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This term referred mainly to all the land under the name of the Son of Heaven and the right to rule on such land. The ancient Chinese held that the rule of senior officials was over their enfeoffed land, and that of dukes and princes was over feudal states. The rule of the Son of Heaven was over all the land. Literally, tianxia (天下) means “all under heaven.” It actually refers to all the territory embracing the enfeoffed land and feudal states under the rule or in the name of the Son of Heaven, as well as all the subjects and the right to rule. The term has later evolved to refer to the whole nation or the whole world.
Tian (天) is a sacred and fundamental concept in ancient Chinese philosophy. It has three different meanings. The first is the physical sky or the entirety of nature (not including human society), the operations of which manifest certain laws and order. The second refers to a spiritual being, which possesses an anthropomorphic will and governs everything in the universe. The third denotes the universal law, which is observed by all things and beings, and which is also the basis of human nature, morality, and social and political orders.
The term means to save and help all people through upholding truth and justice. Dao (道) here refers to truth and justice, and also to particular thought or doctrine. Ji (济) means relieving or helping people out of difficulties or sufferings. Tianxia (天下) refers to everything under heaven, and particularly all people. Therefore, this phrase contains two meanings. First, the value of any particular Dao depends on whether it serves the interests of the people. Second, people of virtue, and intellectuals in particular, should apply Dao they have learned to serve the people and use the ancient classics they have studied to meet present needs. Much like the idea of “studying ancient classics to meet present needs,” this notion of “supporting all people by upholding truth and justice,” represents the ultimate goal and ideal character of the traditional Chinese intellectuals in their pursuit of knowledge. It also embodies the compassion and moral standards of the traditional Chinese intellectuals as they pursue and uphold truth, care about the livelihood of the people, and take upon themselves the responsibility for the world.
The world is a public realm and therefore belongs to all the people. Tianxia (天下), which literally means everything under heaven, used to refer to the monarch, state power, or the nation; later it extended to mean the whole world. In the narrow sense, gong (公) refers to figures with both integrity and competence, while in the broad sense it refers to all the people of a country, or everyone in the world. This term has two meanings. The first is that the position of a ruler is not the private property of just one person or his family, but rather belongs to all people of virtue and ability. Hence, the throne should be passed on to people according to their merit rather than through bloodline. The second meaning is that a country does not belong to a single individual or family, but belongs to the public. This is a people-centered vision, which opposes hereditary rule and believes that people with virtue and competence should be selected to exercise power. Ancient Chinese held this to be the foundation and guarantee for people to enjoy a happy life and realize universal harmony. In modern times, it evolved into a key concept calling for overthrowing autocracy and realizing democracy and later into a longing for an ideal society.
All under heaven belongs to all the people in the world; a country belongs to all the people in the country. “All under heaven” can here be understood as the country or highest sovereign power of the country. The ancients regarded all under heaven as belonging neither to a single person nor to a single family but to all the people. Whoever acted according to morality and justice and was good to the people of all under heaven, such a person was qualified to possess and rule all under heaven. This implies a concept of human rights bestowed by heaven and governance by virtue. In a modern context, this can be understood in the following way: the world belongs to all the people of the world – every country and every person have the right to take part in government.
The view that ordinary people also share responsibility for the fate of the country originated with the famous late Ming- and early Qing-dynasty thinker Gu Yanwu（1613-1682）. He stated that the ruler and his officials were in charge of the state apparatus, but guarding all under heaven was the responsibility of every individual, no matter how lowly they may be. In pre-modern China, all under heaven referred to the whole territory of China ruled either directly or nominally by the Son of Heaven. By “state” Gu Yanwu, however, meant something entirely different: the state only refers to one imperial house, while “all under heaven” refers to the whole of the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization. The modern Chinese thinker Liang Qichao （1873-1929）built on this idea and put it in more general terms stating that “survival of a nation is the responsibility of every individual,” turning it into a clearer and more forceful statement. It was subsequently quoted by so many statesmen and thinkers that it became a household phrase. Ever since, this saying has had tremendous influence in arousing the patriotic spirit among the people of China and making them assume responsibility for the fate of their country.
To rule a state, use the methods for governing a state. To rule a country, use the methods for governing a country. Guanzi （？-645 BC） held that a ruler must not use the methods for governing a clan to rule a town, nor use the methods for governing a town to rule a state, nor use the methods for governing a state to rule a country. One must change one’s methods of governance according to differences in the area under one’s rule. One must broaden one’s vision and mind as the area under one’s rule expands. In modern language, the “state” could be interpreted as a country, and the “country” as the world.
Family-state referred to the land owned by feudal lords and officials in ancient China. The land of a feudal lord was called “state” and the land of an official was called “family.” In ancient China, family, clan and country shared common structural features, all founded on the basis of blood relationships. This is the so-called “commensurability of family and state.” Family-state later referred to the entire territory of a country. In modern times, the term is also used to denote a polity encompassing a territory, a people, and a government.
The term, similar in meaning to heshan (河山), literarily means rivers and mountains. It is used to refer to the sovereignty of a state and all its territory. The term has these implications: rivers and mountains provide natural barriers that protect the country and its sovereignty; territory is the key feature of a state.
She (社) is the God of the Earth, and ji (稷 millet), represents the God of the Five Grains. Chinese kings and vassals of ancient times offered sacrifices to these gods. As the Han people depended on farming, these gods were the most important primitive objects of worship. The ancient rulers offered sacrifices to the gods of the Earth and the Five Grains every year to pray for peace and good harvests in the country. As a result, sheji became a symbol of the nation and state power.
