中原

Historically the political, cultural, and demographic heart of ancient China: the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, mainly Henan plus parts of Shandong, Shanxi, and Hebei. For millennia, control of 中原 meant control of China - hence the idiom 逐鹿中原 ('chasing the deer on the Central Plain,' meaning contending for the throne).

Still culturally potent: used in wuxia novels, period dramas, and journalism. Contrast with frontier regions like 塞外 (beyond the Great Wall), 岭南 (south of the ranges), and 西域 (the Western Regions).