Chung-nan-hai

A form of Zhongnanhai — An area and building in Xicheng district, Beijing, China, which houses the government leaders of the People's Republic of China.

Meanings

proper noun

alternative Chungnanhai · alternative Chung Nan Hai

  1. alternativeobsoleteAlternative form of Zhongnanhai.

    On the east bank of the lake in Chung-nan-hai stood an exquisite two-story building in the European style.

    1978, Chih-yen Hsia, translated by Liang-lao Dee, The Coldest Winter in Peking, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 174
    2 more examples

    To keep the “congress” proceedings secret, the observers said, the “deputies” picked up from “districts” and “units” on China mainland all gathered at Chung-nan-hai, a district where Mao Tse-tung usually resides. They went to the “People’s Hall” through a tunnel. After the “congress”, they came out through the same underground passage. Foreigners, including reporters living in Peiping could see the “People’s Hall” lit up at night during the meeting, but found no buses and sedans parked around the "hall". The truth was not bared to the world until after the regime itself issued the news on the "congress."

    1975 March 30, “Red power struggle speeding up”, in Free China Weekly, volume XVI, number 12, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3

    When the Chairman, Chiang Ch'ing, and some leading comrades and their troops descended upon Peking in March 1949 and took possession of its center point, the Imperial City, they appropriated for their own use the western section bounded by the central and southern lakes called Chung-nan-hai (literally, Central and Southern Sea).

    1977, Roxane Witke, Comrade Chiang Chʻing, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 224

Origin

  1. Mandarin中南海
  2. EnglishChung-nan-hai

The atonal Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin 中南海 (Zhōngnánhǎi).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Chung-nan-hai. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chung-nan-hai

MLA

“Chung-nan-hai.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chung-nan-hai. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Chung-nan-hai,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chung-nan-hai.

Source: Chung-nan-hai on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.