History of China and the Chinese PeopleHim Mark Lai

Creation Myths and Legendary SovereignsChina has a number of creation myths. One commonly accepted version tells of the

primeval matter that gave birth to Pangu 盤古, who stood with his head touching the sky and his feet on earth. Each day the sky became higher by ten feet, the earth thickened by ten feet, and Pangu grew ten feet. It was alleged that after 18,000 years the sky reached its present altitude and the earth its present thickness. After Pangu's death parts of his body became the sun, moon, stars, rivers and mountains. Inserts on his body became human beings. Pangu was succeeded in turn by Tianhuang 天皇 (Heavenly ruler), Dihuang 地皇 (Earthly ruler), and Renhuang 人皇 (Human ruler), who altogether ruled for another 45,600 years.

The beginnings of civilization came with inventions and discoveries by another succession of legendary rulers. Accordingly, Youchao Shi 有巢氏 taught mankind how to build shelters in trees from branches and leaves. Suiren Shi 燧人氏 taught them how to make fire. Fuxi Shi 伏羲氏 invented nets and traps, taught mankind how to fish and hunt and to domesticate animals. He also invented the eight trigrams 八卦 and established the institution of marriage. Each of his subjects was required to identify himself with a clan name (姓 xing). Members of the same xing traced their ancestry to a common ancestor. Fuxi Shi himself assumed the xing Feng 風. Marriages between persons of the same xing were prohibited. After Fuxi Shi came Nüwa Shi 女媧氏, who also belonged to the Feng clan. The most notable legendary feat during the Nüwa Shi era was an act to refine stones to patch the sky, a corner of which had fallen. After Nüwa Shi came Shennong Shi 神農氏 (Jiang 姜 xing) who invented the plow and plowshare and taught mankind how to cultivate grains. He also tasted different herbs to test their properties and thus laid the basis for Chinese herbal medicine. Shennong Shi's line of rulers were also known as Yandi 炎帝.

Chinese culture was considered to have began with the reign of Xuanyuan 軒轅 (Ji 姬 xing), who defeated Yandi (jiang 姜 xing) and ruled as Huangdi 黃帝 (Yellow Sovereign). Huangdi allied with Yandi defeated Chiyou 蚩尤, who challenged his rule. It was during a battle in this struggle that Huangdi's troops was said to have used the zhi’nanche 指南車 (South pointing chariots) so as not to lose their direction while battling Chiyou in a dense fog. Chinese tradition also attributed the invention of many elements of Chinese culture to this period. Huangdi's consort Luozu 螺祖 domesticated the silkworm and began sericulture; his official Cangjie 倉頡 invented Chinese characters, and various other officials invented the calendar and reckoning of year by the heavenly stem and earthly branches, healing arts, music, mathematics, houses, clothes, boats and chariots, mortar and pestle, bow and arrow, coins, coffins, etc.

Huangdi's grandson Zhuanxu 顓頊 succeeded him as sovereign, followed by Ku 嚳 and Yao 堯. Instead of appointing his own son to succeed him as ruler, Yao appointed Shun (Gui 媯 xing), who was from the state of Yu 虞舜. These five were known collectively as the five sovereigns of ancient China 五帝. It was during Yao’s reign that Houji 后 稷, one of Huangdi's descendants, was alleged to have invented agricultural techniques.

Shun in turn turned over the realm to folk hero Yu 禹 (Si 姒 xing), noted in Chinese tradition as having controlled the great flood after laboring thirteen years. His kingdom was known as Xia 夏. Hereditary dynastic rule began when Yu was succeeded by his son Qi 启 as sovereign. Since the Xia claimed descent from Huangdi, Huangdi as well as Yandi became the attributed ancestors of all Han Chinese, who are commonly referred to as the “Descendants of

Yandi and Huangdi” 炎黃子孫. The territory and people with a common culture living in the middle and lower Yellow basin where the Xia State had evolved were referred to as Huaxia 華夏 or Zhuxia 諸夏 (various Xia states). This term in later years became synonymous with China.

The above accounts reflect the efforts of ancient Chinese to explain how their civilization evolved. Actually this was a synthesis of myths and traditions originating from several different sources that had been revised, refined, combined, and rearranged into a more logical order. The picture, which had been delineated through modern historical analysis and archaeological research, reveals a similar sequence of events except that inventions and discoveries were of course no longer attributed to demigods and superhuman beings.

Beginnings of Chinese Civilization: Huangdi, Yandi, and OthersPaleontological evidence showed that the human race has long existed in the territory

that is now China. 500,000 to 1,000,000 years ago, Peking man who lived in north China already knew how to use fire and primitive tools made from stones. As time passed primitive men learned to build shelters and to make stone weapons and otherwise improved their material culture. Gradually as population increased and society became more complex, people began to group themselves into different clans (xing 姓). Each xing had a recognized common ancestor and corresponded roughly with the totem of a clan among primitive tribes. During this period a matrilineal society existed where descent was traced through the female line. This was demonstrated by the fact that the Chinese characters for many ancient xing usually consisted of the “female” 女 radical plus a phonetic element. Later, as the change to a patrilineal society occurred, there developed the shi 氏 in order to differentiate among different lineages, each with a common male ancestor, branching out from the same xing. The shi may be derived from a diversity of sources, such as names of states and townships, localities of residence, official titles, personal names, occupations and trades, etc. During the ancient period several shi can be derived from a single xing. However, only members of the nobility have the right to have a xing and shi and the privilege was not extended to the common people.

Some five thousand years ago tribes in the middle Yellow River basin in North China had developed their Neolithic culture to a fairly advanced state. A distinguishing feature of this culture was the extensive use of painted pottery. Archaeologists have also denoted this as the Yangshao Culture 仰韶文化, so-called for the locale where painted pottery shards were first excavated. A ruler Yandi headed a group of tribes that apparently originated in the valley of the Jiang River 姜水 (from which the group derived the clan name Jiang 姜), a branch of the Wei River 渭水 in west central Shaanxi. Subsequently the group expanded to the territory on the south bank of the Yellow River. Another group of tribes led by Huangdi originated in the valley of the Ji River 姬水 (from which the group derived the clan name Ji 姬), which some scholars located as being near the Jiang River. This group of tribes also expanded into the Henan plains, but on both sides of the Yellow River. At first the two groups were allied, but soon began fighting each other for dominance in the region. The Huangdi-led tribes defeated the Yandi-led group to become the acknowledged leader of the tribal federation, which continued to expand eastward toward the lower Yellow River and Huai River valleys, where they encountered a heterogeneous group of tribes, the Yi 夷 led by Chiyou. Huangdi was again victorious in another series of wars and established hegemony over the Yi also.

