phoenix

en-noun

phoenix (plural phoenix or phoenixes or phoenices)

phoenix (plural)
phoenixes (plural)
phoenices (plural)

From Old English and Old French fenix, from Medieval Latin phenix, from Latin phoenīx, from Ancient Greek φοῖνιξ (phoînix), from Egyptian bnw (boinu, “grey heron”). Doublet of Bennu. The grey heron was venerated at Heliopolis and associated in Egypt with the cyclical renewal of life because the bird rises in flight at dawn and migrates back every year in the flood season to inhabit the Nile waters.

(Chinese mythology) A mythological Chinese chimerical bird whose physical body symbolizes the six celestial bodies; a fenghuang.


earth

earth (countable and uncountable, plural earths)

From Middle English erthe, from Old English eorþe, from Proto-West Germanic *erþu, from Proto-Germanic *erþō (“dirt, ground, earth”) (compare West Frisian ierde, Low German Eerd, Dutch aarde, Dutch Low Saxon eerde, German Erde, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian jord), related to *erwô (“earth”) (compare Old High German ero, perhaps Old Norse jǫrfi), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁er- (compare Ancient Greek *ἔρα (*éra, “earth”) in ἔραζε (éraze, “to the ground, to earth”), perhaps Tocharian B yare (“gravel”).
Probably unrelated, but of unknown etymology, is Old Armenian երկիր (erkir, “earth”). Likewise, the phonologically similar Proto-Semitic *ʔarṣ́- – whence Arabic أَرْض (ʔarḍ), Hebrew אֶרֶץ (ʾereṣ) – is probably related.

inh

earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust

(alchemy, philosophy and Taoism) The aforementioned soil- or rock-based material, considered one of the four or five classical elements.


localization

en-noun

localization (countable and uncountable, plural localizations)

/ˌləʊkəlaɪˈzeɪʃən/

From localize + -ation; compare French localisation.

გაქართულება

specifically meaning localization to Georgian only

James has been responsible for the government works programme. He is the last expatriate senior official left in the administration, apart from the Attorney General, Jeremy Mathews. It has been a remarkably swift and comprehensive process of localization, and the competence of government in Hong Kong has not suffered an iota. His departure is a significant day for Hong Kong.

2022, Chris Patten, The Hong Kong Diaries, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

(HK politics, specifically) The switch of positions in power from the colonizing population to the local population.


upper

The 'upper' is one of nine apertures through which consciousness can leave the body at death (utkrantih).

2005, Shingo Einoo, Genesis and Development of Tantra, page 128:

When the Tao Te Ching says: “In thought, you can see the cavity,” it is referring to what the Triplex Unity describes as “When the upper is closed, we call it existence; when the lower is closed, we call it nothingness.”

It is said in Tibetan culture, in order to understand the upper, it is necessary to understand the lower first. Once, the lower is understood, the upper is just an introductory.

2010, Tenzin Dhakpa Agongtsang, Realistic Principles, Pittsburgh, PA: RoseDog Books, page 10:

(Taoism) A spiritual passageway through which consciousness can reach a higher dimension.


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) was established, 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.

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

Beijing · Tianjin · Shanghai · Chongqing

In Beijing’s view, in the absence of an explicit treaty provision, the central line of the main channel—the Thalweg principle—provided a legal basis for delimiting the boundary in the two rivers. On this basis, Beijing claimed that 600 of the rivers’ 700 islands—including Zhenbao Island on the Ussuri River, just 180 miles southwest of an important Soviet city, Khabarovsk—belonged to the P.R.C.

1980, Melvin Gurton, Byong-Moo Hwang, China under Threat: The Politics of Strategy and Diplomacy, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 210:

In the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972, we recognized the fact that both Beijing and Taipei viewed Taiwan as part of China but unequivocally expressed our support for a peaceful settlement of the unification issue. While we should not alter the fundamental pillars of our policy, we should consider certain steps that will raise Taiwan's international standing.

1992, Richard Nixon, “The Pacific Triangle”, in Seize the Moment, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 181:

Russian officials have raised increasingly frustrated requests for greater support during discussions with Beijing in recent weeks, calling on China to live up to its affirmation of a “no limits” partnership made weeks before the war in Ukraine began. But China’s leadership wants to expand assistance for Russia without running afoul of Western sanctions and has set limits on what it will do, according to Chinese and U.S. officials.

2022 June 2, Cate Cadell, Ellen Nakashima, “Beijing chafes at Moscow’s requests for support, Chinese officials say”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-06:

While Beijing has credited the law with restoring peace and order to the city, it has been criticised by rights groups and western governments for imprisoning pro-democracy activists and undermining civil freedoms.

2023 June 15, Didi Tang, “Spotify removes protest song Glory to Hong Kong”, in The Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-15, World:

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

(metonymically) The government of the People's Republic of China.

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


euhemerize

en-verb

euhemerize (third-person singular simple present euhemerizes, present participle euhemerizing, simple past and past participle euhemerized)

euhemerizes (present singular third-person)
euhemerizing (participle present)
euhemerized (participle past)
euhemerized (past)

From euhemerism + -ize, ultimately from Latin Euhēmerus, from Ancient Greek Εὐήμερος (Euḗmeros), an ancient Greek Sicilian Skeptic who proposed most or all mythology derived from historical figures and natural events which received supernatural characteristics only through retelling.

Confucian scholars frequently euhemerized the myths used to explain religious rituals to the public.

He did but extend to the New Testament the Euhemerising principles which Eichhorn had applied to the Old.

1871, Frederic William Farrar, The Witness of History to Christ, page 57:

The legend of Semiramis was a euhemerised version of the story of Istar.

1887 September 3, I. Taylor, The Academy, page 143:

(transitive, intransitive, derogatory) To invent a plausible but fanciful historical origin for something in order to rationalize mythology and legends.

rationalize

fanciful creation of rational explanations for the supernatural

The Yellow Emperor was perhaps euhemerized from a prehistoric tribal leader.

(transitive, intransitive) Synonym of deify: to actually create mythology and legends from ancient historical figures and events.

évhémériser

to explain or interpret something through euhemerism


feng shui

Borrowed from Mandarin 風水 /风水 (fēngshuǐ, “feng shui (Chinese system of geomancy)”, literally “wind and water”): 風 /风 (fēng, “wind”) + 水 (shuǐ, “water”). Doublet of fung shui.

bor

On my telling two missionaries here lately that this Government would not allow a road to be made to their coal mines because it would obstruct the Feng-shui, they only laughed at it. [...] The upper classes may have Feng-shui, and use it when it suits them, as the Government do; but they also, when it suits their purpose, have no difficulty in overcoming the Feng Shui.

1869 March 15, “Summary of news from the Far East. China. Tientsin.”, in The London and China Telegraph, Japan Herald, and Journal of the Eastern Archipelago, French mail edition, volume XI, number 315, London: Printed for the proprietors by Richard Kindee, […], and published by James West […], published 7 June 1869, →OCLC, page 258, column 2:

When the Hongkong Government cut a road, now known as the Gap, to the Happy Valley, the Chinese community was thrown into a state of abject terror and fright, on account of the disturbance which this amputation of the dragon's limbs would cause to the Feng-shui of Hongkong; and when many of the engineers, employed at the cutting, died of the Hongkong fever, and the foreign houses already built in the Happy Valley had to be deserted on account of malaria, the Chinese triumphantly declared, it was an act of retributory justice on the part of Feng-shui.

1873, Ernest J. Eitel [i.e., Ernst Johann Eitel], “Introductory”, in Feng-shui: Or, The Rudiments of Natural Science in China, London: Trübner & Co., →OCLC, page 2:

Feng-Shui views heaven and earth, the whole universe, as one great fetich, animated by a blind unintelligent but omnipotent vitality, a vitality in which man shares, and of which, by the exercise of his intelligent faculties, he may procure a larger and better share than would otherwise fall to his lot. As a practical art, Feng-Shui is the terrestrial sister of Astrology, a mode of deciphering the destinies of an individual as included in the vast complications of the universal whole, but in this respect the earthly sister excels her star-gazing prototype, that by means of Feng-Shui a man learns not only what his fate is, but how it may be modified to his own advantage.

1874 March, F. S. T., “Feng-Shui”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume XXIX, number 171, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 343:

The following are translated copies of placards which have been extensively posted in the city and suburbs during the past week: [...] "[...] On recovering our Feng Shui land, then the state will be prosperous, the people peaceable, the winds moderate, and the rains favorable. Let all the people exert themselves."

1878 September 15, “Mr. [M. M.] De Lano to Mr. Holcombe. [Inclosure 3 in No. 61; No. 111; The Wu Shih Shan Riot. Placards.]”, in Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, with the Annual Message of the President, December 1, 1879. […], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published 1879, →OCLC, page 187:

The question of the Channel Tunnel has been discussed from many points of view, commercial, naval, military; and all that can be said on the subject from a scientific or statistical standpoint has probably been exhausted. But the final clinching argument is that the tunnel would destroy our insular position; and it is there that the Press carries public opinion with it. We cannot have our insular position destroyed. The sea is England's glory and the wind and the waves her portion and her heritage, and shall these advantages be abated for the sake of a hole under the sea and a devil carriage to roar through it? Never, says John Bull; and doubtless his instinct is right. But if that isn't belief in feng-shui, which means precisely wind and water, one humble scribe would like to know what is.

1913 December 20, “The Memories of the Unattainable”, in The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette: The Weekly Edition of the North-China Daily News, volume CIX (New Series), number 2419, Shanghai: Printed and published at the offices of the North-China Daily News & Herald, Ld., →OCLC, pages 904–905:

An example of public acknowledgement by Government of the legitimacy of feng-shui disputes in the Tsuen Wan area [in Hong Kong] concerned the objections of villagers in Sheung Kwai Chung to the construction of a salt water service reservoir. It was claimed that the construction of this reservoir on a ridge behind the village would adversely affect the village's feng-shui because the veins of the "green dragon" protecting the village would be severed.

1968 July, Baruch Boxer, “Space, Change and Feng-shui in Tsuen Wan’s Urbanization”, in K. Ishwaran, editor, Journal of Asian and African Studies, volume 3, numbers 3–4, Leiden: E[vert] J[an] Brill, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 231–232:

(Chinese mythology) A system of spiritual energies, both good and evil, present in the natural features of landscapes.

風水 /风水

system of spiritual energies present in the natural features of landscapes


Boxer

Named Boxers by the West, since their official title was "The Fist of Righteous Harmony" (義和拳 /义和拳 (Yìhéquán)) and their symbol was a clenched fist.

