Note: "Yinhua" was so rarely been used, so feel free if you don't want to use it. Beside, nobody will know the meaning anyway. Okay, the final part is here:
Review on Ancient Chinese History:
As we know, the 'China' is only the way the outsider call the country which by the settler called as 'Zhong Guo'. It is unclear when do the first times Chinese call their land as 'Zhong Guo', perhaps at the time when Qin unified the nation, since the Qin Capital of Xian Yang lies in the heart of Chinese Mainland. Although, we can also refer that this terms was firstly used at The Han Dynasty, that is because so colossal the land occupied by Han that they call their country as "Zhong Guo" or "The Central Nation" or this can be refered as "The Central Nation of The World", just as the same when Spanish started their "Conquistador", they also consider Spain as "Center of The World".
Han is the first dynasty when Chinese Cultural Influence stretched to international world, but mostly to the west. During this time, the Persian knows the magnificent of Silk and Ceramic ware carried by the Han. Even Greeks and Romans are amazed to The Magnificence of Han Dynasty. To the east, Chinese Culture spread to Koguryo Peninsula and Islands known as "The Islands of Rising Sun" (It is named that way because The Island lies in the eastest border and nothing else but Sea beyond it), and to the south, to The Kingdom of Nanyue, Tonkin, and Annam (Now part of Viet Nam).
However, the contact between Western Culture (Greeks and Romans) with the Eastern Culture (Han) was indirect. Romans bought Chinese ware from Persia and vice versa, that's why no one in Romans knows exactly how magnificent the Han Empire is. This due to the harsh and savage condition of The Silk Road passed The Desert of Taklamakan, so only brave traders who willing enough to do trading from Han to Kashgar. This is why Westerner always call "Han" as "China", because too little information known about it. Soon after that, The Silk Road was closed for centuries, separating China and West once again.
Chinese use 'Zhong Guo' to call their nation and 'Zhong Hua' for their nationality, but to call their governmental, they always use the name of the rulling dynasty, such as "The Empire of Han", "The Empire of Tang", "The Empire of Song", and "The Empire of Ming". So it's like the people of "Nusantara" call their nation as "Republik Indonesia". And China was used later on, when the western trader once again visited China; but for the time being the western historian always said that "There is a Magnificent Empire on The East named China", but no one ever visited that until Marco Polo.
The Ming Exploration:
The Ming Empire is the first empire when China first developed their Naval Strength. This attempt was firstly tried by Kublai Khan in order to invade Japan, but "Kamikaze" destroyed most of the Mongolian Fleet. The most epic voyage of Ming Dynasty is the Voyage of Zheng He, in order to survey the land, previously unreachable by land route, to forge alliance with distances countries, and to forge Ming Domination over seas. The Ming Armada was called "The Treasure Fleet" or "The Golden Fleet", that's why the new trade route also be called as "The Golden Route". So, basically, the land visited by Zheng He is then under the protection and administration of Ming Empire. That's why I said that Indonesia was once ever been colonized by The Ming Dynasty. Unlike any other people, the Chinese use nationality systems we now known as "Ius Sanguin". It means, any Chinese anywhere in the world is related and binded with the law of The Ming Empire, so that if supposed to be I'm Chinese and I do criminal things here, then Chinese Law Enforcer will arrest me and carry me to Beijing, and the Punishment will be sentenced by the Emperor himself. And, it supposed to be still applied...TILL NOW!
The Western Influence:
It is clear that the terms China was firstly introduced by Westernese. This can be globally used at the time of Old Imperialism. Spain, Portugal, English, France, Germany, and The Netherland were among the first nations decide to explore the ocean in order to gain colonial expansion. This vast area of Western Colonies perhaps encourage why then the terms 'China' used globally.
The Linguistically Review II:
Alright then, enough with the historical review, or I will started to blabbering too far.
The 'China' terms come from 'Qin'. Perhaps a Latin Historian write this as 'Chino' or 'Sino' or 'China' (pronounced as Cina, not Caina). It is the English who said this as 'Caina'. And since the English Language is The Language of The World, then it become the 'internationaly used' terms. It will perhaps be different if France win The Napoleonic War, for French said 'Chine' (Tjin). The influence of French perhaps absorbed into the Dutch that Dutch called 'Chine'. This what we absorbed as 'China' then 'Cina'.
The usage of 'C' to replace 'Ch' is because Indonesian Writing Language was actually based on Javanese (Aha, we know that Indonesian Oral Language based on Malay; but the writing was based on Javanese Character). Javanese Writings knows only few and much simpler consonants: H(vocal), N, C, R, K, D, T, S, W, L, P, Dh, J, Y, Ny, M, G, B, Th, Ng. And any improved consonants also based on these. Since Dutch said 'Chine' the closest pronounce in Javanese was 'Cina', this is what supposed to be the official term in Indonesian. However, this 'innocent word' has become the victim of political cruelty.