The Huaxia and Their NeighborsBy the twenty-first century BC the descendants of the Huangdi-led tribes, the Huaxia, led

by Yu (Si 姒 xing), established the first dynastic state in China, the Xia 夏. Although there had been numerous references to the Xia in Chinese historical documents, there had been no

unearthed artifacts that can definitely be identified as being from this period; however, a list of Xia rulers had long existed. Research based on archaeological and documentary evidence has placed the beginning of the dynasty at about 2070 BC. At its height, the Xia state ruled the lower Yellow River Valley from southern Shanxi and western Henan east to the territory where Henan, Hebei, and Shandong met.

During the eighteenth century BC a branch of the Yi 夷 people, the Shang 商 (also known as Yin 殷), arose in the region east of the Xia. Their leader Tang 湯 (Zi 子 xing ) led a rebellion that displaced the last Xia ruler Jie 桀 and founded the Shang state with the capital located at the confluence of northern Henan, southern Hebei, and eastern Shandong. By this time the Shang had entered the Bronze Age and also had developed a system of ideographic writing. Numerous specimens of oracle shells and bones etched with characters and dating from the Shang period had been unearthed at the site of the Shang capital.

In twelfth century BC, Ji Fa 姬發 (also known as Wuwang 武王 [Martial king]) led an allied army from southern Shaanxi to overthrow the Shang king Zhou 紂 and establish the Zhou 周 state. The Zhou claimed descent from Houji with the clan name Ji 姬 and hence, descendants of Huangdi. Ji Fa and succeeding Zhou kings created a feudal order granting numerous fiefs in the middle and lower Yellow River basin to their sons, relatives and allies, who migrated with their retainers to these fiefdoms to establish their rule. The rulers and the nobles as well in these fiefs each developed their own shi as identification. Due to the importance of xing and shi in this feudal system, the Zhou court appointed an official to chronicle the royal lineages. This marked the beginnings of Chinese genealogy.

Many people have made the claim that China has 5,000 years of written history; however, the earliest verifiable documented date was 841 BC. At that point the power of the Zhou kings was beginning to wane. In 771 BC an invasion by non-Han tribesmen forced the Zhou to move its capital eastward to become the Eastern Zhou 東周. The weakening of the Zhou royal power encouraged the various dukedoms, marquisates, earldoms, viscounties and baronetcies to be more assertive in exercising their prerogatives. Fiefdoms increasingly paid only nominal fealty to the Zhou royal house and sometimes not even that at all. Stronger states began to exercise hegemony over weaker ones, and powerful principalities to devour weaker neighbors. This period is known as the Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn 春秋) period, from the classic Spring and Autumn Annals of the state of Lu 魯 that was edited by Confucius 孔子.

The Spring and Autumn Period lasted almost four centuries. By the fourth century BC the number of dominant states in the Yellow River basin had been whittled down to six: Qi 齊 (Shandong), Yan 燕 (southern Liaoning, northern Hebei), Zhao 趙 (southern Hebei, southern Shanxi), Wei 魏 (eastern Henan), Han 韓 (western Henan), and Qin 秦 (southern Shaanxi, southwestern Gansu). Historians refer to this period as the beginning of the Era of Warring States 戰國. It should be noted that during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods, there were also other nationalities with different cultures living in the Yellow River basin interspersed among the Huaxia. Others lived in territories contiguous to the Yellow River basin. During this period we find first usage of the term “Zhongguo” (middle kingdom 中國 to differentiate the Huaxia from non-Huaxia. The application of the term has change over the centuries and this term is now used to refer to China as a nation including all its different nationalities.

Within the northern and western parts of the Yellow River basin were nomadic peoples such as the Di 狄 and Rong 戎. During this period many were absorbed to become part of the Huaxia. Others retreated northward and westward, joining their compatriots outside the periphery of the Huaxia domains. Their descendants such as the Xiongnu 匈奴 continued to play important roles in China's history, at times amicably and at other times with hostile intent.

South of the Yellow River basin was the Jingchu 荊 楚 (Mi 羋 xing) people, which established the state of Chu 楚 in western Henan and northern Hubei around the beginning of the Zhou dynasty. As early as the eighth century BC its rulers declared themselves wang (王 king), a title hitherto considered to be reserved for the Zhou rulers. The Chu state expanded eastward down the Yangzi River basin, swallowing smaller states. At one point it also controlled parts of the Yellow River basin, and was a threat challenging the hegemony of Huaxia principalities.

In the lower Yangzi River basin in Jiangsu was the Yue 越, which was influenced during the early Zhou period by Huaxia culture and evolved into the kingdom of Wu 吳. By the sixth century BC this kingdom was challenging Chu hegemony in the region. Wu, however, was in turn defeated and swallowed in 473 BC by the rival Yue 越 Kingdom that had evolved further south in Zhejiang. The Yue Kingdom extended its power as far north as the southeastern part of Shandong, but it soon declined and became absorbed by the state of Chu in 334 BC. Thus Chu became the largest of the contending states during the Warring States period. However, the population was relatively sparse and the economy undeveloped in many parts of this vast realm.

Southwest of the Yellow River basin in western Hubei and eastern Sichuan in the middle reaches of the Yangzi River basin was the Ba 巴, a non-Huaxia people. Northwest of them around the present city of Chengdu 成都 was another people, the Shu 蜀. Both peoples evolved into states around the early Zhou period and lasted until the 4th century BC when they were annexed by the westernmost Huaxia state Qin (pronounced Chin). Continued resistance to Qin rule in Shu led the Qin sovereign to move 10,000 Qin families to settle among the original inhabitants. Huaxia culture soon became dominant over the native culture; however, to this day Sichuan is still often referred to as Shu or Ba-Shu 巴蜀.

