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; ) is a Chinese originated term but used mainly by the Japanese and Taiwanese that is viewed by many Chinese people as a highly offensive term for China despite the fact that the word was first used by the Chinese during the Tang dynasty. Originally a word used neutrally in both Chinese and Japanese, it gained a derogatory tone due to its usage in the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Contents

Origins

Today

See also

Further reading

Origins

The Sanskrit word ''Cin'', for China, was brought back to China with Buddhist literature. It was transcribed into Chinese in various forms including 支那 (Zhīnà), 芝那 (Zhīnà), 脂那 (Zhīnà) and 至那 (Zhìnà). Thus, the term ''Shina'' was initially created in Chinese as a translation of "Cin." This term was in turn brought to Japan with the spread of Chinese Buddhism.
Below is a Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907) poem titled ''Tifan Shu'' using the Chinese term ''Zhina'' (支那) to refer to China:

唐玄宗《題梵書》

毫立蛇形勢未休，

五天文字鬼神愁。

支那弟子無言語，

穿耳胡僧笑點頭。

When Arai Hakuseki, a Japanese scholar, interrogated the Italian missionary Giovanni Battista Sidotti in 1708, he noticed that "Cina", which Sidotti referred to China as, was identical to Shina, the Japanese pronunciation of 支那. Then he began to use this word for China regardless of dynasty. Since the Meiji Era, Shina had been widely used as the translation of western "China". For instance, "Sinology" was translated into "Shinagaku" (支那学).
At first, it was widely accepted that the term "Shina" or "Zhina" had no political connotations. In fact, even before the Republican era, the term "Shina" was one of the proposed names that was to be equivalent to the western usage "China." Chinese revolutionaries, such as Sun Yat-sen, Sung Chiao-jen, and Liang Qichao, used the term extensively, and it was also used in literature as well as by ordinary Chinese. The First Sino-Japanese War caused the view that it had a negative nuance to gradually spread among the Chinese. Nevertheless the term continued to be more-or-less neutral. A Buddhist school called ''Zhīnà Nèixuéyuàn'' (支那內學院) was established as late as in 1922 in Nanjing. In the meantime, "Shina" was used as commonly in Japanese as "China" in English. Derogatory nuances were expressed by adding extra adjectives (e.g. ''暴虐なる''支那兵 (''brutal'' Chinese soldier[s])) or using derogatory terms like "chankoro" (チャンコロ, originating from a corruption of the Taiwanese (Holo) pronunciation of 清國奴 ''Chheng-kok-loh'', used to refer to any "chinaman", with a meaning of "Qing dynasty's slave". In this context, this refers to the Manchu governance of the Han Chinese).
Despite interchangeability of Chinese characters, Japan officially used the term ''Shina Kyōwakoku'' (支那共和国) from 1913 to 1930 in Japanese documents, while ''Zhonghua Minguo'' (中華民國) was used in Chinese ones. "Shina Kyōwakoku" was the literal translation of the English "Republic of China" while ''Chūka Minkoku'' was the Japanese pronunciation of the official Chinese characters of "Zhonghua Minguo". The Republic of China unofficially pressed Japan to adopt the latter but was rejected.
This rejection of the term "Chūka Minkoku" by Japan was thought to be an attempt to place itself on equal footing with Western powers, who used the term China. The name "Chūka Minkoku" was officially adopted by Japan in 1930 but "Shina" was still commonly used by the Japanese throughout the 1930s and 40s.

Today

The Second Sino-Japanese War fixed the impression of the term "Shina" as offensive among Chinese people. Its effect when a Japanese person uses it to refer to a Chinese person is quite similar to the American connotation of the word "negro", a word that has harmless etymologies but has gained derogative connotations due to historical context. Though it must be remembered that the word "Negro" was not invented and first used by the Blacks whereas "Shina" was created by the Chinese themselves. Also the word "negro" is a racial term whereas "Shina" is mainly geographical term. In 1946, the Republic of China demanded that Japan cease using "Shina". Meanwhile, the suffering experienced by China in World War II, such as the Nanking Massacre and Unit 731, began a running tradition of anti-Japanese sentiment in China, which continues to this day. In China, the term ''Shina'' has become linked with the Japanese invasion and Japanese war crimes, and has been considered a derogatory and deeply offensive ethnic slur ever since. Although many assume that the term was created (or chosen) by the Japanese for exclusive use as a racist term, since the character 支 (J: shi/C: zhī) means "branch" which could be interpreted to suggest that the Chinese are subservient to the Japanese, the characters were originally chosen simply for their sound values, not their meanings. The chinese translations for names of many countries cannot be interpreted this may, like France (法國), as "法" means laws. Nonetheless, some Taiwan independence advocates have also used 支那 as phonetic translation of the word "China" instead of the Chinese term 中国 which literally means "the central country," in order to try to distance the Taiwanese identity from the Chinese one.
In modern Japan, the term 中華民国 refers to the Republic of China, 中華人民共和国 refers to the People's Republic of China and 中国 refers to China, the terms being used similarly in the Western world and unofficially in both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. Use of the term "Shina" in Japanese political contexts is usually limited to those who pointedly ignore Chinese demands, and many chinese often believe it has an anti-Chinese bent. It is considered socially unacceptable and subject to kotobagari, especially the kanji form (if ''Shina'' is used, it is now generally written in katakana). However, even then it is still sometimes seen in written forms such as , an alternative name for ramen, which originates from China. Many Japanese are not fully aware of Chinese feelings towards the term, and generally find ''Shina'' merely old-fashioned and associated with the early and mid-20th century, rather than derogatory and racist as 支那 is mainly a geographical term. This difference in conception can lead to misunderstandings, especially when the controversy of the term is rarely studied explicitly.
On the other hand, the term "Shina/Zhina" has survived in a few non-political compound words in both Chinese and Japanese. For example, the East China Sea is called ''Higashi Shina Kai'' (東シナ海) in Japanese, and Indochina is called ''Yindu Zhina'' (印度支那; Japanese: ''Indoshina'') in Chinese.

See also

★ Names of China

★ sina.com

Further reading

★ Joshua A. Fogel, "The Sino-Japanese Controversy over Shina as a Toponym for China," in ''The Cultural Dimension of Sino-Japanese Relations: Essays on the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries'', ed. Joshua A. Fogel (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1995), 66-76.