Inner cultivation of civilization and virtue, and outer transformation in the four directions—History of the formation of the national title “China” and interpretation of its meaning

Abstract As a national title, the meaning of Zhongguo (中國, ‘Middle Kingdom,’ ‘China’) profoundly reflects the dialectical unity of the philosophy of the “Three Changes” from the Book of Changes (Yijing 易經): Bianyi (變易, ‘change’), jianyi (簡易, ‘simplification’) and buyi (不易, ‘immutability’). Change: Through the intermingling and interaction of a succession of ethnic polities, the semantics of Zhongguo have continuously expanded, elevating it from a geographical concept to a cultural and political community. Simplification: As a symbol of the identity of a succession of ethnic polities, the term Zhongguo extends through past and present, and has become the political cornerstone of the great unified state. Immutability: Its core has always been directed toward the governing wisdom of “inner cultivation of civilization and virtue, and outer transformation in the four directions,” forming a trans-epochal value consensus. History has shown that the inheritance and interpretation of the name Zhongguo by the various polities of China’s antiquity are not only testimony to cultural assimilation, but are furthermore the basis for China’s formation of a unified multiethnic state today.