Photo:1
Photo:2
Photo:3
Photo:4
Photo:1 Photo:2 Photo:3 Photo:4 |
| Terms and etymology | |
| 2>
Map of ethnolinguistic groups in mainland China and Taiwan (Han is in brown)
The name Han comes from the Han Dynasty, which succeeded the short-lived Qin Dynasty that united China. The Han Dynasty's first emperor was originally known as the king of the region of 'Han Zhong' 漢中, which is where the word is derived. Han, as a word in ancient China, especially in classical literary Chinese, can also mean the Milky Way, or as people in ancient China called it, the "Heavenly River" (天河 Tian He).
Prior to the Han Dynasty, the Chinese were referred to[by whom?] as "Huaxia people" (華夏族), citing[who?] ancient text description of China proper as an area of magnificent prosperity and culture. The Han Dynasty was considered as a classical period in Chinese civilization, in that it was able to expand its power and influence over Central, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, and come to rival its contemporary Roman Empire in population, territory, wealth, and power.[citation needed] As a result of the Han Dynasty's prominence, many Chinese began addressing themselves as "people of Han" (漢人), a name that was since carried down.
In the English language, the Han are often referred to as simply "Chinese".[13] Whether or not the use of the term Chinese correctly or incorrectly refers only to Han Chinese often is the subject of debate.
Among some southern Han Chinese, a different term exists within various Chinese dialects like Cantonese, Hakka and Minnan – Tángrén (唐人, literally "the people of Tang"). This term derives from a later 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 (Tángrénjiē); literally meaning "Street of the people of Tang".
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] Tags:漢,族,漢人,Taiwan,Simplified Chinese,Traditional Chinese,Pinyin,China,Hakka,Min,Population,Mainland China,Han Dynasty,Qin Dynasty,Classical Literary Chinese,Milky Way,Huaxia,China Proper,Civilization,Central,Southeast Asia,Northeast Asia,Roman Empire,English Language,Cantonese,Minnan,唐人,The People Of Tang,Tang Dynasty,Chinatown,唐人街,Overseas Chinese,华人,華人,中华,中華,Literary Name For China, | |
| Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau | |
| 3>
The vast majority of Han Chinese – over 1.2 billion – live in areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China (PRC), where they constitute about 92% of its population. Within the People's Republic of China, Han Chinese are the majority in every province, municipality, and autonomous region except for the autonomous regions of Xinjiang (41% as of 2000) and Tibet (6% as of 2000). Han Chinese also constitute the majority in both of the special administrative regions of the PRC, about 95% of the population of Hong Kong[14] and about 96% of the population of Macau.[15]
[edit] Tags:People's Republic Of China,Republic Of China,Hong Kong,Macau,Ipa,Province, Municipality, And Autonomous Region,Xinjiang,Tibet,Special Administrative Regions, | |
| Taiwan | |
| 3>
Over 22 million Han Chinese are in Taiwan. The Han Chinese began migrating from southeastern coastal provinces of mainland China to Taiwan in the 17th century.[16]
At first, these immigrants chose to settle in locations that bore a resemblance to the areas they had left behind in mainland China, regardless of whether they arrived in the north or south of Taiwan. Hoklo immigrants from Quanzhou settled in coastal regions, and those from Zhangzhou tended to gather on inland plains, while Hakka immigrants inhabited hilly areas. Clashes between these groups over land, water, and cultural differences led to the relocation of some communities, and, as time passed, varying degrees of intermarriage and assimilation took place.[16] Recent scientific research conducted by Chen Shun-sheng of the Kaohsiung Hospital’s psychiatric department claims DNA studies of Taiwan’s people revealed a large percentage of the population has mixed Han Chinese and aboriginal bloodlines.[17]
[edit] Tags:Hoklo,Quanzhou,Zhangzhou,Dna,Aboriginal, | |
| Other locations | |
| 3>
Main article: Overseas Chinese
Of about 40 million "overseas Chinese" worldwide, nearly 30 million live in Southeast Asia. Singapore has the largest majority overseas Chinese population at 78%. Christmas Island also has a Chinese majority at 70%. Large Chinese populations also live in Malaysia (25%), Thailand (14%), Indonesia, and the Philippines. Elsewhere in the world, 3 million people of Chinese descent live in the United States where they constitute about 1% of the population, over 1 million in Canada (3.7%), over 600,000 in Australia (3.5%), nearly 150,000 in New Zealand (3.7%), and as many as 750,000 in Africa.[18]
[edit] Tags:Singapore,Indonesia,Thailand,Malaysia,United States,Canada,Philippines,Australia,New Zealand,Christmas Island,Africa, | |
| Prehistory and the Huaxia | |
| 3>
Main article: 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 Huang He or Yellow River in northern China.[19] The famous Chinese historian Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian places the reign of the Yellow Emperor, the legendary ancestor of the Han Chinese, at the beginning of Chinese history. 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] Tags:Sima Qian,Ethnic Group,Yellow River,Records Of The Grand Historian,Yellow Emperor,Archaeological Sites,Neolithic,Jiahu,Yangshao Culture,Longshan Culture,Dawenkou Culture, | |
| Early history | |
| 3>
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 founded the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BCE). The earliest archaeological examples of Chinese writing date back to this period, from characters inscribed on oracle bone divination, but the well-developed oracle characters hint at a much earlier origin of writing in China. The Shang were eventually overthrown by the people of Zhou, which had emerged as a state along the Yellow River in the 2nd millennium BC.