(historical) A Chinese anti-imperial and xenophobic rebel of the early 1900s.


Dragon

The fifth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


Han

An early romanization of the Mandarin 漢 /汉 (Hàn), later reinforced by Wade-Giles and pinyin. Originally a river within present-day Shaanxi and Hubei. As a Chinese dynasty, from the founder Liu Bang's short-lived realm in Sichuan and Shaanxi among China's Eighteen Kingdoms, named for the Qin Empire's Hanzhong Commandery, headquartered in a city which also became known as Hanzhong, named for its placement along the middle reaches of the river.
The usage for the Chinese ethnicity first appeared during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, claiming the Han dynasty as one of the golden ages of Chinese history.

Hankow, China, is located 600 miles from the coast, on the north bank of the Yang-tse-Kiang River, at its junction with the Han River.

1902 January 5, L. S. Wilcox, “Conditions in Hankow.; American Trade on the Pacific and the far East”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-09-18, ANNUAL, page 23:

“By transferring such a significant volume of water away from the Han River Basin, the project is depriving the area of the most basic input it will need to develop in the years and decades to come,” said Britt Crow-Miller, a research assistant professor at Portland State University.[…]
The Danjiangkou reservoir gets its water from the Han River, a tributary of the Yangtze River which feeds several major cities in central China such as Wuhan, an economic power house in Hubei province sporting a $144 billion GDP.

2014 September 9, Stian Reklev, Kathy Chen, “Quenching Beijing's thirst may stunt regional growth”, in Michael Perry, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-05-27, Industry, Materials and Utilities:


Han

Atonal form of the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 邗 (Hán).

(history) A former city in Huai'an, Jiangsu, China

(history) A former state in Jiangsu, China under the Zhou dynasty

(history) A canal in Jiangsu, China, connecting Hancheng (now Yangzhou) on the Yangtze with Mokou (now Huai'an) on the Huai.

邗溝 /邗沟

canal in Jiangsu, now mostly part of the Grand Canal


Heaven

What Heaven has conferred is called the Nature...

1893, James Legge, transl., The Doctrine of the Mean:

...‘Heaven’ as we use it throughout the book is only a convenient but inaccurate translation of the Chinese character tian. Heaven in Chinese religions as well as in the Confucian tradition has multidimensional implications... In its metaphysical and physical connotation, Heaven... refers to... Nature. Applied in the spiritual realm, it signifies an anthropomorphic Lord or a Supreme Being who presides in Heaven, and rules over or governs directly the spiritual and material worlds.

2000, Yao Xinzhong, An Introduction to Confucianism, page 142:

It was not just the sky, but a god with wills and intentions, seen as sovereign of all... In fact, "Tian" was another reverent term to address the supreme god: "Heaven, for the help of the inferior people, made for them rulers, and made for them instructors" ("Great Declaration I" in the Book of History)...

2018, Zhuo Xinping, Religious Faith of the Chinese, page 58:

(Chinese mythology, semantic translation of 天 (tiān)) The supreme God or Nature which controls the universe.


Rat

The first of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


Tang

The imperial dynasty of China which reigned from 618 to 907.

Empress Liu (ca. 890-926 A.D.), whose birthplace was Chenan in Wei (now Chenan county, Hebei province), was the wife of Li Cunxu, who reigned as Emperor Zhuangzong, during the Tang dynasty.

2000, Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century, M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 235:

The Turkic dynasty of China which lasted from 923 to 936.

A kingdom in China which existed between 937 and 975.

A biography of Hu claims that Hu's attitudes changed in 1961, after he was sent to supervise agricultural policy changes in Tang county, Hebei province.

1996, Jasper Becker, Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine, The Free Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 328:

Any of a number of places in China.
A county of Baoding, Hebei, China.


Tiger

(soccer) Someone connected with Hull City Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.


Taoist

en-adj

Taoist (comparative more Taoist, superlative most Taoist)

more Taoist (comparative)
most Taoist (superlative)

Taoist medicine follows the maxim of "first do no harm".


mogwai

From Cantonese 魔怪 (mo1 gwaai3), 魔鬼 (mo1 gwai2).

(Chinese mythology) A kind of demon held to be harmful to humans.


Maoism

en-noun

Maoism (usually uncountable, plural Maoisms)

From Mao (surname of Mao Zedong) + -ism.

Some of the farmers were arrested in Wuhan parks where they allegedly spoke against Maoism and the Communist dictatorship, the report said.

1973 March 4, “Starving farmers given jail terms”, in Free China Weekly, volume XIV, number 8, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:

The philosophy espoused by Chinese leader Mao Zedong, a form of Marxism-Leninism that focuses on the peasantry as the revolutionary vanguard.


ming

From Chinese 命 (mìng, “destiny, fate; luck”).


Taoism

The Chinese New Year holiday period, being disrupted this year by the outbreak of a viral illness, has evolved over more than 3,000 years to become the most important of China’s traditional festivals.
As celebrated in China and in many other places where its known as the Lunar New Year, it is largely a secular holiday, yet it includes rituals and traditions that derive from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as from ancient myths and folk religions.

2020 January 23, David Crary, “Chinese New Year secular now but kept religious underpinning”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2022-06-15:

A religion developed from Taoist philosophy and folk and Buddhist religion and concerned with obtaining long life and good fortune often by magical means.


Yuan

[...]the Founder of that Family, who took the Name of Yuen, and who is known in Europe by the Name of Zing hi, or Zing his kan, but whom the Chineſe Hiſtory calls Tchin bi ſe, and Tai tſou, after he had conquer’d the King had thoughts of carrying the War into Corea: His General, called Leou co immediately made himſelf Mafter of the Towns ſituated upon the Eaſt of the River Ya lou;[...]

[1739 [1735], P. Du Halde, “Geographical Obſervations on the Kingdom of Corea”, in The General History Of China, 2nd edition, volume IV, →OCLC, page 391:

The imperial dynasty of China from 1279 to 1368.


peng

From romanizations of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 鵬 /鹏 (péng).

(Chinese mythology) A legendary enormous bird.


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 (Taoism, Buddhism, etc.) those burned as an offering before a Chinese shrine.


Santiago

/sæntiˈɑːɡəʊ/

Chinese Filipino
Guan Yu
James, brother of Jesus
Jose Rizal
Santiago
Santiago (disambiguation)

From Spanish Santiago, ellision of earlier Sant'Iago and Sant Iago, from Latin Sanctus Iācōbus (“Saint James or holy James”), the latter word deriving from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (ya‘ăqṓḇ, “Jacob”, literally “he will/shall heel”), from עָקֵב (‘āqḗḇ, “heel”) and the Biblical account of the patriarch Jacob's birth in Genesis 25:26. Piecewise doublet of Saint James.
The Guan Yu sense among Chinese Filipinos in the Philippines is due to a syncretic association of the deified Chinese general with St. James, who are both known for their assertiveness and heroism, which non-Chinese and people in the Philippines like Jose Rizal during the 19th century first associated with and/or surmised the Chinese folk deities venerated by Chinese Filipinos on Chinese altars and prints with popular Christian or Muslim figures.

der

(Philippines, Chinese Filipino, Chinese folk religion, Taoism) Synonym of Guan Yu, a famous 2nd-century Chinese warrior subsequently worshipped as a god of war.

Chinese Filipino; Chinese folk religion; Taoism; Chinese Filipino; Chinese folk religion; Taoism


muke

Mandarin, perhaps 木客 (mùkè, “tree-lodger”).

2004, Richard von Glahn, The Sinister Way http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0520234081&id=Qyz5I7fi4PQC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA93&printsec=8&dq=muke&sig=JY79_rk9YR_usCiystUTxqVr9RQ
According to the fifth-century Gazette of Nankang, the muke/shanzao likewise resembled humans in form and speech, but instead of hands and feet they had birdlike talons and nested in high trees. The tree-dwelling shandu and muke both seem to have some affinity with a changeling bird known as ye, which nested in the high trees of the remote mountains of southern China.

(Chinese mythology) A kind of tree spirit.


Mandate of Heaven

en-noun

Mandate of Heaven (plural Mandates of Heaven)

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


Chinese dragon

(mythology) A legendary creature, usually depicted as long and snake-like, with many claws, common in several East Asian cultures.

চীনা আজদাহা

legendary creature common in several East Asian cultures


CRS

CRS (countable and uncountable, plural CRSs)

Chinese restaurant syndrome
Chinese restaurant syndrome#English

(pathology) Initialism of Chinese restaurant syndrome.


money tree

(Chinese mythology) A kind of holy tree believed to bring money and good fortune.


Confucius

Borrowed from Latin Confucius, from Mandarin 孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, “Master Kong”).

Theſe Books mention only three Sects to have been in vogue in the World ; for of other Sects there is not the leaſt mention made. The firſt is the Sect of the Learned : The ſecond is called Sciequia : And the third Lancu. The firſt of theſe three is followed by all the Chineſes, and the adjacent People, which uſe the Chineſe Characters, as the Iſlanders of Japan, Corea, and Couchinchina : this Sect, which is that of the Learned, is taught to, and followed by none, but only thoſe and the Chineſes themſelves, and is the Antienteſt of all the Sects that were ever heard of in China : Out of this, about which a very great number of Books are writ, generally are choſen perſons fit for the Government of the Empire ; and therefore it is honoured and eſteemed above all others. The Doctrine of this Sect is not taught all at once, but they ſuck it in by degrees when they learn to Read or Write. The firſt Founder of this Sect was Confutius, the Prince of Chineſe Philoſophers, who is to this day honoured by all the Learned, with the Title of the The moſt Wiſe.

1669 [1665], John Nievhoff, “Of ſeveral SECTS in CHINA : Concerning PHILOSOPHY, and IDOL WORSHIP.”, 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, translation of original in Dutch, →OCLC, page 216:

The thirty eighth Year of the Cycle Confucius was preferr’d for his great Merit to be Prime Miniſter of the Kingdom of Lû, his native Country. Thro’ his wiſe Counſel the Face of Affairs was ſoon chang'd throughout the Land ; he reform’d the Abuſes that had crept into it, and reſtor’d Honeſty in dealing ; he taught young Men to reſpect the old, and honour their Parents, even after their Deceaſe ; he inſpir’d the fair Sex with Mildneſs and Chaſtity ; and caus’d Sincerity, Uprightneſs, and all other civil Virtues to prevail among the People.

