Xizang (西藏) is the Chinese name for either historic Tibet or the Tibet Autonomous Region. The name originated during the Manchu Qing Dynasty of China. It can be broken down into Xi 西 (literally "West"), and Zang 藏 (literally "Tibetan"). The term can be interpreted as either "Western Tibet", or "Tibet of/in the West". Tibet (Tibetan: བོད་, Bod, pronounced pö in Lhasa dialect; Chinese: 西藏, pinyin: XÄ«zàng; older spelling Thibet) is a region in Central Asia and the home of the Tibetan people. ... The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) (Tibetan: བོད་རང་སྐྱོང་ལྗོངས་; Wylie: Bod-rang-skyong-ljongs; Simplified Chinese: 西藏自治区; Traditional Chinese: 西藏自治區; pinyin: ), is a province-level autonomous region of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... The Manchu (Manchu: Manju; Chinese: 滿族 pinyin: MÇŽnzú; often shortened to 滿, MÇŽn) are an ethnic group who originated in Manchuria. ... The Qing Dynasty (Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: 清朝; pinyin: qÄ«ng cháo; Wade-Giles: ching chao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories of Inner Asia, establishing...

"Xizang" is a phonetic transcription derived from Tsang, the western part of Ü-Tsang. The character 藏 (zàng) has been used in transcriptions referring to Tsang as early as the Ming Dynasty, if not earlier, though the modern term "Xizang" was devised in the 18th century. The Chinese character 藏 (Zàng) has also been generalized to refer to all of Tibet, including Tibetan things such as the Tibetan language (藏文, Zàngwén) and the Tibetan people (藏族, Zàngzú). Ãœ-Tsang (Wylie transliteration: Dbus-gtsang, Tibetan: དབུསགཙང་ Simplified Chinese: 卫藏; Traditional Chinese: 衛藏; pinyin: ), or Tsang-Ãœ, is one of the traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo and Kham. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... The Tibetan language is typically classified as member of the Tibeto-Burman which in turn is thought by some to be a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. ...

The government of the People's Republic of China equates Tibet with Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). As such, Xizang is equated with the TAR. Non-TAR Tibetan areas are called 藏区 (literally, "ethnic Tibetan areas"). The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) (Tibetan: བོད་རང་སྐྱོང་ལྗོངས་; Wylie: Bod-rang-skyong-ljongs; Simplified Chinese: 西藏自治区; Traditional Chinese: 西藏自治區; pinyin: ), is a province-level autonomous region of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...

Many English-speakers also reserve "Xizang", the Chinese word transliterated into English, for the TAR, to keep the concept distinct from that of historic Tibet. Some pro-independence advocates duplicate the situation into the Chinese language, and use 土伯特 or 图伯特, which are both phonetic transcriptions of the word "Tibet", to refer to historic Tibet, though this usage is very rare.

However, Chinese-language versions of pro-Tibetan independence websites, such as the Free Tibet Campaign, the Voice of Tibet, and Tibet Net use 西藏 ("Xizang") to mean historic Tibet.