When did the nation form?

the formation of the Chinese nation has been a hot topic in recent decades. How to treat the formation of the Chinese nation needs to be investigated from many aspects, such as geography, history and culture, in order to draw a more objective conclusion.

China, a multi-ethnic country, was gradually formed. At first, it had a general center. With the passage of time, this center expanded continuously, and finally it formed the situation today. It can be said that from small to large, continuous integration is the characteristic of the Chinese nation from the beginning.

This center is probably in the present Shanxi area of Henan Province, where a people named Shang live. There must have been a dynasty earlier than Shang, because Shang was already a very mature political system, and the formation of the country could not be achieved overnight, so there must have been other forms of political power in front of it, generally speaking, the Xia Dynasty, which was later called Huaxia, also known as the Central Plains. Of course, at that time, most of China was not within the scope of China. With the expansion of merchants, by the late Shang Dynasty, Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui were now included in the territory of merchants. The Shang Dynasty lasted about 5 years. Later, a nation named Zhou in the west of China became strong, and its origin was very suspicious. But later, it went out of business and settled in China, becoming the authentic Chinese nation. Moreover, Zhou has a long history, which lasted almost 8 years from its establishment to its demise by Qin in 256 BC. It is the longest dynasty in Chinese history. With the joining of Zhou, the territory of Zhou and the territory of the original Shang Dynasty expanded a lot. But even in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, China's region only included a dozen provinces in central and eastern China, but it was the most suitable place for human beings to live and farm.

Since we walked out of primitive society, human beings have been divided into two major races: the farming people and the nomadic people. Farming ethnic groups occupy some places with abundant water and fertile land, and are engaged in agricultural production; Nomads, on the other hand, are active in the vast alpine grassland area, grazing and hunting. Different living environments have created different personalities. The rich and stable life has developed the timid and conservative personality of the farming people, while the harsh living environment has actually made the nomadic people unruly. Therefore, although the farming nation has a large population, its strength is weak. Although the nomadic people have a small population, they are fierce and tough. Historically, there has been a constant struggle between the two races for looting and being robbed. The plundering party is often a nomadic people, and the plundered party is often a farming people. This is a bit like carnivores and herbivores in the animal world. Nomadic people are carnivores, while farming people are herbivores. Chinese civilization has been facing the threat of nomadic people in the north since its beginning. The sentence in the Book of Songs has long revealed this information. There are also many uncivilized barbarians in the south, but compared with the nomadic people in the north, the threat of barbarians in the south to the Central Plains is much smaller. Because people on earth have another feature, that is, the nationalities in the north are stronger than those in the south. Therefore, almost all the threats to the Chinese nation in history came from the north.

nomadic people constantly eroded agricultural areas and plundered the wealth of people and animals, which led to the demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Zhou Pingwang, the successor, had to move eastward, which was the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. And where barbarians live in the Yangtze River valley, there has also been a big country, Chu. Chu was only a barbarian at that time, but it extended its tentacles into the territory of China, trying to compete with the traditional countries in the Central Plains, and it really won the hegemony, but since then, it has also firmly tied itself to the Chinese nation.

Later, Qin, also in the northwest, unified China. In history, the unification of China mostly came from the north, and there were few successful examples of the Northern Expedition in the south, which is also an example of the strong north and weak south. But the country of Qin also has many questions. The place where it lives is close to the nomadic area, and its ancestors won this fief because of their contributions to raising horses for the Zhou emperor. Its residents must be mixed with many nomadic elements. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the northern vassal states were at war, and many countries used the force of nomadic people to defeat each other. Later, Qin unified China, and no one said that it was not authentic in China. However, Qin himself was constantly threatened by nomadic people, so Qin Shihuang sent general Meng Tian to station 3, troops in the north to guard against the Huns.

