatic relations in 1979, United States policy toward the PRC was largely premised on a hope that deepening engagement would spur fundamental economic and political opening in the PRC and lead to its emergence as a constructive and responsible global stakeholder, with a more open society.

2020, “United States Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China”, in whitehouse.gov, archived from the original on 2021-01-20, page 1:

People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China#English

(politics) Initialism of People's Republic of China.

ҠХР

abbreviation of People’s Republic of China — see also People’s Republic of China


PRC

en-noun

PRC (countable and uncountable, plural PRCs)

"It doesn't matter," she said. "They may still think you're a PRC who obtained a British passport."

2014 May 1, Helier Cheung, “'No Indians No PRCs': Singapore's rental discrimination problem”, in BBC:

(Singapore, sometimes derogatory) A person from the People's Republic of China, especially in contrast to native-born Singaporean Chinese.


bun

From Middle English bunne (“wheat cake, bun”), from Anglo-Norman bugne (“bump on the head; fritter”), from Old French bugne (hence French beignet), from Frankish *bungjo (“little clump”), diminutive of *bungu (“lump, clump”), from Proto-Germanic *bungô, *bunkô (“clump, lump, heap, crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick, dense, fat”). Cognate with Dutch bonk (“clump, clot, cluster of fruits”). More at bunch.

bolletjie

a small bread roll, often sweetened or spiced

couldn't organise a bun fight in a bakery

Senses referring to baked goods.
(Northern England, Ireland) A cupcake.

Senses referring to baked goods.
A cupcake.


fen

From Chinese 分 (fēn). Doublet of hoon and fan.

One poster, which appeared on the Barkhor on 20 May, ridiculed the way neighbourhood committees were recruiting participants: “We paid 30 fen for one stone, but you hire people for 30 yuan for the picnic in the Norbulingka” (“30 fen” — one hundred fen is one yuan — is a joking reference to Chinese accusations that Tibetans were paid 30 fen by splittists for each stone thrown on 1 October 1987).

1994, Ronald David Schwartz, “[Martial Law and After] Symbolic competition”, in Circle of Protest: Political Ritual in the Tibetan Uprising, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, published 1996, →ISBN, page 184:

A unit of currency in China, one-hundredth of a yuan.


chu-ko-nu

/ˌtʃuːkəʊˈnuː/

From Mandarin 諸葛弩／诸葛弩 (Zhūgě nǔ, literally “Zhuge crossbow”) via Wade–Giles.

bor

The chu-ko-nu, equipped with a magazine to hold bolts or, as in this case, pellets, was used in China well into the twentieth century (Needham et al. 1994: 157-64; Selby 2003: 62-63).

2007, C. E. Grayson, M. French, M. J. O'Brien, Traditional Archery from Six Continents, University of Missouri Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 24:

While traditional bows were all about placing carefully selected shots, the chu-ko-nu could rattle off about one shot every two seconds, raining down a shitstorm of indiscriminate crossbow fire that would scare the Fu Manchu right off the enemy.

2013, John O'Bryan, A History of Weapons, Chronicle Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 84:

Ejecting and replacing the magazine from her chu–ko–nu, she grimly fastened the ribbon holding the gruesome trophy to her belt.

2016, Felix Long, To Conquer Heaven, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 364:


Republic of China

/ɹɪˈpʌblɪk əv ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/

While we shall never timidly retreat before the threat of armed aggression, we would welcome, in the present circumstances, negotiations that could have a fruitful result in preserving the peace of the Formosa area and reaching a solution that could be acceptable to all parties concerned, including of course our ally the Republic of China.

1958, President Dwight Eisenhower, 0:21 from the start, in President Eisenhower Speaks On The Formosa Situation (1958), British Pathé:

As for us, free Chinese in the Republic of China, in spite of the changing world situation, we have never faltered in our resolve to liberate the mainland and restore freedom to the hundreds of millions of Chinese who still suffer under Communist oppression.

1965 May 4, Kai-shek Chiang, “Foreword to the Abridged Edition”, in Madame Chiang Kai-shek, transl., Soviet Russia in China: A Summing-up at Seventy, Shihlin, Taipei: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →OCLC, page viii:

From now on, we must work harder to prove two points:[...]Second, that the Chinese Communists are not to be trusted and that sooner or later, in one way or another, they are going to attempt to destroy the Republic of China and seize Taiwan.

1982 January 17, “U.S., ROC and Red China”, in Free China Weekly, volume XXII, number 3, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:

Now, on the eve of my second term as President of the Republic of China, it is time to put forward a blueprint for national development based upon the mandate my compatriots have given me through my reelection. With the blueprint I pledge myself to working hand in hand with my fellow citizens for the cause of my country.

1996 May, Teng-hui Lee, “Preface”, in Peace Through Democratic Reforms, Taipei: Wen Ying Tang Press Inc., →ISBN, →OCLC, page https://archive.org/details/peacethroughdemo0000teng/page/n13/:

Fortunately, in April 1979, Congress codified the United States’ support for the brave people of the Republic of China with the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act. This gave our friends the cover to develop the vibrant economy and flourishing democracy we see today and prevented them from being overrun by the same tyrants who are now in the process of eradicating democracy in Hong Kong.

2005, Jesse Helms, “Jimmy Carter”, in Here's Where I Stand: A Memoir, New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 106–107:

A country in East Asia; modern-day Taiwan, the rump state left over from the Republic of China on the mainland after 1949.

I met in the Generalissimo a man of great vision, great courage, and a remarkably keen understanding of the problems of today and tomorrow. We discussed all the manifold military plans for striking at Japan with decisive force from many directions, and I believe I can say that he returned to Chungking with the positive assurance of total victory over our common enemy. Today we and the Republic of China are closer together than ever before in deep friendship and in unity of purpose.

1943 December 24, Franklin Roosevelt, 9:20 from the start, in Fireside Chat 27: On the Tehran and Cairo Conferences, Miller Center:

(historical) The non-communist state controlling mainland China from 1912 to 1949, which succeeded the Qing dynasty and preceded the People's Republic of China.


People's Republic of China

the People's Republic of China (canonical)

Calque of Mandarin 中華人民共和國／中华人民共和国 (Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó)

calque

Meronym: mainland China

While the People's Republic of China claimed in the late 1950s that Shanghai had regained its importance as a leading seaport, this was not borne out by observations of foreign travelers nor by official shipping statistics.

1968, “Shanghai (Shang-hai)”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 20, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 346, column 1:

I disagreed completely—and still do—with President Nixon's initiative to "normalize" relations with the People's Republic of China. The American people […] have been forced to go along with the Carter administration's decision to repudiate our mutual defense treaty with the free Chinese regime on Taiwan […]

1980, Spiro Agnew, Go Quietly . . . Or Else, New York: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN, page 34:

Politically, China proper […] and frontier areas of China were brought together under the Qing dynasty, mostly during the 18th century. Incursions by earlier dynasties into Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and southern Manchuria did occur, but were later reversed. It is this latest process of expansion that accounts for the enormous size of the People's Republic of China today.

1991, Carol Stepanchuk, Charles Wong, “Festivals of Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire”, in Mooncakes and Hungry Ghosts: Festivals of China, San Francisco: China Books & Periodicals, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 108:

Before the death of Deng Xiaoping, many observers were debating whether the People’s Republic of China (PRC) would collapse, just like the former Soviet Union. It did not come to pass.

2005, Peter Kien-hong Yu, Hu Jintao and the Ascendancy of China: A Dialectical Study, →ISBN, page xi:

Republic of China
Republic of China#English

The official name of China, sometimes contrasted to the Republic of China (Taiwan).

ܩܘܼܛܢܵܝܘܼܬ݂ܵܐ ܥܲܡܡܵܝܬܵܐ ܕܟ̰ܝܼܢܵܐ

quṭnāyūṯā ˁammāytā dčīnā

中華人民共和国

ちゅうかじんみんきょうわこく

ཀྲུང་ཧྭ་མི་དམངས་སྤྱི་མཐུན་རྒྱལ་ཁབ

krung hwa mi dmangs spyi mthun rgyal khab


avo

A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of a Macanese pataca.


Yellow Sea

Calque from Chinese 黃海／黄海 (literally “yellow (color) sea”).

The extent of the great gulph called Whang Hay, or the Yellow Sea, being at preſent unknown, it may be left to the Commander’s diſcretion, to proceed up it as far as he may think proper: he muſt be cautious, however, not to entangle himſelf in it too far, left he ſhould not have ſufficient time left for the proſecution of the remainder of his voyage.

1784, James Cook, James King, Cook's Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, volume IV, London: John Stockdale, page 248:

For centuries, travelers from Asia Minor, Europe and later America prized the carpets woven in Tientsin, a Yellow Sea port in North China.

