James Silverton wrote:
> Andy wrote on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:59:11 -0500:
>
>>> Andy wrote on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:48:09 -0500:
>>>
>>>>> Some Chinese, a long time ago, thought that China was the
>>>>> geographic & theological center "Middle" of the earth.
>>>>>
>>>>> And of course the Japanese creation myths are even more
>>>>> regionally chauvinistic than the Chinese.
>>>>>
>>>>> Not only is there a tendency of the human animal to think
>>>>> its place is the center of the universe, but, according to
>>>>> one theory, in an infinite and eternal universe, the center
>>>>> is everywhere and there is no circumference.
>>>
>>>> But on any given day, there are more important people in New
>>>> York City than anywhere else on earth.
>>>
>>>> That includes all the cabbies and Sabrett street hot dog
>>>> vendors.
>>>
>>>> I suggest the "center" of the earth to be moved to "...New
>>>> York City???"
>>>
>>> Have you ever looked at the Chinese character for China?
>
>> James,
>
>> No I haven't.
>
> It's an interesting exercise to track it down. Try
> http://chineseculture.about.com/libr...characters.htm
>
> The rather simple character expresses the "center of the world" rather
> well.

Another website defines the two characters that make up the Chinese name
for their country as "Central Kingdom." Derived from Qin, the original
Chinese kingdom and later Emperor.