1738, “Annals of the Chinese Monarchs”, in A Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary, Together with the Kingdoms of Korea, and Tibet, volume I, London, translation of original by J. B. du Halde, →OCLC, page 167:

Applicants to higher schools had to pass entrance examinations reminiscent of those administered before 1966. This change, which came under attack in the fall of 1973 during the campaign to criticize Lin Piao and Confucius, pleased middle school teachers in No. 6 Middle School in Tan-tung, Liaoning.

1977, Thomas P. Bernstein, “Mobilizing Urban Youth to Go to the Countryside”, in Up to the Mountains and Down to the Villages: The Transfer of Youth from Urban to Rural China, Yale University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 98:

This is no longer a clue. It's a game. You may have just gotten checkmate, but we're playing Chinese checkers, and as my old friend Confucius say; the hunter has become the hunter-ed. The chaser has become the chosed. Dame Fortuna has had her franking privileges revoked. It seems the portrait has painted the artist, sketching the reverser, who has become the reverse-ed. But this time the suffixed will become the sufferer, and it appears the baby killer is about to kill a baby.

2007, Xavier: Renegade Angel, season 1, episode 4, spoken by Xavier (Vernon Chatman):

An influential Chinese philosopher who lived 551 B.C.E. – 479 B.C.E.; personal name Kong Qiu (孔丘).


Confucianism

Confucianism (countable and uncountable, plural Confucianisms)

The school of thought and philosophy centered on Confucian principles, originating in China, including later teachings of scholars such as Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi).


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 吳 /吴 (Wú). Doublet of O.

(historical) Suzhou, a city in southern Jiangsu province in China, whence:

(historical) A county of imperial and Republican China around Suzhou.

(historical) A commandery of imperial China around Suzhou.

Linguists say the Wu dialect widely spoken in Shanghai, to take one prominent example, shares only about 31 percent lexical similarity with Mandarin, or roughly the same as English and French.
The encounter at the Datian market began when the dumpling seller approached the foreigner with a phrase that sounded like "goodbye" in the Wu dialect. Knowing it must mean something else, the foreigner guessed she was asking his name, and provided it, producing a laugh from the woman who explained, switching to Mandarin, that she had asked if he had eaten lately.

2005 July 10, Howard W. French, “Uniting China to Speak Mandarin, the One Official Language: Easier Said Than Done”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-05-10, World:

A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:

The family of Chinese languages spoken in that region, including Shanghainese and Suzhounese, the second-most spoken family after Mandarin.

وُو

one of the families of the Chinese language

The finest private gardens were built in Suzhou, a graceful old city with a network of canals and a cultured ambiance. It was founded in the sixth century B.C. as the capital of the kingdom of Wu and flourished as a center of trade and scholarship under successive dynasties.

1984 June 3, Christopher S. Wren, “WHERE THE CHINESE GARDEN BLOOMS”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2015-05-24, Travel:

(historical) The kingdom ruled by the Ji family from Wuxi and then Suzhou during the Spring and Autumn period of China's Zhou dynasty.

I deeply regretted having to miss seeing Hsing-ping, a very old town built by the ruler of the Wu Kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period of the third century.

1977, Yee Chiang, “Kuei-lin and Yang-shuo”, in China Revisited, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 155:

(historical) The kingdom ruled by the Sun family from Ezhou and Nanjing during the Three Kingdoms interregnum following China's Han dynasty.

(historical) The kingdom ruled by Li Zitong from Yangzhou and Hangzhou during the interregnum following China's Sui dynasty.

(historical) The kingdom ruled by the Yang family from Yangzhou during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.

(historical) The kingdom ruled by the Qian family from Hangzhou and Shaoxing during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 烏 /乌 (Wū or Wù, “crow, raven, black”).

der

A river in Guizhou, China, a tributary of the Yangtze.


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 巫 (Wū or Wú, “shaman, sorceror, witch”).

A river in Hunan, China, a tributary of the Yuan.


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 㵲 (Wǔ).


Sunyavadi

en-noun

Sunyavadi (plural Sunyavadis or Sunyavadi)

(colloquial, derogatory, Hindu, India, religious slur) A Buddhist, Taoist, or other impersonal worshipper.


Confucian

One who follows the teachings of Confucius.

confucià

one who follows the teachings of Confucius


Great Firewall of China

Blend of Great Wall of China + firewall, popularized in a 1997 issue of Wired.

Behind this hypothetical Great Firewall of China, most users would be allowed to exchange information with foreign sites if they were on the approved list

1997, A. Michael Froomkin, “Jurisdiction in Cyberspace: The Role of Intermediaries”, in Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure, →OCLC, page 146:

The "Great Firewall of China" is failing, largely due to the increased volume of Internet traffic in China.

2001, Greg Walton, China's Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People's Republic of China, →OCLC, page 5:

The Great Firewall of China is a case of corporate collaboration in censorship.

2007, Dinah PoKempner, “A Shrinking Realm: Freedom of Expression Since 9/11”, in Human Rights Watch World Report 2007, →ISBN, page 76:

The targets suggest the attackers are sympathetic to the vast censorship apparatus known as the Great Firewall of China.

2015 March 31, Dan Goodin, “Massive denial-of-service attack on GitHub tied to Chinese government”, in Ars Technica, retrieved 2015-04-01:

(originally humorous, derogatory) Internet censorship by the Government of the People's Republic of China.


Tang dynasty

A Chinese dynasty that lasted from 618–907 C.E..


feed the dragon

en-verb

feed the dragon (third-person singular simple present feeds the dragon, present participle feeding the dragon, simple past and past participle fed the dragon)

feeds the dragon (present singular third-person)
feeding the dragon (participle present)
fed the dragon (participle past)
fed the dragon (past)

The dragon is a cultural symbol of China.

(idiomatic) To outsource (jobs) to the People's Republic of China.

(idiomatic) To buy or sell products labeled as "Made in China."


one country, two systems

Coined by Chinese politician and paramount leader from 1978 to 1989 Deng Xiaoping in 1982 as part of the People's Republic of China proposal to reunify Taiwan. Calque of Chinese 一國兩制 /一国两制 (yī guó liǎng zhì).

cal

The principle of “one country, two systems” was first proposed by Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s as way to reconcile the communist mainland with historically Chinese territories—Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau—that had capitalist economies.

2017 June 29, “Has “one country, two systems” been a success for Hong Kong?”, in The Economist, →ISSN:

Policy for the reunification of China as one country, but with areas like Hong Kong and Taiwan with separate economic and political systems.

一國兩制 /一国两制

slogan for the reunification of China as one country


Qing dynasty

A farmer who pretended to be a princess descended from the Qing dynasty to swindle people out of more than 2 million yuan ($315,000) has been sentenced to 13 - 1/2 years in prison for fraud, a court said.

2015 September 9, “Chinese farmer pretended to be princess to commit fraud”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2022-10-13:

The last dynasty of China, lasting from 1644 to 1912 C.E..


Snake

en-proper noun

Snake (countable and uncountable, plural Snakes)

en:Snake (disambiguation)
en:Snake (zodiac)
en:Snake River

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Snake.wav

(astrology, timekeeping) The sixth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.

(video games) An early computer game, later popular on mobile phones, in which the player attempts to manoeuvre a perpetually growing snake so as to collect food items and avoid colliding with walls or the snake's tail.

A river in the northwestern United States, tributary to the Columbia.


filial piety

The virtue of showing respect and doing good deeds for one's parents, elders, and ancestors, as understood in Confucian ethics and commonly observed in the East Asian cultural sphere.


yamboo

(historical) A small gold or silver ingot formerly used as currency in some parts of China.


manhua

en-noun

manhua (countable and uncountable, plural manhuas)

Borrowed from Mandarin 漫畫 /漫画 (mànhuà), from Japanese 漫(まん)画(が) (manga). Doublet of manga and manhwa.

(comics) A comic originating in China or Taiwan.


Confucianist

en-adj

Confucianist (comparative more Confucianist, superlative most Confucianist)

more Confucianist (comparative)
most Confucianist (superlative)

Related to the teachings of Confucius; Confucian.


Confucianist

A follower of the teachings of Confucius; a Confucian.


Jurchen

From a reconstruction of Jurchen *jörcen, attested via Middle Chinese 竹里真 (ʈɨuk̚ lɨ^X t͡ɕiɪn) and Khitan 𘲮𘯤𘰭 (*ju rả n), developed under the influence of Manchu ᠵᡠᡵᠴᡳᡨ (jurcit) and Classical Mongolian ᠵᠦᠷᠴᠢᠳ (ǰürčid). Vajda argues for a derivation from a Proto-Tungusic word meaning "reindeer people", cognate with the Orochs of Russia's Khabarovsk Province and the Oroks of Sakhalin.

A member of a medieval and early modern Tungusic people, progenitors of the Manchus.


lingchi

The face of the dying man in the lingchi video monotonously evokes Maria Falconetti in Carl Theodor Dreyer ’s 1928 “Passion of Joan of Arc.”

2007 July 25, Roberta Smith, “Figures Moving as if in a Trance Across an Isolated, Lawless Island”, in The New York Times:

death by a thousand cuts
death by a thousand cuts

A form of execution used in China from roughly 900 to 1905 C.E., the "death by a thousand cuts", in which the condemned was killed by methodical removal of body parts with a knife.


Great Leap Forward

Calque from Chinese 大躍進／大跃进 (Dàyuèjìn). Coined by a People's Daily commentator in 1957.

zh-l

大躍進／大跃进 (Dàyuèjìn)

coinage

Louti, in Hunan Province, Central China, is one of the numerous small industrial cities that have grown up since liberation, particularly since the big leap forward.

[1960, Survey of China Mainland Press, numbers 2308-2328, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 30:

In the early 1960s, following the collapse of Mao's Great Leap Forward, Liu and Chang, as party officials in the city of I-pin (120 miles south of Szechwan's capital, Chengtu), vigorously prosecuted those cadres under their jurisdiction who had shown less than wholehearted devotion to that campaign.

1971, Thomas Jay Matthews, “The Cultural Revolution in Szechwan”, in The Cultural Revolution in the Provinces, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 96:

(historical) A vast economic and social plan lasting from 1958 to 1961 which aimed to use the Chinese population to rapidly transform the Communist China from a primarily agrarian economy by peasant farmers into a modern communist society through agriculturalization and industrialization, but failed disastrously (resulting in massive famine and the deaths of many millions of people).