1973 July 1, “Art of Tientsin rugs revived”, in Free China Weekly, volume XIV, number 25, Taipei, page 2:

It was New Year's Eve, and the eighteen American officials who had hurriedly gathered in the State Department Operations Room on 31 December 1970, were still sharply divided after four hours of discussion.¹ The issue was what, if anything, the Seventh Fleet should do in the event of Chinese naval action against the U.S. seismic survey vessels then beginning to explore for oil in disputed waters of the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and the Yellow Sea.

1977, Selig S. Harrison, China, Oil and Asia: Conflict Ahead?, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 1:

The combined East China Sea and Yellow Sea (ECS/YS) covers roughly 1,250,000 km² and is one of the most developed continental shelf areas in the world (Yanagi and Takahashi, 1993). While the Yellow Sea (YS) covers a relatively large area, it is quite shallow reaching a maximum depth of about 140 m (Figure 1). The water depth over most of the area is less than 50 m.

1998, Akira Kuninaka, AIR-SEA INTERACTIONS AND WATER MASS STRUCTURE OF THE EAST CHINA SEA AND YELLOW SEA, Naval Postgraduate School, page 1:

An arm of the Pacific Ocean between mainland China and the Korean peninsula.


Beijing

Beijing
Encyclopædia Britannica
Hongwu Emperor
Ming Dynasty
Peking University
The Chicago Manual of Style
University of Chicago Press
Xinhuamen
Yongle Emperor

/ˌbeɪˈd͡ʒɪŋ/

c. 1958, the atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 北京 (Běijīng), composed of 北 (“north, northern”) and 京 (jīng, “capital”), distinguishing it from Nanjing to the south, and first applied informally during the reign of the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who preferred to rule from Beijing but was obliged to treat Nanjing as a secondary capital by the dynastic injunctions of his father the Hongwu Emperor. The name continued a practice of several preceding dynasties—especially those of nomadic conquerers from the north such as the Jin and Liao—of maintaining a number of separate capitals designated by their cardinal directions.

Liu Lao-zheng sidled right up to Zao-hua and said: “That’s right. I went to Beijing [Peking] to visit with my daughter. Zao-hua, I hear that you have become the workpoint recorder.”[…]
Liu Lao-zheng pulled out an abacus from a sack he was carrying over his shoulder. “Huala, huala,” he shook it several times and said: “I bought one in Beijing. I’ll lend it to you to use.”

1976 [1966], Hao Ran, “Debut”, in Wong Kam-ming, transl., Revolutionary Literature in China: An Anthology, White Plains, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 92:

Backhoes moved house by house, laying waste to a community called Xitai that was built in a plush green valley on the northern edge of Beijing, only a short walk from the Great Wall of China.

2020 August 7, Steven Lee Myers, Keith Bradsher, “Beijing Launches Another Demolition Drive, This Time in Its Bucolic Suburbs”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-08-07, Asia Pacific:

A protester unfurled two banners on a highway overpass in central Beijing on Oct. 13, denouncing Xi Jinping as a “despotic traitor.” China’s censors went to great lengths to scrub the internet of any reference to the act of dissent, prohibiting all discussion and shutting down many offending social media accounts.

2022 October 24, Yuan Li, “A Lonely Protest in Beijing Inspires Young Chinese to Find Their Voice”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-24, Business:

Beijing regularly faces dust storms in March and April due to its proximity to the Gobi desert as well as deforestation throughout northern China.

2023 March 22, “China: Sandstorms blanket Beijing as air pollution spikes”, in Deutsche Welle, archived from the original on 2023-03-22:

A direct-administered municipality, the capital city of China.


Manji

Upon crossing this river you enter the noble province of Manji […]

1854, Thomas Wright, transl., The Travels of Marco Polo: The Venetian:

(archaic) South China, as opposed to Cathay or northern China.


Cathay

From Latin Cathaya, variant of Cataya, from Old Turkic 𐰶𐰃𐱃𐰪 (Qïtań), and ultimately from Khitan 𘱿𘲫 (*qid ún); the Khitan people who conquered northern China as the Liao dynasty in the 10th century and ruled the central Asian Qara Khitai Khanate in the 12th, just prior to the overland European missions to China occasioned by the Pax Mongolica. Most likely cognate with Mongolian хутга (xutga, “knife”) from Proto-Mongolic *kïtuga.
Doublet of Khitan. Cognate with Russian Кита́й (Kitáj, “China”). See Names of China.

Columbus listened to many of these sea-stories, and heard many wonderful things about a very rich land away to the East that folks called Cathay.
If you look in your geographies you will not find any such place on the map as Cathay, but you will find China, and that was what men in the time of Columbus called Cathay. They told very big stories about this far-off Eastern land. They said its kings lived in golden houses, that they were covered with pearls and diamonds, and that everybody there was so rich that money was as plentiful as the stones in the street.
This, of course, made the sailors and storekeepers, who were part pirate, very anxious to go to Cathay and get some of the gold and jewels and spices and splendor for themselves. But Cathay was miles and miles away from Italy and Spain and France and England. It was away across the deserts and mountains and seas and rivers, and they had to give it up because they could not sail there.

1892, Elbridge S. Brooks, “A BOY WITH AN IDEA.”, in The True Story of Christopher Columbus, Called the Great Admiral (Juvenile), Boston: D. Lothrop Company, →OCLC, pages 16–17:

For us that epic celebration somehow is confined to Thanksgiving Day when we celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims who fled the tyranny of Charles I. But imagine, had the Genoese captain and his Spanish caravels not sailed eastward searching for Cipango and Cathay in 1492, then the Pilgrims might have been forced to turn to the known continents of Africa or Asia.

1982 October 11, “Our Columbus”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-08-28:

For Marco Polo in the 13th century as for Ezra Pound in the 20th, China was "Cathay," a land of mythic wonders. For the American-born director and writer Ping Chong, to visit China and make theater in the West meant exploring myth and history, joining Asian and Western traditions.

2005 November 1, Margo Jefferson, “Puppets Help Evoke China's History of Love and War”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2015-05-29, THEATER:

(archaic) China, specifically medieval northern China as reached by the overland Silk Road to Xi'an or Beijing, not known at the time to be related to southern China as reached by the maritime routes to Guangzhou.

Catái

Medieval northern China — see also China, Serica


renminbi

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 人民幣／人民币 (rénmínbì, “people's currency”).

Now, the Fang County government is trying “incentives,” according to a statement posted Saturday on its website. People who report their own fevers will receive 1,000 renminbi, the equivalent of $143 — a few days’ salary for the average Hubei resident.
The statement also said that people who report the fevers of others would get 500 renminbi, which raised the prospect of neighbors turning one another in. Communist Party cadres who investigate and verify such reports would receive the same amount.

2020 March 12, “Deaths in China Surpass Toll From SARS”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-05-21, Asia Pacific:

The official currency of the People's Republic of China.


dim sum

Borrowed from Cantonese 點心／点心 (dim² sam¹), literally “to touch the heart gently; to refresh the heart”.

King Chef (2F Main Mall, 0932 323 1871) serves healthy food and authentic Cantonese cuisine in a fine dining setup. For Father's Day, treat the whole family to its dim sum platters! It has a roasted platter which includes soyed chicken, roast duck, barbecued pork asado, fried five-spice roll, and soyed cucumber with century egg. Another option is the steamed dim sum platter, where you can devour a spread of hakaw, pork & shrimp siomai, Japanese siomai, beancurd roll, and Taosi spareribs.

2022 June 18, “Go on a Binondo food trip this Father's Day at Lucky Chinatown”, in Manila Bulletin, Manila: Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-22:

The food served at a dim sum meal, typically including dumplings, seafood, and desserts.


RMB

Address: RMB 35 Beaumont Crescent, The Ridgeway, Queanbeyan. New South Wales 2620, Australia.

1997, Nicholas Polunin, Lynn M. Curme, World Who is Who and Does What in Environment & Conservation, page 103:

2005, Katy Mallett (editor), Photographers, Flora of Australia: Volume 44B: Poaceae 3, Australian Biological Resources Study, page x,
[…] The Centre for Crop Improvement, RMB 944 Calala Lane, Tamworth, New South Wales 2340.

Sid Fogg′s Coaches ([phone:] 4928 1088; www.sidfoggs.com.au; RMB 2324 Main Rd, Fullerton Cove)[…].

2005, Paul Smitz, Australia & New Zealand on a Shoestring, page 94:

(US, Australia) Initialism of roadside mailbox: part of a postal system used in rural areas where several houses collect their mail from a cluster of mailboxes at the roadside.

roadside mailbox

(computing) Initialism of right mouse button.


Zhejiang

Translingual: Zhejiangosaurus

/d͡ʒəˈd͡ʒjɑŋ/

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 浙江 (literally “crooked river”), from a former name of the Qiantang River.

