“中国”的中文翻译过来就是“世界中心”，中国人是真的为自己国家的地位感到自豪吗

The Chinese name for China translates to "the center of the world." However, do the Chinese people truly feel proud of their country's status among the top nations, or do they experience a sense of marginalization from the world, akin to Russia?

“中国”的中文翻译过来就是“世界中心”。中国人是真的为自己国家的顶级地位感到自豪，还是会像俄罗斯一样，有一种被全世界边缘化的感觉？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Jonathan Carlson

No, the Chinese name for China is 中国. This literally means “Middle Country”, although it is often referred to as the “Middle Kingdom”. This term is a lot less egocentric than you portray it as. Let’s take a look at Google Earth. To begin with, here’s the “Chinese Heartland”:

不，Chinese的中文名字是“中国”。这个词的字面意思是“位于中间的国家”，但通常被称为“中央王国”。其实这个词远没有你描述的那么以自我为中心。

It is a very green and verdant area, fed by multiple river systems. This is the traditional “China”, although for the past thousand years or so, China has, off and on, been larger than just this region.

So now, let’s look at the territory surrounding it, shall we?

中国是一个非常翠绿的地区，多个河流水系提供了丰富的水源。这就是传统的“中国”，但在过去一千年左右的时间里，中国的国土面积时有外拓。

现在，让我们看看它周围的领土。

In the East and South, there is ocean. This is a pretty large barrier that requires a lot of logistics in order to cross, especially when compared to places like the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is basically an inland sea, and the waters are a lot calmer than the open ocean. This is what led to the cultures in the area being able to travel around.

中国的东部和南部都是海洋。这是一个很大的地理屏障，想要进入该地区需要颇费周折。而跟地中海对比，地中海基本上就是一个内海，海水要比公海平静得多，因此该地区的文化能够四处传播。

Next, the Southeast has rugged terrain and dense jungles. This also was a barrier, though a considerably weaker barrier. Again, if we compare to the West (bear in mind, I’m thinking of the Roman Empire as an analogy), the equivalent would be the forests of the region of Germany.

其次，东南部地形崎岖，丛林茂密。这也是一大屏障，但比海洋弱得多。如果我们跟西方比(用罗马帝国做类比)，相当于德国地区的森林。

In the North, there’s the steppes of Asia. Flat grasslands that have (comparatively) poor soil and a lack of lumber and other resources that can be used to build permanent settlements. Sure, the Northeast is comparatively open, but bear in mind that all the way back to the Han dynasty, China had expanded in that direction (and partway down into the Korean peninsula). They were later driven out by steppe nomads. Those same steppe nomads, or their descendants actually, ended up becoming sinicized and founded their own Chinese state (this happened a few times, but I’m mostly thinking of the in dynasty).

中国的北部是亚洲大草原。是一片(相对而言)土壤贫瘠、木材和其他可用于建造永久定居点的资源不足的平坦草原。当然，东北地区较为开放，早在汉朝时期，中国就已经向这个方向进行扩张了(向北延伸到朝鲜半岛的一半)。后来，他们被草原游牧民族赶走了。这些草原游牧民族，或者他们的后代，后来被汉化，并建立了自己的国家(这种情况历史上发生过数次，但我记得最清的是晋朝)。

In the West there is the largest mountain range in the world, as well as massive deserts. Yes, there are a few green areas, and they were, off and on, a part of China (the Tang dynasty, for example stretched all the way to Kashgar - a border city even today), but due to the terrain, it wasn’t easily defended. Often raiders from the mountains would come and break off supply lines or disrupt trade. It only became a part of China when the nomadic tribes from the North first invaded the Mountains and later invaded China (I’m talking about the Mongol Empire. They invaded the Tiban plateau in the 1240s-1250s, conquered China in the 1260s, and established the Yuan dynasty in the 1270s).

中国的西部有世界上最大的山脉，还有大片的沙漠。当然，也有一些绿地，它们在历史上多次融入中国(例如，唐朝的版图一直延伸到喀什——今天喀什仍然是中国的边境城市)，但由于地形条件很难防守，来自山区的入侵者时常会破坏补给线或破坏贸易。当北方的游牧部落突破山脉屏障，进而入侵中国(我说的是蒙古帝国)时，它才真正成为中国的一部分。1240 -1250年代，蒙古人入侵青藏高原，1260年代统治中国，1270年代建立了元朝)。

These geographical barriers are why China is called the “Middle Country” or the “Middle Kingdom”. Rome, too, had geographical barriers, but not like this. They had the ocean to the West, forests to the North, Deserts to the South, but in the East, their biggest barrier wasn’t geographical. There were the Parthians and later the Sassanids.

