Han Chinese

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Han (漢族 or 汉族)
Soong Ch'ing-ling · Sun Yat-sen · Chiang Kai-shek · Qin Shi Huang
Total population
1.3 billion (estimate includes overseas Chinese)
Regions with significant populations
Majority populations  People's Republic of China 1,207,541,842 [1] -  Hong Kong 6,593,410 [2] -  Macau 433,641 [3]  Republic of China (Taiwan) 22,575,365 [4]  Singapore 2,684,936 [5]  Christmas Island, Australia 1,045 [6] Minority populations       Indonesia 7,566,200 [7]       Thailand 7,053,240 [8]       Malaysia 6,590,500 [9]       United States 3,376,031 [10]       Canada 1,612,173 [11]       Peru 1,300,000 [12]       Vietnam 1,263,570 [13]       Philippines 1,146,250 [14]       Myanmar 1,101,314 [15]       Russia 998,000 [16]       Australia 614,694 [17]       Japan 519,561 [18]       Cambodia 343,855 [19]       United Kingdom 296,623 [20]       France 230,515 [21]       India 189,470 [22]       Laos 185,765 [23]       Brazil 151,649 [24]       Netherlands 144,928 [25]       South Korea 137,790 [26]       New Zealand 110,000 [27]       Panama over 100,000 [28]
Languages
Chinese languages
Religions
Predominantly Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, traditional Chinese religions, and atheism. Small but significant Christian and Muslim minorities.

Han Chinese (Simplified Chinese: 汉族 or 汉人; Traditional Chinese: 漢族 or 漢人; pinyin: hànzú or hànrén) are an ethnic group indigenous to China and the largest single human ethnic group in the world.

The Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the mainland China and about 19% of the entire global human population. There are substantial genetic, linguistic, cultural and social diversity between its various subgroups, mainly due to thousands of years of regionalized assimilation of various ethnic groups and tribes in China. Han Chinese is a subset of the Chinese nation (Zhonghua minzu). An alternate name that many Chinese people use to refer to themselves is the "Descendants of the Dragon". Han Chinese are traditionally symbolized by the color red.

[edit] Terms

Map of ethnolinguistic groups in China (Han is in green).

The name Han comes from the Han Dynasty, which succeeded the short-lived Qin Dynasty that united China. It was during the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty that the various tribes of China began to feel that they belonged to the same ethnic group, compared with other ethnic groups around them. In addition, the Han Dynasty is considered a high point in Chinese civilization, able to expand its power and influences to Central and Northeast Asia.

In English, the Han Chinese are also referred to as simply "Chinese".^[1] The term "Chinese people" itself is not specific to the Han Chinese and may refer to people of Chinese nationality.

Amongst some southern Han Chinese, a different term exists within various languages like Cantonese, Hakka and Minnan – Tángrén (唐人, literally "the people of Tang"). This term derives from another Chinese dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, which is regarded as another zenith of Chinese civilization. The term survives in one of the Chinese names for Chinatown: 唐人街 (pinyin: Tángrénjiē); literally meaning "Street of Tang People".

Another term commonly used by Overseas Chinese is Huaren (Simplified Chinese: 华人; Traditional Chinese: 華人; pinyin: huárén), derived from Zhonghua (Simplified Chinese: 中华; Traditional Chinese: 中華; pinyin: zhōnghuá), a literary name for China. The usual translation is "ethnic Chinese". The term refers to "Chinese" as a cultural and ethnic affiliation and is inclusive of both Chinese in China and persons of Chinese descent residing abroad.

[edit] History

Main article: History of China

[edit] Prehistory and the Huaxia

The history of the Han Chinese ethnic group is closely tied to that of China. Han Chinese trace their ancestry back to the Huaxia, people who lived along the Yellow River in northern China. The famous Chinese historian Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian dates the reign of the Yellow Emperor, the legendary ancestor of Han Chinese, to 2698 BCE to 2599 BCE. Although study of this period of history is complicated by lack of historical records, discovery of archaeological sites have identified a succession of Neolithic cultures along the Yellow River. Along the central reaches of the Yellow River were the Jiahu culture (7000 BCE to 6600 BCE), Yangshao culture (5000 BCE to 3000 BCE) and Longshan culture (3000 BCE to 2000 BCE). Along the lower reaches of the river were the Qingliangang culture (5400 BCE to 4000 BCE), the Dawenkou culture (4300 BCE to 2500 BCE), the Longshan culture (2500 BCE to 2000 BCE), and the Yueshi culture.