The Zhou Dynasty was the successor to the 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] Tags:Taoism,Confucianism,Xia Dynasty,Shang Dynasty,Zhou Dynasty,Oracle Bone,Yangtze River,Sinicization,Spring And Autumn Period,Warring States Period, | |
| Imperial history | |
| 3>
Main article: Qin Dynasty
The era of the Warring States came to an end with the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty after it conquered all other rival states. Its leader, Qin Shi Huang, declared himself the first emperor, using a newly created title, thus setting the precedent for the next two millennia. 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
A female servant and male advisor dressed in silk robes, ceramic figurines from the Western Han Era
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 (206 BC – 220 AD) 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 militarily 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.
Main articles: Three Kingdoms, Sixteen Kingdoms, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui Dynasty, and Tang Dynasty
The fall of the Han Dynasty was followed by an age of fragmentation and several centuries of disunity amid warfare by rival kingdoms. During this time, areas of northern China were overrun by various non-Chinese nomadic peoples which came to establish kingdoms of their own, the most successful of which was Northern Wei established by the Xianbei. Starting from this period, the native population of China proper began to be referred to as Hanren, or the "People of Han", to distinguish from the nomads from the steppe; "Han" refers to the old dynasty. Warfare and invasion led to one of the first great migrations in Han population history, as the population fled south to the Yangtze and beyond, shifting the Chinese demographic center south and speeding up Sinicization of the far south. At the same time, in the north, most of the nomads in northern China came to be Sinicized as they ruled over large Chinese populations and adopted elements of Chinese culture and Chinese administration. Of note, the Xianbei rulers of the Northern Wei ordered a policy of systematic Sinicization, adopting Han surnames, institutions, and culture.
The Sui (581–618) and Tang Dynasties (618–907) saw the continuation of the complete Sinicization of the south coast of what is now China proper, including what are now the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. The later part of the Tang Dynasty, as well as the Five Dynasties period that followed, saw continual warfare in north and central China; the relative stability of the south coast made it an attractive destination for refugees.
Main articles: Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty
Han Chinese man wears a queue in compliance with Manchu custom during the Qing era
The next few centuries saw successive invasions of non-Han peoples from the north, such as the Khitans and Jurchens. In 1279 the Mongols (Yuan Dynasty) conquered all of China, becoming the first non-Chinese to do so. The Mongols divided society into four classes, with themselves occupying the top class and Han Chinese into the bottom two classes. The Song and Yuan dynasties banned emigration, seen as disloyalty to ancestors and ancestral land, and foresaw severe penalties for it.[20]
In 1368 Han Chinese rebels drove out the Mongols and, after some infighting, established the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Settlement of Han Chinese into peripheral regions continued during this period, with Yunnan in the southwest receiving a large number of migrants.
In 1644, Beijing was captured by Li Zicheng's peasant rebels and the last Ming Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide. The Manchus (Qing Dynasty) then allied with Ming Dynasty general Wu Sangui and seized control of Beijing. Remnant Ming forces led by Koxinga fled to Taiwan, where they eventually capitulated to Qing forces in 1683. Taiwan, previously inhabited mostly by non-Han aborigines, was Sinicized via large-scale migration accompanied with assimilation during this period, despite efforts by the Manchus to prevent this, as they found it difficult to maintain control over the island. At the same time the Manchus prohibited Han Chinese migration to Manchuria, because the Manchus perceived it as the home base of their dynasty. In 1681, the emperor ordered construction of the Willow Palisade, a barrier beyond which the Chinese were prohibited from settling.[21] The Qing Dynasty started colonising the area with Han Chinese later on in the dynasty's rule. This movement of the Han Chinese to Manchuria is called Chuang Guandong (during previous dynasties, Han Chinese settlement in Manchuria was mainly in the southern part, in what is now the province of Liaoning; during and after the late Qing Dynasty, however, Han Chinese settled and became the majority in nearly all of Manchuria.)
