9长期困扰世界学术界的一个难题是:世界相当多的国家,特别是古代西方对于中国的称名“支那”(China)是从何而来?它与西方接触中国的历史有什么关系?这是一个有重要现实意义的研究,因为历史并不是过去,在一定的意义上,正如西方史学家克罗齐所说,一切历史都是当代史。而国家名称 9 One of the difficult problems long plaguing academic circles in the world is: Where did a considerable number of countries in the world, especially the ancient West, named China, “China” come from? What was its relationship with the history of the West’s engagement with China? An important and realistic research, because history is not the past, in a certain sense, as Western historian Croce said, all history is contemporary history. The country name