[edit] Early history

Main articles: Xia Dynasty, Shang Dynasty, and Zhou Dynasty

The first dynasty to be described in Chinese historical records is the Xia Dynasty, a legendary period for which scant archaeological evidence exists. They were overthrown by peoples from the east, who formed the Shang Dynasty (1600 – 1046 BCE). Some of the earliest examples of Chinese writing date back to this period, from characters inscribed on oracle bone divination. The Shang were eventually overthrown by the people of Zhou, which had emerged as a state along the Yellow River sometime during the 2nd millennium BC.

The Zhou Dynasty was the successor to Shang. Sharing the language and culture of the Shang people, they extended their reach to encompass much of the area north of the Yangtze River. Through conquest and colonization, much of this area came under the influence of sinicization and the proto-Han Chinese culture extended south. However, the power of the Zhou kings fragmented, and many independent states emerged. This period is traditionally divided into two parts, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. This period was an era of major cultural and philosophical development known as the Hundred Schools of Thought. Among the most important surviving philosophies from this era are the teachings of Confucianism and Taoism.

[edit] Imperial history

Main article: Qin Dynasty

The era of the Warring States came to an end with unification by the Qin Dynasty, which conquered all the other rival states. Having unified China, Qin Shi Huang declared himself the first emperor, using a newly created title, thus setting the precedent for the next two millenia. He established a new centralized and bureaucratic state to replace the old feudal system, creating many of the institutions of imperial China, and unified the country economically and culturally by decreeing a unified standard of weights, measures, currency, and writing.

Main article: Han Dynasty

However, the reign of the first imperial dynasty was to be short-lived. Due to the first emperor's autocratic rule, and his massive construction projects such as the Great Wall which fomented rebellion into the populace, the dynasty fell soon after his death. The Han Dynasty emerged from the succession struggle and succeeded in establishing a much longer lasting dynasty. It continued many of the institutions created by Qin Shi Huang but adopted a more moderate rule. Under the Han Dynasty, arts and culture flourished, while the dynasty expanded military in all directions. This period is considered one of the greatest periods of the history of China, and the Han Chinese take their name from this dynasty.

[edit] Culture

Main article: Culture of China

China is one of the world's oldest and most complex civilizations, Chinese culture dates back thousands of years. Han Chinese believe they share common ancestors, mythically ascribed to the patriarchs Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor, some thousands of years ago. Hence, some Chinese refer to themselves as "Descendants of the Yan and/or Yellow Emperor" (Traditional Chinese: 炎黃子孫; Simplified Chinese: 炎黄子孙), a phrase which has reverberative connotations in a divisive political climate, as in that between mainland China and Taiwan^{[citation needed]}.

Throughout the history of China, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism. Credited with shaping much of Chinese thought, Confucianism was the official philosophy throughout most of Imperial China's history, and mastery of Confucian texts provided the primary criterion for entry into the imperial bureaucracy.

[edit] Language

Main article: Chinese language

Han Chinese speak various forms of the Chinese language; one of the names of the language group is Hanyu (Traditional Chinese: 漢語; Simplified Chinese: 汉语), literally the "Han language". Similarly, Chinese characters, used to write the language, are called Hanzi (Traditional Chinese: 漢字; Simplified Chinese: 汉字), or "Han characters."

[edit] Names

Main article: Chinese name

Chinese names are typically two or three syllables in length, with the surname preceding the given name. Surnames are typically one character in length, though a few uncommon surnames are two or more syllables long, while given names are one or two syllables long.

