(20 15-03- 15 13:05: 18)
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Classification: culture, history and literature
The original meaning of "Huaxia" is similar to that of "Great Britain". The word "Hua" here is an adjective, meaning "glory, civilization and progress", which represents our ancestors' confidence and pride in their national culture. Later, "Hua" was abbreviated as "Huaxia" and was influenced by the long-standing analogy of the word "China". The usage of "China" did not appear until Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. A clear understanding of these important historical and cultural concepts is helpful to understand the ins and outs of the Chinese nation and to improve national identity and self-confidence.
I searched all kinds of authoritative reference books and found that their explanations of such important historical and cultural concepts as "Huaxia" and "China" were all a mess. However, these two concepts are different from ordinary words, and understanding their sources and meanings will not only help to improve national identity, but also enhance national cohesion. Only when a nation knows where it comes from can it understand where it can go.
The definition of "China" in Ci Yuan is that the Huaxia nationality in ancient China rose in the Yellow River valley, lived in all directions, and had a developed culture and a long history. Because it is called China, it is also called Zhongyuan and China. This confuses the temporal relationship of the three concepts. In fact, the word "China" appeared more than 1000 years before "China", and these three words also have a clear division of labor in expression: "China" is the concept of political power, which refers to the ruled territory; "China" is a national concept and refers to a nation; "Central Plains" is a geographical concept, which refers to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. The explanations of other reference books are similar, which adds confusion to readers. Let's briefly sort out the historical origins between these concepts.
The word "Huaxia" was first seen in Shangshu Wucheng: "Huaxia is quite arrogant, obedient and respectful." People refer to all ethnic groups in the south; Xi refers to the northern nationalities. Some people regard "Hua" and "Xia" as two nationalities in the Central Plains. This explanation is wrong. In fact, "Hua" here is an adjective, which is used as an attribute to modify "Xia". To understand this, please look at the following analysis.
Just as "Han people" originated from the Han Dynasty, the word "Xia" in ancient Chinese used the first dynasty in China to refer to the relevant ethnic groups. The Xia Dynasty was founded around 2200 BC, marking the beginning of China's civilization history. The first three dynasties, Xia, Shang and Zhou, were related to cultural inheritance. Confucius made it very clear: "Yin gains but loses, so you can know;" Zhou's gains and losses are also well known. Confucius yearned for these three dynasties: "Go, take advantage of Yin, serve Zhou Zhiming, and indulge in singing and dancing." (The Analects of Confucius Wei Linggong) It is particularly noteworthy that the Analects of Confucius mentioned "Xia" many times, but never mentioned "Hua", which shows that "Hua" is not the name of another nation in the Central Plains parallel to "Xia". At the same time, history does not exist in a dynasty called "Hua".
The traditional Chinese character of "Hua" is "Hua" with a grass prefix on it, which is the earliest writing of "Hua". There is only the word "Hua" in the Book of Songs, but there is no word "Hua". There are three meanings: ① Flowers: "Peach flies and burns its flowers." (The Book of Songs Yao Tao) Flowering and Heading: "I have been there, I am a flower." ("The Book of Songs Out of the Car") 3 Guanghua: "It is better to be Qionghua Hull." (The Book of Songs)
"Flower" has developed from the meaning of "flower" in plants into a commendatory term, which means brilliance, prosperity and civilization progress. This is the meaning of "Hua" in "Huaxia". "Hua" can also be used as a verb, which means "increasing glory and honor". For example, "I don't wear clothes, and horses don't eat millet, so I love my son and don't care about China?" (Mandarin Lu) "means" winning glory for our country ".
In the Zhou Dynasty, "Xia" no longer refers exclusively to dynasties, but often refers to nationalities or countries living in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Confucius called the vassal States of the Zhou Dynasty "Xia", for example, "It is better to die in the summer than to have a monarch." "Zhu" means "pluralism", "Hua" means "civilization and progress" and "Huaxia" represents the cultural superiority of our ancestors, so it is often used in comparison with neighboring ethnic minorities. For example, Mencius said, "I have heard that things change in summer, but I have never heard of things change in summer." (Mencius under Teng Wengong) Obviously, Mencius believes that backward barbarians should be guided by civilized "Xia" culture, not the other way around.
After "Huaxia" became a word, the usage of "Hua" appeared instead of the whole concept. For example, "My diet and clothes are different from those in China, my money is unreasonable and my language is not up to standard." This single use of "Hua" made it possible for the word "China" to appear.
The word "China" only appeared in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. For example, "You are swimming in China and enjoying its dragon light. How many people will sink!" (Biography of the Three Kingdoms and Zhuge Liang) Another example is: "Its land is connected to China in the east and the western regions in the west."
(Biography of Shu Wei Dangchang) So how did the "China" come into being? The most reasonable guess comes from the analogical influence with "China". "China" has appeared in The Book of Songs, initially referring to the capital of the Zhou Dynasty, and at the latest in the third century BC, referring to the vassal states of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valley (see annex for details). As the single use of Hua is basically consistent with the concept of China, with the development of disyllabic Chinese vocabulary, the disyllabic word "Zhonghua" naturally appears.
Because of the different sources of "Guo" and "Hua", the usage of these two words has a clear division of labor today. "Guo" originally refers to the capital, emphasizing territory, but now it is mainly used in the concept of state power, especially territory, such as "China territory". "Hua" used to refer to an attribute, which means glory and civilization progress. Today, it is mainly used to refer to race, so it can be said to be "China people", "Chinese language", "Chinese nation" and "Chinese culture", but the "Hua" in these places cannot be replaced by "country".
Explain a Chinese knowledge by the way. When "Hua" means "Chinese nation" or "Chinese nation", its original meaning related to plants and flowers is gradually written as "Hua". This phenomenon is very common in the history of Chinese, which is caused by the differentiation of concepts.