这些地理屏障就是中国被称为“中国”或“中央王国”的原因。罗马也有地理屏障，但又不一样。罗马的西边是海洋，北边是森林，南边是沙漠，但东部最大的屏障不是地理屏障，而是帕提亚人和后来的萨珊人。

Harry Santiago

Sinocentrism was a thing in the past, just like a flat earth theory. You don't bring about such idea in modern times, would you agree?

This belief was particularly prevalent during the imperial era, where China was seen as a superior civilization compared to its neighbors. However, this mindset has been challenged in the modern era, as China has had to navigate its position in a more interconnected and globalized world.

中国中心论已经是过去式了，就像最初人们认为地球是平的一样。现代社会的人不会提出这种想法了，对吧？

这种想法在王朝时期尤其普遍，中国曾被视为比邻国优越得多的文明国度。但这种想法在现代遭到了挑战，中国必须在一个联系更为紧密和全球化的世界中重新定位。

Today, while some Chinese people may still take pride in China's historical accomplishments and cultural contributions, many also recognize the challenges and complexties of being a major global power.

As for a sense of marginalization, while some individuals in China may feel that the country is not given enough recognition or respect by the Western world, overall, China's leaders are actively pursuing a more assertive foreign policy to advance China's interests and promote its vision for the future. Oh, have you heard of the Belt and Road Initiative, perchance?

今天，虽然有些中国人仍然为中国的历史成就和文化贡献感到自豪，但也有许多人认识到中国作为一个全球大国面对的挑战和复杂性。

至于觉得被边缘化，虽然有些中国人可能会觉得中国还没能得到西方世界足够的认可或尊重，但总体而言，中国人正在积极展开更为自信的外交政策，推动中国的利益、促进中国的。你应该听说过“一带一路”倡议吧？

Christina Zastrow

Why do the Chinese call the United States the Beautiful Country but only give themselves the modest name of the Middle Country?

为什么中国人称美国为美丽国，却只给自己取了一个谦虚的名字“位于中间的国家”?

As some one else said 中国 or Zhong Guo, literally Middle Country, isn’t humbly declaring China less then anywhere else. It’s seeing China as the middle or center of the world and everyone else coming to China. This is because for much of their history, China was the most powerful in the region.

就像其他人说的，中国，字面上意思是“位于中间的国家”，并非谦虚地表明中国不如其他国家。这是把中国当做世界的中心，世界各地的人都向往中国。这是因为在中国的历史中，中国长期都是该地区最强大的国家。

As for 美国 or Mei Guo/beautiful country/America, chinese has very specific ways to build words. Their phonics include initials, or sounds at the begng of words, and finals, or the rest of the word. In mei for example the initial muah (the sound of m) and the final is ei (like the begng of eight). Very few words in Chinese have a vowel initial (一 or yi is an example and there’s a y places there so the word isn’t just i). So there’s no word in chinese that starts with an a like America, but there are many words that begging with muah, including 美. As the two countries initially had good relations, 美国 was the word that was created for America.

至于美国或美丽国/美利坚，中国人有非常具体的造词方式。中文的拼读包括首字母，或单词开头的声母，也有韵母，或词语发音的其余部分。例如，在mei中，前面的muah (m的发音)和最后的ei (就像eight的开头)。中文中很少有元音字母为首的词 (例如一或yi，包含一个“y”，所以这个单词不是只有“i”)，所以中文中没有单词像America一样以“a”开头，但有很多单词以“muah”开头，包括“美”。两国之间的关系一开始还不错，“美国”一词就是当时中国为美国创造的。

So to sum up 中国 is actually pride of place as the center of the world and 美国 is actually mostly phonics.

Please note that although I live in China and have had this explained by Chinese, I’m an American with tart poor Chinese so I apologize if I have forgotten anything. 我的中文很不好。

综上所述，“中国”确实是出于世界中心的骄傲，但“美国”实际上主要是出于发音。

望周知，虽然我住在中国，也听中国人解释过这一点，但我是美国人，我的中文实在不太行，所以如果我遗漏了什么，我向大家道歉。我的中文很不好。

David Soler

How do Chinese translations of the countries' names come about?

