Posted on 01/13/2007 9:03:26 AM PST by Paul Ross
What are you, the resident China basher?
It's absolute fact that China's largest source of foreign investment outside of Hong Kong come from Taiwan. So any suggestions that other countries should divest from China in order to save Taiwan is ironic at best.
Taiwan's economy is very intertwined with the Chinese. I wrote that the Deputy Secretary of State's comments were very sensible, and I get called a chicom troll by you. What are you then?
The Japanese didn't have characters until they got them from China via Buddist texts.
You don't even know what Xang Xing, Xing Sheng, Zhuan Zhu, Hui Yi, or Zhi Shi actually means do you?
I also have NO idea where you got your 94% number from.
So tell us where you learned your Chinese.
Tell us what 'Zhong Guo' meant in 1849 and 1749 etc.
Point to any post where I said that. Go on. Point to it. Show me.
I merely said your definition of a word was incorrect.
I don't see myself as a basher. Not at all. I welcome anyone who wants to have a decent and realistic conversation about China.
In this case you just had facts completely and simply wrong so I said something about it.
The divesting away from China isn't just to save Taiwan. No no. Not at all. It has much more and much farther reaching goals and intentions.
In fact it can compell China into further reforms and thus increase the living style of your average Chinese citizen.
Its not anti-China at all.
I see no great obligation to defend any nation who has otherwise "gamed the system" of international trade.
Zhongguo wasn't used in its modern sense in 1849 and 1949. That's the point. It wasn't until the early 20th century, when Zhongguo became a term used to describe the Chinese nation-state in the Western sense. This was also when the term Jhonghua Minguo was coined. Thank you for revealing that you have no grasp of the historic development of the Chinese language.
I am Japanese and I guarantee my knowledge of Classical Chinese is greater than yours.
What about South Korea?
China is called Zhongguo in Mandarin Chinese. The first character zh¨ng (ÖÐ ) means "middle" or "central," while gu¨® (¹ú or ‡ø ) means "country" or "state". The term can be literally translated as "Middle Kingdom" or "Central Kingdom." In ancient times the term referred to the "Central States" along the Yellow River valley. English and many other languages use various forms of the name "China" and the prefix "Sino-" or "Sin-". These forms are thought to be probably derived from the name of the Qin Dynasty that first unified the country (221-206 BCE).[1] The Qin Dynasty unified the written language in China and gave the supreme ruler of China the title of "Emperor" instead of "King," thus the subsequent Silk Road traders might have identified themselves by that name.
At least Wikipedia thinks you are full of crap too.
I will find other sources as well.
Wanna put money on that?
How did Japan get Chinese characters at all, meaning in the first place.
For centuries virtually all the foreigners that Chinese rulers saw came from the less developed societies along their land borders. This circumstance conditioned the Chinese view of the outside world. The Chinese saw their domain as the self-sufficient center of the universe and derived from this image the traditional (and still used) Chinese name for their country--Zhongguo () , literally, Middle Kingdom or Central Nation.
Your sources are weak, and merely rephrase the common cliche. Wikipedia as a source? Give me a break.. And besides, Wikipedia even wrote that Zhongguo traditionally refers to the Central States in the Yellow River valley. Do you know where the Central States in the Yellow River valley lie? The Central Plains! Jhongyuan!
The Chinese never traditionally called their country by Zhongguo as your UMD source states. That's absolute BS. The Chinese traditionally called their country by the name of the ruling dynasty. Thus, under the Qing dynasty, the country was called Qingguo. Under the Han dynasty, it was Hanguo. Your sources are the ones full of crap.
Same.
I can't see a lot of political support for the loss of American life defending a country that is a net exporter of high tech goods to the United States. If these countries would put half the resources into their defense as they do undercutting American firms I'd feel differently.
If you can make machine tools for export, you can make tanks for your defense.
When was it first written in Chinese texts?
What is your point? 94% of Chinese characters are still phonetic. And "guo" (both simplified and traditional) is one of them. Analyzing phonetic elements is pointless, as the interpretation is always post hoc. Only 6% of Chinese characters qualify as pictographs, subject to interpretation.
bttt
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