赤縣神州

Chinese

		China	the Divine Land
trad. (赤縣神州)		赤縣	神州
simp. (赤县神州)		赤县	神州

Etymology

Attested earliest in Records of the Grand Historian (translation adapted from Tsai-fa Cheng et al., 1994):

• 以為儒者所謂中國者，於天下乃八十一分居其一分耳。中國名曰赤縣神州。赤縣神州內自有九州，禹之序九州是也，不得為州數。中國外如赤縣神州者九，乃所謂九州也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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  以为儒者所谓中国者，于天下乃八十一分居其一分耳。中国名曰赤县神州。赤县神州内自有九州，禹之序九州是也，不得为州数。中国外如赤县神州者九，乃所谓九州也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

  From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

  Yǐwéi rúzhě suǒwèi Zhōngguó zhě, yú tiānxià nǎi bāshíyī fēnjū qí yī fēn ěr. Zhōngguó míng yuē Chìxiàn Shénzhōu. Chìxiàn Shénzhōu nèi zì yǒu jiǔzhōu, yǔ zhī xù jiǔzhōu shì yě, bùdé wéi zhōu shù. Zhōngguó wài rú Chìxiàn Shénzhōu zhě jiǔ, nǎi suǒwèi jiǔzhōu yě. [Pinyin]

  He (Zou Yan) thought that the Central Region which scholars spoke of occupied just one of the eighty-one parts of the world. The Central Region he called "the Sacred Township of the Red County." The "Sacred Township of the Red County" itself contained nine lands, the nine which Yu ordered, but these could not be counted as "lands." Outside the Central Region there were nine places like the "Sacred Township of the Red County" and these were what he called the "nine lands."

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Chìxiàn Shénzhōu

  (Zhuyin): ㄔˋ ㄒㄧㄢˋ ㄕㄣˊ ㄓㄡ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Chìxiàn Shénzhōu
    • Zhuyin: ㄔˋ ㄒㄧㄢˋ ㄕㄣˊ ㄓㄡ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Chìhsiàn Shénjhou
    • Wade–Giles: Chʻih⁴-hsien⁴ Shên²-chou¹
    • Yale: Chr̀-syàn Shén-jōu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Chyhshiann Shernjou
    • Palladius: Чисянь Шэньчжоу (Čisjanʹ Šɛnʹčžou)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰʐ̩⁵¹⁻⁵³ ɕi̯ɛn⁵¹ ʂən³⁵ ʈ͡ʂoʊ̯⁵⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: tsyhek hwenH zyin tsyuw

Rime
Character	赤	縣	神	州
Reading #	1/1	2/2	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	昌 (24)	匣 (33)	船 (27)	章 (23)
Final (韻)	昔 (123)	先 (86)	眞 (43)	尤 (136)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)	Departing (H)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Closed	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	IV	III	III
Fanqie	昌石切	黃練切	食鄰切	職流切
Baxter	tsyhek	hwenH	zyin	tsyuw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/t͡ɕʰiᴇk̚/	/ɦwenH/	/ʑiɪn/	/t͡ɕɨu/
Pan Wuyun	/t͡ɕʰiɛk̚/	/ɦʷenH/	/ʑin/	/t͡ɕiu/
Shao Rongfen	/t͡ɕʰiæk̚/	/ɣuɛnH/	/ʑjen/	/t͡ɕiəu/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/cʰiajk̚/	/ɦwɛnH/	/ʑin/	/cuw/
Li Rong	/t͡ɕʰiɛk̚/	/ɣuenH/	/d͡ʑiĕn/	/t͡ɕiu/
Wang Li	/t͡ɕʰĭɛk̚/	/ɣiwenH/	/d͡ʑĭĕn/	/t͡ɕĭəu/
Bernhard Karlgren	/t͡ɕʰi̯ɛk̚/	/ɣiwenH/	/d͡ʑʰi̯ĕn/	/t͡ɕi̯ə̯u/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	chi	xuàn	shén	zhōu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	cik1	jyun6	san4	zau1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[t-qʰ](r)Ak  Cə.[ɡ]ʷˤe[n]-s  Cə.li[n]  tu/

  (Zhengzhang): /*kʰljaɡ  ɡʷeːns  hlin  tju/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	赤	縣	神	州
Reading #	1/1	1/2	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	chì	xiàn	shén	zhōu
Middle Chinese	‹ tsyhek ›	‹ hwenH ›	‹ zyin ›	‹ tsyuw ›
Old Chinese	/*[t-qʰ](r)Ak/	/*Cə.[ɡ]ʷˁe[n]-s/	/*Cə.li[n]/	/*tu/
English	red	district	spirit	islet in stream; province
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	赤	縣	神	州
Reading #	1/1	2/2	1/1	1/1
No.	1477	13578	11245	17493
Phonetic component	赤	縣	申	州
Rime group	鐸	元	眞	幽
Rime subdivision	0	2	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	尺		神	周
Old Chinese	/*kʰljaɡ/	/*ɡʷeːns/	/*hlin/	/*tju/

Proper noun

赤縣神州

1. (figurative) China; Central Plains

Synonyms

edit

• 中 (abbreviation)
• 中共國 / 中共国 (zhōnggòngguó) (derogatory)
• 中原 (Zhōngyuán)
• 中國 / 中国 (Zhōngguó)
• 中華 / 中华
• 九州 (Jiǔzhōu) (literary)
• 唐山 (Tángshān)
• 域中 (yùzhōng) (literary, figurative)
• 天下 (tiānxià) (lofty)
• 天朝 (Tiāncháo) (historical or Internet slang)
• 契弟 (qìdì) (Internet slang, derogatory)
• 德祐 (Déyòu) (Myanmar)
• 支那 (Zhīnà) (obsolete, now usually derogatory or offensive)
• 桃花石 (Táohuāshí) (obsolete)
• 牆國 / 墙国 (qiángguó) (Taiwan, derogatory, sarcastic)
• 猜拿 (Cāiná) (transliteration of English China)
• 祖國 / 祖国 (zǔguó)
• 神州 (Shénzhōu) (literary)
• 種花家 / 种花家 (Zhònghuājiā) (slang, humorous)
• 脂那 (Zhīnà) (obsolete)
• 至那 (Zhìnà) (obsolete)
• 華 / 华 (abbreviation)
• 華夏 / 华夏 (Huáxià)
• 虫國 (chóngguó) (Hong Kong, offensive, Internet slang)
• 蚛蟈 / 蚛蝈 (Hong Kong, offensive, Internet slang)
• 諸夏 / 诸夏 (Zhūxià)
• 諸華 / 诸华 (Zhūhuá)
• 貴支 / 贵支 (guìzhī) (Mainland China, Internet slang, neologism, derogatory, sarcastic, offensive)
• 贏國 / 赢国 (Hong Kong, humorous, derogatory, sarcastic)
• 赤縣 / 赤县 (Chìxiàn) (literary)
• 赤縣神州 / 赤县神州 (Chìxiàn Shénzhōu) (literary)
• 震旦 (Zhèndàn) (archaic)