Language Reform:
'Tiong Hwa' was based on 'Zhong Hua', this perhaps the Hokkienese Accent or simply Indonesian absorbsion on the Chinese word. Which is actually means "Something of China". This term is widely use to call the Indonesian-Chinese, I think it's simply because Chinese firstly introduce themselves as 'Tionghwan People', and for them saying "Tiong Hoa" is one of the self pride, since it refer them to their Magnificent Empire and Their Ancestral History. While "Tiong Kok" or "Zhong Guo" should only be used to call the China Mainland, and no other. The term of Tiongkok used by Old Order based on the actual name of People Republic of China: Zhonghua Renmin Gongghe Guo, and also be known as Zhong Guo. That's why, if refering to the original names, we should call Tiongkok, and not China. Even Taiwan calls themselves Zhongmin Zhonghua Mir Guo, which can also be short as Zhong Guo too. The Beijing doesn't mind this name (Tiongkok) since they never consider Taiwan as independent state, and should be considered as 'part of Chinese Mainland', but Beijing mind the "Republic of China" terms.
At 1976, Chinese Government issues a series of new Chinese pronunciations which meant to ease the pronounciation of Chinese Names and Terms. It changes a lot of Chinese names to suit the International Terms, even South China Sea was called as "Nan Hai". Chinese however, still use the name China because this is the name that internationally acknowledge. In reality, Chinese use these terms instead: "Zhong Guo" for China, "Zhong Hua" for Chinese, "Han-zi" for Chinese Characters, "Han-yu" or "Hua-yu" for Chinese Language, and "Han-ren" for Chinese People.
So, the conclusion is this way:
Note: It's okay to use the term 'Tionghoa' due to the "Ius Sanguinis" system, so that all Chinese, born in anywhere in the world is still connected to Tiongkok. Beside, like I mentioned before, there is a somekind of pride to say 'Tionghoa'.
Review on Ancient Chinese History:
As we know, the 'China' is only the way the outsider call the country which by the settler called as 'Zhong Guo'. It is unclear when do the first times Chinese call their land as 'Zhong Guo', perhaps at the time when Qin unified the nation, since the Qin Capital of Xian Yang lies in the heart of Chinese Mainland. Although, we can also refer that this terms was firstly used at The Han Dynasty, that is because so colossal the land occupied by Han that they call their country as "Zhong Guo" or "The Central Nation" or this can be refered as "The Central Nation of The World", just as the same when Spanish started their "Conquistador", they also consider Spain as "Center of The World".
Han is the first dynasty when Chinese Cultural Influence stretched to international world, but mostly to the west. During this time, the Persian knows the magnificent of Silk and Ceramic ware carried by the Han. Even Greeks and Romans are amazed to The Magnificence of Han Dynasty. To the east, Chinese Culture spread to Koguryo Peninsula and Islands known as "The Islands of Rising Sun" (It is named that way because The Island lies in the eastest border and nothing else but Sea beyond it), and to the south, to The Kingdom of Nanyue, Tonkin, and Annam (Now part of Viet Nam).
However, the contact between Western Culture (Greeks and Romans) with the Eastern Culture (Han) was indirect. Romans bought Chinese ware from Persia and vice versa, that's why no one in Romans knows exactly how magnificent the Han Empire is. This due to the harsh and savage condition of The Silk Road passed The Desert of Taklamakan, so only brave traders who willing enough to do trading from Han to Kashgar. This is why Westerner always call "Han" as "China", because too little information known about it. Soon after that, The Silk Road was closed for centuries, separating China and West once again.
Chinese use 'Zhong Guo' to call their nation and 'Zhong Hua' for their nationality, but to call their governmental, they always use the name of the rulling dynasty, such as "The Empire of Han", "The Empire of Tang", "The Empire of Song", and "The Empire of Ming". So it's like the people of "Nusantara" call their nation as "Republik Indonesia". And China was used later on, when the western trader once again visited China; but for the time being the western historian always said that "There is a Magnificent Empire on The East named China", but no one ever visited that until Marco Polo.