With the introduction of more advanced technology of the Huaxia people, the Sichuan region was able to develop its rich resources, sheltered from the incessant warfare of the Yellow River basin. This prosperous economy was a factor enabling Qin to attain military supremacy over its rivals. By 223 BC Qin armies had defeated Chu and then devoured the Huaxia states in north China in quick succession to unify all of northern and central China within a Qin Empire.

Economic developments during this period led to increasing populations of artisans and craftsmen in urban areas. Increasing commerce among the various states led to the rapid growth of a merchant class. The incessant warfare led to political changes leading to a breakdown of the old feudal order established by the Zhou rulers. The persistent social upheavals broke up the nobility’s monopoly of culture and literature. Private schools became a trendy development. The most noted was Kongzi 孔子 (Confucius) or Kong Qiu 孔丘 of the state of Lu 鲁國. Better known as Confucius in the West, Kong taught his philosophy and theories of governance to more than 3,000 students but was only able to apply his theories in an official capacity only for a brief three months. A contemporary of his was Laozi 老子 (Laocius) or Li Er 李耳 (also known as Lao Dan 老聃), the alleged progenitor of Taoism. During the succeeding Warring States period the rapid social changes led to the rise of even more schools of philosophy included at different interpretations of the teachings of Confucianism, including that of Meng Zi 孟子 (Mencius) or Meng Ke 孟軻, who maintained that man was born with goodness, and Xun Zi 荀子, also known as Xun Kuang 荀況 or Xun Qing 荀卿 who emphasized that man was born with innate evil. There were also other philosophers such as Mo Zi 墨子 (Mocius) or Mo Di 墨翟 who advocated universal love, Zhuang Zi 莊子 or 莊周 who espoused a Taoist school of philosophy, the Logicians 名家 who studied the distinction between name and reality and stressed the importance of logic and debate, the yin-yang school 陰陽家 that tried to explain natural and social phenomena by an analysis of the negative and positive forces in the universe, and the Legalists 法家, who advocated concentrating power in the hands of the

monarch. It was the Legalist philosophy that won the favor of the Qin ruler, leading to reforms that strengthen the Qin state and enable it to conquer its rivals.

The creation of the empire brought a unitary Chinese state into being. This remained a concept that endured the test of time for more than two millennia despite the fragmentation of China that occurred from time to time. With the Huaxia culture and language of the Yellow River basin as the core, a Han Chinese culture and language evolved that was spread through commerce, conquest and settlement to all parts of the empire and beyond. As it evolved Han Chinese culture and language in turn was modified by different local non-Han Chinese cultures and languages. The result was a rich and complex Han-Chinese culture and language that exhibited great regional diversity.

The rapid changes in the political situation also blurred the distinction between xing and shi. When the Qin brought China under one rule, he demolished the feudal fiefdom system and the associated nobility on which the xing and shi system was based. Xing and shi merged into one and became linked as xingshi 姓氏, meaning clan or surname, and began to be applied to individuals regardless of status of birth.

China as an EmpireThe Qin ruler Zheng 秦王政 became Qin Shi Huangdi 秦始皇帝 (First Emperor of Qin),

ruling over a unified China for the first time. He ordered construction of the Great Wall 長城 to defend against attacks by Xiongnu 匈奴 nomads from the steppes to the north and northwest, and also established settlements in the upper Yellow River basin by the Great Wall. In subsequent centuries this territory between the non-Han Chinese nomads and the Chinese agriculturists continued to be contested, with Han Chinese agricultural settlements advancing and retreating as Han Chinese imperial power flowed and ebbed in the region.

In the south Qin armies continued to advance east and south of the Chu realms. By 214 BC Qin had annexed the domains inhabited by the Yue in southeast China ranging from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian to Guangdong, Guangxi, and northern Vietnam. The emperor ensured firm Han Chinese control of the fertile Zhejiang plains by displacing the Yue with settlers from the north and forcing the Yue to move into the mountainous areas.

The Qin Empire unified the legal code and the writing system. The emperor abolished the fief system and divided the empire into 36 prefectures. He tried to forestall opposition among the populace by confiscating weapons and destroying books. Survivors of the old aristocracy were moved to the Qin capital, where they could be kept under surveillance. But no sooner had the First Emperor passed away, a peasant uprising occurred in 209 BC in Anhui. It sparked other insurrections throughout the land and the dynasty soon fell as contending warlords fought for supremacy. But even though the dynasty was short-lived, its fame spread to India and Europe and from the name Qin is derived the term China in various forms in different languages.

Liu Bang 劉邦 emerged the victor in the ensuing civil wars. He became the first emperor of the Western or Former Han 西漢, 前漢 dynasty, which ruled for two centuries until Wang Mang 王莽 usurped the throne and established the short-lived Xin 新 dynasty. After a peasant rebellion overthrew Wang, a distant relative of the Han royal family became the first emperor of the Eastern or Latter Han 東漢, 後漢 dynasty.

Both Han dynasties implemented an aggressive expansionist policy. During its early years the Han reestablished the empire by reabsorbing the territories inhabited by the Yue, which had broken away upon the fall of the Qin Empire to become the kingdoms of Dong'ou 東

甌 and Minyue 閩越 in Fujian and Nanyue 南越 in Guangdong-Guangxi-northern Vietnam (Lingnan 嶺南 [South of the mountain range]). In order to control the restless Yue in Fujian, the court forced them to move to the region between the Yangzi and the Huai rivers. These forced migrations of the Yue in Zhejiang during Qin and in Fujian during Han as compared to the fate of the Yue in the Lingnan region, who continued to live in the region, probably help explain some of the differences in the subsequent development of the culture and language in Lingnan, Fujian, and Zhejiang despite their original commonality as Yue domains.

The Han also struck out aggressively beyond the periphery of the empire and extended Chinese power deep into Korea, Central Asia, and southwest China. A Chinese envoy even reached the Near East during the 1st century AD.

During most of this period, the Xiongnu nomads posed as an ever-present threat on the empire’s northern border. By the 1st century AD a successful combination of Han military actions and diplomacy had caused a split among the Xiongnu, with one group submitting to Han rule and part of the remainder migrating westward into the steppes of Central Asia, where they became the forebears of the Huns that became the scourge of the Roman Empire beginning with the 4th century AD.

