Nowadays, when foreigners mention us, they will say Chinese people, but we ourselves know that Chinese is a general term for us, and we have many other titles, such as Yanhuang descendants, Huaxia, Han chinese and so on. In fact, shouting and shouting, we are all used to it, and we all think it is no problem. But have we ever wondered why there are these names?
There is nothing wrong with other titles, except for this "Han Chinese", which has caused some thinking. If you want to call it by ethnicity, there are 56 ethnic groups in our country, why can all people be called Han Chinese? If it is said that the ancient Han Dynasty is the first unified dynasty in history, then why should we call the Han people instead of "Qin people"?
(Qin Shi Huang stills)
The former name of the Han People
In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang annexed the Six Kingdoms and established the Qin Dynasty, which truly led the Chinese nation to unification. Before Qin Shi Huang ascended the throne, our title was still the huaxia name, and after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, this title was still used. However, at this time, the Western Regions tribes had not yet recovered, and the people there referred to the Central Plains as "Qin people".
Therefore, the predecessor of the Han people is really called the Qin people. People in the Western Regions, Xiongnu and other places called the Central Plains people Qin people until the Han Dynasty, until the establishment of the Later Han Dynasty, from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, the title of the Han people gradually replaced the Qin people.
(Liu Bang stills)
The birth of the Han Dynasty
When Liu Bang first established the dynasty, he did not know what name to take, at this time Xiao He said to him: "The language is known as Tianhan, and its name is the most beautiful." The ancients believed that "Tianhan" refers to the flow direction of Han Water, which is the same as the flow direction of the Milky Way in the sky, so when you see the Han River, you think of the Milky Way, and "Han" represents the sky.
Liu Bang also believed that the emperor was destined for heaven, and if he took the word "Han" to establish a country, he could just prove his identity, so the name of the country "Han" came.
However, because the political situation was not very stable at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Han could not replace qin at that time, so the Western Regions and other places still called the Central Plains people Qin. It was not until the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the territory was constantly expanded, so that the han dynasty people were famous far and wide, and the name "Han" was gradually known outside the territory. Later, ethnic minorities such as the Xiongnu regarded the Central Plains as Han Chinese.
(Stills of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty)
The origin of the Han people
The Han Dynasty was powerful, and during this period, it passed through the Western Regions, the Xiongnu, the Pingxi Qiang, the Conquest of Korea, the Funanyi, and so on, so that the surrounding ethnic minorities all knew that there was such a strong and prosperous nation in the Central Plains.
At that time, when the envoys of the Han Dynasty went to other countries, they would proudly say that they were Han Dynasty people, and over time, the title of Han Dynasty became the abbreviation of the Han Dynasty. The title of Han also replaced the previous Huaxia name, as well as the Qin people.
The Han Dynasty was stronger than the Qin Dynasty in terms of military, economic, cultural, and political affairs, especially in the early Western Han Dynasty, which fought the Xiongnu militarily. In the end, as soon as they heard about the Han people, they were frightened and fled, so the Han people became a particularly powerful name, and the Han Dynasty people were proud of this title.
(Territory map during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty)
The continuation of the Han Chinese title
Of course, the "Han people" are only used to refer to the Han Dynasty people, and do not represent the Han people we identify with today. So after the fall of the Han Dynasty, why was this title not forgotten like the "Qin people"?
During the Han Dynasty, although the country was strong, but later Wang Mang usurped power, and the Han Dynasty gradually declined. However, the name of the Han Dynasty has not disappeared, and the people of the Han Dynasty are still there. Later, Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the title of the Han people was continued.
Later, there were also the Shu Han established by Liu Bei, the Cheng Han established by Li Shou, the Hou Han established by Liu Zhiyuan, the Northern Han established by Liu Chong, and even the Chen Han established by Chen Youyi, etc. Before and after this, a total of 15 regimes with "Han" as the national name were established, which shows that this title has a far-reaching impact on us.
Therefore, the title of the Han people has not been forgotten, and it has even been used ever since.
Proud Han Chinese
Although many later regimes followed the name "Han", none of these regimes were particularly powerful, and some were even just one of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. And then there are so many powerful dynasties, why have they not been able to replace this title? For example, the powerful Tang Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty, which is closer to us, why didn't we become "Tang people" or "Ming people"?
During the Tang Dynasty, China began large-scale business migration, because they were all Tang Dynasty people, so when they were overseas, they all called themselves "Tang people". It is also because of this that many Western countries only know "Tang people" and do not know "Han people", so there will be Chinatown, not Han Street.
However, the title of Han chinese is the accumulation of China's history, the fusion of different identities and different backgrounds of Chinese, it no longer represents only a dynasty, so even if the Tang Dynasty is prosperous, it cannot replace the title of the Han people.
(Chen Tang stills)
As for the dynasties after the Tang Dynasty, its influence is even less enough to shake the status of the "Han". The Song Dynasty's military ability was not strong, so naturally it could not convince the outside world, and the Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty were both dynasties established by other ethnic groups. Although the Ming Dynasty was a dynasty ruled by the Han Chinese, its influence was not as great as that of the Sheng Tang and the Qiang Han.
Therefore, in summary, the influence of the Han and Tang dynasties on overseas is even deeper, especially the Han, whose influence has been more than one or two dynasties. In particular, chen Tang, a famous general of the Western Han Dynasty, wrote to Emperor Yuan of Han with the sentence: "Those who commit crimes against the strong Han will be punished from afar!" "Countless Han people are very proud to hear it, so everyone has always regarded themselves as Han people."
At first, all the Chinese could be called Han Chinese, and later with the distinction between ethnic minorities, there was slowly a Han nationality. However, the title of The Han people has always represented the Chinese. Because this title reveals the pride of Chinese and the changes in Chinese historical civilization, no matter when and where, we can proudly say: "I am a Han Chinese, I am a Chinese!" ”
(References "Book of Han", "Chinese National Jane")