琉球

Liúqiú

proper noun #47,664

Meanings

1 Ryukyu, the island chain between Kyushu and Taiwan, and the kingdom that ruled it until Japan annexed it in 1879

Characters

glazed; precious stone (as in 琉璃)

Examples

HSK 6

琉球在日本九州和台湾之间。

Liúqiú zài Rìběn Jiǔzhōu hé Táiwān zhījiān.

Ryukyu lies between Kyushu in Japan and Taiwan.

HSK 6

明清两代，琉球国王都要接受中国皇帝的册封。

Míng Qīng liǎng dài, Liúqiú guówáng dōu yào jiēshòu Zhōngguó huángdì de cèfēng.

Under the Ming and Qing, every king of Ryukyu was formally invested by the Chinese emperor.

Tips

history

The 琉球王国 sent tribute to China for five centuries, and from 1609 also answered to the Satsuma lords of southern Japan. In 1879 Japan made it 冲绳县, Okinawa Prefecture. Chinese still calls the islands 琉球群岛, and 小琉球 is a small island off Pingtung in Taiwan.

Stroke Order

琉 liú

球 qiú