The memory of Han imperial power led the name Han 漢人 to be used during the late 6th century to differentiate between the people already living in the mid- and lower Yellow River basin that was the heartland of the Han empire from the various other peoples entering from China’s border areas and settling in the basin. The term was later applied to the population from China that used the Chinese language and observed Chinese cultural practices.

Within the empire during the 2nd century BC the emperor decreed that Confucianism was the official state philosophy. Buddhism was introduced into China by way of central Asia during the 1st century AD. In parallel to these developments Taoism also evolved into a popular religion by the 2nd century during the Eastern Han dynasty.

North-South Division: The First Great Southward Migration By the 2nd century AD debilitating political struggles in the Han court accompanied by a

great peasant rebellion had led to the collapse of the imperial authority. Contending warlords each carved out territories to rule and exploit. After three decades of internecine warfare the contending groups coalesced into three kingdoms 三 國 —Wei 魏 based in the Yellow River basin, Shu 蜀 centered on Sichuan, and Wu 吳 in the middle and lower Yangzi River basin. Countless generations have read or listened to tales from Romance of the Three Kingdoms recounting the exploits of "heroes" such as Guan Gong 關公 and Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮, and "villains" such as Cao Cao 曹操 from this period. However, the political chaos brought nothing but misery and suffering for the general population.

During this troubled period many tried to escape from the political chaos in the Yellow River basin. Many went to the state of Wu, which was easily accessible by land and water routes, to settle south of the Yangzi River valley, some even going on as far as Fujian. Conflicts broke out as the newcomers encroached upon the domains of the Shanyue 山越, who appeared to be descendants of the Yue, who had been forced to migrate in previous centuries together with an admixture of Han Chinese. The Shanyue resistance was broken and many became absorbed as part of the Han Chinese.

After six decades of division China was finally reunified in 280 under the Western Jin 西晉 dynasty. Unification did not last long. Two decades later, North China was again torn apart by a fratricidal struggle among eight princes 八王之亂. Soon, non-Han Chinese peoples, who

had surrendered to the imperial government during previous dynasties and were forced to settle within the Great Wall, saw their opportunity and rose in rebellion, carving out kingdoms for themselves in the process. The north saw the rise and fall of at least sixteen short-lived principalities established by no less than five different ethnic nationalities 五胡十六國. When the Jin emperor became captive of one of the groups, another prince ascended the throne in Jiankang 建康 (now Nanjing) in the Yangzi River valley in 317 to establish the Eastern Jin 東晉 dynasty.

The political chaos in north China during more than a century and a half beginning with 307 AD gave impetus to the southward movement of the Chinese in several waves and involved the movement of about 2,000,000 people. The largest number settled in the Huai and lower Yangzi river valleys, while a smaller number moved into the upper and middle Yangzi river basin. Fujian tradition alleged that in 308 AD eight clans led by the gentry migrated from Henan to settle in Fujian. Genealogies of Hakka-speaking clans also claimed during this period their forebears began their trek from Henan province to the Huai River basin.

The refugees from the north and their descendants were a minority comprising only about a sixth of the total population in the south; however, due to the fact that among them were members of the ruling aristocracy and bureaucrats as well as the educated elite, their influence on the development of the region was much greater than their proportion would have indicated. Moreover, the north-south split that lasted 270 years forced them to reconcile themselves to the fact that the south had become their permanent home and ensured that their influence was sustained for a longer period than that which occurred during the period of the Three Kingdoms. Han Chinese culture and language became firmly established in the Yangzi River Valley as the south was ruled by a succession of Han Chinese dynasties of short duration that succeeded the Eastern Jin—Song 宋, Qi 齊, Liang 梁, and Chen 陳. This Han culture and language was also enriched by absorbing elements of culture and language of the local people.

In the meanwhile the Xianbei 鮮卑, a non-Han people who had entered the Yellow River basin from northeast China, unified northern China by the 5th century and established the Northern Wei 北魏 dynasty. Northern Wei later split into Eastern and Western Wei 東魏, 西魏, which were succeeded respectively by the Northern Qi 北齊 and Northern Zhou 北周 dynasties.

During the division between north and south that lasted more than two centuries the many non-Han peoples who had moved into the Yellow River basin adopted Han Chinese customs and the language. Many changed to Han surnames. For example after the Xianbei established the Northern Wei dynasty, the emperor ordered his people to change their multi-syllabic surnames to Han surnames, 144 in all.

The cultures and languages of the various diverse nationalities in the Yellow River basin contributed materially to the further development of Han culture and language. The peoples eventually became part of the Han Chinese and some played important roles in the subsequent history of China. Yang Jian 楊堅, who usurped the Northern Zhou throne during the late 6th century to found the Sui 隋 dynasty that reunified China, had an empress of Xianbei descent. Li Yuan 李淵, founder of the Tang dynasty that succeeded the Sui, was also part Han Chinese and part Xianbei.

Reunified ChinaAfter the part-Han Chinese and part Xianbei son of Yang Jian succeeded to the Sui

throne, he embarked on grandiose projects, such as construction of the Grand Canal 大運河, which connects north China with the Yangzi basin. These projects taxed the resources of the empire. Similar to the Qin Empire earlier, corruption and harsh oppressive rule soon brought

about peasant uprisings that overthrew the dynasty as the different groups contended for control of the empire. Li Yuan, an official serving the Sui, led forces that ultimately unified the nation to establish the Tang dynasty in 618 AD. Like the Han, the Tang expanded Chinese power to Central Asia, Korea, Vietnam, and southwest China.

During this period a lively trade developed with central Asia and the Near East via the Silk Road. A maritime silk route beginning from Chinese ports and skirting Southeast Asia and the Indian Peninsula to sail to the Near East also developed. The contacts with other cultures greatly enriched Han Chinese culture. For example, music, dance, and sculpture from central Asia exerted a great influence on Han Chinese arts. Musical instruments such as the pipa became part of Han Chinese musical tradition. In religion, around the 7th century, Islam was introduced both by land and the maritime route.

