Page:China historical and descriptive.djvu/23

 and we give to the Ya-me-li-kien (Americans) the name of "Men of the Gaudy Banner," because it is said that they carry at the mast of their vessels a flag striped with various colours. You see that all these denominations have a sense, a meaning for the mind. That must be the case also with your words China and Chinese; since those words do not belong to our language, they must necessarily signify something in yours.'"

The ancient name for China, and one which is still used, is Tien-sha, signifying under, or inferior only to heaven; but the natives usually speak of their country as Tchung-quo, the middle kingdom; an appellation erroneously supposed by the French missionaries to arise from the pride of the inhabitants, who assert that their country is placed in the midst of the earth's square surface, whereas its real origin is owing to the Emperor Tching-wang having fixed his residence at Lo-yang, in the Province of Honan, when he changed the name of the former to Tchung-quo, which from its central position is undoubtedly appropriate; and this name gradually embraced the whole empire.

But none the less do our words China and Chinese find their birthplace in the country itself, owing to a habit always prevalent amongst the Chinese of bestowing upon the empire the name of the reigning dynasty; thus the achievements of the Emperor Han and his successors caused the people to call themselves Han-jin, or "Men of Han;" and when the Thang dynasty eclipsed the glories of the Han, the people abandoning the former name designated themselves Thang-jin, or "Men of Thang." When the