The kiln site actually responsible for such refinement has so far not been located. Shao-hsing, Chechiang Province, is commonly considered their point of origin since so many jars have been unearthed from tombs in that district.[...]It would take until the late third century for the potters of Chechiang to reduce the amount of oxygen in their kilns to the extent necessary for the formation of the glaze color which we call celadon green.

[1982, Jenifer Neils, editor, The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 85:

In the eastern province of Zhejiang, drivers are tested at highway exits before they can enter.

2022 May 25, John Liu, “China pushes for regular mass testing in ‘zero-Covid’ pursuit.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-05-25, Daily Covid Briefing:

But Wang, who ran a bubble tea shop in an economic backwater in eastern China, says he has neither the money nor the skills to look for a school or job in the US.
After graduating from a vocational high school in 2008, Wang worked in graphic design for a few years in eastern Zhejiang province. Frustrated by low wages and stagnant career growth, he switched to online retail, riding a boom in China’s internet sector.

2022 August 17, Yong Xiong, Selina Wang, Nectar Gan, “‘I want freedom’: One man’s escape from zero-Covid China to seek his American dream”, in CNN, archived from the original on 2022-08-18:

A coastal province in eastern China, running from Hangzhou Bay to Fujian. Capital: Hangzhou.


Peking duck

Calque from Chinese 北京烤鴨／北京烤鸭 (Běijīng kǎoyā). Same as Peking + duck.

zh-l

北京烤鴨／北京烤鸭 (Běijīng kǎoyā)

During out third day in Peking, we received word that Premier Chou En-lai would have dinner with us. We sat in a banquet room in the Great Hall of the People and enjoyed a fabulous meal of Peking duck.

1980, Gerald Ford, A Time to Heal, New York: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 94:

As restaurants in the Chinese capital drift in the doldrums of a COVID ban on dining in, one eatery manager and his army of chefs have set up stalls on the pavement to keep alive some of the old magic and drum up sales of their big seller, Peking duck.[…]"Our Peking duck sales have even gone up," Zheng, 35, told Reuters outside his restaurant as a queue of customers waited.

2022 May 18, Thomas Suen Suen, Ryan Woo, Ellen Zhang, “COVID or no COVID, Beijing diners won't be denied their Peking duck”, in Robert Birsel, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-05-18, China:

A Chinese dish consisting of roasted duck skin, small pancakes, hoisin sauce and other ingredients.


Peking

Abraham Ortelius
Atlas Maior
Chinese Imperial Post
De Bello Tartarico Historia
Francis Xavier
Joan Blaeu
Mandarin (late imperial lingua franca)
Martino Martini
Novus Atlas Sinensis
Peter Heylyn
Postal Romanization
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum

c. 1655 romanization of the Nanking court dialect Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 北京 (Běijīng), reinforced by Postal Romanization from before the modern palatalization of /k/ to /tɕ/. The early Portuguese and Jesuits such as Francis Xavier used the spelling Paquim; Abraham Ortelius used C. Paquin for his 1572 Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas; Italian Jesuit Martino Martini used Peking in his 1654 Latin De Bello Tartarico Historia and 1655 Novus Atlas Sinensis, which were quickly translated into English and later used by Joan Blaeu for his 1665 Atlas Maior. Peter Heylyn's Cosmographie changed its spelling from Paquin in the 1652 edition to Peking in the 1658 edition, but both Pekin and Peking were used interchangeably in English until the Chinese Imperial Post adopted Peking as its official transcription in the 1890s.

The Emperour hearing of the ill ſucceſſe of this Affairs, began to think of leaving the Northern parts, where his Royal City of Peking is ſituated, and to paſſe to Nankuing which is far more Southward; but he was diſſwaded from this intended courſe as well by his loyal, as diſloyal ſubjec͡ts : by theſe, that they might give him up more ſpeedily into the enemies hands, before their treachery was diſcovered; and by the others, leſt his flight might trouble the Kingdome more, and diſcourage all his Subjec͡ts from giving their beſt aſſiſtance; for they thought the City impregnable, being fortified with ſo ſtrong a Garriſon; nor did they doubt that the Kings preſence would draw the ſources of the whole Kingdom to him.

1655, The History of That Great and Renowned Monarchy of China, page 273:

This is not a time for a long speech but, I would not want this opportunity to pass without saying just a word with regard to the significance of this moment. Some of you may recall that it was two and a half years ago that right here in Guam, I announced a new direction for American foreign policy based on the principles of self-reliance, self-respect- equal dignity for all nations, large and small throughout the world. And tomorrow, I will take off from Guam for Shanghai and Peking, the first President of the United States ever to visit China. Guam, I know it is said, is where the American day begins. And I would hope that all of you today would join me in this prayer, that with this trip to China, a new day may begin for the whole world. Thank you very much.

1972 February 20, President Richard Nixon, 15:48 from the start, in Nixon in China (The Film), Agana, Guam: Richard Nixon Presidential Library:

The noise of gunfire rose from all over the center of Peking. It was unremitting.

1989 June 4, Kate Adie, 0:02 from the start, in Archive: Chinese troops fire on protesters in Tiananmen Square - BBC News, Peking: BBC News, published 2014:

Third, after Ukraine wins its war with Russia, we must aim to split the Russia-China axis. Moscow’s defeat could unseat Mr. Putin’s regime. What comes next is a government of unknowable composition. New Russian leaders may or may not look to the West rather than Beijing, and might be so weak that the Russian Federation’s fragmentation, especially east of the Urals, isn’t inconceivable. Beijing is undoubtedly eyeing this vast territory, which potentially contains incalculable mineral wealth. Significant portions of this region were under Chinese sovereignty until the 1860 Treaty of Peking transferred “outer Manchuria,” including extensive Pacific coast lands, to Moscow. Russia’s uncontrolled dissolution could provide China direct access to the Arctic, including even the Bering Strait, facing Alaska.

2023 April 12, John Bolton, “A New American Grand Strategy to Counter Russia and China”, in The Wall Street Journal, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-29, Opinion:

Dated form of Beijing, a direct-administered municipality, the capital city of China.

Beijing

Chinese Communist Party
Chinese Communist Party

(metonymically) The government of the People's Republic of China; the central leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.


Aomen

Yet try using Peking or Canton today and there will be howls of protest, though these are legitimate anglicisations based on usage derived from the role of Canton in China’s trade history. There is no reason why English speakers should follow China’s official romanisations any more than do the French, who still use Pekin for Beijing. It also raises the question of whether Hong Kong and Macau are soon to be replaced in English by Xianggang and Aomen.

2019 February 17, Philip Bowring, “Duterte’s proposal to change the Philippines’ name highlights the vexed history of place nomenclature”, in South China Morning Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-02-17, Opinion:

(rare) Synonym of Macau: the Mandarin Chinese-derived name (especially in China's English-language media).


Guangzhou

/ˈɡwɑŋˈd͡ʒoʊ/

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 廣州／广州 (Guǎngzhōu, “expansive district [capital]”).

der

The Chinese side of the border, Shumchun, is a long building—a combination reception house, customs office, and dining facility. We were guided down corridors, past dining rooms crowded with businessmen noisily enjoying lunch before the train for Guangzhou pulled out.

1975, Janet Goldwasser, Stuart Dowty, “Of Chivas Regal and Mao Tse-tung”, in Huan-Ying: Worker's China, New York: Monthly Review Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 15:

As a result, decisions to clean up the environment are routinely—and inaccurately—described as hurtful to prosperity. For example, in Guangzhou, China, the vice director of the city’s planning agency felt forced to defend a decision to limit automobile traffic as a means of reducing dangerous levels of air pollution by saying, “Of course from the government’s point of view, we give up some growth, but to achieve better health for all citizens, it’s worth it.”

2013, Al Gore, “Outgrowth”, in The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 163–164:

In a post on Chinese social media site Weibo, the woman, who remains unnamed, recounted how subway security in the southern city of Guangzhou had stopped her from travelling because of her heavy eye make-up and dark lipstick.

2019 March 19, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, “China's goths protest after woman told to remove 'distressing' make-up on subway”, in The Guardian:

Ten officials from Guangzhou have been disciplined after thousands of banyan trees, a mainstay of the southern Chinese city’s landscape, were cut down. The decision, announced over the weekend, was likely to have been approved by President Xi Jinping, who made an unusual intervention to signal his displeasure, experts said.
Li Xi, the Communist Party chief in Guangdong, the province in which Guangzhou is located, told state media Sunday that the tree removal “gravely damaged the city’s natural ecological environment” and “hurt the public’s fond memories and feelings.” Li added that local officials should realize that Xi paid significant attention to Guangzhou and recognize the severity of the problem.

2021 December 15, Amy Cheng, “Chinese officials axed for cutting down thousands of trees after Xi Jinping signals disapproval”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, Asia:

A major city and port, the capital city of Guangdong, in southeastern China.


