Descendants of Yan Huang, also known as "Descendants of Huang Yan" and "Descendants of the Yellow Emperor", are the self-designations of the Chinese nation.
The name comes from the Chinese Zhou Yuxia:
"Emperor Tianjiazhi, zuo yi tianxia, gave the surname '姒', clan 'youxia', said that he can be rich in life with Jiazhi Yin also." Zuo Siyue Guo, ordered Hou Bo, gave the surname 'Jiang' and the clan 'Youlu', saying that he could be a heart for Yu Gu and nourish the people. ...... Although Xia is declining, Qi and Yu are still there; although Shen and Lü are declining, Qi and Xu are still there. Only Merit, who is blessed by his name, until the world, and his loss, will have a heart of adultery. Therefore, his surname died, and he died and died; he had no master after death, and he was annihilated. Isn't the husband of the dead spoiled? Both are yellow, after inflammation also. ”
"Yan Huang" is the leader of two different tribes in primitive society. Emperor Yan' surname was Jiang, and he was the leader of the tribe surnamed Jiang; the Yellow Emperor's surname was Ji, and he was the leader of the Huaxia tribe. In order to compete for territory, the two tribes fought a war at Hanquan, and in the end, the Yellow Emperor defeated the Yan Emperor, and the two tribes gradually merged to become a Chinese nation.
With the passage of time, the Huaxia people merged with some other tribes to form the "Hua ethnic group" in the Spring and Autumn Period. After the Han Dynasty, it became the "Han nationality" and has been used to this day.
At that time, in the regions and tribes of the Central Plains, the strength of the Yellow Emperor tribe was relatively strong, and the level of education was relatively high, so the Yellow Emperor became the representative of the Central Plains culture. The two emperors of Yanhuang became the common ancestor of the Han nationality and the ancestor of the Chinese nation, so the descendants of Yanhuang became the representatives of the Chinese nation, that is, the so-called "descendants of Yanhuang" or "descendants of the Yellow Emperor".
Moreover, the title of "Descendants of Yanhuang" did not appear early, it appeared in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, and it was originally a "self-title" that Chinese people at home and abroad were proud of.
In ancient times, the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor played a mainstay role in the development of the tribe. After the Yanhuang tribe united, they not only defeated the leader of the barbarian army, Xuan You, but also made the size of the tribe even larger.
The Yellow Emperor lived on the edge of the Ji River, so his surname was Ji. Later Yao Shunyu and Hou Ji were all descendants of the Yellow Emperor. The reason why their surnames are different is because most of them have left the Yellow Emperor, left the matriarch, owned their own tribes, and created their own surnames. Only when Hou Ji inherited the surname of the Yellow Emperor did Ji Fa later send troops from Shaanxi to the Central Plains and establish the Zhou Dynasty.
Emperor Yan was born in Jiang Shui, because the surname of Shui is Jiang, and as the surname of Jiang, Emperor Yan also accounts for many surnames among the hundred family names. It is estimated that from Jiang Taigong to today, there are more than 60 single surnames and more than 30 compound surnames that have evolved from the Jiang surname, including Lü, Xu, Xie, Ji, Qiu, Lu, Chunyu, Dongguo, Gaotang, Ziya, Yongmen, and Bull.
Therefore, it is also very reasonable for Chinese to call themselves "descendants of Yan Huang".
So, with the "descendants of Yanhuang", where did the "sons and daughters of China" come from?
As the Yanhuang tribe became more and more powerful, the Huaxia tribe also took on the form of a state. After the Yellow Emperor left the throne, most of the leaders who came to power through the Zen concession system were descendants of the Yellow Emperor, and even Dayu's body flowed with the blood of the Yellow Emperor. After Dayu came to power, he not only defeated Sanmiao, but also unified the scattered tribes in the Yangtze River Valley.
Subsequently, the land of China ushered in a rare peaceful and prosperous era, at this time, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the society was stable. When Dayu informed the princes to go to the sacrifice, he was very uncomfortable to hear many princes saying bad things about him behind his back. Therefore, Dayu reflected on his mistakes and decided to convene a meeting of princes in Tushan to carry out activities of mass criticism and self-criticism.
Tushan mountain is located in yuhui district of present-day Bengbu City, Anhui Province.
After the ceremony, Dayu said loudly:
"I have shallow virtues and have not been able to convince everyone, so I convene this assembly today to implore you to rebuke me with certainty, to exhort me, to be able to know my mistakes and shortcomings, and then to correct them. Although I have some merit in controlling water, I dare not be proud, and the most taboo thing in my life is pride...
The Emperor often taught me: 'Don't be proud and don't boast, so that you can stand in an invincible position', and if I have any pride and complacency, I implore you to point it out directly, and I will listen carefully and take action..."
These princes who had opinions about Dayu, after seeing Dayu do this, instantly eliminated the worries in their hearts. According to historical records, this meeting not only had an unprecedented scale, but also laid a solid foundation for the establishment of the later Xia Dynasty.
In order to commemorate this meeting, Dayu made nine dings of bronze sent by various princely states, namely: Jizhou Ding, Yanzhou Ding, Qingzhou Ding, Xuzhou Ding, Yangzhou Ding, Jingzhou Ding, Yuzhou Ding, Liangzhou Ding, and Yongzhou Ding. Engraved on it are the green mountains and beautiful forests, rare beasts. These Nine Dings refer to the nine states at that time, Yu Prefecture is distributed in the center, and Jiuding is concentrated in Yangcheng, symbolizing that Dayu is the leader of Kyushu, and the world has been unified ever since.
Since then, these nine great dings have become the supreme symbols of power.
The emergence of the Tushan Conference and Jiuding not only strengthened the alliance between the Huaxia tribes, but also laid a solid foundation for the establishment of the Huaxia tribe in the future. Later, the Xia Dynasty was destroyed by the Shang, and Jiuding moved to the capital of the Shang Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty was destroyed by the Zhou Dynasty, and Jiuding moved to the Zhou Dynasty's Hojing. Later, King Cheng built a new capital in Luoyi, and then placed Jiuding in Luoyi, which was called "Dingding".
This is the so-called "Ding in the country, Ding lost the country and died." Jiuding, as the treasure of the town and the country, has only been passed down for about two thousand generations, and mysteriously disappeared due to frequent weekend wars, and it is still unknown and has become a mystery for eternity.
Here, we return to the formation of the "sons and daughters of China".
Dayu passed the throne to Bo Yi through the Zen system. However, Dayu's son Qi was unwilling, and he took The throne of Boyi by force. In this way, on the basis of the Yanhuang Alliance, the Xia Dynasty came into being.
So, why is the name of the country "Xia"?
In fact, in ancient times, the pronunciation of the words "Hua" and "Xia" was the same, and the two could be replaced, and the status of these two words in the oracle bone was also very high, so the area with high culture was called "Xia", and the local people were called "Xia people". Xia as the central power in ancient times, the Xia people are the people in the central power, that is, the Chinese.
It was not until the Spring and Autumn Period, when the people of the world put the two words "Huaxia" together, and at this time, these two words represented: China is a big country with a very high degree of civilization and an extremely developed cultural field. Over time, the word "Huaxia" became a synonym for "China", and the Chinese people born in "Huaxia" called themselves "sons and daughters of Huaxia".
In fact, the emergence and development of each title is full of the wisdom and brilliant ideas of the ancients.
Resources:
["Chinese Zheng Yu", "Shi Ji · Five Emperors Benji", "Imperial Century", "Shi Ji Xia Ben Ji"]