The Ming Exploration:
The Ming Empire is the first empire when China first developed their Naval Strength. This attempt was firstly tried by Kublai Khan in order to invade Japan, but "Kamikaze" destroyed most of the Mongolian Fleet. The most epic voyage of Ming Dynasty is the Voyage of Zheng He, in order to survey the land, previously unreachable by land route, to forge alliance with distances countries, and to forge Ming Domination over seas. The Ming Armada was called "The Treasure Fleet" or "The Golden Fleet", that's why the new trade route also be called as "The Golden Route". So, basically, the land visited by Zheng He is then under the protection and administration of Ming Empire. That's why I said that Indonesia was once ever been colonized by The Ming Dynasty. Unlike any other people, the Chinese use nationality systems we now known as "Ius Sanguin". It means, any Chinese anywhere in the world is related and binded with the law of The Ming Empire, so that if supposed to be I'm Chinese and I do criminal things here, then Chinese Law Enforcer will arrest me and carry me to Beijing, and the Punishment will be sentenced by the Emperor himself. And, it supposed to be still applied...TILL NOW!
The Western Influence:
It is clear that the terms China was firstly introduced by Westernese. This can be globally used at the time of Old Imperialism. Spain, Portugal, English, France, Germany, and The Netherland were among the first nations decide to explore the ocean in order to gain colonial expansion. This vast area of Western Colonies perhaps encourage why then the terms 'China' used globally.
The Linguistically Review II:
Alright then, enough with the historical review, or I will started to blabbering too far.
The 'China' terms come from 'Qin'. Perhaps a Latin Historian write this as 'Chino' or 'Sino' or 'China' (pronounced as Cina, not Caina). It is the English who said this as 'Caina'. And since the English Language is The Language of The World, then it become the 'internationaly used' terms. It will perhaps be different if France win The Napoleonic War, for French said 'Chine' (Tjin). The influence of French perhaps absorbed into the Dutch that Dutch called 'Chine'. This what we absorbed as 'China' then 'Cina'.
The usage of 'C' to replace 'Ch' is because Indonesian Writing Language was actually based on Javanese (Aha, we know that Indonesian Oral Language based on Malay; but the writing was based on Javanese Character). Javanese Writings knows only few and much simpler consonants: H(vocal), N, C, R, K, D, T, S, W, L, P, Dh, J, Y, Ny, M, G, B, Th, Ng. And any improved consonants also based on these. Since Dutch said 'Chine' the closest pronounce in Javanese was 'Cina', this is what supposed to be the official term in Indonesian. However, this 'innocent word' has become the victim of political cruelty.
Language Reform:
'Tiong Hwa' was based on 'Zhong Hua', this perhaps the Hokkienese Accent or simply Indonesian absorbsion on the Chinese word. Which is actually means "Something of China". This term is widely use to call the Indonesian-Chinese, I think it's simply because Chinese firstly introduce themselves as 'Tionghwan People', and for them saying "Tiong Hoa" is one of the self pride, since it refer them to their Magnificent Empire and Their Ancestral History. While "Tiong Kok" or "Zhong Guo" should only be used to call the China Mainland, and no other. The term of Tiongkok used by Old Order based on the actual name of People Republic of China: Zhonghua Renmin Gongghe Guo, and also be known as Zhong Guo. That's why, if refering to the original names, we should call Tiongkok, and not China. Even Taiwan calls themselves Zhongmin Zhonghua Mir Guo, which can also be short as Zhong Guo too. The Beijing doesn't mind this name (Tiongkok) since they never consider Taiwan as independent state, and should be considered as 'part of Chinese Mainland', but Beijing mind the "Republic of China" terms.
At 1976, Chinese Government issues a series of new Chinese pronunciations which meant to ease the pronounciation of Chinese Names and Terms. It changes a lot of Chinese names to suit the International Terms, even South China Sea was called as "Nan Hai". Chinese however, still use the name China because this is the name that internationally acknowledge. In reality, Chinese use these terms instead: "Zhong Guo" for China, "Zhong Hua" for Chinese, "Han-zi" for Chinese Characters, "Han-yu" or "Hua-yu" for Chinese Language, and "Han-ren" for Chinese People.
So, the conclusion is this way:
Cina is the official name in bahasa Indonesia. This term can refer either to nation, people, language, nationality, race, etc.
China is official name in international use. However, this can only be applied to call the name of the country. For other, we must use Chinese.
Tionghoa is the name now refered to call the Chinese. Though it's mainly used for most aspect, we shall never use this to address the country, we use Tiongkok instead.
But for a daily conversation, it is okay to use the word Cina, since I believe that most of Tionghoan doesn't mind that, unless if we use the name to insult them. And of course, the person you asked to talk is doesn't mind either.
Note: It's okay to use the term 'Tionghoa' due to the "Ius Sanguinis" system, so that all Chinese, born in anywhere in the world is still connected to Tiongkok. Beside, like I mentioned before, there is a somekind of pride to say 'Tionghoa'.
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