Zhōnghuá, Chung¹-hua² or Chunghwa (; literally Central Flowery or Central Splendor) is a term that indicates a relation to, or descent from, China or its culture, and derives from the historical concept of Huaxia. Historically, Zhōnghuá could refer not only to China or its territory, but also to the wider realm of peoples, lands, customs, institutions, and traditions regarded as belonging to the Sinospheric civilizational tradition.
Etymology
The word Zhonghua combines 中 (zhōng, "middle" or "central") and 華 (huá, literally "flowery", and by extension "civilized" or "Hua"). It belongs to the same conceptual vocabulary as Huaxia and Zhongguo.
The literal translation of 中華 as "Central Flowery" reflects the individual meanings of its components, although Hua acquired a cultural and civilizational meaning in classical usage. It is therefore also interpreted in historical scholarship through the concepts of civilization, cultural refinement, and the distinction between Hua and Yi.
Historical meanings
Huaxia and the Hua–Yi distinction
The concept of Zhonghua developed within the wider Hua–Yi distinction, in which Hua denoted peoples, institutions, and cultural practices regarded as belonging to the civilized order, while Yi, Man, Rong, and Di were terms used for peoples regarded as being outside it.
The distinction was not exclusively geographical. Classical texts could associate civilization with ritual, political institutions, literature, education, and adherence to moral norms. Consequently, the boundaries of the civilized realm could change according to the political and cultural circumstances of a particular period.
The related term Zhongguo likewise had multiple historical meanings. Before the modern period, it could designate a central region, a political realm, or a civilized polity and did not invariably function as the fixed name of a single territorial nation-state.
Central realm and civilization
The concepts of 中國, 中夏, 華夏, and 中華 could consequently be used in different combinations to express the idea of a civilized centre surrounded by peoples regarded as culturally or politically external.
In this sense, Zhonghua was not simply a geographical expression. Its historical meaning could encompass political legitimacy, ritual institutions, literary culture, and the possession of what was regarded as civilized customs.
This distinction became particularly important when societies outside the territory of successive Chinese dynasties adopted classical Chinese institutions and Confucian learning. Such societies could regard themselves as participating in the civilized cultural order without necessarily identifying themselves politically with the Chinese dynasty to their north.
Vietnam
In Vietnam, 中華 is read in Sino-Vietnamese as Trung Hoa. Vietnamese historical writings contain extensive use of the related terms 中國 (Trung Quốc), 中夏 (Trung Hạ), 華夏 (Hoa Hạ), 華 (Hoa), and 華夷 (Hoa–Di). Together, these terms formed part of a political and cultural vocabulary through which Vietnamese rulers and scholars described their realm, its relationship with neighbouring peoples, and its place within the civilized world.
Trung Quốc and Trung Hạ
One of the earliest well-known examples occurs in Trần Quốc Tuấn's Hịch tướng sĩ, which states:
「爾等為中國之將，侍立夷酋，而無忿心」
You are generals of Zhongguo, yet stand in attendance upon a barbarian chieftain, without anger.
The passage contrasts the Vietnamese commanders with the Mongol forces, represented as Yi, and describes the Vietnamese political community as Zhongguo.
The Trần dynasty also employed the term 中夏. A commemorative inscription associated with Trần Minh Tông, composed by Nguyễn Trung Ngạn, states:
「皇越陳朝第六帝、章堯文哲太上皇帝，受天眷命，奄有中夏，薄海內外，罔不臣服」
The sixth emperor of the Trần dynasty of Imperial Viet, having received the mandate of Heaven, possessed Zhongxia; throughout the lands within and beyond the seas, there was none who did not submit.
The inscription presents the Trần realm as Zhongxia and the peoples beyond it as Yi, employing the language of the civilized centre and its surrounding peoples.
The same vocabulary continued under the Lê dynasty. In 1479, Lê Thánh Tông described his realm in a campaign proclamation:
「朕丕繩祖武，光御洪圖，蒞中夏，撫外夷」
I follow the achievements of my ancestors and magnificently govern the great realm, presiding over Zhongxia and pacifying the outer Yi.
The proclamation also states:
「我國家混一區宇，統御華夷」
Our state has unified the realm and governs Hua and Yi.
The Vietnamese emperor is thus represented as ruler of a civilized centre exercising authority over peoples designated as Yi.
During the Lam Sơn uprising, Lê Lợi likewise used 中國 to describe the realm affected by the Ming occupation. A proclamation of 1427 states:
「賊在中國，民猶未定」
The enemy is in Zhongguo, and the people are still unsettled.
The Thiền Tông khóa hư ngữ lục, attributed to Trần Thái Tông, uses Trung Quốc and Hoa Hạ in a discussion of human birth and moral cultivation. The text contrasts birth in Trung Quốc with birth among peoples described as Man Di, and subsequently refers to birth within Hoa Hạ.
The autonomous centre
The conception of Đại Việt as an autonomous political and cultural centre is expressed particularly clearly in Nguyễn Trãi's Bình Ngô đại cáo, written after the defeat of the Ming dynasty in Đại Việt. It states:
「惟我大越之國，實為文獻之邦。山川之封域既殊，南北之風俗亦異。自趙丁李陳之肇造我國，與漢唐宋元而各帝一方。」
Our Đại Việt is truly a land of civilization and literature. Its mountains and rivers have distinct boundaries, and the customs of north and south are different. Since Zhao, Đinh, Lý, and Trần established our state, they have each ruled as emperors in their own region alongside the Han, Tang, Song, and Yuan.