During this period China was a magnet attracting the peoples in surrounding countries and many served the emperor as officials. The Sui and Tang courts also emulated the example of the Han emperors by allowing non-Han peoples submitting to the emperor to settle on lands northeast, north, and west of the periphery of the Yellow River basin.

It was in Hebei near the present Beijing that a great rebellion led by An Lushan 安禄山 broke out in 755 AD. The insurrection ravaged north China, forcing the imperial court to flee to Sichuan and almost toppled the dynasty. It was finally suppressed with the aid of Uighur 回鶻 troops. Imperial power was greatly weakened after the rebellion and various military governors stationed at the frontiers began to assume greater powers and fought each other for hegemony and control.

On the west the empire was invaded frequently by the Tubo 吐蕃, a Tibetan people, while in the southwest in the present Yunnan, the Nanzhao 南詔 state formed during the 8th century by a coalition of non-Han Chinese nationalities led by the ancestors of the Bai nationality 白族, also made numerous harassing raids into China. On these incursions the invaders often coerced numbers of the local population to return with them, a situation that in a perverse manner facilitated the transmission of Han Chinese culture and language among these non-Han Chinese peoples. Accurate counts of the Han Chinese captives were unavailable, but one authority estimated that some 200,000 to 300,000 Han Chinese moved into Yunnan by this and other means during the Tang.

Fragmented China: The Second Great Southward MigrationTang Imperial rule finally collapsed in face of peasant uprisings led by Wang Xianzhi 王

仙芝 and Huang Chao 黄巢 during the 9th century. During the subsequent half century, five short dynasties rose and fell in the imperial capital in Henan--Later Liang 後梁, Later Tang 後唐, Later Jin 後晉, Later Han 後漢, and Later Zhou 後周. The rulers of the second to fourth dynasties belonged to the Turkish Shatuo 沙陀 nationality. During this period imperial rule extended only to the middle and lower Yellow River basin as the remainder of China was divided among independent kingdoms. Thus the period is known as Five Dynasties and Ten States 五代十國. In the south, northern Vietnam, which had been a Chinese province since the Han dynasty, broke away from China under Ngo Quyen 吳權 to form an independent kingdom in 939.

During this period of political disintegration in China the Qidan 契丹 nationality from northeast China (Manchuria) invaded and seized parts of northern Shanxi and northern Hebei in the periphery of the Yellow River basin to establish the state of Liao 遼, and the Tanguts 唐古突, a Tibetan people, founded the state of Xixia 西夏 in what is now Ningxia in northwest China. During the many wars between both regimes and the Han Chinese in the Yellow River basin, they took captives back to their respective states where they lived among the native population

and served as conduits introducing Han Chinese culture and language. Many Qidans also moved from their homes in northeast China to settle among the more numerous Han Chinese populations in north China in order to maintain control in the region. These settlements resulted in the infusion of new elements into the makeup of the Han Chinese nationality.

The political instability in the Yellow River basin gave impetus to another great southward migration. The greater number settled in the middle and lower Yangzi river basin south of the river. A smaller number went southwest into Sichuan; others entered Fujian. A small minority even reached the Lingnan region, mostly in northeastern and northern Guangdong and northern Guangxi.

According to tradition during the 9th century leaders belonging to the Wang clan of Henan had led an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 into Fujian, where Wang Shenzhi 王審知 subsequently established the state of Min 閩, one of the Ten Kingdoms during the period of the Five Dynasties. Many Fujian genealogies traced the entry of their progenitors into Fujian to this migration. The population growth and economic development in the region accelerated during this period. Genealogies of Hakka clans also allege that the second stage of their southward migration took place during this period to Ganzhou 贛州 in southern Jiangxi and Tingzhou 汀州 in southwestern Fujian. According to tradition Shibi 石壁 (Stone wall) Village in Ninghua 寧化 County, Fujian was the stopping place for Hakkas migrating from the north. Hakkas claim direct descent from Han-Chinese of Henan in the Yellow River Basin; however, scholars believe that the present Hakka population was the result of unions of migrants from the north and native peoples of the south, especially the She 畬.

With the continued development of the relatively more peaceful south, the economic center of the empire shifted to the Yangzi River basin. Due to the greater development of South China beginning with the Tang dynasty, southern Chinese preferred to call themselves people of Tang 唐人.

Invasions from the North and Northeast: The Third Great Southward Migration Zhao Kuangyin 趙匡胤, a general serving the Later Zhou emperor, staged a mutiny and

usurped the throne in 960 to establish the Northern Song 北宋 dynasty. The Song reunified China and under the Song emperors there were great advances in the arts and literature. Often leading literati took an interest in compiling genealogies, and one of the most frequently used formats was devised by Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 from this period. The Song Empire, however, was militarily weak and was constantly under military pressure from the Liao in the north and Xixia in the northwest. During the 12th century another people, the Nüzhen 女真, came from the northeast to conquer the Liao and establish the Jin 金 empire. The Jin then invaded and seized Song territory, capturing the emperor and his father, the abdicated emperor, in 1126. The Jin Empire took them and other Han Chinese captives back to their homeland in Northeast China. At the same time, about two-thirds of the Nüzhen tribes moved into North China. Many eventually adopted Han Chinese culture and in turn influenced the development of the Han Chinese population of the middle and lower Yellow River basin.

In the meantime the Song court under a prince of the royal family retreated from north China and established the Southern Song 南宋 dynasty in 1137, with its capital in Lin'an 臨安 (now Hangzhou 杭州), leaving the Jin Empire in control of North China.

During the thirteenth century, the Mongols 蒙古 came from the steppes to vanquish the Xixia and Jin states. Around 1246 Tibet surrendered to the Mongols and the land became a vassal of the Mongol Yuan Empire, initiating a relationship that was maintained by succeeding regimes in China. In 1254 the Mongols annexed the state of Houli 後理 as Yunnan Province.

Subsequently military garrisons were sent to establish Han Chinese settlements. The Mongols then attacked the Song Empire, pursuing the Song court until its final defeat in Guangdong in 1279. China became united again as part of the Yuan 元 Empire under the Mongols.