In order to resist the invasion of nomadic people, the Han Dynasty often fought against the Huns. At first, Xiongnu had the advantage, and even Emperor Gaozu and his wife Lv Hou suffered humiliation. It was only in the era of Emperor Wudi that they turned to attack. Later, the Huns split, and the Han Dynasty was no longer as powerful as that of Emperor Wu, so the two sides had to compromise and make peace. Later, the southern Xiongnu joined the Han Dynasty, which allowed them to enter the territory of the Han people. Most of these people were naturalized as Han people, and their status gradually changed from nomadic people to agricultural people.

the Han dynasty should be said to be the first real dynasty in the history of the Chinese nation. firstly, it lasted for a long time; secondly, it was magnificent and powerful; thirdly, it established a relatively effective administrative system. Later, our nation was named Han, which was very reasonable. The Han Dynasty was founded for 4 years, and there was a brief turmoil in the middle. After the turmoil, the Western Han Dynasty became the Eastern Han Dynasty, each with a history of 2 years. The Han dynasty not only accepted the submission of nomadic people in the north, but also constantly opened up the frontiers in the south. But the most powerful dynasty will also collapse. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the luck of the Han Dynasty was exhausted, and the Three Kingdoms took its place. However, the nomadic people in the north did not stop harassing Han. On the contrary, the turmoil in China became a good opportunity for them to fish in troubled waters. They constantly eroded the territory of Han people and plundered the residents of Han, especially women. Cai Wenji was one of them. Later, Cao Cao cherished her talent and redeemed her from the Huns. In the time of war and confusion, many Han Chinese may have entered the nomadic areas automatically or passively, and their descendants will become members of the nomadic people. Therefore, in northern China, the blending of ethnic groups is an inevitable phenomenon.

The situation in the Western Jin Dynasty is a bit like the end of the Roman Empire. At first, ethnic minorities in the north were attached to it, and finally a five-disorder China broke out, which finally led to the collapse of the Western Jin Dynasty. The reason was of course the corruption of the ruling class. However, there is another reason. In the history of China, the dynasties that did not conquer the world by war, but by extortion, were either short-lived or not very powerful. This was the case in the Western Jin Dynasty. Its political power came from Cao Wei's abdication, so the force was not very strong and could not withstand a serious blow. Later dynasties such as Sui and Song were the same, with the exception of Qin. But in the final analysis, the entry of ethnic minorities is actually a struggle for the right to live. With the increase of population and the deterioration of natural environment, the struggle for the right to live has never stopped. Before the discovery of the New World, there were only two good places on the earth, one was southern Europe, and the other was East Asia, that is, the east of China. The rest is either hot or cold, or desert or mountain. During the Western Jin Dynasty, as nomadic people entered the Central Plains, a struggle broke out between Han people and nomadic people for the scope of existence. The Han nationality couldn't resist the force of nomadic people, so they had to move south one after another, so northern China became the world of ethnic minorities. In the history of mankind, backward nations have often conquered cowardly but highly civilized nations with powerful force. This phenomenon was not changed until the invention of hot weapons. The invention of hot weapons is an important turning point in the history of human civilization, which makes the war no longer won by brawn alone, and makes the backward nations unable to defeat the advanced nations from now on, thus greatly defending the achievements of human civilization.

those invading nomads drove the Han people to the south and forced them to develop the land in the south. Without this "motivation", I'm afraid the Han people wouldn't have so much energy and speed to develop the south. The south is the turning point of the Chinese nation, and Chinese civilization has been preserved on the basis of this land for several times, while the two rivers civilization, Egyptian civilization, Indian civilization, Greek civilization and Roman civilization are not so lucky, and they all have no such geographical conditions, so their civilizations have ended prematurely. As time went by, the Hu people were assimilated by many Han people, and the land in the south was developed by the retreating Han people. Therefore, when reunified, the scope of Chinese civilization expanded again.

