The history, distribution and language of the Han nationality.

History: From about 5000 BC, the Huaxia nationality, the main body of the Han nationality, originated in the Yellow River valley and began to develop gradually. It entered the Neolithic Age and went through the stages of matriarchal clan commune and paternal clan commune. In 2700 BC, there was a Ji tribe headed by the Yellow Emperor and a Jiang tribe headed by the Yellow Emperor in central Shaanxi, and there were frequent frictions between the two tribes. The Battle of Hanquan finally broke out, and the Yellow Emperor defeated Yan Di.

According to the legend recorded in the pre-Qin literature, the ancestors of the Han nationality lived in the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The ancestors of the Han nationality generally lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, starting from Longshan in the west and Taishan in the east. Yangshao culture and Longshan culture are two Neolithic cultures mainly distributed in this area, which are generally considered as the cultural remains of Han ancestors.

Ancient legends also describe that Han ancestors experienced a long era of primitive commune system. Before the Yellow Emperor, there was a matriarchal clan tribe that "Anemarrhena denied his father" (see matriarchal clan system); The legend about the Yellow Emperor marks the change from matriarchal clan tribe to paternal clan tribe (see paternal clan system) and enters the stage of tribal alliance. Legend has it that Yao, Shun and Yu, who successively served as the leaders of the big tribal alliance after the Yellow Emperor, are considered to be descendants of the Yellow Emperor.

In 2 1 century BC, the primitive commune system in the Central Plains came to the end of history, and a class society appeared on the land in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. After the 20th century BC, Xia (about 2 1 century BC ~ 65438+6th century BC), Shang (about 65438+6th century BC ~1century BC) and Western Zhou (about 165438+ 65438 BC) Then it developed to the vast areas of Huaihe River, Surabaya, Yangtze River and Hanshui River. There were clan names in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which were called Huaxia, Xia or Huaxia, to distinguish them from barbarians, Yi, Rong and Di. But at this time, the distinction between China and foreigners is not very strict.

During the Spring and Autumn Period (770 ~ 476 BC), China people's concept of nobility and inferiority was already very strong. At that time, the standards, race and culture that distinguished China from barbarians were highly valued, and culture was especially the primary factor. Due to etiquette, customs, clothing and other factors, China people and foreigners can often switch places with each other. Qin and Chu are not only as famous as Qi, Yan, Han, Zhao and Wei, but also the two most powerful governors in China. The seven chivalrous men joined forces with Lian Heng to fight together, but the ethnic groups were the same, forming the trend of summer reunification; So Huaxia has become a stable ethnic group, and its distribution area has reached the middle and lower reaches of Liaohe River in Northeast China, Taohe River Basin in Northwest China, Bashu and central Guizhou in Southwest China, Hunan and wuyue in Southeast China.

Qin Shihuang unified China and established the Qin Dynasty, followed by the Han Dynasty, which ruled China for more than 400 years. During this period, the territory of China expanded unprecedentedly. At this time, the distribution of Han population is still concentrated in the Yellow River and Huaihe River basins. Since the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Han population has gradually migrated to the Yangtze River, the Pearl River and the southeast of China on a large scale. From the Western Jin Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, the Han population entered Central Asia and Yunnan. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the population of the Han nationality in the south had surpassed that in the north, and Manchu prohibited the Han nationality from going out to the northeast. In the late Qing Dynasty, in order to enrich the frontier, Han people were allowed to enter the northeast of China. During Zhang's rule in Northeast China, a large number of Shandong Han people were introduced. From the Ming Dynasty, the Han nationality began to immigrate to Southeast Asia sporadically, and from the19th century, the Han nationality immigrated to Europe, North America and other places.