The 150 years that started with the Nüchen and Mongol invasions and ended with the Mongol conquest saw the third great southward migration of the Han Chinese. The economic development of first central, and then south China, accelerated as migrants settled in these regions. Genealogies of clans in Guangdong's Pearl River Delta tell of the migration of their forebears from Zhuji Xiang 珠璣巷 in Nanxiong 南雄, northern Guangdong, toward the latter part of the Southern Song dynasty. The account was not chronicled in any historical works; however, Nanxiong lay astride the main route from the Yangzi River basin to the Pearl River Delta and would have been one of the routes taken by migrants coming from the north via the land route. During this same period migrants from southern Fujian also continued to migrate to the Chaozhou 潮州 region in northeastern Guangdong, which became also a springboard for further migrations along the coast to southern Guangdong and Hainan Island. Further inland, the Hakka dialect group, mostly from Tingzhou, Fujian, along with some from southern Jiangxi moved into the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong.

The Mongols extended their rule over a vast empire extending from the Pacific to eastern Europe, thus facilitating travel and trade. Many Mongols moved into China, mostly in the north and northeast China as parts of garrisons or as officials. Han Chinese went deep into central Asia on official business while people from Central Asia and Europe came to China. One of the best-known Europeans was Marco Polo, who came to China during the 13th century with his father, a Venetian merchant. After his return to Europe, he wrote an account extolling the power and wealth of the Chinese empire that played an important role arousing the curiosity of Europeans concerning China. However, travelers to China coming from Central Asia were much more numerous than those from Europe and included military personnel, merchants, professionals, craftsmen, and others. A number served in the Yuan bureaucracy or the military. These foreigners were classified as Semu 色目, who were considered to rank below the Mongols but above the Han Chinese in social status. Many who did not come with families married Han Chinese, thus introducing another ingredient into the diversity of the Chinese people.

Restoration of Han Chinese Rule The Mongols ruled China for less than a century before they were ousted by Han Chinese uprisings. Although the last Yuan emperor fled to Mongolia in 1368, many Mongols and people of the Semu class remained in China. To this group was added Uighurs, who had been ordered to move from northwestern China into interior China. The Ming imperial government banned endogamous marriages among these peoples in order to hasten their assimilation into the Han Chinese population. In the case of the Semu and the Uighurs, even though they had intermarried with Han Chinese and adopted Chinese customs and their common language, they still held on to their Islamic beliefs. This fact helped them to maintain a group identity that led to the formation of the Hui 回 or Chinese Moslems, as distinct from the pork-eating Han Chinese.

During the years of fighting that led to the ouster of the Mongols and the ascendancy of the Ming dynasty, large areas had been devastated and depopulated. The first Ming emperor mandated numerous moves from designated regions to resettle the war-ravaged areas. The Ming emperor also ordered military personnel and their dependents to establish garrisons and agricultural settlements in peripheral areas of the empire on the northeast, northwest, and southwest where there were large populations of non-Han nationalities. These military personnel served to spearhead the permanent settlement of Han Chinese in these regions. One

authority estimated that migrations during early Ming involved an estimated six million among the civilian population and 4.4 million military personnel and their dependents, about one out of every six Chinese.

Ming was a period with great economic development in central and south China. By now Han Chinese had occupied most of the river valleys and were in the process of settling more mountainous areas in south central China. Much of the native populations in these areas were assimilated as part of the Han Chinese. Guizhou, Yunnan, and other border areas with numerous non-Han Chinese nationalities were ruled indirectly through native chieftains recognized by the imperial court, with control maintained by establishing military agricultural settlements

For a brief period during the fifteenth century China also displayed its maritime power when Admiral Zheng He 鄭和 led seven naval expeditions to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and once as far as East Africa, but that effort soon petered out. Instead the Portuguese became the first Europeans to reach China via the maritime route during the 16th century. A few Catholic missionaries soon followed and entered China to proselyte converts to Christianity.

By this time Ming power was on the decline. The Manchu, another non-Han Chinese people in northeast China, was becoming a threat at the border. But before the Manchu could move against the Ming, peasant rebellions led by Li Zicheng 李自成 and Zhang Xianzhong 張獻忠 led to the collapse of Ming rule. Peking, the Ming capital, fell to Li, and the Ming emperor committed suicide, hanging himself on the hill north of the Forbidden City.

The Last Empire Wu Sangui 吳三桂, a Ming general guarding the frontier, invited the Manchu armies to

enter China to quell the peasant insurrections. Once admitted, the Manchu armies conquered the country and ruled it as part of their Qing 清 empire. Qing armies extended imperial power into Vietnam, Tibet, Central Asia, Mongolia, Siberia, and Korea, all of which became tributary states.

During the Manchu advance Ming loyalists on the coast under Zheng Chenggong 鄭成功 (popularly known as Koxinga 國姓爺) retreated across the Taiwan Straits, ousted the Dutch from Taiwan, and settled on the island, using it as a base to launch attacks against the Manchus. By the time Qing forces seized control of Taiwan in 1661, about 100,000 Han Chinese were living in Taiwan. Despite several imperial edicts banning Chinese from the island, land hungry peasants from the China mainland continued to land there so that by 1811 the island population had grown to almost two million. Most of the settlers came from southern Fujian, but there was also a small number of Hakkas from Guangdong.

Meanwhile on the mainland, the population in Sichuan had been decimated first by the peasant uprisings, followed by the fighting accompanying the Manchu conquest, and finally more fighting caused by a major rebellion against Qing rule. The Qing Court then encouraged migration from Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi to replenish the population.

After the Qing suppressed the opposition, the period of peace allowed the economy to develop and prosper. The population increased. As the population pressure in the river valleys increased, people began to settle in the mountainous areas of the south and southwest. During the Ming many of these regions with other nationalities had been governed indirectly as feudatories by tribal chieftains recognized by the imperial court. As more Han Chinese settled in these areas, feudatories were abolished and direct Han-Chinese administration established, thus completing the process of integration into the empire. Most feudatories in the south and

southwest were abolished in the early Qing period during the 18th century. Many members of the non-Han nationalities became sinicized. However, the process was never completed, for even today, Guizhou and Yunnan are provinces with the greatest number of non-Han nationalities.