The Li family, which was founded in the Tang Dynasty, was not so pure. There are many ethnic minorities in the Li family, which is not surprising to the Li family who has lived in the northwest for a long time. The northwest of our country is originally a place where Han and Hu live together. It is more difficult for you to find pure Han Chinese there than to find a needle in a sea. Besides, it is not necessary. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty was a dynasty of great ethnic integration, and many ethnic minorities entered the top leadership, but no one said that the Tang Dynasty was not a country of the Chinese nation.

After the Tang Dynasty, ethnic minorities once again entered the Han region on a large scale, first the Khitan, then the Nuzhen, and then the Mongols, and they roamed the north of China successively. Song Dynasty was a weak dynasty. In fact, those nomads were not much better. They were all flesh and blood, but they lived in different environments. If you are in the same environment, who is worse is unknown. They entered China one after another, and then they became corrupt one after another. First, the Liao people, their last emperor, like the emperor of the Song Dynasty, became a prisoner in tears. Soon it will be a gold man, and the copy will not go out of shape. Then came the Mongols, whose fate was slightly better, mainly because the last emperor did not resist Zhu Yuanzhang to the end, but ran away wisely, so he was named Shun Emperor. "Shun" is also called "Shun Tian Ying Ren". What's more, they didn't meet a cruel nation, but a magnanimous Han Chinese. Therefore, the personality of a nation is actually determined by its environment. The Liao people, the Jin people and the Mongols were also brave when they were on the grassland. Once they entered the gentle land, they all softened without exception. Materialism advocates that matter determines consciousness, geography is matter, history is only consciousness, and geographical conditions determine the direction of history. But to be sure, not many Mongolians fled with Yuan Shundi, but chose to stay, preferring to assimilate into the Han people and become a member of the farming nation, rather than live a turbulent life in the vast grassland again. Those people on the grassland are like meteors. Once they have crossed the historical sky, they will never have a chance to shine again. Many ethnic groups that were once prominent in history, some of them couldn't even find their shadows. Where did they hide? In fact, most of them have been integrated into the Han nationality and become members of the Chinese nation.

Therefore, it is basically a pioneering process for the Han nationality to go south, but it is often a process of erosion in the north. In this way, the composition of the Chinese nation is becoming more and more complex, and the territory is expanding. The last three dynasties in China's history, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, two of which were founded by foreigners entering China. At that time, they could only say that they were aliens, and it could not be said that because they later belonged to the Chinese nation, all the previous facts were erased. It's like a woman who later became your wife, but it doesn't mean that she was born in your family. The Chinese nation is gradually formed, otherwise this history will be hard to say, and the historical status of many figures will be hard to determine. Mongols occupied many places, and when they declined, they all merged into the local race, but it can't be said that they were there from the beginning, and people didn't say so. In fact, the attribution of many marginal ethnic groups is often very free, and it is possible to belong to this country or that country, which is very accidental. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, many Mongolians had been assimilated, but as a nation, they had not joined the Chinese nation, and it was only after Manchu people came in.

Manchu people first lived in Heilongjiang, then gradually moved to the warm south, and finally pushed to the outside of Shanhaiguan in China. In agricultural society, wasteland, desert, polar regions and sea ridges are all worthless places, and it is no pity to give up. The vacuum they left was later filled by the Russians. However, their number is not large, and it is said that by the time they entered the customs, they were only 2 thousand. However, the Ming Dynasty, like the Song Dynasty, was a bad dynasty. When the Manchu people rose, it happened to be the last days of the Ming Dynasty. The difference between the mental state of the old and the young was too great, so these 2, people miraculously occupied the areas of the Han people, and this entry also made them unable to leave. Imagine what would happen now if Manchu people didn't enter the customs in those days? I'm afraid the Northeast is probably another country now, because it was not long before the modern country was established, and it was too late for the Chinese nation to produce a new dynasty to unify it. The Manchus entered China, and they also won over the Mongols, making Mongolia a member of the Chinese nation's family. This is the final pattern of China.