from wiki:

Cathay (/kæˈθeɪ/) is an alternative historical name for China in English. During the early modern period Europeans thought of Cathay as a completely separate and distinct culture from China. As knowledge of East Asia increased, Cathay came to be seen as the same nation as China and the term ‘“Cathay” became a poetic name for the nation.

The name Cathay originates from the word Khitan (Chinese: 契丹; pinyin: Qìdān), the name of a nomadic people who founded the Liao Empire which ruled much of today’s Northern China from 907 to 1125, and who later migrated west after they were overthrown by the Jurchens to form the Qara Khitai centered on today’s Kyrgyzstan for another century thereafter. Originally, this name was the name applied by Central and Western Asians and Europeans to northern China; the name was also used in Marco Polo’s book on his travels in China (he referred to southern China as Mangi).

话说欧洲人一开始傻傻分不清楚契丹，蒙古，女真，中国的关系，从马可波罗开始以为契丹就是中国，哥伦布不远万里扬帆起航他的目标也是去找到契丹。后来越来越多的传教士来到中国，然后他们终于搞清楚了。

所以在Cathay成了中国的另一个名字，所以这也是国泰航空名称的由来～ 我在想把Cathay翻译成国泰是有什么故事吗？ 类似于支那这个词，是否这个词在英语里面也有其他的变异？

另一个引人入胜的点是从古代到现代，从马可波罗到利玛窦到斯文赫定等怀着各种不同目的来到中国的西方旅行者或者传教士，恰是他们帮助西方搞清楚有关中国的这些概念。他们基于完全不同的民族，文化，习惯和信仰，朝着假想的中国而来，甚至怀揣不可思议的以一己之力改变这个古老国家的“理想”，达到之后却碰撞到巨大的现实中国，觉得自己就像是一滴油撒在了大海里一样吧。

在我印象里与之类似的经验在于，我们都生活在自己的领域和轨道里面，常常揣测我们所不熟悉东西，往往会去轻视。等终于有机会进入到这个领域，我们才会发现这分明是另一个一如我们所熟悉的一样充满了丰富和复杂的细节，从内在到表现都自有其逻辑和体系，并且从原始到现在都一直在进化发展和生长的有生命力之所在。

在未知时会有骄傲，而已知时又会感受到100%的合理。但是可能比较悲哀的是这种感受往往不能持续，在看待另外的问题和领域时很快我们又会犯同样的错误