- Huaxia
Huaxia (zh-tsp|t=|s=|p=Huáxià) is a name often used to represent
China or Chinese civilization.Etymology
According to the historical record, "
Zuo Zhuan ", the ancientXia Dynasty of central China was a state that held propriety and justice in high esteem, thus the word "xia" (), which has the meaning of "great" or "grand", was used by subsequent dynasties to refer to the entire country as a mark of refined culture. The word "hua" () was also used in reference to the beautiful clothing that people in ancient China wore, as the word means "illustrious" and "splendid". (中國有禮儀之大，故稱夏；有服章之美，謂之華。)It is also possible that "xia" referred to "Xiashui" (夏水), another name for the Han River, and "hua" referred to
Mount Hua . Both the river and the mountain were historically and culturally significant to ancient China.Historical development
In the narrow, original sense, Huaxia refers to a group (or confederation of tribes) of ancient people living along the
Yellow River who formed the nucleus of what later became the Han ethnic group in China. In this sense, the term did not originally represent China or Chinese civilisation as a whole, but referred instead to a specific ethno-cultural group (the Huaxia tribe or confederacy 華夏族) that was distinct from other Chinese peoples at the time, such as the Miao and theDongyi . Subsequently, with the spread of Han culture over most of China, the term came to be used as a generic term for the Chinese nation itself, as well as for Chinese culture in general (including that shared by theoverseas Chinese ).Modern references
Although still used in conjunction, "Hua" (華) and "Xia" (夏) are more often used separately to represent things Chinese. "Hua", in particular, has become almost synonymous with Chinese civilization.
The official Chinese names of both the
People's Republic of China and theRepublic of China refer to "Huaxia" in using the term "Zhonghua" (中華) to refer to China as a country. The PRC's Chinese name is "中華人民共和國" and the ROC's Chinese name is "中華民國".The character "hua" is also often used, in the terms "Huaqiao" (華僑) and "Huaren" (華人), by the
Overseas Chinese to refer to themselves. The term does not denote citizenship, but makes a reference to their ancestral origins.The
Chinese calendar is also known as the "Xia Li" (夏曆).The Dynasty business class service on
China Airlines is called "Huaxia Class" in Chinese.ee also
*
Jiuzhou
*History of China External links
* [http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Myth/mythology.html Mythology in China]
* [http://big5.ce.cn/gate/big5/cathay.ce.cn/history/200701/11/t20070111_10056574.shtml 黃帝創業]
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