There are 4000 to 6000 surnames in China, but only around 1000 surnames are popularly used. According to a study by Li Dongming (李栋明), a Chinese historian, as published in the article "Surname" (姓) in Dongfong Magazine (东方杂志) (1977), the common Han surnames are:

Top 10 surnames, which together account for about 40% of Chinese people in the world, (transciptions in Pinyin):

Zhang 張/张, Wang 王, Li 李, Zhao 趙/赵, Chen 陳/陈, Yang 楊/杨, Wu 吳/吴, Liu 劉/刘, Huang 黃/黄, Zhou 周

The 11th to 20th common surnames, which together account for more than 10% of Chinese people in the world:

Xu 徐, Zhu 朱, Lin 林, Sun 孫/孙, Ma 馬/马, Gao 高, Hu 胡, Zheng 鄭/郑, Guo 郭, Xiao 蕭/萧

The 21st to 30th common surnames, which together account for about 10% of Chinese people in the world:

Xie 謝/谢, He 何, Xu 許/许, Song 宋, Shen 沈, Luo 羅/罗, Han 韓/韩, Deng 鄧/邓, Liang 梁, Ye 葉/叶

The next 15 common surnames, which together account for about 10% of Chinese people in the world:

Fang 方, Cui 崔, Cheng 程、Pan 潘, Cao 曹, Feng 馮/冯, Wang 汪, Cai 蔡, Yuan 袁, Lu 盧/卢, Tang 唐, Qian 錢/钱, Du 杜, Peng 彭, Lu 陸/陆

[edit] Dress

Main article: Han Chinese clothing

A small group of southern Han Chinese in Guizhou Province still retaining their daily attire in Ming Dynasty (14th-17th century) style due to the relative geograhical isolation and the strong adherence to traditional culture.

Today, Han Chinese usually wear Western-style clothing. Few wear traditional Han Chinese clothing on a regular basis. It is, however, preserved in religious and ceremonial costumes. For example, Taoist priests dress in fashion typical of scholars of the Han Dynasty. The ceremonial dress in Japan, such as those of Shinto priests, are largely in line with ceremonial dress in China during the Tang dynasty. The traditional Chinese clothing worn by many Chinese females in important occasions such as wedding banquets and Chinese New Year is called the qipao. Ironically, this attire comes not from the Han Chinese but from a modified dress-code of the Manchus, the ethnic group that ruled China between the seventeenth (1644) and the early twentieth century.

[edit] Literature

Main article: Chinese literature

Chinese has a rich history of classical literature dating back several thousand years. Important early works include classics texts such as Analects of Confucius, the I Ching, and the Art of War. Some of the most important Han Chinese poets in the pre-modern era include Li Bo, Du Fu, and Su Dongpo. The most important novels in Chinese literature, or the Four Great Classical Novels, are: Dream of the Red Chamber, Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Journey to the West.

[edit] Contribution to humanity

Main article: Science and technology in China

Han Chinese have played a major role in the development of the arts, sciences, philosophy, and mathematics throughout history. In ancient times, the scientific accomplishments of China included seismological detectors, matches, paper, dry docks, sliding calipers, the double-action piston pump, cast iron, the iron plough, the multi-tube seed drill, the wheelbarrow, the suspension bridge, the parachute, natural gas as fuel, the magnetic compass, the relief map, the propeller, the crossbow, gunpowder and printing. Paper, printing, the compass, and gunpowder are celebrated in Chinese culture as the Four Great Inventions of ancient China. Chinese astronomers were also among the first to record observations of a supernova.

Chinese art, Chinese cuisine, Chinese philosophy, and Chinese literature all have thousands of years of development, while numerous Chinese sites, such as the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Army, are World Heritage Sites. Since the start of the program in 2001, aspects of Chinese culture have been listed by UNESCO as Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Throughout much of history, successive Chinese Dynasties have exerted influence on their neighbors in the areas of art, music, religion, food, dress, philosophy, language, government, and culture. In modern times, Han Chinese form the largest ethnic group in China, while an overseas Chinese diaspora numbering in the tens of millions has settled in and contributed to countries throughout the world.