The phrase 各帝一方 presents the Vietnamese dynasties as parallel imperial houses, each ruling its own realm alongside the successive northern dynasties.
A related conception of centrality appears in the Chiếu dời đô of Lý Công Uẩn, which describes Đại La as:
「宅天地區域之中」
situated in the centre of the region of Heaven and Earth.
The language of centrality also appears in later Vietnamese descriptions of the imperial realm, alongside the terminology of Zhongguo, Zhongxia, Huaxia, and Hua–Yi.
Trung Hoa
Direct use of 中華 appears particularly clearly in the writings of the Nguyễn-period scholar and envoy Lý Văn Phức. In 1831, while travelling in southern China, Lý encountered a residence labelled 粵南夷使公館 ("Guangnan Barbarian Envoys' Residence"). He refused to enter, declaring:
「我非夷，不入此夷館」
I am not a barbarian; I will not enter this barbarian residence.
He subsequently composed Yibian (夷辨, Distinguishing the Barbarians), which begins:
「自古有中華，有夷狄，乃天地自然之限也」
Since antiquity there have been Zhonghua and the Yi and Di; this is a natural distinction of Heaven and Earth.
Lý Văn Phức's argument distinguishes Hua from Yi according to ritual, moral principles, literature, education, institutions, and adherence to the teachings of the classical sages. His treatment therefore presents Zhonghua as a cultural and civilizational category rather than simply a geographical designation.
Modern scholarship has described Lý Văn Phức's position as a cultural conception of Zhonghua (文化中華觀). Scholarship on Vietnamese intellectual history has likewise identified several different Vietnamese conceptions of Zhonghua, including geographical, dynastic, cultural, and fraternal interpretations.
Research on the Vietnamese historical novel Hoàng Việt Xuân Thu likewise uses the category of Zhonghua to describe a conception in which Vietnam could be regarded as culturally belonging to the classical civilization while remaining politically distinct from the Chinese dynasties.
These developments are sometimes discussed under the broader concept of Tiểu Trung Hoa (小中華, "Little Zhonghua"). In this conception, Vietnam could regard itself as a southern centre or heir of classical civilization while maintaining an independent political order.
The use of these terms did not make Trung Hoa an official Vietnamese national name. Historical Vietnamese dynasties used official names including Đại Cồ Việt, Đại Việt, Đại Ngu, Việt Nam, and Đại Nam. Rather, Trung Hoa, Trung Quốc, Trung Hạ, and Hoa Hạ formed part of a wider political and civilizational vocabulary.
Korea
In Korea, the idea of a civilized centre was expressed in the concept of Socheonhwa (小中華, "Little Zhonghua"). The expression was used by Korean literati to characterize Joseon as a polity distinguished by Confucian learning, ritual propriety, and classical institutions.
The expression was particularly prominent in the political and intellectual debates surrounding the transition from the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty. Korean scholars who regarded the Ming as the legitimate bearer of the classical civilized order could regard Joseon as a repository of that tradition even after the Qing had established political control over China.
The Korean official Hong Ik-han (洪翼漢), in a memorial submitted in 1636, wrote:
「我國素以禮義聞天下，稱之以小中華，而列聖相承，事大一心，恪且勤矣。今乃服事胡虜，偷安僅存，縱延晷刻，其於祖宗何，其於天下何，其於後世何？」
Our country has long been renowned throughout the world for ritual and righteousness, and is called Little Zhonghua. Successive sages have inherited this tradition, serving the great with single-minded devotion, reverently and diligently. Yet now we serve the Hu barbarians and preserve ourselves by seeking a temporary peace; even if this prolongs our existence for a moment, what does it mean for our ancestors, for the world, and for posterity?
The passage associates the designation 小中華 with 禮義 (ritual propriety and moral principles) and with the Joseon tradition of 事大, the practice of maintaining relations with a superior power. In this formulation, Joseon's claim to Little Zhonghua rested on its possession and preservation of the institutions and ethical order associated with classical civilization.
The concept became especially significant after the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644. Korean Confucian intellectuals developed the idea that the political centre and the cultural centre need not coincide, particularly when the ruling dynasty of China was regarded as having departed from the classical Confucian order. Joseon could consequently be represented as the place where the classical tradition remained most faithfully preserved.
Korean writings also used the broader category of Zhonghua in describing Joseon's institutions. Joseon scholars argued that the country's ritual system, clothing, literature, education, and Confucian learning constituted the basis for its claim to cultural parity with China. One formulation preserved in studies of Joseon intellectual history states that "our country's rites and music are comparable to Zhonghua" (我朝禮樂，侔擬中華), while another explains that the reason Joseon could be compared with China was precisely the presence of liyi, or ritual and moral civilization.
Socheonhwa therefore did not simply designate a geographical subdivision of the Chinese world. It could function as a claim to cultural legitimacy: a polity could be regarded as part of the civilized order through the preservation of classical learning, ritual institutions, and moral norms.
Japan
In Japan, Chinese-derived concepts of the civilized centre were likewise adapted to Japanese political and intellectual contexts. Japanese writers employed expressions such as 中華 (Chūka), 中州 (Chūshū), and 中國 (Chūgoku) in different periods, and these terms could be applied to Japan as well as to China according to the argument and historical circumstances of the writer.
An explicit example appears in the writings of Matsumiya Kanzan (松宮観山), an eighteenth-century Japanese scholar and military theorist. In discussing the historical position of Japan, he wrote:
「竊為本邦之古，文獻大備，自稱中州，指彼西藩。内外之分，體制尤嚴矣」