Chinese restaurant syndrome

en-noun

Chinese restaurant syndrome (uncountable)

Coined by Robert Ho Man Kwok in a 1968 letter to the New England Journal of Medicine.

monosodium glutamate
monosodium glutamate

(medicine, gastroenterology) A supposed syndrome associated with consumption of the westernized version of Chinese food, characterized by various symptoms such as burning and tingling sensations, rapid heartbeat, and drowsiness, and initially ascribed to monosodium glutamate (but possibly just psychosomatic, or hypernatremia from overconsumption of salt).


Silk Road

China had received with more or less good grace the flood of Buddhist missionaries but had long since sent out her own missionaries— priests, not of a transcendental religion of salvation, but of a secular way of life, of a worldly and refined civilization. Expansion in Turkestan and Central Asia took place simultaneously with expansion in Southeast Asia. As fast as the famed Silk Road started winding itself through thousands of miles of Eurasian deserts, swamps, jungles and mountains toward Persia and the Mediterranean world, increasingly numerous fleets of junks began to ply the warm waters of the tropical south.

1958, Amaury de Riencourt, “The Moonlight Civilizations”, in The Soul of China, Revised edition, Harper & Row, published 1965, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 109-110:

But halfway back, he learned that there had been a change in dynasties and decided he would be better off staying where he was. And so Lu Kuang set up his own Silk Road kingdom at Wuwei in the middle of the Kansu Corridor.

2016, Bill Porter, The Silk Road: Taking the Bus to Pakistan, Counterpoint, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 172:

In this old Silk Road city in western China, a state security campaign involving the detention of vast numbers of people has moved to its next stage: demolishing their neighborhoods and purging their culture.

2019 March 21, “After mass detentions, China razes Muslim communities to build a loyal city”, in EFE, archived from the original on 2022-08-21:

Six hours are enough to devour the over 900 miles from Shanghai to Xi’an, the landlocked capital of Shaanxi Province in China’s central northwest, standing on the bones of the imperial city of Chang’an. In the seventh and eighth centuries A.D., this was the center of not only China but the globe — the eastern origin of the trade routes we call the Silk Road and the nexus of a cross-cultural traffic in ideas, technology, art and food that altered the course of history as decisively as the Columbian Exchange eight centuries later. A million people lived within Chang’an’s pounded-earth walls, including travelers and traders from Central, Southeast, South and Northeast Asia and followers of Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity and Manichaeism.

2020 May 11, Ligaya Mishan, “Eating in Xi’an, Where Wheat and Lamb Speak to China’s Varied Palette”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-05-11:

(historical) An extensive interconnected network of trade routes across Asia, North and Northeast Africa, and Europe, historically used by silk traders.

طَرِيق اَلْحَرِير

routes used by silk traders across Europe, Asia and northern Africa


Laozi

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the standard Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 老子 (“the Old One, the Venerable One”).

der

a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

(Chinese history) An honorific title for the legendary Taoist philosopher Li Er, who supposedly lived in the 6th and 5th centuries BC and (Chinese mythology) has subsequently been worshipped as a Taoist god.

لَاو تْسِي

influential Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism


Ming

The Comet of 1385 was discovered in China by the astronomers of the Ming dynasty, on October 23 (period Houng-wou eighteenth year, ninth moon, day Wou-yn): it was then on the borders of Thai-wei (a constellation of stars in Leo and Virgo, surrounding β Leonis); it touched β Virginis, and left Thai-wei by what the Chinese termed the "great gate," i.e. between β and n Virginis.

1845, J. R. Hind, “Mr. J. R. Hind on the Elements of several Comets not previously computed”, in Philosophical Magazine, volume XXVII, London, page 418:

When Koxinga, the Ming Dynasty loyalist who drove the Dutch colonists from Taiwan in 1661, ending an occupation that had laster 37 years, Taipei was nonexistent.

1973 July 15, “Trade assures Taipei of wealth, prosperity”, in Free China Weekly, volume XIV, number 27, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2:

Only 8.2 percent of the wall, built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) is maintained properly, according to a study by the China Great Wall Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of the Wall.

2015 June 29, “10 Pct. of Great Wall missing due to erosion, vandalism and poor management”, in EFE, archived from the original on 2022-09-10:

Among Professor Spence’s most ambitious books was “The Search for Modern China,” which made The New York Times’s best-seller list and is now a standard text. It took an 876-page view of China’s history from the decline of the Ming dynasty in the 1600s to the democracy movement of 1989.

2021 December 27, Neil Genzlinger, “Jonathan Spence, Noted China Scholar, Dies at 85”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-12-27, Books:

A former dynasty in China, reigning from the end of the Yuan to the beginning of the Qing (Ching)


euhemerism

en-noun

euhemerism (usually uncountable, plural euhemerisms)

From Euhemerus + -ism, ultimately from Latin Euhēmerus, from Ancient Greek Εὐήμερος (Euḗmeros), an ancient Greek Sicilian Skeptic who proposed most or all mythology derived from historical figures and natural events which received supernatural characteristics only through retelling.

In regard to the Thracian god Zalmosis, the Hellespontic Greeks interpreted his character and attributes according to the scheme of Euemerism.

1846, George Grote, History of Greece, volume I, page 596:

Then again there was a period of what is sometimes called Euhemerism - the theory that the gods and goddesses had actually once been men and women, historical characters round whom a halo of romance and remoteness had gathered.

1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 10:

(uncountable) The belief that legends and mythology arise from exaggerated descriptions of historical people and events.

يُوهَيْمِرِيَّة

attribution of a historical origin to myths and legends


Chinese astrology

The astrology system which was developed in China and is based on yin and yang, twelve signs represented by animals, the lunisolar calendar and five planets.


Song

A 1,000-year-old bowl from China's Song Dynasty sold at auction for $37.7 million on Tuesday, breaking the record for Chinese porcelain, auction house Sotheby?s said.
The small piece -- which dates from 960-1127 -- broke the previous record of $36.05 million set in 2014 for a Ming Dynasty wine cup which was sold to a Shanghai tycoon.

2017 October 3, “Bowl sells for Chinese porcelain record $37.7 million: Sotheby?s”, in France 24, archived from the original on 2017-10-03, Live news:

(historical) A former dynasty in China, reigning from the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to the beginning of the Yuan.

(historical) A former empire in China, occupying the eastern half of modern China.

A river in China; any of various minor rivers in China.


qilin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 麒麟 (qílín). Doublet of kirin.

...a red and gold textile with phoenixes in one row swooping towards qilins in the next amidst a densely foliated ground...

1989, Ernst J. Grube, Eleanor G. Sims, Islamic Art: Volume 3:

Roundel depicting dragon attacked by qilins; mounted on an album page.

2001, David J. Roxburgh, Prefacing the image: the writing of art history in sixteenth-century Iran:

When the qilin leaves, the emperor traces the shapes he saw into the dirt.

2010, Molly Blaisdell, Necdet Yilmaz, Truth about Unicorns:

A mythical Chinese hooved chimerical creature, said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage.


Jade Emperor

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpəɹə/

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpɹə/

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpəɹɚ/

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpɹɚ/

Calque of Chinese 玉皇 (Yùhuáng) or 玉帝 (Yù Dì, “Jade Emperor”).

(Chinese mythology) The lord of the Celestial Hierarchy, ruling over Heaven, Earth, and Hell.


Chicom

(politics, informal, sometimes offensive) A member of the Communist Party of China, a Chinese cadre.

(politics, informal, inexact, sometimes offensive, ethnic slur) Any citizen of the People's Republic of China.


GoF

(politics) Abbreviation of Gang of Four.

Goblet of Fire
w:Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire


euhemerization

euhemerization (countable and uncountable, plural euhemerizations)

/juːˌhiːməɹɪzˈeɪʃən/

From euhemerize + -ation, ultimately from Latin Euhēmerus, from Ancient Greek Εὐήμερος (Euḗmeros), an ancient Greek Sicilian Skeptic who proposed most or all mythology derived from historical figures and natural events which received supernatural characteristics only through retelling.

Much of Chinese mythology appears to have been the result of euhemerization, the later deification of Neolithic tribal leaders and inventors incompletely remembered through oral traditions and now-lost records.

(uncountable) Synonym of deification: the actual creation of mythology and legends from historical figures and events; (countable) an instance of this.


puppet army

From puppet + army, a calque from Mandarin 傀儡軍／傀儡军 (kuǐlěijūn, “puppet army”).

(specifically) Such an army in China during the Sino-Japanese War.


Jin

The atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 晉 /晋 (Jìn), adopted as the name of a river in Shanxi in antiquity. As a Zhou state, from the renaming of the marchland Tang (唐) by its second marquis Ji Xie when he relocated to the Jin River c. 1000 BC. As a surname, principally from the Zhou state and its region in China. As an empire and dynastic name, from Sima Yan's status as prince of Jin under the preceding Wei Empire. As a river in Fujian, named for the empire, which settled its banks with colonizers from China's Central Plains. As a dialect, from 晉語／晋语 (Jìnyǔ), from the region of the former Zhou state.

zh-l

晉語／晋语 (Jìnyǔ)

(historical) An empire in China (AD 265–420) established by Sima Yan's overthrow of the Wei and replaced by barbarian conquerors in the north and Liu Yu's Song Empire in the south.

(historical) A prefecture of imperial China centered on Linfen, Shanxi.


Jin

Cambridge University Press
Jin
Jin (Chinese surname)
Jin Prefecture (Shaanxi)
Jurchen Jin
Linfen

From the atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 金 (Jīn, literally “gold, golden”). As a surname, legendarily derived from the descendants of Shaohao who took a golden phoenix as their tribal emblem. As an area and town in Shaanxi, named for the placer deposits of gold on the Yue River. As a Jurchen empire and dynastic name, a Chinese calque of Jurchen name of the Ashi River within modern Harbin, preserved in Chinese transcription as 按出虎 (Ànchūhǔ) (Middle Chinese: ʔan-tsyhwit-xu). As a Manchu empire and dynastic name, an early continuation of the former Jurchen name prior to the 1636 proclamation of the Qing.

der

(historical) A prefecture of imperial China centered on Ankang, Shaanxi.

(historical) An empire in northern China (AD 1115–1234) established by an invasion of Liao by the Wanyan Jurchens and overthrown by an invasion of the Mongols.


Jin

Jin
Jin Prefecture (Hunan)
Jin River (Bei River)
Jin River (Sichuan)

From the atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Chinese 錦 /锦 (Jǐn).

A river (錦江) in Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces in China, emptying into the Bei or North River.

(historical) A prefecture of imperial China centered on Luyang, Hunan.