Finally, let's make a brief summary. "Xia" was the first dynasty in history, and later it was used to address a nation or vassal state, which was the same as "Han". "Flower" originally meant flowers, but later it meant brilliance and civilization progress. "Huaxia" means the vassal States in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, which is relative to the surrounding ethnic minorities and contains the sense of national superiority of the ancients. Later, "Huaxia" was abbreviated as "Hua", and influenced by the analogy of the word "China", the usage of "China" appeared in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and it has been used as the title of our nation ever since.
Appendix: The word "China" originally meant "Xi 'an" or "Luoyang".
The word "China" first appeared in the Book of Songs 3000 years ago. At that time, "country" meant "capital" and "capital", especially Haojing in the Western Zhou Dynasty and Luoyi in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, that is, today's An and Luoyang. "China" in The Book of Songs is the reverse of "country", which means "within the capital", or "Luoyang City" in today's words. Later, "China" extended to the whole world ruled by the Zhou Dynasty, including the vassal states in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, and then naturally extended to the meaning of "China" today. However, dictionaries generally explain that "China" refers to a country located in the Central Plains, which is actually a fallacy, and there has never been a period in history when this usage was unique.
Everyone in China should know how the word "China" came from. Unfortunately, at present, even the most authoritative reference books are misinterpreted, which leads to misinformation. Most children in China don't know the source of their motherland's name. Take etymology as an example. It explains the origin of the word "China" like this:
The Huaxia people in ancient China established a generation in the Yellow River valley, which was called Huaxia, and other surrounding areas were called Sifang. Later, it became a proper noun in China. The Doctrine of the Mean: "Named for China."
This is the most popular story about the origin of China. The earliest example given in the dictionary is The Book of Rites, which was written in the early years of the Han Dynasty (about the first century BC). More importantly, the "China" in this example does not necessarily refer to the Huaxia nation in the Yellow River valley.
As a proper noun, "China" was widely used in The Book of Songs as early as the 10th century BC. According to Shuo Wen Jie Zi, "Guo" is a pictophonetic character, and the box outside indicates "Guo Cheng", while traditional Chinese characters are originally "or", indicating the pronunciation of this word. The earliest meaning of "country" is the capital and two capitals, especially the capital of Zhou Dynasty. The original word order of "China" should be "Guo Zhong", which means "in the capital". For example:
People are hard enough, so they should be a little healthier. To caress the people in the king's capital and to settle all the kingdoms in the four directions. -"Shi Mao is elegant and the people are old"
Consultation! Consult a female Yin businessman. The woman is in China and thinks she is virtuous. -"Shi Mao Daya Sang Rou" According to: Hey, arrogance.
The word order in ancient times is not exactly the same as today's. For example, the "Battle of Chengpu" in Zuo Zhuan should be called "Battle of Pucheng" today. The use order of "Zhong" in The Book of Songs is also contrary to that in modern Chinese, such as The Book of Songs Ge Tan: "Gezhi is applied to the middle valley and Ye Sheng." "In the valley" means "in the valley", that is, "in the valley". Another example is "The Book of Songs White Boat": "A white boat is in the river." "In the river" means "in the river".
All the use cases of "China" in The Book of Songs refer to "in the middle school", that is, "in the capital". The Zhou Dynasty took Haojing (Xi 'an) and Luoyi (Luoyang) as the capitals successively, so the word "China" in The Book of Songs naturally means "within the city of An" or "within Luoyi".
It is generally believed that there are many countries in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, so the Central Plains country located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River is called "China", which is relative to the neighboring vassal countries. But there is no such period in history. The "China" in Mengzhuang era can refer to the land of China, including vassal states. For example:
Nine rivers in Yushu, Luo Ji, and the sea; It must be Ruhan, expelling Huai Si and injecting it into the river, and then China can get it and eat it. -"Mencius Teng Wengong"
It's not as empty as osawa. China is in the sea, unlike the rice in the warehouse? -"Zhuangzi Qiushui"
Obviously, the "China" in Mencius' use case mentioned above includes the vast areas of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River basin, while the example of Zhuangzi shows that the "four seas" are all within the scope of "China". It is worth noting that there was no such period before Mencius and Zhuangzi, and the "China" in this period only refers to a country located in the Central Plains. It can be seen that the word "China" suddenly expanded from the original capital of the Zhou Dynasty to all areas ruled by the Zhou Dynasty.
In other words, "China" in The Book of Songs refers to the capital of the Zhou Dynasty, and later refers to the whole "world" ruled by the Zhou Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, although there were many vassal states, they were all enfeoffed by the King of Zhou, and their status was unequal. The Zhou Dynasty was the moon, and the vassal states were the stars, forming a political pattern in which all the stars arched the moon. All the vassal States were related to the Zhou Dynasty, and they paid tribute to the Zhou Dynasty every year. Therefore, the world of the Zhou Dynasty is one.
"China" is not relative to the surrounding so-called "barbarian" ethnic minorities, because in ancient times, these surrounding ethnic minorities were not considered as "countries". So the explanation of etymology is not reliable. In ancient times, people in the Central Plains did not call themselves "China" by the "Sifang" minority. Note that the "Sifang" mentioned in the Book of Songs refers to all places except the capital.
The process of meaning extension of "China" also conforms to the development law of Chinese, that is, from local extension to whole. For example, "eyes" originally refers to black eyes, and later refers to the entire visual organ. For another example, "face" originally refers to the small piece under the eyes, and later refers to the whole face. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that "China" originally referred to the capital of the Zhou Dynasty, and later extended to the entire ruling area of the Zhou Dynasty.
As a native of China, you must know the origin of the name of your country.