Macao

It would be however a very acceptable thing if ſome curious Navigators would inform us, what tides or Currents are found at Macao, Quemoy, and other places on the Coast of China and on Formoſa ; it being moſt probable that this flood cometh out of the North Eaſt, alongſt the Coaſt of China, for that the Northerly Moonsoon is found to occaſion the higheſt ſpring-tides.

1684, Edm. Halley, “A Theory of the Tides at the Bar of Tunking”, in Philosophical Transactions, volume XIV, Oxford, →OCLC, page 687:

Macao is a ſmall Iſland in the Bay of Quantung, a Province of China, at a little diſtance from it ; in which is a Town bearing the ſame Name, heretofore the moſt famous and wealthy Mart of the Portugueſes, and granted to them by the Chineſes ; but its Reputation is now a great deal leſs :[...]

1701, Joan Luyts, Herman Moll, A System of Geography, Part the Second, London, →OCLC, page 52:

Captain King began now to entertain apprehenſions, leſt, in the proſecution of our ſearch for thoſe iſlands, we ſhould get ſo far to the ſouth as to be under the neceſſity of paſſing to leeward of the Pratas ; in which caſe, it might have proved extremely difficult for ſuch bad ſailing veſſels as our to fetch Macao, eſpecially if the wind ſhould continue to blow (as it now did) from the north-north-eaſt and north.

1784, James Cook, James King, Cook's Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, volume IV, London: John Stockdale, pages 211–213:

The Portuguese Colony of Macao is situated on a rocky peninsula in the Heung Shan (Fragrant Hills) District in the Kwong Chau Prefecture of the Kwong Tung, or Canton Province, in the south eastern part of the Empire of China.

1905, J. Dyer Ball, Macao: The Holy City; The Gem of the Orient Earth, China Baptist Publication Society, page 1:

The First Lady charged that the Maoists are making use of the Portuguese, through their small enclave of Macao, to carry out trade in drugs that are aimed in enslaving and demoralizing the people of the free world. She said the narcotics trade also is providing Chinese Communist leaders with a major source of revenue for use in carrying out their subversive, revolutionary tactics in other countries.

1975 March 9, “Mme. Chiang warns against detente”, in Free China Weekly, volume XVI, number 9, Taipei, page 1:

The territory of Macao is made up of a small peninsula on the Chinese coast and two neighboring islands. Located at the mouth of the Pearl River, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) from the Chinese city of Canton, Macao was once a safe harbor for Chinese fishermen.

1988, T. Jeff Williams, Macao, Chelsea House, page 15:

Prostrate from opium wars and divided into spheres of European influence, China was unable to protect her citizens from Occidentals who seduced them to immigrate. Poor, illiterate Chinese peasants—especially at Macao after the British Passenger Act (1855) drove the "coolie trade" from Hong Kong—were easily duped by foreigners who promised them better lives, often in the gold fields of California, once indentures of four to five years had been satisfied.

1994, Jimmy M. Skaggs, “Shoveling It: Life and Labor on Guano Islands”, in The Great Guano Rush: Entrepreneurs and American Overseas Expansion, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 162:


Cantonese

en-noun

Cantonese (countable and uncountable, plural Cantonese)

广东话

Kńg-tang-ōe / Kúiⁿ-tang-ōa / Kńg-tang-ōa

As a mainland China national, the counter for our trial was fluent in English, Putonghua, and the Sichuan dialect, and was familiar with a number of other major Chinese languages such as Cantonese and Hakka.

2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 10:

(uncountable) A Sinitic language mainly spoken in the south-eastern part of Mainland China, Guangdong (Canton), Hong Kong, Macau, by the Chinese minorities in Southeast Asia and by many overseas Chinese worldwide.


Mandarin

Calque from Chinese 官話／官话 (Guānhuà, “spoken language of the mandarins”). An extension of mandarin (“bureaucrat of the Chinese Empire”) to the language used by the imperial court and sometimes by imperial officials elsewhere. As such, it was adopted as a synonym for Modern Standard Chinese in the 20th century. The term became ambiguous, however, as its use was extended to the various Northern dialects of Chinese.

zh-l

[...]and though the ſame word hath one ſignification in the Mandorines Language, and a contrary in Japan and other places, yet knowing one Speech and their Character, you may Travel not only through the Empire of China, but the adjacent Kingdoms.

[1669, John Nievhoff, “Athanasius Kircher Description of China”, in John Ogilby, transl., An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China, London: John Macock, →OCLC, page 106:

Far fewer people understood Mandarin in Hotan than anywhere else I'd been in Xinjiang. It made getting around difficult, as not only did the taxi drivers fail to understand what I was saying, but they couldn't read an address either. Most ignored or didn't know the Chinese names given to the streets anyway.

2014, David Eimer, The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China, Bloomsbury USA, →ISBN, page 75:

Owner David Yeh says his Little-One bar -- a homophone to Lithuania's Mandarin name "Litaowan" -- started getting more attention last year after Vilnius became the first EU government to donate vaccines.

2022 March 9, “'Lithuania mania' sweeps Taiwan as China spat sizzles”, in France 24, archived from the original on 2022-03-09:

Standard Mandarin, an official language of China and Taiwan, and one of four official languages in Singapore; Putonghua, Guoyu or Huayu.

標準中国語

ひょうじゅんちゅうごくご


Shanghai

Shanghai
The Chicago Manual of Style
University of Chicago Press

c. 1840, likely from an English-derived romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of Chinese 上海 (Shànghǎi), reinforced by Wade–Giles, Postal Romanization, and Hanyu Pinyin.

SHANGHAI (the emporium of Nanking) is the first town of any importance on the coast of Kiangnan province.[…]If, however, these difficulties were surmounted, and suitable precautions taken against existing dangers, the embouchure of this river would be one of the most eligible points for the establishment of British commerce in the whole empire. Be this as it may, however, certain it is that even now Shanghai carries on the greatest native trade of any port on the coast.[…]
The city of Shanghai is built on the left bank, some distance from the mouth. It is laid out with sufficient elegance, and numerous temples.

1840 September 12, “IX.—From Shanghai to Pekin.”, in The Penny Magazine, number 542, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, →OCLC, page 358, column 2:

In January 1901, we reached Japan where Mrs. Hoover remained for the winter while I went to Shanghai in search of a method of reaching North China. The Port of Taku being frozen and there being then no railway connection between Shanghai and the north, all communication had been suspended for the winter.

1951, Herbert Hoover, “Engineering in China—1899–1902”, in The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, Years of Adventure 1874-1920, New York: Macmillan Company, →OCLC, →OL, page 55:

By the year 2000, Shanghai is scheduled to become an international center of commerce and finance; economic strategists predict that by 2010 the city will have become the world's largest trading center. This "secret capital" of China has set some ambitious goals for itself. The population is proudly celebrating their collective "coming out," and business is booming.

1999, “Shanghai”, in The Book of the World, 2nd United States edition (Atlas), Macmillan, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 411, column 1:

Victor Li is determined to get married soon, but like many other young Chinese grappling with an uncertain economic outlook, the well-heeled Shanghai entrepreneur isn't sure he can afford to.
"It's very expensive for us to get married, especially in a big city like Shanghai," the 32-year-old said, as he took a break from a ticketed networking event for wealthier, top university-educated singles at an upmarket Shanghai jazz bar.

2024 January 17, Nicoco Chan, “Some Shanghai singles struggle to get married as economy slows”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2024-01-21, China:

A major port city and direct-administered municipality of China, the largest urban area in China.


ROC

Translingual: ROC

Coordinate term: PRC

Former U.S. Senator George McGovern said that during his one-week visit to the ROC he met many friendly, optimistic and energetic people, and called the Republic of China an "energetic" country.
He said he hopes his visit will help to promote understanding between the ROC and liberals in the United States.

1983 March 13, “ROC progress praised by McGovern”, in Free China Weekly, volume XXIV, number 10, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:

This book suggests that the gradual increase of transactions and communications between the two Chinas since 1987 should contribute to the ‘normalization’ of relations between the two Chinas. Nevertheless, these transactions and communications are not expected to lead to the political reunification of the two Chinas in the foreseeable future due to four main obstacles: the PRC’s intention to localize and isolate the ROC internationally; the PRC’s refusal to exclude the use of military force against the ROC; the difference between the two Chinas’ living standards and political philosophies; and the Taiwan Independence Movement.

1994, Hsin-hsing Wu, Bridging the Strait: Taiwan, China, and the Prospects for Reunification, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page vii:

Prevented by internal and external influences, this ideal of placing the sovereignty in the hands of the people was not carried out immediately after the establishment of the Republic of China. With the changes of time, particularly with the relocation of the ROC government to Taiwan, we have gradually carried it out at last, but only after having licked our wounds and built our strength for forty years.

