Key Chinese Concepts

九州

/jiǔzhōu/

Nine Regions

中国的别称。《尚书·禹贡》中将中国划分为九州，分别是冀州、兖州、青州、徐州、扬州、荆州、豫州、梁州、雍州。同时代或稍后的典籍《周礼》、《尔雅》、《吕氏春秋》等有关“九州”的说法大同小异。“九州”作为行政区划在历史上并未真正实行过，但它反映了春秋末期以来中华先民栖息生活的大致上的地理范围。

This term is an alternative name for China. According to The Book of History, the country consisted of nine regions (zhou), namely, Jizhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou,Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yuzhou, Liangzhou, and Yongzhou. There are similar references to the nine regions 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 administrative devision of nine regions was never adopted, but it designates the general geographical area where the Chinese people lived since the late Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).

大同

/dàtóng/

Universal Harmony

儒家理想中的天下一家、人人平等、友爱互助的太平盛世。儒家认为它是人类社会发展的最高阶段，类似于西方的乌托邦。其主要特征是：权力和财富归社会公有；社会平等，安居乐业；人人能得到社会的关爱；货尽其用，人尽其力。清末民初，“大同”又被用来指称西方传来的社会主义、共产主义、世界主义等概念。

This term refers to the time of peace and prosperity envisioned by Confucian scholars when all people under heaven were one family, equal, friendly, and helpful to one another. Confucianism takes universal harmony as the supreme stage of development of human society, somewhat similar to the Western concept of Utopia. Its main features are: all power and wealth belong to society as a whole; all people are equal and live and work in peace and contentment; everyone is cared for by society; everything is used to its fullest extent, and everyone works to his maximum potential. In the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and the early Republic of China period (1912-1949), the term referred to the concepts of socialism, communism, or cosmopolitanism that had been introduced to China from the West.