Dictionary

mainland China en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From mainland + China.

Meanings

1. The People's Republic of China, viewed as the general geographical region administered by the PRC in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War (as opposed to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan which are coastal and insular areas)
   • Chinese Communist rule on mainland China during the past three decades has destroyed the vitality, spirit and cultural heritage of the Chinese people, said Fox Butterfield, during an address at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Dec. 11. 1983 December 18, “Butterfield Tells Suffering On Mainland”, in Free China Weekly, volume XXIV, number 50, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1:
   • At Cihhu (Cihu), near the town of Dasi (Daxi), 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Taipei on Provincial Highway 7, Chiang Kai-shek lies entombed above ground in a granite and marble coffin in one of his former country villas. The gravesite is "temporary," as before his death Chiang had requested his body be returned to his native province of Zhejiang in mainland China. 2004, Phil Macdonald, National Geographic Traveler: Taiwan, National Geographic Society, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 122:
   • Many Americans were primarily Europeanists in their approach to foreign affairs, dismissing Asia as relatively unimportant. But the United States is a Pacific power, and rapid changes were taking place in Asia—where more than half the human race lived—that might well determine the world's future. Japan would soon be the world's third-ranking industrial power, behind the United States and the Soviet Union. Some of the most rapid rates of economic progress anywhere were being achieved by the nations of non-Communist Asia. And mainland China potentially posed the greatest threat to peace during the final third of the twentieth century. 1978, Richard Nixon, RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 282:
   • Hong Kong and mainland China are among few places in the world still aiming to suppress every COVID-19 outbreak, but the Omicron variant has proven tough to keep under control. 2022 February 12, Twinnie Siu, Marius Zaharia, Jessie Pang, Anne Marie Roantree, “Mainland China to help overwhelmed Hong Kong with COVID fight”, in Edwina Gibbs, Lincoln Feast, Jane Merriman, editors, Reuters, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2022, China:
   • Had my Government remained on the mainland, there would never have been such calamities as the Korean War and the Communist occupation of northern Korea and northern Indo-China. The place to begin combating Communism in Asia, therefore, is mainland China. 1957, Chiang Chung-cheng (Kai-shek), “Conclusion”, in Soviet Russia in China: A Summing-up at Seventy, New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 348:
   • In 1953 the city had only 20% of the total value of mainland China's industrial output, but this was officially claimed to be 368% higher than that of 1950. 1968, “SHANGHAI (SHANG-HAI)”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 20, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 346, column 2:
   • Tsuen Wan is a working-class area near Hong Kong’s border with the Chinese mainland, miles from the city’s gleaming financial district. [2019 October 1, Mike Ives, “Hong Kong Police Shoot a Protester, 18, With a Live Bullet for the First Time”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 Oct 2019, Asia Pacific:
   • It’s hard to imagine now, but there were once three mountainous, verdant islands between Macau and mainland China. The Portuguese named them Dom João, Montanha and Lapa. Later the islands became known in Chinese as Xiao (Little) Hengqin, Da (Big) Hengqin and Wanzai, respectively. 2021 November 21, “On Chinese islands next to Macau, great stories of pirates, typhoons and war played out”, in South China Morning Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2021:
   • In mainland China, authorities have shut down travel out of and within the hardest-hit province, Jilin in the northeast. More than 1,800 cases were reported in Jilin on Friday, out of 2,400 nationwide. Restrictions were partially eased, however, in Shenzhen, a major tech and finance hub bordering Hong Kong that had been locked down since Sunday. 2022 March 18, Dake Kang, Huizhong Wu, “China weighs exit from ‘zero COVID’ and the risks involved”, in AP News, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2022:
2. Also used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see mainland, China.
   • “Tourists could come to Hainan before going to places such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Singapore, and shop offshore duty-free products which could be directly delivered back home, each person can purchase as much as 100,000 yuan (US$15,255),” Shen said. Tourists from Southeast Asian countries could also be inclined to visit Hainan before touring mainland China, he said. 2022 April 26, Luna Sun, “China’s Hainan free-trade port tipped to deepen Asean ties, but island must ‘brave’ uncertainty”, in South China Morning Post, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2022:

Forms

Deriveds

mainland Chinese

Translations (54)

ko 중국 대륙 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · ro China Continentală (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · vi Trung Quốc đại lục (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · sv Fastlandskina (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · bg континента́лен Кита́й (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · cmn 中國內地 /中国内地 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · es China continental (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · nl continentaal China (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · be кантынента́льны Кита́й (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · uk континента́льний Кита́й (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · hy մայրցամաքային Չինաստան (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · pl Chiny kontynentalne (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · mk континентална Кина (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · ja 中国大陸 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · da Fastlandskina (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · fr Chine continentale (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · th จีนแผ่นดินใหญ่ (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · et Mandri-Hiina (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · pt China Continental (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · hu kontinentális Kína (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · hu szárazföldi Kína (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · cmn 中國大陸 /中国大陆 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · it Cina continentale (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · id Tiongkok Daratan (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · nan-tws 大陸 /大陆 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · yue 大陸 /大陆 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · el ηπειρωτική Κίνα (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · eo Ĉina ĉeftero (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · nl Chinese vasteland (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · de Festlandchina (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · cmn 大陸 /大陆 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · he סין היבשתית (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · fa ماچین (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · tr Çin anakarası (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · ru континента́льный Кита́й (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · cy tir mawr Tsieina (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · km ចិនដីគោក (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · ar بَرّ اَلصِّين اَلرَّئِيسِيّ (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · yue 中國大陸 /中国大陆 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · nan-hbl 大陆 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · nan-hbl 大陸 /大陆 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · nan-hbl 唐山 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · yue 中國內地 /中国内地 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · fi Manner-Kiina (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · ru материко́вый Кита́й (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · ms tanah besar China (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · ug جۇڭگو چوڭ قۇرۇقلۇقى (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · ga mórthír na Síne (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · ca Xina continental (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · eo ĉeftera Ĉinio (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · mzs téra-china (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · yue 內地 /内地 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · sw Uchina Bara (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position) · cmn 內地 /内地 (the People's Republic of China as understood by its geographical position)