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The Disputed Words
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Well, following our recent discussion about China and "Cina" (which is triggered by my novel), so I decided to do some research, and here it is:
China was previously ruled by Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dinasty. In this age, China mainland was divided, especially by vassalism applied by Zhou Dinasty.
At the end of Zhou, there are at least Six Kingdoms to rule over China. One kingdom, The Qin (read as Chin), will later strong enough to unified the divided vast mainland.
The actual terms, used by Chinese to call their nation was "Zhong Guo" or "Chung Kuo" or "Tiong Kok" (depends on which Chinese dialec we use; Indonesian-Chinese mostly influenced by Hokkien dialec of South China, so it wasn't Mandarin). Means "Central Kingdom". While the nationality of it is "Zhong Hua" or "Chung Hoa" or "Tiong Hwa".
'China' was first appeared to honour (or not?) the Qin Dinasty. Qin was firstly unified all Chinese land. Not only that, Qin also state a unified measurement, writing, letter, and language, which is now we called as "Mandarin". 'Qin' also addresed the supreme leader as an 'Emperor', not 'King' like previous Dinasties. This 'language of Qin' was then carried out by the Silk Road traders, and widely recognized by Western World (Including Arabian) as 'Chin' or 'China' (Arabian called it 'Shin'). But under the harsh ruler of 'Qin', the rebelion was widespread so that the Qin collapsed. However, the unification carried was not instantly fall apart, instead was preserved by later Han Dinasty.
The Han Dynasty is the most influential Dinasty of China, it's simply because Han creates 'Han Cultural Identity' (this to thank's to Qin) in all over China and through the ages. "Zhong Guo" was perhaps started in this era. It's not because Han Capital (Chang-an and later Luo-yang then back to Chang-an) was located "in the middle", but it's simply to differ it from the "other Guo" those are: "Dong Guo" (Eastern Nation=Japan), "Nan Guo" (Southern Nations=The Empire of Nanyue and Annam), "Shi Guo" (Western Nation=Persian Kingdoms of Wusun, Daxia, Daiyuan, and Dayuezhi), and "Bei Guo" (Northern Nations=The Mongol or Xiong-nu). The differentiate of Chinese dialect also perhaps occured during Han Dinasty.
While the influence of Han is so strong that even after hundreds of years later, the people still call themselves: Han People, Han Culture, Han Nation, and Han Language (for Mandarin). However, for Westerners, China is much more familiar. Han is then called Mandarin following terms used by the Portuguese after occupied Malay (Mandarin perhaps come from the Malay word: Mantrin or Menteri, Mandarin itself means "Magistrate").
After the liberation of China, following the fall of 'Qing', Chinese state themselves as "Republic of Tiongkok" or "Chung Min Chung Hua Mir Kuo" (this name still used to addres the Taipeh-China); which later, after Communist Revolution changed into "People's Republic of Tiongkok (Repoeblik Rakjat Tiongkok or RRT)" or "Zhong Hua Ren Min Gong Ghe Guo".
"People's Republic of China" then officially named at 1976 following language reformed which originaly meant to "simplify" the dialect to easier International World to spoke Chinese Terms. That's why some name changed such as Hang Chow into Guangzhou, and Peking into Beijing.
Indonesian, following original dialec, naturally said "Cina". "China" was named after the English influenced Bahasa Indonesia, but it's not a legal terms, since Indonesia never knew "Ch". Following "China Outburst" at 1998, "Cina" then considered as a "racist terms" (Wonder who state this?), so The Indonesian-Chinese asked to be called as Tionghoa instead, but this is incorrect, since Tionghoa means "Chinese Nationality" or "Chinesemen in China". The word "Cina" was actually more appropriate, just like we said "Jawa" or "Sunda" or any Indonesia race.
Metro perhaps then take the middle way to use "China" for the country (RRC) and "Tionghoa" for the race (Indonesian-Chinese). Actually, the right term for Indonesian-Chinese (if you must to) is "Yin-hua" comes from the word "Yinni Hua" (Yinni is Chinese terms for Indonesia), which means "Chinese in Indonesia". Or, we just said "Cina", for "Cina" itself, aside to reffer the country also refer to the people. Like "Han Country" and "Han People". Just as we said "Java" and "Javan".
My Chinese neighbours also reffer themselves as "Cina" and never of "Tionghoa", so I conclude that actually, it is "Cina" the best terms.