CCP

On August 23 at Wuhan’s first Red Guard rally, Governor Chang T’i-hsueh, who was also second secretary of the Central Committee of the Hupei CCP, presided.¹⁵ Two days later the Wuhan CCP convened a rally of middle school Red Guards, while the Federation of Trade Unions convened a meeting of workers who supported the Red Guards.

1971, Deborah S. Davis, “The Cultural Revolution in Wuhan”, in The Cultural Revolution in the Provinces, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, pages 151–152:

By late August 1920, Chen established the first branch of the CCP, in Shanghai, comprising seven members.

1988, Stephen Uhalley, Jr., A History of the Chinese Communist Party, Hoover Institution Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 16:

The intelligentsia’s comments on the CCP were in many respects different from their critique of the KMT. Intellectuals in the KMT areas were naturally more familiar with the policies and performance of the Government than those of the CCP. Second, since they felt that the Government was in large measure responsible for the existing political situation, and that it still possessed the power to reform itself and end the war, they concentrated their efforts on the Government in the hope of compelling such action from it. By contrast, the CCP was relegated to the position of an opposition party which had yet to occupy any position of national power. This treatment of the CCP may have owed as much to the political restrictions under which the liberal press was operating as to the political biases of the liberals themselves. Nevertheless, their critique of the CCP, while admittedly based on less than ample information, gives the impression of having been made in good faith and was in all respects consistent with their fundamental ideological commitments.

1999, Suzanne Pepper, “The Intelligentsia's Critique of the Chinese Communists”, in Civil War in China: The Political Struggle 1945-1949, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 200:

In 1935 the CCP's defeated army retreated to Yen-an in the northern part of Shanhsi Province. This retreat was called the Long March, during which tens of thousands of marchers died.

2000, George C. Y. Wang, Taiwan (World Conflicts and Confrontations), volume 3, Salem Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 662:

Wang said that Beijing successfully backed several pro-China politicians, who won seats in the 2018 local elections. He added the CCP desperately wants to stop Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) from being re-elected.
Wang also disclosed details about CCP's plans to take over Hong Kong and Australia, reported Liberty Times.

2019, Ching-Tse Cheng, “Chinese spy confirms China's involvement in Taiwan 2020 election”, in Taiwan News:

Beijing uses a combination of threat and inducement to pressure governments, elites, corporations, think tanks, and others – often in an opaque manner – to toe the CCP line and censor free expression.

2020, “United States Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China”, in whitehouse.gov, archived from the original on 2020-05-22, page 4:

Jiang died of leukemia and multiple organ failure, Xinhua added.
The politician, who was born in the eastern town of Yangzhou in 1926, was appointed secretary-general of the CCP in 1989.

2022 November 30, “Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin dies aged 96”, in EFE, archived from the original on 2023-02-13:

In 1950, it moved to Fengshan after Chengdu fell into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government relocated to Taiwan.

2023 March 19, Nien-han Liao, “Whampoa academy arguments redundant”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-21, Editorials, page 8:

Chinese Communist Party
w:Chinese Communist Party

Initialism of Chinese Communist Party. (Communist Party of China)


wokou

From Mandarin 倭寇 (wōkòu, “Japanese pirates”).

(historical) Pirates of a mixture of ethnicities who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th to 16th centuries.


Son of Heaven

Calque of Literary Chinese 天子, from the Emperor having the Mandate of Heaven.


Zhou

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 周 (Zhōu). Doublet of Chau.


Zhou

Various regions of ancient China occupied by this people, including the Fen and Wei valleys

A dynasty of rulers over this people, who conquered the Shang kingdom and nominally ruled China until their conquest by Qin in the 3rd century BC


sycee

en-noun

sycee (countable and uncountable, plural sycees)

From Cantonese 細絲 /细丝 (sai³ si¹, “fine silk”), variously explained as owing to the bullion's ability to be worked into fine strands or from the resemblance of its luster.

uder

(historical) Any of various gold or silver ingots used as currency in imperial China.


Temple of Heaven

Calque of Chinese 天壇 /天坛 (Tiāntán, literally “Altar of Heaven”).

calque

Jonah Byrde: Y'know, in third grade, we learned about the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. There are like 600 acres and on the grounds there's this building called the Hall for Prayer for Good Harvests. It's circled by this thing called the Echo Wall.
Wendy Byrde: Ok, ok.
Jonah Byrde: You can go there and even when people are whispering you just hear the same things repeated over and over and over.
Wendy Byrde: Ok, enough. You wanna be a smartass? You want to hate me? Fine.

2022 January 21, Chris Mundy, Ozark, 00:41:05

A religious complex in southeastern Beijing, formerly important to Chinese imperial rituals; the present-day park surrounding and preserving the site.

(proscribed) The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the largest building in the complex, commonly confused as its focus.


Kuomintang

c. 1912, from the Wade–Giles romanization of Mandarin 國民黨 /国民党 (Guómíndǎng), Wade–Giles: Kuo²-min²-tang³.

It is generally believed that the creation of the Kuomintang will somewhat straighten out the political tangle in China caused by the multitude of parties. The Kuomintang holds itself out as the democratic party, and its support of the President will be tempered by the path his future actions take.

1912 September 7, “The Passing of the Tungmenghui”, in North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette, volume CIV, number 2352, Shanghai, →OCLC, page 686, column 3:

The trend of events from the founding of the Republic to the unseating of the Kuomintang members of the National Assembly in November, 1913, however, confirmed the belief held in many quarters that republicanism was not a suitable system of government for the Chinese in their present stage of political development.

1916, F. L. Pratt, “CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1915”, in China Mission Year Book 1916, Shanghai: Christian Literature Society for China, page 24:

U Nu's government was Socialist with a program of nationalization. But it had to fight for survival against almost universal disorder complicated by a Communist rebellion, a Karen rising, which was far more serious, and, in 1950, the arrival from Yünnan of General Li Mi's Kuomintang division after its rout by the Chinese Communists.

1968, Daniel George Edward Hall, “Burma”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 4, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 442, column 2:

He drew lists of Party cadre members of both before and after forty-nine, and pored over the scant details of those entrusted with the takeover of big enterprises where technological know-how was required: in particular the Kiangnan shipyard, a massive affair from which the Kuomintang elements had repeatedly to be purged.

1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 238:

The Kuomintang Party, after capturing 62 of the 71 seats in the Dec. 3 legislative elections, has retained control of the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan, the bastion of recovery, that it has held for the past 30 years.

1983 December 4, “6.7 Million Voters Select 71 Legislators”, in Free China Weekly, volume XXIV, number 48, Taipei, page 1:

By 1927, these gangs had come to play a cardinal political role, serving as agents of the Kuomintang in dealing with unions, radicals, and other opponents of the regime.

1985, Harold R. Isaacs, Re-encounters in China: Notes of a Journey in a Time Capsule, M. E. Sharpe, →ISBN, page 6:

If we say that the Communist Parties in West European countries are tainted with some undesirable traditions of the social-democratic parties, the Chinese Communist Party is more or less tainted with the undesirable traditions of the Kuomintang. The concept of “ruling the country by the party”, held by some comrades, is a manifestation in our Party of an abominable tradition of the Kuomintang.

1992 [1941 April 15], Xiaoping Deng, “The Party and the Anti-Japanese Democratic Government”, in Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 17:

Next door, you can't miss the Fushan Illuminated Wall, a huge sign with red Chinese characters on a white background declaring: "Sleep with one's sword ready." Its purpose was to brace the islands' Kuomintang troops and to warn off the Communist troops always watching from just across the waters.

2004, Phil Macdonald, National Geographic Traveler: Taiwan, National Geographic Society, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 203:

In February, the newly elected mayor of Taipei, Chiang Wan-an, welcomed a delegation from the Shanghai branch of the Taiwan Affairs Office. Andrew Hsia, a Kuomintang vice chairman, went to China and met with Wang Huning and Song Tao, two key figures in Beijing’s Taiwan strategy.

2023 March 27, Chris Horton, “Taiwan’s Ex-President Heads to China in Historic and Closely Watched Visit”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-27, Asia Pacific:

A nationalist political party founded under Sun Yat-sen in 1912 that ruled mainland China from 1928 to 1949, now one of three major parties in the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Chinese History: A New Manual
Harvard University Press
Kuomintang

國民黨 /国民党

a nationalist political party in pre-Communist China, and contemporary Taiwan


Qin

en-proper noun

Qin (countable and uncountable, plural Qins)

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 秦 (Qín), from Middle Chinese (*dzin), from Old Chinese (*dzin).

An ancient feudal state of China that existed between 778 and 207 BC.

The youth of China, deeply concerned with the future of their country, began to question everything and re-evaluate everything. What had been considered valuable became worthless, and what had been regarded as worthless became priceless. The more they examined, the more doubtful they became. This inquisitive approach shook the ancient political system, which had been handed down with little modification from the Chin Dynasty more than twenty centuries before. The new generation cried, "Democracy."

[1943, Kwok Ying Fung, “Out of Yesterday”, in China, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 14:

Sian was the captial of the Cin Dynasty(221B.C. - 201B.C.), which built the Great Wall of China. The city is now known for archeological finds, such as the clay soldiers, horses and arms buried with the emperor of the Cin Dynasty.

[2007, “Our Trip Back to Shanghai”, in A Girl From Shanghai: The Story of Lillian Hsu, a Medical Geneticist, a NTU Medical College Alumna, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 48:

Until 1974, the name Qin Shihuangdi (221-210 B.C.) was essentially known to specialists through the annals of Sima Qian, official historian to the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.). The Han overthrew the Qin dynasty founded by the First Emperor and this might call for reservations concerning his objectivity. Yet Sima, who wrote a century after the facts, was well informed.

2007 September 14, Souren Melikian, “A Chinese emperor's cultural revolution”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-11-28, Arts:

The highlight of every Chinese New Year meal with the family is when the "hongbao", red envelopes filled with brand new banknotes, are handed out at the end. The tradition goes back to the Qin dynasty (221 - 206 BC) when hongbao were given to children to protect them from evil spirits.

2016 February 11, Frank Sieren, “Sieren's China: Cashless into the Year of the Monkey”, in DW News, archived from the original on 2016-02-12, China:

The first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC.


Qin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 沁 (Qìn).


Sinocentrism

From Sino- (prefix meaning ‘relating to China or the Chinese’) + -centrism (suffix indicating a focus on, or belief in the superiority of, one culture, people, place, or other thing).

confix

[page 81] While Berry is certainly correct in identifying "sinocentrism," which he would rather term "race-centrism," in post-1949 Chinese film, what he sees as "raceization" (or "sinification" as used elsewhere by Paul Clark) is, I would contend, a politically motivated and manipulated process of cultural production. [...] [page 95] To return to Chris Berry's theory of "race," one realizes that he has made an overstatement in treating recent Chinese films as a radical challenge not only to "sinocentrism" but perhaps also "the very assumption of a fundamental duality separating the Han Chinese and the foreign."

