Summary of Bill Hayton's The Invention of China

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The name China was adopted by Westerners and given new meanings which were then transmitted back to East Asia. In European minds, China became an ancient, independent, continuous state occupying a defined portion of continental East Asia. #2 The idea of a pre-eminent China traveled from Europe to East and Southeast Asia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and found a new home in the private discussions and public journals of Qing intellectuals. #3 The Chinese had two names for their country: Zhongguo, which means central state, and Zhonghua, which means central efflorescence. These names were not used as formal names for the country until the end of the nineteenth century. #4 The Chinese did not call themselves Chinese, nor their country China. They referred to it as Tamen, or Great Ming. They called themselves Tamenjins, or people of the Great Ming.