Before Emperor Chin ruled, what was the country China called?

jaddis01

China was known by the dynasties that ruled it until the Qin (Chin) dynasty. The unification of China in 221 BC under the First Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (or Shih Hwang-Tih) marked the beginning of Imperial China, a period which lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty Ancient China had always been a collection of more or less independent states in the north of China. The Shang and the Chou dominated the political landscape as the most powerful of those states, but they did not exercise uniform rule over neighboring regions. When the Chou began to weaken around 500 BC, these independent states began to war among themselves over territory and influence. So chaotic was this period that the Chinese refer to it as The Warring States period, and it did not end until the whole of north China was unified under a single empire, the Ch'in dyansty. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CHEMPIRE/CHIN.HTM Chinese tradition names the first dynasty Xia, but it was considered mythical until scientific excavations found early bronze-age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province. Archaeologists have since uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs in locations cited as Xia's in ancient historical texts, but it is impossible to verify that these remains are of the Xia without written records from the period. The second dynasty, the loosely feudal Shang, definitely settled along the Yellow River in eastern China from the 18th to the 12th century BCE. They were invaded from the west by the Zhou, who ruled from the 12th to the 5th century BCE. The first unified Chinese state was established by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China Apr 10 08, 5:56 PM

author

I think the term Zhongguo was used even before the Chin (or Qin) dynasty. Quote: China is called Zhongguo in Chinese. The character zhōng means "middle" or "central," while guó means "state". The term is commonly translated into English as "Middle Kingdom", but is also sometimes translated as "Central Kingdom." The name "Zhongguo" appeared first in the Classic of History (6th Century BC), and was used to refer to the late Zhou Dynasty, as they believed that they were the "center of civilization." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#Etymology Apr 10 08, 8:00 PM

jaddis01

China is called Zhongguo in Chinese. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China The Chinese still seem to refer to the word "Zhongguo" which predates the western understanding of the word which came into being because of its close resemblance to Qin (Chin). So China is still called Zhongguo by the Chinese which is what it's always been referred to as, as of 600 BC. The rest of the world calls it China. Apr 10 08, 10:02 PM