1997, Yingjin Zhang, “From “Minority Film” to “Minority Discourse”: Questions of Nationhood and Ethnicity in Chinese Cinema”, in Sheldon Hsiao-peng Lu, editor, Transnational Chinese Cinemas: Identity, Nationhood, Gender, Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, pages 81–82 and 95:

(politics) Ethnocentrism among the Han people of China; Han chauvinism.

大漢族主義 /大汉族主义

ethnocentrism among the Han people of China


Tao Te Ching

/ˌtaʊ ˌteɪ ˈt͡ʃɪŋ/

From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道德經 /道德经 (Dàodéjīng, “Classic of the Dao and De”).

bor

(philosophy, Taoism) A Chinese classic text fundamental to both philosophical and religious Taoism.


Ming dynasty

Partial calque from Mandarin 明朝 (Míngcháo).

The Outer city, also known as the Chinese city, was added during the reign of the emperor Chia Ching (1522-66) of the Ming dynasty. It is in the form of an oblong adjoining the Inner city. with walls 14 mi. in length, including 4 mi. of the southern wall of the Inner city.

1968, “PEKING (PEIPING)”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 17, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 532, column 1:

A Chinese dynasty that lasted from 1368–1644 C.E..


Ox

(constellation): Semantic loan from Chinese 牛宿 (Niúxiù).
: (surname): From ox, the animal.
: (Oxford): Clipping

(astronomy) A Chinese constellation located near Capricorn, one of the 28 lunar mansions and part of the larger Black Turtle.

The second of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


Black Turtle

From Mandarin 玄武 (Xuánwǔ, literally “Dark Warrior”) + the primary animal representing it.

(Chinese culture, Chinese mythology) a symbol of the element of water and direction north, typically depicted as a turtle entwined with a snake


Xuanwu

From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin Chinese 玄武 (Xuánwǔ, literally “Dark Warrior”).


Wei

A river in China, a tributary of the Yellow River.


Liao

A romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of 遼 /辽 (Liáo)

The centre of Chinese influence in Manchuria was mainly Liaotung peninsula and along the Liao River valley.

1934, T. O'Conroy, The Menace of Japan, London: Hurst & Blackett, →OCLC, page 159:

Naturally the Japanese destroyed or captured the greater part of the obsolete Chinese Navy, drove the Chinese armies out of Korea, occupied Southern Manchuria as far west as the Liao River, and invaded Shantung.

1939, Walker Matheson, “The U. S. Joins in the Battle of the Concessions”, in North American Review, volume 248, number 1, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, pages 50–51:

To the Han people, the Khitan were not much more than barbarians. Interlopers from the Mongolian steppes, they moved into the northern provinces of China in the 10th century and established the Liao empire (named for the Liao River), one of the wealthiest and most powerful dynasties of its time.

2006 October 13, Grace Glueck, “A Surprising Redoubt of Glittering Prizes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-01-16, Art & Design:

After proceeding south-east to Yung-Ping (on the Bohai Sea), he then struck north-east to the Liao River, following Jebe’s route a year earlier, and penetrated deep into Manchuria, following, first, the north-easterly course of the Sunggari (Songhua) River, the largest tributary of the mighty Amur.

2015, Frank McLynn, “The Invasion of the Jin Empire”, in Genghis Khan: The Man Who Conquered the World, Vintage Books, published 2016, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 206:

This language family's beginnings were traced to Neolithic millet farmers in the Liao River valley, an area encompassing parts of the Chinese provinces of Liaoning and Jilin and the region of Inner Mongolia.[…]
The origins of modern Chinese languages arose independently, though in a similar fashion with millet also involved. While the progenitors of the Transeurasian languages grew broomcorn millet in the Liao River valley, the originators of the Sino-Tibetan language family farmed foxtail millet at roughly the same time in China's Yellow River region, paving the way for a separate language dispersal, Robbeets said.

2021 November 10, Will Dunham, “Japanese-Korean-Turkish language group traced to farmers in ancient China”, in Rosalba O'Brien, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2021-11-10, China:

A river of Manchuria (northeastern China)


Liao

A romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of 僚 (Liáo)

Synonym of Rau, a people of southeastern China


Tiele

zh-m

鐵勒／铁勒 (Tiělè)

A member of a confederation of Turkic peoples living to the north of China and in Central Asia, emerging after the disintegration of the Xiongnu confederacy.


Xianbei

zh-l

鮮卑／鲜卑 (Xiānbēi)

(historical) An ancient Mongolic nomadic people who resided in what is now eastern Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and northeast China.


Analects

From James Legge's 1861 translation of the work's Mandarin Chinese title 論語 (Lúnyǔ). "Analects" itself is a 1658 Ancient Greek loanword from ἀνάλεκτα (análekta, “things chosen”), from ἀνα- (ana-, “up”) + λέγειν (légein, “to gather”). Compare lecture.


Fuxi

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the modern Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 伏羲 (Fúxī), variously understood and treated as a solar god, protoplast, culture hero, legendary emperor, and protohistorical tribal chief or as an imperial or prehistoric dynasty (氏, shì) in China before the Xia. The two characters may be phonetic but have the meaning "concealed from", "submitting to", or "prostrate before" 羲 (xī), a character that also appears in the name of the early solar goddess 羲和 (“Xīhé”), q.v.

The Chineſe ſay that Fo-hi, the Founder of their Monarchy, fix’d his Court in this Province; and began his Reign about the Year 2952, according to ſome Authors, whoſe Opinion if true confirms the Chronology of the Septuagint.

[1738, J. B. Du Halde, “PROVINCE VII. HO-NAN.”, in A Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary, Together with the Kingdoms of Korea, and Tibet, volume I, London, page 102:

(Chinese mythology) A legendary ancient Chinese ruler and culture hero, typically the brother of Nüwa.


neigong

From Mandarin 內功／内功 (nèigōng, “internal exercises”).

Any of the variety of Chinese breathing, meditation and spiritual disciplines associated with Taoism and martial arts.


Opium War

(historical) The First Opium War or the Second Opium War, two Anglo-Chinese wars relating to opium trade in the mid-19th century.


jiang hu

(crime fiction) the subculture of the criminal underworld


Nüwa

女媧／女娲 (Nǚwā)

The first sovereign was Fuxi, the heavenly sovereign, and first ancestor of 100 emperors. His marriage to his sister, Nüwa, balanced yin and yang.

2008, Essential Visual History Of World Mythology, National Geographic Society, →ISBN, page 334:

(Chinese mythology) a goddess who repaired heaven and created the Earth


Little Red Book

In reference to the book's red colour, and because red is the traditional colour representing Communism.

Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, a book widely distributed in Communist China.


Warring States

The era in ancient Chinese history following the Spring and Autumn period and concluding with the first imperial unification of China under the Qin dynasty (c. 475 BC to 221 BC).


Boxer Rebellion

From Boxer + rebellion. Boxer refers to 義和拳 /义和拳 (Yìhéquán, literally “Righteous and Harmonious Fists”), the martial arts practiced by the rebels.

Young Major Leonard, with only one arm (the other lost during the Boxer rebellion in China), Mr. John Lodge and a charming young Italian named Gherardesca, and many others, made these visits stand out in my memory.

1937, Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, pages 113–114:

According to one published account, said to be based on information provided by foreign missionaries in Chungking, whose reaction may have been influenced by the excesses of the Boxer Rebellion just a few years earlier, Tuan-fang was killed by his own soldiers at Tzu-chou, Shensi province.

1991, Thomas Lawton, A Time of Transition: Two Collectors of Chinese Art, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 63:

A violent anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising which took place in China towards the end of the Qing dynasty between 1899 and 1901.

義和團運動 /义和团运动

violent anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901


Sui

The Sui dynasty of China which ruled from 581 to 618.


Dog

The figurative sense "Newcastle Brown Ale" comes from the euphemism "I'm going to walk the dog" or "I'm going to see a man about a dog", meaning "I'm going to the pub for a drink". This was further popularised by a 1980s advertising campaign.

Shakespeare could understand Human, the language used by people, as well as Dog, the telepathic speech with which canines communicated with each other.

2005, Jean Little, Forward, Shakespeare!, Orca Book Publishers, →ISBN, page 2:

Lara's biggest frustration was that she could only speak one language – her native tongue of Dog. She would have loved to learn to speak Human but this was beyond the spy-training programme.

2006, Andrew Cope, Spy Dog: Captured!, Penguin UK, →ISBN, page 12:

I blinked. “I thought you were talking to Blake about a dog.”
“Cath,” Jake said, “I'm trying to be more open about this. Didn't you just say that you could talk to animals?”
The realization dawned on me. “I don't speak Dog very well, but it's worth a try.”

2015, Harper Lin, Pawsitively Dead: A Wonder Cats Mystery:

(humorous) The language supposedly spoken by dogs

The eleventh of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.

(astronomy, with definite article) The Dog Star; Sirius.


circuit intendant

en-noun

circuit intendant (plural circuit intendants)

zh-l

道臺／道台 (dàotái)

(historical) The chief magistrate of an imperial Chinese circuit, overseeing both its civil operation and local defense.


daotai

en-noun

daotai (countable and uncountable, plural daotai or daotais)

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of 道臺／道台 (dàotái).

zh-l

道臺／道台 (dàotái)

TAIWAN, or Chinese Formosa, is considered a Foo or district of the province of Fokien, and is governed by a Taoutai extraordinary, who, though responsible to the provincial viceroy, possesses the privilege of memorialising the Throne direct.

[1864, Robert Swinhoe, “Notes on the Island of Formosa.”, in The Journal of the Royal Geographic Society of London, volume XXXIV, London: John Murray, published 1865, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6:

circuit intendant
circuit intendant#English

(historical) Synonym of circuit intendant: a local governor of late imperial China.


Ruism

Partial calque from Mandarin 儒教 (rújiào, “Confucianism”): Mandarin 儒 (rú) + -ism.


Rabbit

The fourth of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


Horse

The seventh of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


Goat

The eighth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


Monkey

The ninth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


Rooster

The tenth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


Pig

The twelfth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


literary inquisition

en-noun

literary inquisition (plural literary inquisitions)

(historical) The persecution of intellectuals on the basis of their writings as practiced in imperial China.


