China

— (the name). It has been commonly accepted that the Ts'in (Ch'in) dynasty of the 3rd century b.c. gave rise to the name China among neighbouring peoples. Lately, however, the name Cina applied to this country has been found in a Sanskrit work earlier than the Ts'in dynasty. It has been suggested that Indian traders learned the name from Malays, that it came into use through Buddhist writers and was later on a ociated naturally with the famous Ts'in. Others claim that the date of the Sanskrit work may not be so early as was supposed. See Latjfer's and Pelliot's papers, T'oung-jwo, 1912-3.