In modern times, Han Chinese have continued to contribute to the maths and sciences. Among them are Noble Prize recipients Steven Chu, Samuel C. C. Ting, Chen Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee, Yuan T. Lee, Gao Xingjian, Fields Medal recipient Shing-Tung Yau, and Turing Award recipient Andrew Yao. Tsien Hsue-shen was a prominent scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, while Chien-Shiung Wu contributed to the Manhattan Project.

[edit] Language as a uniting factor

Despite the existence of many dialects of Chinese spoken languages, one factor in Han ethnic unity is the Chinese written language. This unity is credited to the Qin dynasty which unified the various forms of writing that existed in China at that time. For thousands of years, Literary Chinese was used as the standard written format, which used vocabulary and grammar significantly different from the various forms of spoken Chinese. Since the twentieth century, written Chinese has been usually vernacular Chinese, which is largely based upon dialects of Mandarin, and not the local dialect of the writer (with the exception of the informal use of written Cantonese). Thus, although the residents of different regions would not necessarily understand each other's speech, they would be able to understand each other's writing.

[edit] "Han" as a fluid concept

The definition of the Han identity has varied throughout history. Prior to the 20th century, some Chinese-speaking ethnic groups like the Hakka and the Tanka were not universally accepted as Han Chinese, while some non-Chinese speaking peoples, like the Zhuang, were sometimes considered Han.^[2] Today, Hui Chinese are considered a separate ethnic group, but aside from their practice of Islam, little distinguishes them from the Han; two Han from different regions might differ more in language, customs, and culture than a neighboring Han and Hui. During the Qing Dynasty, Han Chinese who had entered the Eight Banners military system were considered Manchu, while Chinese nationalists seeking to overthrow the monarchy stressed Han Chinese identity in contrast to the Manchu rulers. Upon its founding, the Republic of China recognized five major ethnic groups: the Han, Hui, Mongols, Manchus, and Tibetans, while the People's Republic of China now recognizes fifty-six ethnic groups.

[edit] Han diversity

In addition to a diversity of spoken language, there are also regional differences in culture among Han Chinese. For example, China's cuisine varies from Sichuan's famously spicy food to Guangdong's Dim Sum and fresh seafood. However, ethnic unity still exists between these two groups because of common cultural, behavioural, linguistic, and religious practices.

According to recent scientific studies,^[3] there are slight genetic differences throughout China. Due to several waves of immigration from Northern China to Southern China in China's history, there are strong genetic similarities in the Y chromosome between Southern and Northern Chinese males. However, the mitochondrial DNA of Han Chinese increases in diversity as one looks from Northern to Southern China, which suggests that many male migrants from northern China married with women from local peoples, such as the Yue people, after arriving in Guangdong, Fujian, and other regions of Southern China. As this mixing process continued and more Han people migrated south, the people in Southern China became Sinicized and identified themselves as Han.

Historical documentation indicates that the Han were descended from the ancient Huaxia tribes of northern China. During the past two millennia, the Han culture (that is, the language and its associated culture) extended into southern China, a region originally inhabited by the southern natives, including those speaking Dai, Austro-Asiatic and Hmong-Mien languages. As Huaxia culture spread from its heartland in the Yellow River basin, it absorbed many distinct ethnic groups which then came to be identified as Han Chinese, as these groups adopted Han language (or variations of it) and customs.

For example, during the Shang Dynasty, people of the Wu area, in the Yangtze River Delta, were considered a "barbarian" tribe. They spoke a distinct language that was almost certainly non-Chinese, and were described as being scantily dressed and tattooed. By the Tang Dynasty, however, this area had become part of the Han Chinese heartland, and is today the most densely populated and strongest performing economic region in China, the site of China's largest city Shanghai. The people in the Wu area today speak the Wu dialects, which are part of the Chinese language family but are mutually unintelligible with other Chinese languages/dialects, and do not see themselves as a separate ethnic group. The Wu area is one example of many involving the absorption of different cultural groups in contributing toward the diversity of culture and language throughout the Han Chinese ethnic group.

[edit] See also

• Subgroups of the Han ethnicity
• Chinese nationalism
• Han chauvinism
• Sinocentrism

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• http://www.geocities.com/bx_huang/han_chinese.html
• http://www.hanyu.us