Xia

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 夏 (Xià).

Shortly after the era of the flood, sites associated with a culture called Erlitou began to emerge. To archaeologists, they signal the start of China's Bronze Age: The communities are 10 times as big as the ones that existed previously, and their technology is much more sophisticated. So far, no evidence has been found to definitively link the Erlitou to the mythical Xia. But if the Xia dynasty really did exist, it's thought that the Erlitou sites would have been the lands they ruled.

2016 August 4, Sarah Kaplan, “Legends say China began in a great flood. Scientists just found evidence that the flood was real.”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-08-04, Science:

But records of the first dynasty, that of the Xia, contain stories of a Great Flood with a Noah-like savior, the Emperor Yu, who gained the mandate of heaven after dredging canals to dispel the floodwaters and make the land safe. Historians have long wondered whether this flood account was a creation-style myth, the folk memory of a real event, or some mixture of the two. Some have dismissed the story of Emperor Yu as a fiction intended to justify centralized rule and, in the absence of any evidence of a massive flood at the time, many have regarded the stories of the Xia dynasty as more myth than history.

2016 August 4, Nicholas Wade, “Scientific Evidence of Flood May Give Credence to Legend of China’s First Dynasty”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-08-04, Science:

(historical) An ancient dynasty in China.


Shang

Wilma Fairbank strongly supports the piece mold theory but points out that the mastery of bronze technology by the Shang people was an outgrowth of their earlier mastery of ceramic technology.

1969, Rutherford John Gettens, The Freer Chinese Bronzes, volume II, Washington, D.C.: Meriden Gravure Company, →OCLC, page 28:

In the Shang and Chou periods our knowledge from archaeology of ordinary dwellings is thus far poor, but something can be said of the more pretentious edifices.

1971, William Watson, Cultural Frontiers in Ancient East Asia, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 81:

Hsing-t'ai, Han-tan, and Shih-chia-chuang are thus among the numerous Shang sites marked by heavy upper Erh-li-kang cultural manifestations.

2011, Ralph D. Sawyer, Ancient Chinese Warfare, Basic Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 135:

(historical) an ancient dynasty in China


Yin

zh-l

陰山／阴山 (Yīnshān)

A mountain range in northern China at the southeast end of the Gobi Desert.


Tian

The pinyin romanization of Mandarin 天 (Tiān).

...‘Heaven’ as we use it throughout the book is only a convenient but inaccurate translation of the Chinese character tian. Heaven in Chinese religions as well as in the Confucian tradition has multidimensional implications... In its metaphysical and physical connotation, Heaven... refers to... Nature. Applied in the spiritual realm, it signifies an anthropomorphic Lord or a Supreme Being who presides in Heaven, and rules over or governs directly the spiritual and material worlds.

2000, Yao Xinzhong, An Introduction to Confucianism, page 142:

Supreme being in Chinese philosophy and religion. He rules over lesser gods, humankind, and controls the cosmos. The word Tian may also refer to Heaven. As a god, Tian is often seen as an impersonal power...

2003, Constance Victoria Briggs, The Encyclopedia of God, s.v. "Tian"::

It was not just the sky, but a god with wills and intentions, seen as sovereign of all... In fact, "Tian" was another reverent term to address the supreme god: "Heaven, for the help of the inferior people, made for them rulers, and made for them instructors" ("Great Declaration I" in the Book of History)...

2018, Zhuo Xinping, Religious Faith of the Chinese, page 58:

(Chinese mythology) Synonym of Heaven: simultaneously conceived as the Heavens, Nature, and an anthropomorphic supreme God.


imperial examination

en-noun

imperial examination (plural imperial examinations)

(historical) A civil service examination system in imperial China to select candidates for the state bureaucracy.


Shu

From romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 沭 (Shù).


Tien

(Chinese mythology) Alternative form of Tian: Heaven, simultaneously conceived as the Heavens, Nature, and an anthropomorphic supreme God.


Qing

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 清 (Qīng).

Qing dynasty (1644–1912), the last imperial dynasty of China.


Three Kingdoms

I deeply regretted having to miss seeing Hsing-ping, a very old town built by the ruler of the Wu Kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period of the third century.

1977, Yee Chiang, “Kuei-lin and Yang-shuo”, in China Revisited, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 155:

(historical) The tripartite division of China between the states of Wei (魏 (Wèi)), Shu (蜀 (Shǔ)), and Wu (吳／吴 (Wú)), during AD 220–280, following the Han dynasty and preceding the Jin dynasty.


'Phags-pa

From Tibetan འཕགས་པ ('phags pa, literally “noble”).

der

An alphabet designed in the 1200s by the Tibetan monk and State Preceptor Drogön Chögyal Phagpa for Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan dynasty.


pixiu

Borrowed from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 貔貅 (píxiū).

(Chinese mythology) A mythical Chinese creature resembling a winged lion, supposed to bring wealth.


Xiangyao

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 相繇 (Xiāngyáo).

(Chinese mythology) Synonym of Xiangliu, a monster.


Xiangliu

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 相柳 (Xiāngliǔ).

(Chinese mythology) A hydra-like monster which terrorized the world in prehistory.


Kanghui

(Chinese mythology) Personal name of Gonggong, a monster.


Gonggong

/ˈɡɔŋ(ˈ)ɡɔŋ/

225088 Gonggong
Cambridge University Press
Gonggong

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 共工 (Gònggōng) (or 龔工／龚工 (Gōnggōng)), the name of the mythological figure.

(Chinese mythology) A water god or monster who terrorized prehistoric China


Dengism

(politics) The politics and economics of the Chinese politician Deng Xiaoping.


Yushan

(Chinese mythology) Jade Mountain, a mythological mountain and residence of The Queen Mother of the West


era name

Cities were not infrequently named after the era name in which they were founded (e.g., Shaoxing 紹興 in Zhejiang, after the Shaoxing era, 1131-62).

2000, Endymion Wilkinson, “Geography”, in Chinese History: A New Manual, Rev. & enl. edition, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 135:

The regnal year, reign period, or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Sinospheric rulers.


knife money

From knife + money, from its knifelike shape.

(historical, banking) Large knife-shaped money made from cast bronze, used in China between 600 and 200 B.C. during the Zhou dynasty.


eight-legged essay

imperial examination
imperial examination

(education, historical) A portion of the Chinese imperial examination that consisted of writing an essay consisting of eight parts.


Pangu

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 盤古／盘古 (Pángǔ).

zh-l

盤古／盘古 (Pángǔ)

(Chinese mythology) The first living being and creator of all in Chinese mythology.


Neo-Confucianism

A Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism which originated in the Tang dynasty and became prominent during the Song and Ming dynasties.


Ruist

en-adj

Ruist (comparative more Ruist, superlative most Ruist)

more Ruist (comparative)
most Ruist (superlative)


Tridemism

Calque from Chinese 三民主義／三民主义, tri- + demo- + -ism.

Three Principles of the People
Three Principles of the People

(historical, politics) The Three Principles of the People.


drum tower

A fortification in the form of a cylindrical tower, typically resembling a drum.

lieriötorni

A tower in the center of a premodern Chinese city that houses signal drums.


fenghuang

(Chinese mythology, Japanese mythology) A phoenix found in Asian mythologies, which reigns over all other birds, often of female sex and frequently found paired with the Chinese dragon.


Xuanxue

From the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 玄學／玄学 (xuánxué).

zh-l

玄學／玄学 (xuánxué)

A metaphysical post-classical Chinese philosophy from the Six Dynasties (222-589) period, bringing together Daoist and Confucian beliefs through revision and discussion.


libationer

Harming other people or bullying them because the libationer is in a position of power or has connexions with people in power is also proscribed (60, 92).

1995, Taoist Resources - Volume 6, Issue 2, page 13:

Its primary office, that of the "libationer" (chi-chiu), was open to women and men alike, though scholars today have begun to question whether that office was actually clerical or simply a term for lay leaders.

2004, Russell Kirkland, Taoism: The Enduring Tradition, page 135:

At that time, accession to the office of libationer already involved the conferral of sacred texts.

2013, Fabrizio Pregadio, The Encyclopedia of Taoism: 2-volume set, page 550:

A Taoist religious office analogous to that of parish priest.


Xiism

From Xi + -ism, potentially modeled on Dengism and Maoism.

Could language be introduced into the party charter that subsequent generations might look back on and identify as the early precursors for something grander, say the eventual adoption of a new "-ism" (say, "Xi-ism" with Confucian characteristics) at a future Party Congress?

2017 August 21, Carl Minzer, “‘Xi-ism’ could erupt into China’s grandiose party institutions”, in The Australian Financial Review, →OCLC, page 10:

Based on a Gramscian analytical framework inspired by Bob Jessop, this article provides an anatomy of Xiism (2012–) as an emergent hegemonic project

2019, Andreas Møller Mulvad, “Xiism as a hegemonic project in the making”, in Review of International Studies, volume 45, number 3, →DOI, →ISSN, →LCCN, abstract, page 449:

Whether Xiism represents an updating of Maoism, reflection of a contemporary “populist” moment in global politics, or both is another question of clear relevance to the analysis of charismatic leadership in the current and likely future setting.

2021, José Pedro Zúquete, Routledge International Handbook of Charisma, →ISBN, →OCLC:

Xiism constitutes an ideology defined entirely by the metric of the Chinese struggle for greatness in the existing world.

2021, Luke Cooper, Authoritarian Contagion: The Global Threat to Democracy, Bristol University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 61:

The political philosophy practised by Xi Jinping.


Kunlun

Kunlun
Kunlun (mythology)#Name
Wikipedia
Zhengzhang Shangfang

From the Mandarin 崑崙 /昆仑 (Kūnlún) and 崑崙山／昆仑山 (Kūnlún Shān), with the character 山 (shān) being an ambiguous reference to any raised place, inclusive of islands, hills, mountains, and mountain ranges. The characters 崑崙 /昆仑 (Kūnlún) are phono-semantic compounds adding 山 (shān) as a semantic component (形旁 (xíngpáng)) to the characters 昆 (kūn) and 侖／仑 (lún), which were presumably also homophones for Kunlun in Old Chinese—Zhengzhang's reconstructed pronunciation being /*kuːn.run/—but leaving its further development or original meaning uncertain. See also the Name section of the Wikipedia entry on the mythological Kunlun.

崑崙山／昆仑山 (Kūnlún Shān)

崑崙 /昆仑

Mythological Chinese mountain or mountain range

...the Yellow Riuer... 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:

(Chinese mythology) A mountain or mountain range somewhere west of the North China Plain believed to be the home of Xiwangmu and the Peaches of Immortality, as well as other gods and Taoist immortals, and previously believed to help support the dome of the sky.


