All under heaven
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All under heaven, or Under heaven (Chinese: 天下; pinyin: tiān xià) is a phrase in the Chinese language and a cultural concept in China.
天 means sky. 下 means under, down. 天下 together, literally means under the sky. The word 天下, besides the literal meaning, it is also taken by Chinese as the only way to refer to the whole world. Only in modern times has the term 世界 came into use to directly refer to the world.
In ancient Chinese political thought, the Emperor of China would ideally rule all under heaven, that is, the entire world.
[edit] Usage
A common term meaning "the world", Tianxia has been used throughout history. It is ordinary to name various things, ranging from city gates, such as Shanhai Guan, to snacks, as "The first under heaven" or "The best under heaven" (tiān xià dì yī, 天下第一).
In the 2002 Chinese film Hero, All under heaven is the central concept of the film.
The film tells the story of a nameless assassin who originally sets out to assassinate the King of Qin. Another character, named Broken Sword, begs the nameless assassin not to do so for the sake of all under heaven: the king has the potential to unify all under heaven (China at the time), thereby ending the chaos and warfare of the Warring States Period— and indeed, the king does eventually do so.
Another usage for "tiān xià" is "tiān xià wéi gōng" (天下為公), which literally means "all is equal under heaven". In other words, the world exists not for a ruler or one person, but for all.
"Tiān xià wú nán shì" (天下無難事) is another phrase concerning "Tiān xià", meaning "[There is] no difficulty under heaven".
[edit] Variants
The Chinese term "All under heaven" has also been borrowed into Japanese, where it is pronounced tenka. For example, moves to unite the whole of Japan by lords such as Oda Nobunaga or Tokugawa Ieyasu were characterized as 'seizing tenka' (tenka o toru).de:Tianxia ja:天下 pl:Tianxia uk:Піднебесна zh:天下