In the 19th century, Chinese migrants went in large numbers to other parts of the world, including Southeast Asia, Australia, and North America. See Overseas Chinese.
[edit] Tags:Wu,History Of China, | |
| Recent history | |
| 3>
Main articles: Republic of China and People's Republic of China
The Qing Dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. In 1949 the People's Republic of China was established towards the end of the Chinese Civil War while the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan. About one million refugees fled with it, further augmenting the population of Taiwan. In the 1980s, the one-child policy was introduced in People's Republic to regulate population growth, which only applies to the Han.[22]
Chinese migration overseas has also continued into the 20th and 21st centuries. The returning of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 prompted large waves of Hong Kong Chinese migration to North America, Australia, and elsewhere.[23] Chinese presences have also been established in Europe as well as Russia, especially the Russian Far East.
[edit] Tags:Russia, | |
| Culture | |
| 2>
Main article: Culture of China
China is one of the world's oldest and most complex civilizations. Chinese culture dates back thousands of years. Some 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 Yan and Huang 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.
Along the River During the Qingming Festival captures the daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng.
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] Tags:炎黄子孙,炎黃子孫, | |
| Language | |
| 3>
Main article: Chinese language
Han Chinese speak various forms of the Chinese language; one of the names of the language group is Hanyu (simplified Chinese: 汉语; traditional Chinese: 漢語), literally the "Han language". Similarly, Chinese characters, used to write the language, are called Hanzi (simplified Chinese: 汉字; traditional Chinese: 漢字), or "Han characters".
While there are many Chinese dialects, historically there has been greater unity in Chinese written languages. This unity is credited to the Qin dynasty which standardized 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 among the literati, which used vocabulary and grammar that may be significantly different from the various forms of spoken Chinese.
During the early twentieth century, written vernacular Chinese based on Beijing Mandarin, which has been developing for a few centuries, was standardized and adopted to replace Literary Chinese. While written vernacular forms of other languages of China exist, such as written Cantonese, written Chinese based on Mandarin is widely understood by speakers of all Chinese languages and has taken up the dominant position among written Chinese languages, formerly occupied by Literary Chinese. Thus, although the residents of different regions would not necessarily understand each other's speech, they generally share a common written language.
Beginning in the 1950s, Simplified Chinese characters was adopted in mainland China and later in Singapore, while Chinese communities in Hong Kong, Macau, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and overseas countries continue to use Traditional Chinese characters. While significant differences exist between the two character sets, they are largely mutually intelligible.
[edit] Tags:汉,Mandarin, | |
| Names | |
| 3>
Main articles: Chinese name and List of common Chinese surnames
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 4,000 to 6,000 surnames in China, of which about 1,000 surnames are most common.
In historical China, hundred surnames (百家姓) was a crucial identity of Han people. Besides the common culture and writings, common origin rooted in the surnames was another major factor that contributed towards Han Chinese identity.[24]
[edit] Tags: | |
| Dress | |
| 3>
Main article: Han Chinese clothing
A Song Dynasty Chinese painting Night Revels of Han Xizai showing scholars in scholar's robes and musicians dressed in a Hanfu variant, 12th century remake of a 10th century original by Gu Hongzhong.
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, is largely in line with ceremonial dress in China during the Tang Dynasty. Now, the most popular traditional Chinese clothing worn by many women on important occasions such as wedding banquets and New Year is called the qipao. However, 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] Tags:Japan, | |
| Housing | |
| 3>
See also: Siheyuan
Han Chinese housing is different from place to place. Chinese Han people in Beijing traditionally commonly lived with the whole family in large houses that were rectangular in shape. This house is called a 四合院 (traditional and simplified characters) or sì hé yuàn (Hanyu Pinyin). These houses had four rooms in the front: the guest room, kitchen, lavatory, and servants' quarters. Across the large double doors was a wing for the elderly in the family. This wing consisted of three rooms, a central room where the four tablets, heaven, earth, ancestor, and teacher, were worshipped. There the two rooms attached to the left and right were bedrooms for the grandparents. The east wing of the house was inhabited by the eldest son and his family, while the west wing sheltered the second son and his family. Each wing had a veranda, some had a "sunroom" made from a surrounding fabric supported by a wooden or bamboo frame. Every wing is also built around a central courtyard used for study, exercise, or nature viewing.[25]
[edit] Tags:Hanyu Pinyin, | |
| Literature | |
| 3>
Main article: Chinese literature
Chinese has a rich history of classical literature dating back several thousand years. Important early works include Tags: | |
zote monety |