1996 May, Teng-hui Lee, “Political Reforms”, in Peace Through Democratic Reforms, Taipei: Wen Ying Tang Press Inc., →ISBN, →OCLC, page 11:

Initialism of Republic of China. (all senses)


steamer

From steam + -er. The steamer duck or steamer (sense 6.2) is apparently named for its resemblance to a paddle steamer when swimming rapidly.

A steamer duck: any of the four species of the duck genus Tachyeres which are all found in South America, three of which are flightless.


Yangtze

An irregular romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 揚子／扬子 (Yángzǐ) and 揚子江／扬子江 (Yángzǐ Jiāng), a former name for the lower stretches of the Yangtze derived from 揚子津 (Yángzǐjīn), a former ferry crossing near Yangzhou, applied by foreign visitors to the entire length of the river. The folk etymology that it means "Son of the Ocean" derives from the homophonic misnomer 洋子江 which was apparently given to Matteo Ricci, whose posthumously published journals popularized the river in Europe as Latin Iansu and Iansuchian.

That Riuer of Nanquin which I called (Yamſu or) Ianſu, the ſonne of the Sea, goeth Northward to Nanquin, and then returning ſomewhat Southward, runneth into the Sea with great force; fortie myles from which it paſſeth by Nanquin. And that from hence to Pequin there might bee paſſage by Riuers, the Kings of China haue deriued a large Channell from this to another Riuer, called the Yellow Riuer, ſuch being the colour of that troubled water. This is the other famous Riuer of that Kingdome, in greatneſſe and note, which ariſesth without the Kingdome to the Weſt, out of the Hill Cunlun, conjectured to bee the ſame whence Ganges ariſeth, or one neere to it.

1625, Samuel Purchas, Pvrchas His Pilgrimes, volume III, London, →OCLC, page 340:

You will perceive that the British and French commissioners ascend the Yangtze at pleasure, and have the steamers of their respective countries at their disposal. I was compelled, for the want of other conveyance, to come hither in a little British steamer which plies between Shanghai and Hong Kong.

1853 December 8, Humphrey Marshall, Documents Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States with Other Countries, number 37, Macao: A.O.P. Nicholson, published 1854, →OCLC, pages 323–324:

The Bishop of Shanghai desires that the bounds of his jurisdiction shall be more clearly expressed, and that therefore his title shall hereafter be, "The Bishop of Shanghai, having jurisdiction in the lower valley of Yangtze." The jurisdiction will be sufficiently large. The Yangtze River is three thousand miles in length, and the population on its borders numbers one hundred millions. As there are already three Bishops of the Church of England, with a large Missionary force of English Clergy, in that empire, Bishop Boone desires that his jurisdiction be limited to the population on the lower Yangtze, a line of eight hundred miles.

1887 [1886 October 19], G. T. Bedell, Thomas H. Vail, B. W. Morris, Geo. F. Seymour, Wm. J. Boone, “Fourteenth Day's Proceedings”, in Journal of the Proceedings of the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Chicago, page 99:

It is not till the Yangtze reaches Sha-shih that its character completely changes. The first note of change is a great embankment, thirty feet high, which protects the region from inundation. Below Sha-shih the vast river becomes mixed up with a network of lakes and rivers, connected by canals, the area of the important Tungting Lake being over 2000 square miles.

1900, Isabella L. Bird, The Yangtze Valley and Beyond, volume 1, pages 9-10:

Of the northernmost one of these folds, the writer has some faint recollection of seeing the folded strata. They form the hills to the west of Han-yung and the central ridge across the city of Wu-chang and extends further east; the west-easterly course of the Yang-tze below Yang-lo (lat. 30° 30' N.) is in all probability determined by this E-W fold.

1918, J.S. Lee, The Geology of China, University of Birmingham, →OCLC, page 320:

Aside from the Turfan depression in Hsin-chiang (Sinkiang) province, the hottest part of China lies in the middle and lower Yangtze Valley. Maximum temperatures of 43°-44°C (110°-112°F) have been recorded in Ch'ang-sha and Nan-ching.

1969, Yi-Fu Tuan, China, Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, page 22:

Early in the summer of 1127 the emperor was located near the city of Nan-ching just south of the Yangtze River.

1974, John H. Winkelman, The Imperial Library in Southern Sung China, 1127-1279 : A Study of the Organization and Operation of the Scholarly Agencies of the Central Government, page 12:

The Chinese Communists destroyed natural resources by widening the Yangtze River, and brought natural disasters to the mainland, including the worst floods in Szechwan province and other areas.

1982 January 3, “News Stories of Year on Peiping Selected”, in Free China Weekly, volume XXIII, number 1, Taipei, page 3:

The rains swelled the Yangtze River, raising record water levels on July 19 at the Three Gorges Dam, upriver from the city of Wuhan.

2020 August 10, “Worst Rains in Decades Cause China Flooding”, in Time, volume 196, numbers 5-6, page 10:

The building, on the outskirts of Ezhou, a city on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, is hailed as the world’s biggest free-standing pig farm, with a second, identical hog high-rise opening soon.

2023 February 8, Daisuke Wakabayashi, Claire Fu, “China’s Bid to Improve Food Production? Giant Towers of Pigs.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-02-08:

The chief river of central China and the third longest river in the world, flowing 6300 km from the Tanggula Mountains in Qinghai, passing Chongqing, Wuhan, and Nanjing, and emptying into the East China Sea beside Shanghai.


Jilin

Latin: jilinensis

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 吉林 (Jílín), from Manchu ᡤᡳᡵᡳᠨ (girin).

No young Koreans in Jilin accepted Gandhi’s theory. No one was foolish enough to imagine that the outrageous and rapacious Japanese imperialists would hand independence to people on a silver plate, to those who advocated nonviolent disobedience.

2008 [1935], Il-sung Kim, “With the Conviction of Independence”, in Kim Il Sung Works, volume 48, Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House, →OCLC, page 101:

His homeland was in Chilin province, and his village was located more than four thousand li (about thirteen hundred miles) from Mount Wutai.

[2008 [1990], John Blofeld, “Roaming the Famous Mountains and Monasteries of Northern China”, in Daniel Reid, transl., My Journey in Mystic China: Old Pu's Travel Diary, Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 115:

The National Health Commission reported 1,337 locally transmitted cases in the latest 24-hour period, including 895 in the industrial province of Jilin. A government notice said that police permission would be required for people to leave the area or travel from one city to another.[…]
Officials on Sunday locked down the southern city of Shenzhen, which has 17.5 million people and is a major tech and finance hub that borders Hong Kong. That followed the lockdown of Changchun, home to 9 million people in Jilin province, starting last Friday.

2022 March 14, Huizhong Wu, Olivia Zhang, Chen Si, “China battles multiple outbreaks, driven by stealth omicron”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2022-03-14:

A province of China. Capital: Changchun.


Liaoning

c. 1929 From Wade–Giles romanization and/or Postal Romanization, from Mandarin 遼寧／辽宁 (Liáoníng, literally “Tranquil Liao”); later reinforced by Hanyu Pinyin, from the name of the main river of the area. The name was restored to the area in 1954 upon the merging of the Liaoxi (“West Liao”) and Liaodong (“East Liao”) provinces.

bor

Name of Fengtien province changed to Liaoning.

1929 March 9 [1929 February 27], “From the Chinese Press”, in The China Weekly Review, volume XLVIII, number 2, →OCLC, page 79, column 1:

The course of the Yalu river traverses a track of country ranging from 124 20' to 128 40' E. Long. and from 39 50' to 42 15, N. Lat., the course of its main stream affording a boundary line on the south-western side of Changpai Mountain (長白山), dividing the southern parts of Liaoning Province from the Korean provinces Kankyo Nando (咸鏡南道) and Hsian Hokudo (平安北道).

1931, Wu Lien-teh, editor, Manchurian Plague Prevention Service Reports 1929-1930, volume VII, pages 208–209:

Mukden, Liaoning, Manchuria [consular district]
All of the Province of Liaoning (Fengtien) except the leased territory of Kwantung; and all that part of the Province of Kirin lying to the south of the parallel of 44° north latitude, including the following places in Kirin which are open to trade: Changchun (Kwanchengtze), Hunchun, Kirin, Lungchingtsun, Towtaokow, Wangching (Paitsaokow), and Yenki (Chützuchieh).

1933, Register of the Department of State, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, page 64:

At Lin-hsi in Jehol, Sha-kang in Hsin-min Hsien, Liaoning, and Ang-ang-hsi in Heilungchiang, cultural deposits were found in a black earth layer which lies beneath a yellowish, sandy layer in a black earth layer, making the transition from the semiarid loess stage of teh terminal Pleistocene to the semiarid condition of the present day, probably represents an ancient forest cover.

1971, Alan P. L. Liu, Communications and National Integration in Communist China, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 32:

By the 1960s Tientsin was the leading chemical manufacturing centre of China, and had become the third ranking industrial region, behind only Shanghai and the central Liaoning province region of southern Manchuria.