Language: The language of the Han nationality is Chinese, written in Chinese characters. Chinese belongs to Sino-Tibetan language family. According to the classification methods commonly used in academic circles, it can be divided into seven dialects: Northern Dialect (Mandarin), Wu Dialect, Xiang Dialect, Gan Dialect, Hakka Dialect, Min Dialect and Cantonese (see Chinese Dialect Entry for many different classification methods). In recent years, many scholars believe that Guangxi Pinghua and Shanxi Jin dialect should be juxtaposed with the other seven dialects. In different areas where Han people live, the provisions of standard Chinese are different. Chinese mainland, Taiwan Province Province and Singapore are regarded as standard Putonghua (languages developed on the basis of Beijing dialect in Putonghua areas are called Putonghua, Mandarin and Mandarin respectively due to different locations), and Hong Kong is regarded as standard Cantonese (Cantonese). Chinese characters are written in traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters respectively.

In addition, some scholars divide Fujian dialect into Minnan dialect and northern Fujian dialect. These dialects have their own distribution areas, and the interior of each dialect can be subdivided, thus forming a complex language state of Chinese dialects, and the north and the south are not connected with each other. Nevertheless, due to the high unity of Chinese characters, it has a strong cohesive effect on the Han nationality, so it seems no exaggeration to say that there would be no Han nationality without Chinese characters.

Distribution:

Percentage of population in the region

Chinese mainland 1, 20 1, 809,000 (2005) 90%.

Taiwan Province Province 22.436 million (2005) 98%

Hong Kong 6.554 million (2005) 95%

Macau 462,000 (2005) 97%

Total 1, 23 1, 26 1, 000.

Han nationality is also the main ethnic group in other parts of the country, such as Singapore (77%) and Penang (Malaysia) (56%). At the same time, it is also one of the important ethnic groups in many countries.

Percentage of population in mainland China/country and percentage of overseas Han population.

Asia 28.8 million (1998) 48. 1%

Cambodia 150000(2003)

Indonesia 7.3 million (2003)

Japan 175000(2003)

North Korea 50,000 (2003) 0.2%

Korea 100000(2003)

Laos 50 000(2003) 65 438+0.0%

Malaysia 7 million (2004) 30.0%

Myanmar 65,438+300,000 (2003) 3.0%

Philippines 65438+500,000 2.0%

Singapore 3.4 million (2004) 76.8%

Thailand 7.3 million (2003)

Vietnam 2.3 million (2003) 3.0%

North America 5.02 million (1998) 14.5%

Canada 65438+200,000 (2004) 3.69%

$2.4 million (2000)

Europe 945,000 (1998) 2.6%

Russia 680,000

France 300,000

British 247403 (200 1)

Oceania 564000( 1998) 1.5%

Australia 454,000 (2003) 2.5%

New Zealand 1 15000(2003)

Africa 126000( 1998)0.3%

South Africa 100000(2003)

Total 35,175,000100%

The distribution characteristics of Han nationality in China are dense in the east and sparse in the west. According to the statistics in 2005, the population of Han nationality was1182.95 million, accounting for 90.56% of the total population. In the fifth census in 2000, the Han nationality accounted for 9 1.59% of the total population.

List of the proportion of Han nationality in China provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities)

(In order of height, according to the data of the fifth national census)

Proportion of provinces

Jiangxi 99.73%

Shanxi 99.7 1%

Jiangsu 99.67%

Shaanxi 99.50%

Shanghai 99.38%

Anhui 99.37%

Shandong 99.32%

Zhejiang 99. 15%

Henan 98.78%

Guangdong 98.58%

Fujian 98.33%

Taiwan Province Province 98.00%

Tianjin 97.36%

Hebei 96.00%

Beijing 95.70%

Hubei 95.66%

Sichuan 95.02%

Heilongjiang 94.98%

Chongqing 93.58%

Gansu 9 1.3 1%

Jilin 90.97%

Hunan 89.79%

Liaoning 83.98%

Hainan 82.7 1%

Inner Mongolia 72.24%

Yunnan 66.59%

Ningxia 65.47%

Guizhou 62. 15%

Guangxi 6 1.66%

Qinghai 54.49%

Xinjiang 40.6 1%

Tibet 5.90%