冷知识：“中国”这个名字到底何时出现的？

When former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York recently, a Chinese bronze mirror from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) caught his attention.

澳大利亚前总理陆克文最近参观纽约大都会艺术博物馆时，一块中国汉代（前206年-220年）的铜镜引起了他的注意。

The electronic guide informed him the mirror featured the first written reference to the country as China.

电子导游告诉他，这块铜镜第一次记录下了“中国”两字。

But Rudd was sceptical and posted on his Weibo account, asking for verification. Chinese netizens were quick to correct the mistake and point out that the characters for the country’s name were used earlier on a bronze piece called Hezun, which was unearthed in Northwest China’s Shaanxi province in 1963.

但是陆克文对此持怀疑态度，将他遇到的这件事儿发到了新浪微博上希望得到证实。中国网民们很快就纠正了这个错误，表示更早的青铜器何尊（1963年出土于陕西）上就有对“中国”的记载。

Chen Liang, the curator of Baoji Bronze Museum which houses the treasure, confirmed on Tuesday that Hezun, which dates back more than 3,000 years, bears the first written form of "China", reported Xi’an newspaper Huashang Daily.

据西安《华商报》报道，本周二宝鸡青铜器博物馆馆长陈亮（音）证实了这一说法，表示3000年前的何尊最早记载有“中国”两字。

Hezun (zun is wine vessel) has a 122-word inscription on its base, detailing how the capital city of Luoyang was built by the order of King Chengwang of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 BC) .

何尊（尊即酒樽）底部有122字铭文，详细记述了西周（前11世纪-前771年）成王如何建都洛阳。

Among the characters are the words "zhai zi zhong guo", which means "live in the central area of the world". This is evidence that Chinese people were calling their country "zhongguo", meaning China, more than 3,000 years ago, said Chen.

铭文中有记载“宅兹中国”，意即“处于世界的中心”。陈亮表示，这一证据表明中国人3000多年前就开始称自己的国家为“中国”。

He said either the Metropolitan Museum of Art was mistaken or Rudd had misunderstood its description.

他表示，要么是纽约大都会博物馆搞错了，要么就是陆克文误解了描述。

In response to Rudd’s post, one netizen pointed out that the curator of the exhibition in New York said it only claimed the Han bronze mirror carried one of the earliest written forms of "China", rather than the earliest one.

在回复陆克文的帖子时，一位网友指出纽约展馆馆长表示，那块汉代铜镜只是记载下了最早的一种“中国”文字的写法，而并不是最早记录下“中国”两字。

Huashang Daily contacted Kevin Rudd for comment, but hadn’t received a reply.

《华商报》联系了陆克文要求采访，但是尚未达到回复。