This term is an alternative designation for China. According to The Book of History, the country consisted of nine zhou (州), namely Jizhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yuzhou, Liangzhou, and Yongzhou. There are similar references to the nine zhou in classic works of the same or later period, such as The Rituals of Zhou, Er Ya, and Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals. The nine zhou were never adopted as actual administrative divisions of the country, but they did show the general geographical area inhabited by the Chinese people since the late Spring and Autumn Period.
The forefathers of the Han people living in the Central Plains referred to themselves by this term. Earlier on they called themselves Hua (华), Zhuhua (诸华), Xia (夏) or Zhuxia (诸夏). The term Huaxia (华夏) embodies the common identity of the way of life, language, and culture of the people living in the Central Plains, mainly the Han people, and the inheritance of such identity. The Huaxia people evolved into a fairly stable ethnic group in the Qin Dynasty, which established a unified country of many ethnic groups with Huaxia being the principal group. In the Han Dynasty, the term Han became an alternative name of Huaxia. Later, the term Huaxia was extended to refer to China or the Han people.
This term refers to the areas along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River where ancient Huaxia (华夏) people or the Han people lived. Originally, the term Zhongguo (中国) meant both this region and its culture. The Huaxia people established their states along the Yellow River. Believing the areas were located in the center of the world, they called it Zhongguo (the Central Country, as against other areas around it). Later, the term was used to refer to the Central Plains in North China and the states founded in that area. Since modern times, Zhongguo has been used to refer to the entire territory and sovereignty of China.
This term is an abbreviation of the compound word formed by Zhongguo (中国) and Huaxia (华夏). Here, hua (华) also means “flower” or “flowery,” which was used as an analogy for a splendid culture. The ancestors of the Huaxia people established their state in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, which they thought was the center (zhong) of the world and which had a flourishing culture (hua), so the state was called Zhonghua. This multi-ethnic state, with the Huaxia people as the predominant group of its population, later began its territorial expansions, and the places where it extended to became part of Zhonghua. In modern times, Zhonghua became a term denoting China, the Chinese people, and its culture.
Four Seas refer to the territory of China or the entire world. The ancient Chinese believed that China was a land surrounded by Four Seas – the East, West, North, and South seas. The term suggests what the ancient Chinese conceived to be the map of China and the world: Nine zhou (regions) were located at the center of tianxia (all under heaven). Tianxia consisted of nine zhou and its surrounding Four Seas. China was within the Four Seas, while foreign lands were outside the Four Seas. In ancient China, Four Seas referred to all under heaven in most cases, and did not denote a specific body of water. Therefore, the term was used sometimes to mean the seas surrounding the land, and sometimes to specify the land surrounded by the Four Seas.
Within the Four Seas means within the territory of China. The ancient Chinese thought China’s territory was surrounded by the Four Seas (the East, West, North, and South seas). Within the Four Seas refers to the landmass surrounded by the Four Seas. It reflected the ancient Chinese belief that the seas were the natural boundary of a country, demonstrating the influence of an agriculture civilization.
Outside the Four Seas refers to the territory outside China, foreign lands, or remote areas. The ancient Chinese thought that China’s territory was surrounded by the Four Seas (the East, West, North, and South seas). Therefore, places outside China were outside the Four Seas. It reflected the ancient Chinese belief that the seas were the natural boundary of a country. It also suggested that the ancient Chinese were on the one hand self-focused and on the other open-minded, longing to explore the unknown world outside the Four Seas.
In feudalism, the lord granted titles of nobility, fiefs, and people to his relatives and officials and allowed them to establish dukedoms. A fief was smaller than the territory under the direct control of the lord. While obeying the rule of the lord, a dukedom enjoyed a high degree of autonomy in its military and administrative affairs. Dukedoms checked each other in the protection of the lord. A dukedom might be passed down genetically upon the approval of the lord and was required to pay tribute to him. As a political system, feudalism is believed to have started in the era of the legendary Yellow Emperor, and became established in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Feudalism was akin to the patriarchal clan system based on blood ties and gave rise to a hierarchy system. After the first emperor of Qin（259-210 BC） reunified China, he abolished feudalism in favor of the system of prefectures and counties. From the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, centralized government or imperial autocracy was dominant in China, rendering feudalism, which existed overtly or covertly, supplementary.
This system was central to life in ancient China; it was a system of principles and measures by which a clan, a state, or society was run, based on bloodline or whether a son was born from the wife or a concubine. The feudal clan system evolved from the patriarchal chiefs system. Taking shape during the Western Zhou Dynasty, this system and the feudal system were mutually dependent and complementary. The feudal clan system had two levels: one was the familial level, where the eldest son by the wife was the first in line to inherit the family’s property and thus enjoyed the greatest authority. Other members of the clan were allotted their status and authority according to their closeness of kinship, ancestry, or seniority. In the families of the emperor, kings, and other nobility, this pattern was extended to the state or national level. It had a decisive impact on the inheritance of the imperial throne and on state politics. The feudal clan system greatly influenced the Chinese way of life and thinking for several thousand years.
This concept places importance on the unity of national ideology and law. It was put forward by Dong Zhongshu (179-104 BC) of the Western Han Dynasty as an underlying theme of The Spring and Autumn Annals. In his view, the state needs a uniform legal system, but to achieve such unity, different schools of thought must be unified first. Without a unified ideology, people will not know which one to follow. Dong believed that Confucianism should be the one and only governing ideology for a nation. In his opinion, the unity of law and ideology should be an enduring principle .
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