满洲

滿洲

Mǎn zhōu

Meanings

CC-CEDICT

Mǎn zhōu

1.Manchuria

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Wiktionary

1.Manchu (people)
2.(～地區, ～地方, ～地域) Manchuria (a region of northeastern China comprising the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang and the northeastern part of Inner Mongolia)

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Etymology

Phono-semantic matching of Manchu ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ (manju). These characters are deliberately chosen based on the 五行 (“five elements”) theory as they both contain the radical 水 (氵) (“water”), which could inhibit 明 (míng, “Ming dynasty”), whose name literally means “brightness” and symbolizes the fire element. It was originally the name for the Manchu people and not a geographical term, as stated by the Qianlong Emperor in the Researches on Manchu Origins [1777]. Its later usage as a geographical term (i.e. as Manchuria) was influenced by Japanese 満(まん)洲(しゅう) (Manshū) and Western languages.

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