Here in Semarang, we never bother about the term "Cina" for this terms is much widely used by communities. Tionghoa is perhaps just a pers terms to "soften" Cina, which gain a bad name after "The China Syndrome" post 1998.
So, we can conclude this way.
"Cina" used in Bahasa to refer both "RRC" and Chinese people.
"China" is international terms to refer the "RRC" (but this could easily mistakes with 'ceramic'), however to avoid any misperception, it is better if we said "Republik Rakyat China" instead.
"Tionghoa" should be used only to refer the RRC-Chinese, but here used to "soften" the racist terms. But Tionghoa is not just about people, but also everything related to China.
"Tiongkok" is the official name of RRC, but we also can refer it to call the Chinese Mainland.
"Mandarin" is the name we used to call "the language", although it's also can be refer to the people, country, and culture. But in brief we can also call "Bahasa Cina" instead. However, we must remember that "Mandarin" is just one of the Chinese official language, the other was Cantonese, The Hokkien, and language used by Border Tribe such as in Uighur, Manchuria, or Nei Monggol.
China has 5 dominant tribe, and each has their own language. The Han is the largest tribe of all, so The Han Language is become official Language of China.
Indonesia known two type of Chinese Languages, that is The Mandarin and The Hokkienese. While Mandarins is the one who being taught in official educational-institutions; the Hokkienese was commonly used as conversational language in most of the Indonesian-Chinese Communities, such as in Semarang or Singkawang. One of the noted differences is the way we say "Thank you" that is "Dou Xie" or "Xie Xie" in Mandarin, and "Kam Xia" in Hokkienese.
"Yin-hua" is the appropriate term to call "Indonesian-Chinese", but it's not widely used.
Chinese is actually dislike to be called as "China", why? because of the harsh Qin rules. They much prefer to be called as "Han" or "Mandarin".
The Disputed Words
==================
Well, following our recent discussion about China and "Cina" (which is triggered by my novel), so I decided to do some research, and here it is:
China was previously ruled by Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dinasty. In this age, China mainland was divided, especially by vassalism applied by Zhou Dinasty.
At the end of Zhou, there are at least Six Kingdoms to rule over China. One kingdom, The Qin (read as Chin), will later strong enough to unified the divided vast mainland.
The actual terms, used by Chinese to call their nation was "Zhong Guo" or "Chung Kuo" or "Tiong Kok" (depends on which Chinese dialec we use; Indonesian-Chinese mostly influenced by Hokkien dialec of South China, so it wasn't Mandarin). Means "Central Kingdom". While the nationality of it is "Zhong Hua" or "Chung Hoa" or "Tiong Hwa".
'China' was first appeared to honour (or not?) the Qin Dinasty. Qin was firstly unified all Chinese land. Not only that, Qin also state a unified measurement, writing, letter, and language, which is now we called as "Mandarin". 'Qin' also addresed the supreme leader as an 'Emperor', not 'King' like previous Dinasties. This 'language of Qin' was then carried out by the Silk Road traders, and widely recognized by Western World (Including Arabian) as 'Chin' or 'China' (Arabian called it 'Shin'). But under the harsh ruler of 'Qin', the rebelion was widespread so that the Qin collapsed. However, the unification carried was not instantly fall apart, instead was preserved by later Han Dinasty.
The Han Dynasty is the most influential Dinasty of China, it's simply because Han creates 'Han Cultural Identity' (this to thank's to Qin) in all over China and through the ages. "Zhong Guo" was perhaps started in this era. It's not because Han Capital (Chang-an and later Luo-yang then back to Chang-an) was located "in the middle", but it's simply to differ it from the "other Guo" those are: "Dong Guo" (Eastern Nation=Japan), "Nan Guo" (Southern Nations=The Empire of Nanyue and Annam), "Shi Guo" (Western Nation=Persian Kingdoms of Wusun, Daxia, Daiyuan, and Dayuezhi), and "Bei Guo" (Northern Nations=The Mongol or Xiong-nu). The differentiate of Chinese dialect also perhaps occured during Han Dinasty.
While the influence of Han is so strong that even after hundreds of years later, the people still call themselves: Han People, Han Culture, Han Nation, and Han Language (for Mandarin). However, for Westerners, China is much more familiar. Han is then called Mandarin following terms used by the Portuguese after occupied Malay (Mandarin perhaps come from the Malay word: Mantrin or Menteri, Mandarin itself means "Magistrate").