1972, “TIENTSIN (T'IEN-CHING)”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 21, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 1140, columns 1, 2:

Indications that the Maoists are tightening their grip on farmers came in a May 7 People's Daily report from a commune at Changwu of Liaoning province.

1976 May 30, L. Chen, “Hua Kuo-feng's grip on farmers”, in Free China Weekly, volume XVII, number 21, Taipei, page 3:

After living in a village in China’s northeastern Liaoning province for 2 1/2 years, Kim Jungah could no longer bear the possibility of her daughter seeing her dragged away by Chinese authorities.

2017 December 12, Hyung-jin Kim, “AP Exclusive: Sold NKorean brides face hard choices in China”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2022-10-12:

A province in northeastern China. Capital: Shenyang.


Heilongjiang

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 黑龍江／黑龙江 (Hēilóngjiāng).

Yu Changwu from the northeastern province of Heilongjiang has urged the ruling Communist Party to honor its “revolutionary ideals and pledges” and hand land back to the farmers.

2007 December 24, Shipeng Guo, Benjamin Kang Lim, “China detains farmers urging land privatization”, in Lindsay Beck, Roger Crabb, editors, Reuters, archived from the original on 2023-03-11, World News:

A series of new COVID-19 cases in China's far northeastern Heilongjiang province is raising concern that a second wave of the virus could emerge in the Asian country.

2020 April 29, “China tries to contain new coronavirus outbreak”, in Deutsche Welle, archived from the original on 2020-04-30, Asia:

During this period, minimum temperatures in some parts of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang could fall to below minus 30 degrees Celsius.

2023 November 23, “China renews alerts for cold waves, strong winds”, in EFE, archived from the original on 2023-11-23:

A province in northeastern China. Capital: Harbin.


Shandong

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 山東／山东 (Shāndōng).

We couldn’t solve this problem by the force of one co-op alone, so we united co-ops. But the people were still discussing the best form of agricultural production.
“Then Chairman Mao inspected agriculture in Shandong Province and issued the call for people’s communes, summed up in his slogan, ‘People’s Communes are Fine!’

1975, Janet Goldwasser, Stuart Dowty, quoting Zhou Min-fu, “Agriculture: The Foundation”, in Huan-Ying: Worker's China, Monthly Review Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 99:

One train was en route from Beijing to the seaside resort of Qingdao when the accident happened in Zibo, Shandong province. The second train was from the resort of Yantai, in Shandong.

2008 April 28, “Scores dead and hundreds injured in China train collision”, in France 24, archived from the original on 2010-05-04:

Rescue workers rushed to save a group of miners trapped after an accident at a coal mine in the eastern province of Shandong late on Saturday, Chinese state media reported Sunday.

2018 October 21, “Chinese rescuers rush to save trapped coal miners”, in Deutsche Welle, archived from the original on 2018-10-21, News:

Beijing is the last stop in Maduro’s China tour, which began in the southern city of Shenzhen and included stops in Shanghai and the eastern Shandong province.[…]
He also visited Mt Taishan, a sacred mountain in the Shandong province, to seek “blessings for Venezuela,” according to a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

2023 September 13, “Maduro meets Xi during official China visit”, in EFE, archived from the original on 2023-10-04:

A coastal province of China, part of the East China region. Capital: Jinan


Established in the United Kingdom as the first emergency service number in the world, initially chosen because of its suitability at a time of rotary-dial telephones.

I don't know why they couldn't just keep it as it was! How hard is it to remember 911?
You mean 999...
I mean 999!
That's the American one!
Yeah!

2006 Feb. 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 2

When you call 999 in the UK, the operator usually answers the phone with "Emergency. Which service?"

The telephone number for emergency services in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Burma, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Sudan, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Dominica, Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, and the Seychelles.

三条九 (saam¹ tiu⁴ gau², literally “triple nine”)


Qingdao

/ˈt͡ʃɪŋˈdaʊ/

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 青島／靑島／青岛 (Qīngdǎo).

True to its name, Qingdao, the green island as its name literally suggests, is covered by abundant trees - black pines, chinars, gingkos amid the azure sky and sea.
With green and blue as the natural backdrop, red color stands out as the human creation enhancing the charm of Qingdao, as seen from the red-roofed architecture of various European styles erected during the early 20th Century.
With its soaring architectural triumphs, from the glorious Catholic Church to the magnificent Former German Governor's Residence and the avant-garde spectacle of the 2008 Olympic stadium for the sailing regatta, Qingdao is unique.

2007, Susan Hong (梁红) Liang, 邹卫宁 [William Zou], “Overview of Qingdao”, in 青岛旅游指南 [Qingdao] (Travel), Qingdao Publishing House, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 1:

Qingdao, a city of more than nine million, is home to China’s North Sea fleet, a marine research academy and China’s main submariners school, which specializes in submarine hunting.

2023 May 10, Christopher F. Schuetze, “Stalled Sister City Plan Reveals New German Wariness of China”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-10, Europe:

A major prefecture-level city and subprovincial city in eastern Shandong, in eastern China, on the Yellow Sea.


yuan

From Mandarin 元 (yuán), from 圓／圆 (yuán, “circle > round coin”) referring to the piece of eight. Compare Japanese 円(えん) (en), Korean 원(圓) (won). Doublet of yen and won.

Sung paused to show me some of the notes. They were in issues of five yuan (a Chinese dollar, equal at this time to a little less than one American dollar), one yuan, twenty and ten cent denominations.

1940, Evans Fordyce Carlson, “Test Tube for New China”, in Twin Stars of China: A Behind-the-Scenes Story of China's Valiant Struggle For Existence By A U. S. Marine who Lived & Moved with The People, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, →OCLC, page 219:

The Nanchiaoshan Co-operative in Kuangling County originally had 14 households. But they became dissatisfied and 7 withdrew because nothing was done when the production-team leader (a rich peasant) and the bookkeeper made away with some 60 yuan of public money.

1978 [1955 June 24], Yenpei Prefectural Party Committee, “A Stern Struggle Must be Waged Against Graft and Theft”, in General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, editor, Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside [中国农村的社会主义高潮（选本）], First edition, Peking: Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 481:

中国农村的社会主义高潮（选本）

A ticket to these Saturday and Sunday night dances costs 15 yuan, or $5.35, which is a lot when one considers that the average Peking worker makes 60 to 70 yuan ($21 to $25) a month.

1985 April 29, Daniel Southerl, “Saturday Night Fever in Peking”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-08-27:

Donations to the mosque come from a village considered fairly poor by regional standards, with an average annual income of 300 yuan (about U.S. $100) per household. The 1982 average per capita annual income in Yongning County was substantially higher, 539 yuan according to the Population Census Office (1987:206).

1998, Dru C. Gladney, “Getting Rich is Not So Glorious: Contrasting Perspectives on Prosperity Among Muslims and Han in China”, in Robert W. Hefner, editor, Market Cultures: Society and Morality in the New Asian Capitalisms, Westview Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 110:

The provincial government has designated thirty-four counties in Henan as officially impoverished (pinkun xian) according to the provincial criterion: an average annual per capita income below 500 yuan and total household assets valued at less than 8,000 yuan, based on 1990 prices.

2002, Kellee S. Tsai, “Creative Capitalists in Henan”, in Back-Alley Banking: Private Entrepreneurs in China, Cornell University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 185:

In Pinggu, a suburb of Beijing, residents were told that they would receive 50-yuan ($7.60) prizes in cash or merchandise once they had been fully vaccinated.

2021 April 5, Lily Kuo, Lyric Li, “China’s covid vaccine drive is lagging. Free food could help turn things around.”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-04-05, Asia & Pacific:

(numismatics) The basic unit of money in China.


Pekingese

From Peking + -ese; Peking is the Postal Map romanization of Beijing.

of or related to Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China


joss stick

For instance, Hawkins, Lewis, Hankin and Sengupta all cover the word agarbatti, an incense stick or joss stick, but there is no way of knowing when this term was first used in Indian English, nor whether it is now current or obsolete.

2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 300:

A stick of incense, especially (China Taoism, Buddhism, etc.) those burned as an offering before a Chinese shrine.


pataca

The second bridge between Macao and Iiha^([sic – meaning Ilha]) da Taipa, which is estimated to have a construction cost of 400 million patacas, will provide a four-lane traffic flow as well as a direct connection with Chu-hai City.

1989 December 6 [1989 October 16], Ta-hung Li, quoting Carlos Melancia, “Exclusive Interview With Governor Carlos Melancia”, in JPRS Report China, number 89-115, Joint Publications Research Service, page 88, column 2:

Macau’s gross gaming revenue rose to 34.6 billion pataca ($4.3 billion) in the first quarter, up 95% from a year earlier, according to data released by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau on April 1. That compares with 76.2 billion pataca in the first quarter of 2019.

