Chapter CHILAW to CHINA of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

Sin, Sinae, Thinae, and preserved its predominance in the mouths of foreigners, even when, as in the 2nd century of our era, the great Empire of the Han has extended over the Delta of the Song-Koi.

This theory needs more consideration than we can now give it. But it will doubtless have discussion elsewhere, and it does not disturb Richthofen’s identification of Kattigara.

[Prof. Giles regards the suggestions of Richthofen and T. de la Couperie as mere guesses. From a recent reconsideration of the subject he has come to the conclusion that the name may possibly be derived from the name of a dynasty, Ch’in or Ts’in, which flourished B.C. 255–207, and became widely known in India, Persia, and other Asiatic countries, the final a being added by the Portuguese.]

c. A.D. 80–89.—“Behind this country (Chryse) the sea comes to a termination somewhere in Thin, and in the interior of that country, quite to the north, there is a very great city called Thinae, from which raw silk and silk thread and silk stuffs are brought overland through Bactria to Barygaza, as they are on the other hand by the Ganges River to Limyrice. It is not easy, however, to get to this Thin, and few and far between are those who come from it.…” —Periplus Maris Erythraei ; see Müller, Geog. Gr. Min. i. 303.

c. 150—“The inhabited part of our earth is bounded on the east by the Unknown Land which lies along the region occupied by the easternmost races of Asia Minor, the Sinae and the natives of Serice.…”—Claudius Ptolemy, Bk. vii. ch. 5.

c. 545.—“The country of silk, I may mention, is the remotest of all the Indies, lying towards the left when you enter the Indian Sea, but a vast distance further off than the Persian Gulf or that island which the Indians call Selediba, and the Greeks Taprobane. Tzinitza (elsewhere Tzinista) is the name of the Country, and the Ocean compasses it round to the left, just as the same Ocean compasses Barbari (i.e. the Somali Country) round to the right. And the Indian philosophers called Brachmans tell you that if you were to stretch a straight cord from Tzinitza through Persia to the Roman territory, you would just divide the world in halves.”—Cosmas, Topog. Christ., Bk. II.

c. 641.—“In 641 the King of Magadha (Behar, &c.) sent an ambassador with a letter to the Chinese Court. The emperor…in return directed one of his officers to go to the King…and to invite his submission. The King Shiloyto (Siladitya) was all astonishment. ‘Since time immemorial,’ he asked his officer, ‘did ever an ambassador come from Mohochintan ?’…The Chinese author remarks that in the tongue of the barbarians the Middle Kingdom is called Mohochintan (Maha-China-sthana).”—From Cathay, &c., lxviii.

781.—“Adam Priest and Bishop and Pope of Tzinesthan.…The preachings of our Fathers to the King of Tzinia.”—Syriac Part of the Inscription of Singanfu.

11th Century.—The “King of China” (Shinattarashan) appears in the list of provinces and monarchies in the great Inscription of the Tanjore Pagoda.

1128.—“China and Mahachïna appear in a list of places producing silk and other cloths, in the Abhilashitarthachintamani of the Chalukya King.”—Somesvaradiva (MS.)¹ Bk. III. ch. 6.

1298.—“You must know the Sea in which lie the Islands of those parts is called the Sea of Chin.…For, in the language in those Isles, when they say Chin, ’tis Manzi they mean.”—Marco Polo, Bk. III. ch. iv.

c. 1300.—“Large ships, called in the language of Chin ‘junks,’ bring various sorts of choice merchandize and cloths.…”—Rashíduddín, in Elliot. i. 69.

1516.—“…there is the Kingdom of China, which they say is a very extensive dominion, both along the coast of the sea, and in the interior.…”—Barbosa, 204.

1563.—“R. Then Ruelius and Mathiolus of Siena say that the best camphor is from China, and that the best of all Camphors is that purified by a certain barbarian King whom they call King (of) China.

“O. Then you may tell Ruelius and Mathiolus of Siena that though they are so well acquainted with Greek and Latin, there’s no need to make such a show of it as to call every body ‘barbarians’ who is not of their own race, and that besides this they are quite wrong in the fact…that the King of China does not occupy himself with making camphor, and is in fact one of the greatest Kings known in the world.”—Garcia De Orta, f. 45b.

c. 1590.—“Near to this is Pegu, which former writers called Cheen, accounting this to be the capital city.”—Ayeen, ed. 1800, ii. 4 ; [tr. Jarrett, ii. 119]. (See MACHEEN.)