After the liberation of China, following the fall of 'Qing', Chinese state themselves as "Republic of Tiongkok" or "Chung Min Chung Hua Mir Kuo" (this name still used to addres the Taipeh-China); which later, after Communist Revolution changed into "People's Republic of Tiongkok (Repoeblik Rakjat Tiongkok or RRT)" or "Zhong Hua Ren Min Gong Ghe Guo".
"People's Republic of China" then officially named at 1976 following language reformed which originaly meant to "simplify" the dialect to easier International World to spoke Chinese Terms. That's why some name changed such as Hang Chow into Guangzhou, and Peking into Beijing.
Indonesian, following original dialec, naturally said "Cina". "China" was named after the English influenced Bahasa Indonesia, but it's not a legal terms, since Indonesia never knew "Ch". Following "China Outburst" at 1998, "Cina" then considered as a "racist terms" (Wonder who state this?), so The Indonesian-Chinese asked to be called as Tionghoa instead, but this is incorrect, since Tionghoa means "Chinese Nationality" or "Chinesemen in China". The word "Cina" was actually more appropriate, just like we said "Jawa" or "Sunda" or any Indonesia race.
Metro perhaps then take the middle way to use "China" for the country (RRC) and "Tionghoa" for the race (Indonesian-Chinese). Actually, the right term for Indonesian-Chinese (if you must to) is "Yin-hua" comes from the word "Yinni Hua" (Yinni is Chinese terms for Indonesia), which means "Chinese in Indonesia". Or, we just said "Cina", for "Cina" itself, aside to reffer the country also refer to the people. Like "Han Country" and "Han People". Just as we said "Java" and "Javan".
My Chinese neighbours also reffer themselves as "Cina" and never of "Tionghoa", so I conclude that actually, it is "Cina" the best terms.
Here in Semarang, we never bother about the term "Cina" for this terms is much widely used by communities. Tionghoa is perhaps just a pers terms to "soften" Cina, which gain a bad name after "The China Syndrome" post 1998.
So, we can conclude this way.
"Cina" used in Bahasa to refer both "RRC" and Chinese people.
"China" is international terms to refer the "RRC" (but this could easily mistakes with 'ceramic'), however to avoid any misperception, it is better if we said "Republik Rakyat China" instead.
"Tionghoa" should be used only to refer the RRC-Chinese, but here used to "soften" the racist terms. But Tionghoa is not just about people, but also everything related to China.
"Tiongkok" is the official name of RRC, but we also can refer it to call the Chinese Mainland.
"Mandarin" is the name we used to call "the language", although it's also can be refer to the people, country, and culture. But in brief we can also call "Bahasa Cina" instead. However, we must remember that "Mandarin" is just one of the Chinese official language, the other was Cantonese, The Hokkien, and language used by Border Tribe such as in Uighur, Manchuria, or Nei Monggol.
China has 5 dominant tribe, and each has their own language. The Han is the largest tribe of all, so The Han Language is become official Language of China.
Indonesia known two type of Chinese Languages, that is The Mandarin and The Hokkienese. While Mandarins is the one who being taught in official educational-institutions; the Hokkienese was commonly used as conversational language in most of the Indonesian-Chinese Communities, such as in Semarang or Singkawang. One of the noted differences is the way we say "Thank you" that is "Dou Xie" or "Xie Xie" in Mandarin, and "Kam Xia" in Hokkienese.
"Yin-hua" is the appropriate term to call "Indonesian-Chinese", but it's not widely used.
Chinese is actually dislike to be called as "China", why? because of the harsh Qin rules. They much prefer to be called as "Han" or "Mandarin".
1 comment:
The word " Cina " is actually a slur ; it was started by the Japanese Soldier in second world war to insult the " Hua Ren " or " Chinese People ". Many South East Countries ( Indonesia & Malaysia ) learned this word " Cina " from the Japanese Government in the 2nd World War.
the word " Cina " is still widely used in South East Countries even though the 2nd World War is already over because " Chung Kok " or " Centre of the world " or " China " is still being perceived weak until year 1999 since the 2nd world war ; after year 2000 onwards to now China has becoming strong in Economy , Technology and Global Affairs, I think many Chinese will start demand to stop use the word " Cina ".
The Global Chinese People is " Hua Ren " if you know how to pronounce it from the " Han Language "
The ancestor of the Chinese is
" Han " because they still refer themselves as the people from the glory of Han Dynasty and still using the " Han " writing & speaking language daily until today.
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