2023 April 14, Katrina Hamlin, “Macau reinvention is a big roll of the dice”, in Una Galani, Thomas Shum, editors, Reuters, archived from the original on 2023-04-15, Breakingviews:

The monetary unit of Macau, equal to 100 avos.


srang

The monetary unit of Tibet from 1909 to 1959.


Zhuang

During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution over 200 teeth of the giant ape were found in Chienshih County, Hupeh Province, and Pama County, the Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region.

[1975, “The Giant Ape”, in China Pictorial, number 5, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 44, column 3:

THE OFFICIAL NAME of Kuanghsi province is the Kuanghsi Chuang Autonomous Region. Next to the Han Chinese, the Chuang are China’s largest ethnic group. That surprises people. Most people would think it was the Manchus, or the Uigurs, or the Mongols, or the Tibetans. But in 1990 there were 15 million Chuang in China, compared to 10 million Manchus, 7 million Uigurs, 5 million Mongols, and 4.5 million Tibetans. Since most of China’s 15 million Chuang live in Kuanghsi, hence the province’s distinction as the Kuanghsi Chuang Autonomous Region.

[2015, Bill Porter, “The Chuang [壯族]”, in South of the Clouds: Travels in Southwest China, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 23:

A member of an ethnic group living mostly in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China.


yum cha

A traditional (usually daytime, sometimes nighttime) Chinese meal, consisting of several small courses (dim sum) and Chinese tea.


Mandate of Heaven

en-noun

Mandate of Heaven (plural Mandates of Heaven)

Calque of Literary Chinese 天命 (tiānmìng).

calque

(figurative, often humorous) The preeminence of an incumbent or institution other than that of the rulers of China.


communist bandit

en-noun

communist bandit (plural communist bandits)

(archaic, derogatory) A Chinese communist.


foo lion

A variant of foo dog reflecting that the animal depicted was intended to be a lion rather than a dog.


sinicize

en-verb

sinicize (third-person singular simple present sinicizes, present participle sinicizing, simple past and past participle sinicized)

sinicizes (present singular third-person)
sinicizing (participle present)
sinicized (participle past)
sinicized (past)

(transitive) To convert to Chinese characters or to enable to work with the Chinese script.


Ningbo

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 寧波／宁波 (Níngbō), literally "Peaceful Waves".

zh-l

寧波／宁波 (Níngbō)

The containers were shipped from the eastern Chinese port of Ningbo to Piraeus by sea, and were then transported to Budapest in two trains that reached on Jan. 29 and Feb. 5, according to China's official People's Daily newspaper.

2017 February 8, “New land-sea route opens between China and central Europe”, in EFE, archived from the original on 2017-02-08:

Congestion off China's top two container ports Shanghai and Ningbo is worsening following the shutdown of a container terminal in Ningbo where a COVID-19 case was detected this week.

2021 August 12, Muyu Xu, Gavin Maguire, “Major container ports in eastern China see worsening congestion after COVID-19 cases”, in Kim Coghill, David Evans, editors, Reuters, archived from the original on 2021-08-12, China:

A port city, prefecture-level city, and subprovincial city in eastern Zhejiang, China.


sinicization

en-noun

sinicization (usually uncountable, plural sinicizations)

The act, action, or result of sinicizing.


guest star

(television) An actor on a television program who stars in one, or a few, episodes.


Tianjin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 天津 (Tiānjīn, literally “heavenly ford; heavenly crossing”).

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The vast majority of factories are state owned. We visited state-owned factories ranging in size from the one thousand six hundred-worker Dong Feng (“East Wind”) Watch Factory in Tianjin to the huge one hundred fifty thousand-worker Anshan Iron and Steel Company in the Northeast.

1975, Janet Goldwasser, Stuart Dowty, “Of Chivas Regal and Mao Tse-tung”, in Huan-Ying: Worker's China, New York: Monthly Review Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 38:

Watch or run in the fourth annual 42-kilometer Tianjin race on a 15-day tour starting October 23 in Beijing.

1985 July, “For travel planners, a July 1985 check list”, in Sunset, volume 175, number 1, page 8:

As of March this year, pipelines accommodating 17 MW were already installed between Donghai and a pilot wind project in Bohai Bay near Tianjin.

2010 September 7, Manuela Zoninsein, “Chinese Offshore Development Blows Past U.S.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-04-17, ClimateWire:

Fears that the death toll from the explosion disaster in Tianjin, northeast China, could top 200 were stoked today as state media declared that 112 people had died as a result of Wednesday’s accident, with 95 more missing.

2015 August 16, Jamie Fullerton, “Tianjin disaster death toll may top 200”, in The Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-10-03:

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in the Chinese port city of Tianjin on Thursday to begin her three-day tour of the country.[…]
On Thursday, Baerbock is set to visit a school in Tianjin that teaches German as part of the German Foreign Office's PASCH initiative.

2023 April 13, “Germany: EU 'cannot be indifferent' to China-Taiwan tensions”, in DW News, archived from the original on 2023-04-14, Politics:

A direct-administered municipality and major city in northern China, between Beijing and the Bohai Bay.


Middle Kingdom

But though this Kingdom of China doth often change its Lord and Name, the Chineſes however have time out of mind called it by two other particular names, as Chungchoa, and Chungque ; the firſt whereof ſignifies The Middle Kingdom ; and the other, the Middle Garden.

1669, John Nievhoff, translated by John Ogilby, An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China, London: John Macock, →OCLC, pages 4–5:

The meeting point of the plateau and the plains is just east of the first great bend of the Yellow River. Significantly, it is at the central meeting point that we have the coalescence of the three cultures which produced the developed Shang culture. This area, known to the Chinese as Chung Yuan, or central plain, has always been the heartland of the “Middle Kingdom.”

1964, Sherman E. Lee, “Urban Civilization and the Indus Valley; Neolithic and Pre-Shang China”, in A History of Far Eastern Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 23, columns 1, 2:

Genghis Khan initiated Beijing's nearly 800-year dominance over the Middle Kingdom. The city's current population numbers ten million people, far more than lived here in 1215 A.D. when the Mongol warlord conquered the strategically significant power center of Yanying and built Khanbalik, his new residence.

1999, “Beijing”, in The Book of the World, 2nd United States edition (Atlas), Macmillan, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 367:

President Xi Jinping emerged stronger at the end of China’s Communist Party Congress. His desire to consolidate control however may not help his plans to keep the Middle Kingdom’s economic engine humming.

2017 October 26, Jennifer Saba, “Breakingviews - Viewsroom: China's leader cements his power”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-07-26, Breakingviews:

After first appearing in China more than two years ago, Covid-19 has returned to the Middle Kingdom. The country had largely succeeded in keeping infection and mortality rates in check.

2022 March 22, Charles Pellegrin, Claire Hopes, Agnès Le Cossec, Laura Welfringer WELFRINGER, “China sticks to zero-Covid policy: Tens of millions endure new lockdown”, in France 24, archived from the original on 2022-03-22:


Sino-

From Medieval Latin Sina (“China”) and Late Latin Sīnae (“the Southern Chinese; Southern China”), from Ancient Greek Σῖναι (Sînai), of uncertain etymology but likely from Sanskrit चीन (Cīna, “China”), possibly via Arabic صِين (Ṣīn, “China; the Chinese”) and usually held to ultimately derive from Old Chinese 秦 (*zin, “Qin”). See "Names of China" on Wikipedia.

der

In the 1970s, Sino-Soviet rivalry also spread to Africa and the Middle East.

He's a Sino-Kadazan: half Han, half Kadazan.

A combining form relating to China or the Chinese, in those terms' various senses.

չին-

Of or relating to China, the Chinese, or Chinese culture (prefix form)


foo dog

Possibly a Western invention, from Mandarin 福 (fú, “good fortune”) + English dog. There is no similar word in Chinese itself that uses the word 福, but see English foo and Foo. Compare also Chinese 佛 (“Buddha”), pronounced fo or fu in some varieties.

A stylized lion statue similar to those usually placed in male and female pairs outside imperial Chinese palaces, tombs, temples, etc.


Sinae

From Latin Sinae, from Ancient Greek Σῖναι (Sînai), q.v. See also Sino-.

... the outmoſt people to the eaſt, next the Sinus Magnus, and inclining to the ſouth, not to be blended with the Chineſe... Beyond the Sinae to the eaſt, and ſouth was a terra incognita... Iſ. Voſſius takes the Sinae to be the Siameſe; becauſe at this day the appellation Sinae is unknown aamong them; an argument which de Pinedo on Stephanus treats as trifling.

1773, Alexander MacBean, A Dictionary of Ancient Geography..., s.v. "Sinae"

The sailing-course beyond the Ganges to the "country of the Sinae", as stated, would very nearly reach the Gulf of Tong-King.

