China has 56 ethnic groups . Among these 56 ethnic groups, Han is the big one, and the population accounts for more than 90% of the total number of people in China. Other ethnic groups are called ethnic minorities because of their relatively small population.
But In the long history, the Han people basically only operated in the Central Plains, and other ethnic minorities are not the names of today. Even a long time ago, the Han people were not called Han people. Because the definition of "Han people" started from , Han dynasty . So, what was the name before the Han Dynasty? In fact, the real name is full of domineeringness and , Wuwei , let’s learn about it today.
The beginning of the Han people
There are fifty-six ethnic groups in China, and many people will joke that fifty-five ethnic minorities can sing and dance, and the remaining Han people can do nothing. Of course, this is just a joke. After all, as the most populous ethnic group in our country, the Han people will not have no strengths, because over the past thousand years of development, there have been many talents who are proficient in history, music, culture, and painting.
According to research, since the Han Dynasty, the name "Han nationality" has been called in Chinese history. Before the Han Dynasty, due to the historical influence of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people called themselves Chu people and Qin people based on their country or place of birth, while the former name of the Han people was Han people . Liu Bang After establishing Han Dynasty , the name Han nationality was named.
The reason why the Han Dynasty called the Han people was based on the unified central government. Of course, the first thing that said is the unified should be Qin Dynasty . Qin State After several generations of efforts by the King of Qin, finally wiped out the other six countries in the era of First Emperor Ying Zheng, and established the first feudal and unified multi-ethnic unified country in our history.
However, the reason why the Qin Dynasty did not have the title of Han nationality was because the Qin Dynasty had been maintained for a short time and its influence was not as long and wide as that of the Han Dynasty. When the Han Dynasty was first established, people in the territory were still called ", , ", while those who belonged to the Han Dynasty and those who recognized the rule of the Liu family were called Han people.
With the strength of the Han Dynasty, in the Emperor Wu of Han , the Xiongnu were pacified and the Western Regions were communicated. The North Korea in the east and the barbarians in the southwest were also pacified, and even some small countries and barbarians in the surrounding areas surrendered to the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the influence of the Han Dynasty's national strength became increasingly far-reaching, and the name Han nationality was gradually becoming widely used.
When the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were long gone, the Han Dynasty still had its power. In addition, the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty were all regimes that maintained the orthodox culture of the ritual system. Therefore, even during the chaotic Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, many other ethnic minority regimes appeared, but in order to expand and stabilize their rule, they would carry out sinicization reforms. At this point, the Han people are not limited to Han people, but more of them refer to people who have a sense of cultural identity.
It is precisely because it emphasizes that it is cultural identity that it does not value clan relatives and blood ties so much. Therefore, under the influence of this concept, the term "clear the monarch". Because of cultural identity, people think that the thrones can be reunited. The name of the Han nationality has been preserved since then. Until today, we have used it and have even become the main ethnic group of the Chinese nation.
The history of the future can be clearly found. So before the Han Dynasty, what other titles were there besides the name Han people?
Chinese barbarians, and they were all called Han people before the Han Dynasty, but even so, they were only a few names. After all, in the Warring States Period, even in the later Qin Dynasty, the princes and countries were all from Qin, Zhao and other countries, so they were rarely called. In fact, it cannot be said that the Han people do not exist, it is just that was uniformly called "Huaxia clan" because of the Han people of that period, including the Qin people and the Chu people.
In our opinion today, China has a very wide range. Generally speaking, when someone is powerful, they will say that "shock China". This shows the domineering nature of the Chinese clan’s names.
And the ethnic groups outside China, that is, the ethnic groups in the Central Plains, are culturally uncommon nations, such as Quanrong , which are unified as "barbarians". "Hanshu " specifically says, "The Chinese are the barbarians, and they will not surrender to the Zhou emperor , and are foreign tribes. The people in the Central Plains are the Huaxia tribes. In other words, at least during the Shang and Zhou period, there was a saying of China.
As for the origin of the name Huaxia, there are traces to follow. In " Spring and Autumn Zuo Zhuan Zhengyi ", it is said that the ancient "China" was called "Huaxia" because of the beauty of the rituals and kimono seals. "So, the early term "Huaxia" in clearly shows that this title is not limited to the geographical scope of the Central Plains, but a deeper value recognition. But the cultural value recognition at this time is mainly reflected in the ethnic groups of the Central Plains. After all, the cultures of the barbarians and the Central Plains are too different.
By the Qin Dynasty, in order to consolidate the rule, Qin Shihuang implemented reforms such as car and , book and , but because the country's destiny was very short, its cultural influence was not long enough. At this time, "Huaxia" still refers to the entire The name of Han nationality. In the Han Dynasty, due to the expansion of territory and the continuous expansion of cultural influence, the name of Han nationality began to be derived and gradually influenced later generations. The so-called "Huaxia" in is not limited to the Han nationality, but regards it as an alias for Chinese people.
Therefore, no matter where in the world, the Chinese people will call themselves the Chinese nation to emphasize their identity. Of course, regardless of the descendants of China or the Chinese nation, they are all Chinese names. In fact, we are more emphasizing a kind of identity based on identity Cultural identity.
Conclusion
"The Chinese nation has a history of five thousand years". We often say this sentence, but Chinese nation is just a general concept. Even in the distant history, it is specific, referring to the Han people. However, with the collapse of the Han Dynasty, coupled with the chaos of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties , it emphasizes more on humanistic identity, so the Chinese nation is later. Before this, "China" was related to "Huaxia", so they all refer to Han people. After all, in the history of the Central Plains, Han people are still mainstream.
It is precisely for this reason that we Chinese do not pay attention to the so-called family origins and bloodlines abroad, because compared with bloodlines, the Chinese who stayed in today have undergone ethnic integration, so we pay attention to the sense of national identity. It is also because of this that even though we have many ethnic groups now, no matter how we divide it, we are all Chinese nations and a harmonious big family. Therefore, we must identify with Chinese culture, respect the differences between different ethnic groups, and promote national harmony and unity.
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