chi·na   (chī'nə)    n.   High-quality porcelain or ceramic ware, originally made in China. Porcelain or earthenware used for the table. [Persian chīnī, ultimately from Chinese (Mandarin) Qín, Qin; see Qin.] Word History: Our term china for porcelain or ceramic ware is a shortening of chinaware and probably china dishes. Although the word china is identical in spelling to the name of the country, there are 16th- and 17th-century spellings like chiney, cheny, and cheney that reflect the borrowing into English of the Persian term for this porcelain, chīnī. The Persian word and the Sanskrit word cīnāḥ, "Chinese people," which gave us the English name for the country, go back to the Chinese word Qín, the name of the dynasty that ruled China from 221 to 206 B.C.

China

Chi"na\, n. 1. A country in Eastern Asia.

2. China ware, which is the modern popular term for porcelain. See Porcelain.

China aster (Bot.), a well-known garden flower and plant. See Aster.

China bean. See under Bean, 1.

China clay See Kaolin.

China grass, Same as Ramie.

China ink. See India ink.

China pink (Bot.), an anual or biennial species of Dianthus (D. Chiensis) having variously colored single or double flowers; Indian pink.

China root (Med.), the rootstock of a species of Smilax (S. China, from the East Indies; -- formerly much esteemed for the purposes that sarsaparilla is now used for. Also the galanga root (from Alpinia Gallanga and Alpinia officinarum).

China rose. (Bot.) (a) A popular name for several free-blooming varieties of rose derived from the Rosa Indica, and perhaps other species. (b) A flowering hothouse plant (Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis) of the Mallow family, common in the gardens of China and the east Indies.

China shop, a shop or store for the sale of China ware or of crockery.

China ware, porcelain; -- so called in the 17th century because brought from the far East, and differing from the pottery made in Europe at that time; also, loosely, crockery in general.

Pride of China, China tree. (Bot.) See Azedarach.

China

Nation in eastern Asia, bordered by Russia and North Korea to the east; Russia and Mongolia to the north; Russia and Afghanistan to the west; and Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Laos, and Vietnam to the south. Its capital is Beijing, and its largest city is Shanghai.

Note: China is the most populous country in the world and the third largest, after Russia and Canada.

Note: The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 grew out of strong resentment of foreign influence in China.

Note: A revolution in 1911 overthrew the Qing dynasty, ending the two-thousand-year-old imperial system.

Note: Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Chinese Nationalists, established the government of Nationalist China in 1928 in Nanjing.

Note: The Second Sino-Japanese War, which lasted from 1937 to 1945 (merging with World War II in 1941), grew out of Japanese encroachments on Chinese land.

Note: The Chinese communists, with Mao Zedong as their leader, defeated Chiang's Nationalists in 1949, proclaiming the People's Republic of China. The Nationalists withdrew to the island of Taiwan.

Note: In 1950, Chinese forces joined the North Korean army in the Korean War.

Note: In 1958, Mao undertook the “Great Leap Forward” campaign, a crash program of industrialization, but none of its goals were reached, and the effort collapsed.

Note: In 1960, the ideological split between the Soviet Union and China widened, and the Soviets withdrew all aid.

Note: In the mid-1960s, Mao's wife, acting on his behalf, and three colleagues, later known as the Gang of Four, advanced the goals of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, aimed at eliminating old ideas and customs. Mobs attacked schools and cultural centers, brutally disrupting the entire nation. With the death of Mao in 1976 and the trial of the Gang of Four in 1980, the Cultural Revolution came to an end.

Note: In 1972, President Richard Nixon visited China, reopening relations between mainland China and the United States.

Note: In 1989, the government brutally suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.

Note: Although China remains officially communist, its government encourages capitalism in designated areas, especially in its southeastern provinces. China has experienced considerable economic development in recent decades. Relations with the United States remain tense, especially over Taiwan, but the United States supported China's admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

china