1927, Wilfred H. Schoff translating Marcian of Heraclea as Periplus of the Outer Sea..., p. 49

Exactly which term, "Sinae" or "Serica", equates to the modern China is a bit muddled. Sinae could refer to eastern peninsular Southeast Asia or southern China or both whereas Serica could refer to northern China or Xinjiang and eastern Central Asia or both.

2008, Richard L. Smith, Premodern Trade in World History, p. 111

(historical) Synonym of Chinese or Southern Chinese, chiefly in the context of ancient Greco-Roman knowledge of China.


Sino-Japanese

Involving both China and Japan, for example the First Sino-Japanese War, or Sino-Japanese vocabulary


sino-

Alternative letter-case form of Sino- (“China”).


Guangdong

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 廣東／广东 (Guǎngdōng). 廣／广 (guǎng) itself means "expanse", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in 226 C.E.. "Guangdong" and neighbouring Guangxi literally mean "Guang East" and "Guang West". Together, Guangdong and Guangxi are called the "Two Guangs" (兩廣／两广 (Liǎngguǎng) Liangguang). Doublet of Canton, which went through Portuguese.

After the break-up of the 1924-1927 United Front, the Chinese Communist Party set up Soviets—liberated districts— in several parts of South China. One of the earliest liberated areas, organized in 1927-1928, was in the Hailufeng District of Guangdong Province.

1975, Janet Goldwasser, Stuart Dowty, “Women: Half of Heaven”, in Huan-Ying: Worker's China, New York: Monthly Review Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 135:

If the United States revoked MFN status, tariffs would skyrocket on the goods such as textiles, shoes, and toys that are primarily produced by private enterprises. Coastal provinces, such as Guangdong near Hong Kong and Fukien near Taiwan, that have served as the beachhead for free-market economics would suffer the worst blow.

1992, Richard Nixon, “The Pacific Triangle”, in Seize the Moment, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 175:

The authorities in Guangdong Province on Tuesday raised alerts to the highest level after days of rainfall and floods, closing schools, businesses and public transport in affected areas.

2022 June 23, Tiffany May, “Extreme Weather Hits China With Massive Floods and Scorching Heat”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-23, Asia Pacific:

Chinese media reported on Tuesday that more than 70 crocodiles had escaped after deluges in Guangdong province caused a lake at a crocodile farm to overflow.

2023 September 12, “Chinese city hunts for dozens of crocodiles”, in Deutsche Welle, archived from the original on 2023-09-13:

A populous province in China, located on the southern coast. Capital: Guangzhou.


Hefei

Some 10,000 people took the streets in the eastern city of Hefei this week in what appears to have been the largest student demonstration since the Tiananmen Square human rights protests of 1989.

2003 January 9, Joseph Kahn, “Huge Demonstration in China, but Subject Is Traffic Safety”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-02-14, World:

The other case, surnamed Zhang, was in close contact with Li during a training class Li led in the city of Luan, near Anhui's provincial capital Hefei, Xinhua reported.[…]
Two areas in Luan city and one part of Feixi county were declared "medium-risk" regions by local authorities in response to the cases. State media reported mass testing being carried out in main urban area in Luan and some areas in Hefei.

2021 May 13, “Mainland China reports first local COVID-19 cases in more than 3 weeks”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2021-05-14, Asia Pacific:

The vaccination campaign in the Luyang district of Hefei city is currently operating in an orderly and efficient manner, with all vaccination points running smoothly, thanks in large part to the effective utilization of A.I. technology.

2021 July 13, “A.I. is Ensuring an Orderly Vaccination in Hefei”, in AP News, PR Newswire, archived from the original on 2021-07-13:

A prefecture-level city, the provincial capital of Anhui, in central China.

خِفِي

a prefecture-level city in central China


Zhengzhou

/d͡ʒʌŋˈd͡ʒoʊ/

Borrowed from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 鄭州／郑州 (Zhèngzhōu).

Now outside in Zhengzhou, the city worst hit at the moment, which has had record rains hitting the highest level of rainfall since records were kept six decades ago, the streets have turned into brown rivers which have swallowed up traffic, and in an even more alarming development the military is saying that at a nearby city a major dam could actually burst and that soldiers have been mobilized there to blast around the dam in an attempt to divert flood waters, take the pressure off the dam, in the hope that, what they're talking about is already is a sort of twenty meter fissure in the dam, it can avoid having that dam being burst, which would obviously also be a really terrible development.

July 21, 2021, Steven McDonald, 3:13 from the start, in Twelve die as rain floods train tunnel in China, BBC News, archived from the original on 2021-07-24:

The testing will begin in Henan's provincial capital of Zhengzhou before the end of May, authorities said, according to the report, to help with "identifying potential risks" quickly.

2022 May 23, “Chinese province of nearly 100 million to Covid test every two days”, in France 24, archived from the original on 2022-05-23:

A prefecture-level city, the provincial capital of Henan, in central China.


Lanzhou

Translingual: Lanzhousaurus

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of 蘭州／兰州 (Lánzhōu).

zh-l

蘭州／兰州 (Lánzhōu)

Construction of this expressway, linking Lanzhou with Wulumuchi, has continued further west as part of the central government’s attempt to equalize the balance of economic development between the prosperous east and the less developed western interior.

2008, William Lindesay, The Great Wall Revisited: From the Jade Gate to Old Dragon's Head, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 112:

In northwestern Gansu province, where nine local confirmed cases have been reported in the past week, primary and high schools in the provincial capital of Lanzhou, as well as in one county in Jiuquan city, have suspended offline classes.

2021 October 21, Ryan Woo, Roxanne Liu, Liangping Gao, “Parts of northern China brace for more COVID-19 lockdowns and curbs”, in Christian Schmollinger, Gerry Doyle, editors, Reuters, archived from the original on 2021-10-21, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals:

A prefecture-level city, the provincial capital of Gansu, in northwestern China.


Chengdu

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 成都 (Chéngdū), supposedly bestowed upon it during its first founding by the ninth king of the Shu Kingdom's Kaiming dynasty when he removed his court there from nearby Pi County.

As the United States lashed out against the “new tyranny” of China, Beijing on Friday ordered the closure of the American consulate in Chengdu, a retaliatory move that threatens to drive the two powers into an even deeper divide.
Beijing blamed the Trump administration for the deterioration in relations, calling its own action justified after Washington told China this week to shutter its consulate in Houston and accused its diplomats of acting illegally. A Chinese official, in turn, denounced American diplomats in Chengdu, a southwestern city, for interfering in China’s affairs.

2020 July 24, Keith Bradsher, Steven Lee Myers, “China Orders U.S. to Shut Consulate in Chengdu, Retaliating for Houston”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-07-24, Asia Pacific:

A subprovincial city, the provincial capital of Sichuan, in southwestern China.


Guiyang

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 貴陽／贵阳 (Guìyáng).

By early afternoon, I was in Kueiyang. Since this was the provincial capital of Kueichou, I decided to splurge and checked into the Plaza Hotel.

[2015, Bill Porter, “The Miao [苗族]”, in South of the Clouds: Travels in Southwest China, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 72:

A court in the city of Guiyang ruled that Mr. C's employment rights were indeed violated. "The defendant terminated the contract with the plaintiff without a legitimate reason" and "infringed on the plaintiff’s equal employment rights," the ruling said.[…]
Mr. C, a transgender Chinese man who says he was fired for wearing men's clothes, stands outside a court in Guiyang, China, July 27, 2017, holding the court’s ruling that his dismissal violated his employment rights.

2017 July 27, Emily Rauhala, “Transgender Chinese man wins first-of-its-kind labor discrimination case”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-11-11, WorldViews:

A prefecture-level city, the provincial capital of Guizhou, in southwestern China.

جُوي يَانْغ

a prefecture-level city in southwestern China


Jinan

/ˈd͡ʒiːˌnɑːn/

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 濟南／济南 (Jǐnán).

- Woolly hat and sun cream -
Shandong Luneng Taishan, as their full name goes, are based in Jinan, a fast-growing city of about 7.5 million people in China's east. Jinan is the capital of Shandong province.
Fellaini will need a wardrobe for all four seasons. Jinan is currently about as chilly as Manchester, but it can easily drop well below freezing. Summers will be much hotter than northern England, nudging above 30 degrees Celsius (86F).
- Pollution, traffic -
Many Chinese cities are plagued by traffic congestion and pollution, but those problems are acute in Jinan.
The Asian Development Bank in 2017 said rapid economic growth and urbanisation had made Jinan the most congested city in China. It is also in the top 10 most polluted.

2019 February 4, “Choking smog and 'spring heaven': Fellaini's new home in China”, in France 24, archived from the original on 2022-05-21:

A prefecture-level city and subprovincial city, the provincial capital of Shandong, in eastern China.


Jinan

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 紀南／纪南 (Jìnán).

The ancient capital of the former State of Chu in modern Hubei, China.

紀南

capital of former State of Chu; town in eastern China