Arai Hakuseki
The Latin term for China was "Sinae", plural of "Sina." When Arai Hakuseki, a Japanese scholar, interrogated the Italian missionary Giovanni Battista Sidotti in 1708, he noticed that "Sinae", the Latin plural word Sidotti used to refer to China, was similar to "Shina", the Japanese pronunciation of . Then he began to use this word for China regardless of dynasty. Since the Meiji Era, "Shina" had been widely used as the translation of the Western term "China". For instance, "Sinology" was translated into "Shinagaku" ().