Western Regions

English

Etymology

Calque of Chinese 西域 (Xīyù).

Proper noun

Western Regions

1. (historical) The region west of ancient China's Jade Gate along the Silk Road, which included areas such as Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
   • 1967, Ying-shih Yü, “Introduction: The Problem and Its Origins”, in Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations‎^[1], University of California Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 2:

     From the historical point of view, trade and expansion in this period began as a reaction to the barbarian threat of the Hsiung-nu on the northern and northwestern frontiers, and ended not only in the inclusion of various barbarian groups into the empire, such as the Southern Hsiung-nu, the Ch’iang, the Wu-huan, and the Southwestern barbarians, but also in the Sinicization of them to greater and lesser degrees. In between, China also expanded to the Western Regions and Central Asia, and even established trading relations, directly or indirectly, with countries farther west.

Translations

Central Asia

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 西域 (zh) (Xīyù)

• French: Régions de l’Ouest
• Spanish: Regiones del Oeste, Regiones Occidentales

Further reading

• Western Regions at Google Ngram Viewer