A name is eventually chosen based on 3 criteria: sound, as adapted to Chinese phonology. That last is important, as Chinese has relatively few phonemes. The “closest they can get” may be far removed from the native pronunciation, and native speakers of the country probably won’t recognize it. Oh, Chinese generally work with the preferred choice of the native speakers. The translation for Germany, 德國, is based on “Deutschland” rather than “Germany” or “Alemania.” Also, the characters chosen for the translation may be “keyed” to a different dialect, as in 夏威夷, pronounced Ha-wai-yi in Cantonese and ia-wei-yi in Mandarin.

这些国家名字的中文翻译是怎么来的？

名字的选择最后往往基于三个标准：发音，即符合汉语音位学。最后一点很重要，因为汉语的音素相对较少。“他们所能挑选的最接近的发音”可能和母语发音相去甚远，导致母语人士都可能认不出来。Germany的翻译是德国，这个译法基于“Deutschland”而非“Germany”或“Alemania”。此外，为译名选择的汉字可能会因为不同的方言而有不同的发音，比如夏威夷，在粤语中发音为“Ha-wai-yi”，但在普通话中发音为“X ia-wei-yi”。

Second step is abbreviation, with one syllable being chosen for combination with guo, country. So, yes, Chinese are actually saying “X-country.” That’s a feature of the language, because few phonemes means lots of homonyms. For Americans, think of how the Southern dialect has lost the vocalic distinction between “pen” and “pin.” To compensate, a Southerner will say “inkpin” and “safety pin.” Generally, it’s the first syllable. 美國 (Meiguo) would be an exception, derived from “A-mei-li-ga(jia?)” If you go back far enough, you’ll find Japan written as 日本國 (Ribenguo), “Land of the Rising Sun.”

第二个方法是缩写，选择某个音节和“国”、country相组合。所以，没错，中国人其实是采用了“x国”的组合方式。这也正是中文的一个特点，因为中文会用很少的音素代表大量的同音异义字。对美国人来说，可以回顾一下南方方言是如何逐渐把“pen”和“p in”的发音趋同的。为了避免误会，南方人会说“inkpin”和“safety pin”。通常，中文会摘取第一个音节。美国(Meiguo)倒是一个例外，美国是由“A-mei-li-ga(jia?)”衍生而来，如果你追溯历史，会发现日本也曾被写成日本国(Ribenguo)，即“日出之地”。

Finally, the translators worry about the meaning. There are many homonyms, and some of them have better meanings than others. Diplomacy probably demands choosing a word with a pleasant meaning. France becomes “Land of Law.” Germany is transformed into “Land of Virtue” and “the United States” is portrayed as “Land of Beauty.” (I’m sure that comedians can easily find alternative characters for punning effect.)

最后，译者还会考虑文字代表的意思。中文有许多同音异义字，其中有些字的含义比其他同音字更好。在外交场合，可能需要选择一个带有意思悦人的词。所以法国就成了“法律之国”，德国成了“美德之国”，而“美国”则是“美丽之国”。(我相信喜剧演员可以轻松找到同音字来发挥双关效果。)

The translations for the country names have to be understood as an attempt to incorporate them into the Chinese language, for the convenience of Chinese native speakers. All languages do this, it’s just that a shared alphabet allows for (the appearance) of greater fidelity by obscuring phonetic adaptations.

为了方便把汉语作为母语的人，这些国家名称的翻译必须易于理解，才能融入中文。所有语言都是这样做的，但通用的字母表让人们可以用相近发音来达到更高的保真度。

Qingfeng Huang

Both. China feels its the top dog Alpha nation at the center of the world. But because of this attitude feels the need to separate itself from the rest of the world . As it result marginalized itself from the so-called barbarians

两个说法都对。中国觉得自己是世界中心的老大。但正因为这种态度，中国人觉得有必要将自己与世界其他地区分开。所以中国自己远离他们所谓的野蛮人，把自己边缘化了。

Brillet Hu

Originally Answered: Why do the Chinese call the United States 'beautiful country' (美国) given that the Chinese name does not sound like the English equivalent?

最初的回答:为什么中国人称美国为“美丽的国家”，因为中国的名字听起来不像英语中的“美丽的国家”？

When Chinese made the equivalent name for other countries, there are many characters to be used, but they tend to choose good words as the standard.

当中国人为其他国家取名时，可供备选的汉字有很多，但中国人一般都会选择寓意好的字词。

Some examles:

Short name-meaning-full name-original

美国-beautiful country-美利坚-America

德国-country of virtue-德意志-Deutsch

英国-hero's country-英格兰-England

法国-law's country-法兰西-France

举一些例子：

简称-意思-全名-原名

美国—美丽的国家—美利坚—America