During this period the European nations had been actively seeking to expand trade with China. However, the imperial government rebuffed their efforts and severely limited foreign trade. When the empire began to decline during the 19th century, the West led by England probed for ways to force open the China market. When China tried to ban the opium trade, England used that as a pretext to declare war on China. During the First Opium War (1839-42), England was victorious and China ceded Hong Kong to England as its colony. In the Second Opium War (1856-60), China was again defeated and the English took Kowloon. Thus China’s doors were forced open to goods and ideas from the West, leading to a rapid breakdown of China’s traditional society. The perceived weakening of imperial rule led to a rash of rebellions, the biggest of which was the Taiping Rebellion 太平天國 of 1851, which devastated the lower Yangzi basin before it was suppressed with the support of the Western powers.

The various Western powers, joined later by Japan, continued to expand their encroachments on China's sovereignty, exacting special privileges from a weak and supine nation and seizing Chinese dependencies such as Annam and Korea. In response to these threats to the empire the Qing government took measures to assert greater control over China’s territory. In the northwest, the Qing government reestablished military agricultural settlements. In 1883 Xinjiang (New frontier) became a province of China. In the aftermath of China’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, Japan seized Taiwan, which had been a Chinese province a few years earlier in 1887.

Han Chinese settlement of the northern frontiers was quietly proceeding during the late Qing and the Republican era. Since early Qing, Han Chinese had been banned from settling in Mongolia and Manchuria. However, toward the end of the 19th century, alarmed by foreign encroachments on Chinese territory, the Qing government lifted the ban and there was a rapid influx of settlers, mostly from Shandong into Manchuria, which became three provinces—Fengtian 奉天 (name changed to Liaoning 遼寧 in 1929), Jilin 吉林, and Heilongjiang 黑龍江 in 1907. During the same period there was also a steady flow of settlers into Inner Mongolia that continued through the first decades of the twentieth century.

As the empire continued to disintegrate, the desire for reform and revolution increased. There was much sympathy among Chinese overseas for change and many provided support for reformers and revolutionaries. In 1911 revolutionary forces overthrew the now discredited imperial system and established a republic modeled after Western concepts. Sun Yat-sen 孫逸仙, 孫文, 孫中山 became its provisional president.

The RepublicThe change from an autocratic imperialist system to a republic proved to be a difficult

task. Sun Yat-sen had to yield the presidency to Yuan Shikai 袁世凱 soon after the founding of the Republic of China 中華民國. The nation soon lapsed into civil war with warlords ruling different parts of the country. Sun Yat-sen and the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang 中國國民黨 that he led established a government in Guangdong in opposition to the national government in Beijing. In 1923 the Kuomintang reorganized, established an alliance with the USSR, and a working relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. In 1926 the Kuomintang regime in Guangdong launched a Northern Expedition 北伐 to unify the country. By 1927 the Kuomintang had established a national government in Nanjing led by Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang broke with the Communists and launched a bloody purge. China relapsed into civil war, this time between the Kuomintang and the Communists. It was during this civil war that the Communist army escaping from a Kuomintang encirclement in Jiangxi, launched the famous “Long March” 長征 of 1934-35 that took it over a circuitous route more than six thousand miles by way of southwestern China to arrive in northern Shaanxi in the Yellow River basin.

Meanwhile, the Kuomintang government created six new provinces in 1928 to better control the border regions. Inner Mongolia was split into Rehe 熱河, Chahar 察哈爾, Suiyuan 綏遠, and Ningxia 寧夏 provinces. Qinghai 青海 and Xikang 西康 provinces were established at the northern and eastern peripheries of the Tibetan Plateau, respectively. Soon afterward, the Japanese army occupied northeast China in 1931 and created a puppet state Manchukuo headed by the ex-emperor of the Qing dynasty. Japan continued to seize slices of Chinese territory throughout the 1930s until an undeclared general war between China and Japan broke out in 1937. China suffered more than 30 million casualties during the eight years of the subsequent War of Resistance against Japan 抗日戰爭. During this conflict, runaway inflation in the economy and rampant corruption in government greatly weakened Kuomintang rule.

After Japan was defeated, Taiwan reverted to Chinese rule as a province. Meanwhile, civil war broke out again between the Chinese Communists and the Kuomintang government. The Communists gained the upper hand and established the People's Republic of China 中華人民共和國 in 1949, while the defeated Kuomintang government retreated to Taiwan, where it still exists today.

The People’s Republic made adjustments in the provincial–level administrative divisions. Beijing (1949), Tianjin (1949), Shanghai (1949), and later Chongqing (1997) became municipalities reporting directly to the central government, similarly to the provinces. Autonomous regions were created in provinces with large non-Han populations. In 1947, before the founding of the People’s Republic, Rehe, Chahar, and Suiyuan provinces were combined to become the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In 1955 Xikang was abolished and administration of its territory split between Sichuan and Tibet. Xinjiang (1955), Ningxia (1958), Guangxi (1958), and Tibet (1965) each became autonomous regions. In 1988 Hainan became a separate province. After Hong Kong and Macao returned to Chinese rule in 1997 and 1999, respectively, they each became special administrative regions (S.A.R.).

Concluding WordsThe Han Chinese traces its origins about 4,000 years ago to tribes led by Huangdi and

living in the middle Yellow River basin. These tribes, which later became known as the Huaxia, grew in numbers and strength. They and their allies established dominance over the middle and the lower Yellow River valley, where they formed states with related languages and cultures that often waged war with one another. Chu, one of these states, later expanded into the Huai and the middle and lower Yangzi River valleys. During the 3rd BC, the state of Qin conquered the various principalities to establish an empire over most of what is China today, east of Tibet, Qinghai, and Xinjiang. Its domains also included lands to the south inhabited by non-Sinitic peoples. The Qin Empire was short-lived, but the continuation of an empire under the succeeding Han dynasty established conditions for the amalgamation of the diverse Sinitic peoples and cultures as the Han people and culture, centering on north China.