Neo-Confucian

en-adj

Neo-Confucian (comparative more Neo-Confucian, superlative most Neo-Confucian)

more Neo-Confucian (comparative)
most Neo-Confucian (superlative)


wumao

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 五毛 (wǔmáo), a clipping of 五毛黨 /五毛党 (wǔmáodǎng), lit. "the 5 dime party", in reference to allegations that the Chinese government employs online shills paid 1/2 yuan RMB per online post.

(derogatory) Anyone who is supportive of China or the Communist Party of China, whether paid or not.


Shanghailander

(slang) An expat living in Shanghai, especially (historical) in its former international extraterritorial zones.


Politburo

Any of various politburos, especially that of the Soviet Union or that of the People's Republic of China.

Kremlin

also a proper noun sense from a common noun sense, and also often a metonym for the senior Soviet leadership

(metonymically) The senior leadership of the Soviet Union, or that of the People's Republic of China.


yinglong

(Chinese mythology) a winged dragon and rain deity in Chinese mythology


hulijing

(Chinese mythology) nine-tailed fox in Chinese mythology


wuxing

Borrowed from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 五行 (wǔxíng).

the five fundamental elements or phases of processes in traditional East Asian cosmology, consisting of fire, water, wood, metal, and earth


Three T's

Tibet, the Tiananmen Incident, and Taiwan; three topics which are highly monitored by the Chinese government.


Yangjingbang

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 洋涇浜 /洋泾浜 (Yángjīngbāng).

Holonym: Shanghai

Some of the famous inns like the Taian Inn and the Qianyi Inn located in the Jiaji Long (lane) to the north of Yangjingbang (the present Yanan Road, East) started their business in a lane.

1985, Jia You, “GENERAL ASPECTS OF STREET-LANES IN SHANGHAI”, in Min Dayong, transl., Anecdotes of Old Shanghai, 1st edition, Shanghai Cultural Publishing House, →OCLC, page 137:

The French Concession lay between the walled Chinese city and Yang-ching-pang Creek, later filled in and called Edward VII Avenue. The British Settlement stretched from Yang-ching-pang to Soochow Creek while the American settlement consisted of a piece of land fronting the river to the north-east of Soochow Creek.

[1990, Harriet Sergeant, “A Simple Equation – The Rise of a Great City”, in Shanghai: Collision Point of Cultures, 1918-1939, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 18:

Rows of simply constructed, single-story wooden houses appeared literally overnight along the Bund, in the northwest part of the British Settlement, as well as on the banks of Yangjingbang, the creek that separated the British and French settlements.

1999, Hanchao Lu, “Going to Shanghai”, in Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century, University of California Press, published 2004, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 33:

By 1848 this boundary had been pushed westwards to today’s Central Tibet Road (formerly known as Defence Creek) and bounded by Suzhou Creek to the north and by the Yangkingpang Creek (today’s East Yan’an Road) to the south. The British were adamant about keeping their +70-acre area free of Chinese residents.

[2013, Paul Mooney, Peter Hibbard, “Getting Around Shanghai”, in Beijing & Shanghai: China's Hottest Cities, Odyssey Books & Maps, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 338:

(historical) A former tributary of the Huangpu, Shanghai, China.


Burma Road

From the name of a road in Burma which ran to the frontier with China, built in 1937–1938 by the British in order to circumvent the Japanese blockade of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) during World War II.

A “Burma Road” for Africa, or, in fact, a pair of “Burma Roads,” may develop from the current improvement of British and Free French roads across Central Africa.

1942 March 9, “New Allied Life Line Across Africa”, in Geographic School Bulletin, volume 21, number 3:

Between January 1, 1943, and June 1, 1945, an average of slightly more than 17 trains plied daily between the two termini of the railway. During all this period, it served as the super-Burma Road to Russia.

1947, Raj Narain Gupta, Iran: An Economic Study, page 145:

The Israelis were able to break the stranglehold by bypassing the normal route to Jerusalem through building a “Burma Road” to resupply the city.

2007, Michael Rydelnik, Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict: What the Headlines Haven’t Told You, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 102:

(figuratively) An important military supply route.

Second Sino-Japanese War
The Railway Magazine


Taoist dual cultivation

(Taoism) The process of cultivation involving sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.


neo-authoritarianism

As neo-authoritarianism advances, the [Chinese Communist] Party moves to the front stage and becomes hands-on in managing important affairs, crowding out legal rules and institutions. It has expanded and solidified a prerogative state to solve politically sensitive matters through substantively extra-legal methods.

2019 March 20, Hualing Fu, “Touching the Proverbial Elephant: The Multiple Shades of Chinese Law”, in China Perspectives, volume 2019, number 1, →ISSN, pages 3–9:

A post-Maoist current in Chinese political thought favoring enlightened autocracy.


Five Poisons

(politics) Five groups regarded by the Communist Party of China as threats to their rule: Uyghur and Tibetan supporters of respective independence movements, Falun Gong adherents, and supporters of Chinese democracy and the independence of Taiwan.


neoauthoritarianism

Alternative spelling of neo-authoritarianism


Western Regions

From the historical point of view, trade and expansion in this period began as a reaction to the barbarian threat of the Hsiung-nu on the northern and northwestern frontiers, and ended not only in the inclusion of various barbarian groups into the empire, such as the Southern Hsiung-nu, the Ch’iang, the Wu-huan, and the Southwestern barbarians, but also in the Sinicization of them to greater and lesser degrees. In between, China also expanded to the Western Regions and Central Asia, and even established trading relations, directly or indirectly, with countries farther west.

1967, Ying-shih Yü, “Introduction: The Problem and Its Origins”, in Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations, University of California Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 2:

(historical) The region west of ancient China's Jade Gate along the Silk Road, which included areas such as Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.


Zhongnanhai

/ˌd͡ʒʊŋ.nɑnˈhaɪ/

The atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 中南海 (Zhōngnánhǎi, “Central South Sea”), a compound of the names 中海 (zhōnghǎi, “Central Sea”) + 南海 (Nánhǎi, “South Sea; Nanhai”), two lakes in central Beijing just west of the Forbidden City.

bor

On May 15 Zhongnanhai received reports on the student movement in fourteen provinces.[…]
Twenty foreign press reports of May 15 were summarized for Zhongnanhai.

2001, “May 6-16: Hunger Strike”, in The Tiananmen Papers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 172–173:

Although it may be premature to take the passing of “peaceful rise” as a turning point, it does appear that it is getting increasingly difficult for Zhongnanhai to pronounce a policy with a catchy label and then expect the whole policy and scholarly communities to follow (although many scholars will just follow it for various reasons), especially if the policy really matters. The good old days when the Politburo could set a policy and expect everyone just to fall into line seem to be gone. Today, it seems that Zhongnanhai needs some acquiescence from society in order to proceed with its priority policy package.

2006, Shiping Tang, “Projecting China's Foreign Policy: Determining Factors and Scenarios”, in Jae Ho Chung, editor, Charting China's Future: Political, Social, and International Dimensions, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, China / Politics, page 136:

Zhongnanhai must be directly connected with the people, and we should always keep the people in our thoughts.

2018, Xi Jinping, The Governance of China, volume II, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 208:

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


Four Books and Five Classics

Calque of Chinese 四書五經 /四书五经 (Sìshūwǔjīng).

calque

(Confucianism) Chinese texts that serve as the authoritative works of Confucianism.


century of humiliation

Derived from Chinese 百年國恥 /百年国耻 (bǎinián guóchǐ). Coined in 1915 in opposition to the Twenty-One Demands by the Japanese Empire.

(politics, historical) The period of wars against the Qing dynasty and the succeeding Republic of China by Western countries and the Japanese Empire, lasting from 1839 to 1949.


Yelang

The pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 夜郎 (Yèláng).

(historical) A former kingdom in what is now southern China.


nine-dash line

Calque of Chinese 九段線 /九段线 (Jiǔduànxiàn).

Hollywood certainly has a cynical heart: Barbie was banned this week from opening in Vietnam for including on a map the “nine-dash line” that China uses to claim sovereignty over territory in the South China Sea.

2023 July 8, John Gapper, “Barbie is a brand that keeps changing with the times”, in FT Weekend, page 9:

A set of line segments on various maps that have accompanied the claims of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China to various contested areas in the South China Sea.


Chang'e

/t͡ʃɒŋ.(ʔ)ʌ/

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 嫦娥 (Cháng'é).

4. Don't point at the moon
In general, pointing with the index finger at the moon is disrespectful to the moon goddess Chang'e and she will retaliate by cutting your ear clean off, or at least cut it slightly. In addition, during the Qixi Festival, it is considered even worse to point at the moon because, in addition to the original punishment from Chang'e, it may cause one's lover to have a change of heart.

2022 August 4, Keoni Everington, “5 taboos to dodge on Qixi Festival in Taiwan”, in Taiwan News, archived from the original on 2022-08-04, Culture:

(Chinese mythology) The Chinese goddess of the moon.


mainlandization

(politics) The assimilation or incorporation of Hong Kong into mainland China.


daoshi

en-noun

daoshi (countable and uncountable, plural daoshis)

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道士 (dàoshì, “Taoist scholar, scholar of the Way”).

der

(Taoism) A person committed to Taoism, a Taoist priest, monk, etc.


ḥPʻags-pa

Since the language of the ḥPʻags-pa is different from Written Mongolian, it cannot be discussed in this grammar.

1954, Nicholas Poppe, Grammar of Written Mongolian, page 6:


Eighth Route Army

(historical, military) a group army under the command of the Chinese Communist Party that fought the Japanese military and its puppet armies in both conventional and guerrilla warfare during the Second Sino-Japanese War.


wu wei

These alternatives seem tepid, or even reactionary – take Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi’s invocation of a politics of exhaustion that would ‘become the beginning of a slow movement toward a “wu wei” civilization, based on withdrawal, and frugal expectations for life and consumption’.

2013, Benjamin Noys, quoting Franco Berardi, Malign Velocities: Accelerationism and Capitalism, Zero Books, →ISBN:

A state of effortless inaction, in Taoism or Chinese statecraft.


Xinhai Revolution

Partial calque of Chinese 辛亥革命 (Xīnhài Gémìng), in which Xinhai (辛亥 (xīnhài)) denotes the sexagenary year of 1911.

partial calque

(historical) A nationwide revolution in China starting from 10 October 1911, which overthrew the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China