Zhongnanhai

• Zhong Nan Hai (proscribed)
• Chungnanhai, Chung-nan-hai, Chung Nan Hai (obs.)

The atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 中南海 (Zhōngnánhǎi, “Central South Sea”), a compound of the names 中海 (“Central Sea”) + 南海 (“South Sea; Nanhai”), two lakes in central Beijing just west of the Forbidden City.

• IPA^(key): /ˌd͡ʒʊŋ.nɑnˈhaɪ/

Zhongnanhai

1. An area in Xicheng district, Beijing, China housing the government leaders of the People's Republic of China.
   • 1998, Bush, George H. W.; Brent Scowcroft, “Untying a Knot”, in A World Transformed‎, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, LCCN 98-13499, OCLC 1005165299, pages 86-87:

     Many of Beijing’s most important buildings sit near or alongside the square, including the Great Hall of the People, the Forbidden City, and Zhongnanhai, the compound in which many of the People’s Republic’s most senior leaders live.

   • 2010, Bush, George W., Decision Points‎, →ISBN, OCLC 1089496474, OL 24416755M, page 429:

     In an extraordinary gesture of generosity, President Hu hosted a lunch for us all at the government’s Zhongnanhai Compound, a Bush family reunion like none before or since.

   • 2021 August 11, Galbraith, Andrew, “Analysis: China regulatory storm tests nerves, limits of top-down policy”, in Reuters‎, archived from the original on 11 August 2021:

     A popular saying when Xi's predecessor Hu Jintao was in power was: "Policies do not go beyond Zhongnanhai," the leadership compound in central Beijing.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Zhongnanhai.
2. (metonymically) The government of the People's Republic of China; the central leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.
   • 2001, “May 6-16: Hunger Strike”, in The Tiananmen Papers‎, →ISBN, LCCN 00-045823, OCLC 912266272, pages 172-173:

     On May 15 Zhongnanhai received reports on the student movement in fourteen provinces. […]
     Twenty foreign press reports of May 15 were summarized for Zhongnanhai.

   • 2018, Xi, Jinping, The Governance of China‎, volume II, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, →ISBN, OCLC 1015902164, page 208:

     Zhongnanhai must be directly connected with the people, and we should always keep the people in our thoughts.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Zhongnanhai.

• (gov't of China): Beijing, Peking

• Beihai