During the succeeding centuries, the composition of the population was ever changing as Han settlers expanded outward from the Yellow River basin. Some of the movements were to the west, north and northeast, but the main thrust was southward into central and south China. At times the migrations were mandated by the government, but during several historical

periods the southward movement was greatly accelerated by the intrusion of hostile non-Han peoples from the north into the Yellow River basin. Many of the existing population were forced to seek refuge in central and south China, thus greatly accelerating the economic development and sinicization of these regions. Local non-Han groups eventually assimilated as part of the Han Chinese, but the interaction of refugees and indigenous people also were factors leading to the development of major regional dialects and culture with strong regional characteristics typical of southeast China today. Similarly in north China the non-Han Chinese intruders eventually became part of the Han Chinese people, but they also left their marks on Han Chinese language and culture.

The different historical processes working in various regions of the vast country show up also in the hereditary makeup of Chinese from different regions. Samplings show great differences in the prevalent blood types (A, B, or O) among Han Chinese north and south of a line drawn along the Wuyi Mountains 武夷山 in the south and another drawn along the Nan Ling 南嶺 Range in the north. Type O is prevalent south of Wuyi Mountains in Fujian, and also in Taiwan, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, Guangxi, and Hainan. Type A and type B blood are more frequently found in the Chang (Yangzi) River basin between Wuyi Mountains and the Nan Ling Range and in the Yellow River basin north of the Nan Ling Range, respectively. There are also obvious differences between the physical characteristics of typical northern and southern Chinese. All this indicates that Han Chinese are not a homogeneous racial group. However, a common language and culture despite many regional variations acts as the principal fabric bonding them together with a common national identity for two millennia. These are the similar factors as those acting in other modern nations such as the U.S.A., Russia, and Canada with diverse populations.

Him Mark LaiApril 7, 2008

Bibliography

___. Vietnam, a Sketch (Hanoi: Foreign Language Publishing House, 1971).

___. “ ‘Zhongguo’ zhege mingci qiyuan heshi? kaishi shifou zhi daibiao Zhongyuan diqu? [When did the term “Zhongguo” originate? At the beginning did it only represent the central plains region?], in Beida Zhongwen Luntan [Peking University Chinese language forum], retrieved Apr. 6, 2007 from website www.pkucn.com/viewthread.php?tid=132677.

Bai Cuiqin, Wei, Jin, Nan-Beichao minzushi [History of different nationalities during the Wei, Jin and North-South dynasties] (Chengdu: Sichuan Renmin Chubanshe, 1996).

Cao Shuji, Ge Jianxiong, "Shandong, Zaolin Zhuang," Xun'gen [Root exploration], No. 5 (Oct.) 1997, 20-21

Cheng Xingchao, Zhongguo difang xingzheng zhidushi [History of the local administrative system of China] (Chengdu: Sichuan Renmin Chubanshe, 1992).

Fang Tie, Fang Hui, Zhongguo xi’nan bianjiang kaifashi [History of the development of China’s southwest frontier] (Kunming: Yunnan Renmin Chubanshe, 1997).

Ge Jianxiong, "Jiangxi Waxie Ba," Root Exploration, No. 2 (Apr.) 1997, 20-21.

Ge Jianxiong, "Macheng Xiaogan Xiang, Root Exploration, No. 1 (Feb.) 1997, 21-23.

Ge Jianxiong, "Subei de Suzhou yimin [Migrants from Suzhou in northern Jiansu], Root Exploration, No. 3 (June) 1997, 19-20

Ge Jianxiong, Zhongguo yimin shi [History of migrations in China], I-VI (Fuzhou: Fujian Renmin Chubanshe, 1997).

Ge Jianxiong, Cao Shuji, Wu Songdi, Jianming Zhongguo yimin shi [Concise history of migrations in China] (Fuzhou: Fujian Renmin Chubanshe, 1993).

Huizu Jianshi Bianxiezu [Brief History of the Hui Nationality editorial committee], Huizu Jianshi [Brief History of the Hui Nationality] (Ningxia: Ningxia Renmin Chubanshe, 1978).

Lo Hsiang Lin, Kejia yanjiu daolun [An Introduction to the Study of the Hakkas in Its Ethnic, Historical, and Cultural Aspects] (Xingning: Shi-Shan Library, 1933).

Ouyang Xiu, Song Qi. Xin Tang Shu [New history of the Tang dynasty] (Edition published by Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1975).

Qi Sihe, "Xiongnu xiqian ji qi zai Ouzhou de huodong," [The westward migration of the Xiongnu and their activities in Europe], Lishi Yanjiu [Historical research], No. 3 (1977), 126-41.

Shao Xianshu, Nanzhao he Dali guo [Nanzhao and the state of Dali] (Changchun: Jilin Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 1990).

Shi Guoqiang, Zhongguo xingshi qiyuan [Origin of Chinese clan names] (Lü'nan Xian, Shandong: Shandong Daxue Chubanshe, 1990).

Sima Guang. Zizhi tongjian [History as a mirrror] (Edition published by Beijing: Guji Chubanshe, 1956).

Tian Jizhou, Qin Han minzushi [History of nationalities during the Qin and Han dynasties] (Chengdu: Sichuan Minzu Chubanshe, 1996).

Wei Zheng, et al, eds. Sui Shu [History of the Sui dynasty] (Edition published by Beijing, Zhonghua Shuju, 1973).

Wiens, Herold J. China's March toward the Tropics (Hamden, CT: Shoe String Press, 1954).

Xie Chongguang, Kejia yuanliu xintan [New explorations into the origins of the Hakkas] (Fuzhou: Fujian Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 1995).

Yu Jieshun, Han minzu fazhanshi [History of the development of the Han Chinese nationality] (Chengdu: Sichuan Minzu Chubanshe, 1992).

Yuan Yida, Zhang Cheng, Zhongguo xingshi qunti yichuan he renkou fenbu [Group genetics and population distribution of surnames in China] (Shanghai: Huadong Shifan Daxue Chubanshe, 2002).

Zheng Shoulai, Huang Yiling, Da Huaishu xun’gen [Search for roots at Great Locust Tree] (Beijing: Huawen Chubanshe, 1999).

Zhongguo lidai xingzheng quhua [Administration divisions in China during different dynasties] (Hefei: Anhui Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 1991).

Zhu Weigan, Fujian shigao [Draft history of Fujian], I (Fuzhou: Fujian Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 1985).