Han people 汉族
Han Chinese 汉族 constitute about 92% of the population of the People Republic of China, 98% of the population of Taiwan , 74% of the population of Singapore, 24.5% of population of Malaysia, and about 20% of the entire global population, making it the largest ethnic group in the world. There is considerable genetic, linguistic, cultural, and social diversity among the subgroups of the Han, mainly due to thousands of years of immigration and assimilation of various regional ethnicities and tribes within China. The name Han comes from Han Dynasty (206 BC-220AD) whose founding Emperor was from a region named Hanzhong 汉中, in present SW Shaanxi Province, by the Han River 汉江, a tributary of Yangtze River.
Prior to the Han Dynasty, Chinese scholars used the term as "Huaxia people" 華夏族. In the English language the Han people are often referred to as simply "Chinese". In southern China, among the speakers of Cantonese, Hakka and Minnan, the term "Tangren" 唐人 (people of the Tang Dynasty) is being used. Huaren 华人 is a term Oversea Chinese call themselves to signify them as Zhonghua Ren 中华人. All in all Han people are a subgroup of Zhonghua Minzu 中华民族, as well as the other 55 ethnic groups above.
The vast majority of Han Chinese over 1.2 billion live in areas under the jurisdiction of China, where they constitute about 92% of its population. Within China, Han Chinese are the majority in every province, municipality, and autonomous region except for the autonomous regions of Xinjiang (41% as of 2000) and Tibet (6% as of 2000). Han Chinese also constitute the majority in both of the special administrative regions of the China, about 95% of the population of Hong Kong and about 96% of the population of Macau. Taiwan has more than 22 million (95%). There are about 40 million Oversea Han, or Oversea Chinese, around the world with about 30 million live in Southeast Asia. In term of percentage to the host country Singapore has the largest (74%), Malaysia 25%, Thailand 14%, Philippines (?), Indonesia 3.8%, Peru 4.3%, Canada 3.7%, New Zealand 3.7% and Australia 3.5%. In terms of numbers Indonesia has the most with 8.8 million, Thailand 7 million, Malaysia 6.6 million, Singapore 3.7 million, United State 3.4 million, Canada 1.4 million, Peru 1.3 million, Vietnam 1.3 million, Australia 1.2 million, Cambodia 1.2 million, Philippines 1.2 million(?), Myanmar 1.1 million, Russia 1 million, Africa 750,000 and Japan 660,000.
The history of the Han Chinese ethnic group is closely tied to that of China. Han Chinese trace their ancestry back to the Huaxia people 華夏族, who lived along the Huang He 黄河 in northern China. Historians place the reign of the Yellow Emperor 黃帝, the legendary ancestor of the Han Chinese, at the beginning of Chinese history around 2,697 BC. He is traditionally considered to have united the Huaxia. Through the discovery of archaeological sites along the Yellow River there been identified a succession of Neolithic Han cultures. Along the central reaches of the Yellow River were the Jiahu culture (7000 BCE to 6600 BCE), Yangshao culture (5000 BCE to 3000 BCE) and Longshan culture (3000 BCE to 2000 BCE). Along the lower reaches of the river were the Qingliangang culture (5400 BCE to 4000 BCE), the Dawenkou culture (4300 BCE to 2500 BCE), the Longshan culture (2500 BCE to 2000 BCE), and the Yueshi culture. As the Huaxia culture spread from its heartland in the Yellow River basin, it absorbed many distinct ethnic groups which then came to be identified as Han Chinese, as these groups adopted Han language (or variations of it) and customs. These absorptions centralized and continued for more than 5,000 years to create the largest culture in the world- the Han culture.
The first dynasty to be described in Chinese historical records is the Xia Dynasty 夏朝 (2070- 1600BCE) and was overthrown by Shang Dynasty 商朝 (1600-1046 BCE). Oracle bones found of this period indicate Chinese writing existed well before then.
China is one of the world's oldest and most complex civilizations that dated back to the Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor 炎帝 (2697BCE), hence they are called "Descendents of Yan and Huang Emperors" 炎黄子孙. Confucianism 儒家 shapes the culture and thoughts of Han people. The Chinese language have numerous dialects according to regions and, most of them, are unintelligible to each other. The Chinese Government standardized the spoken language using the Beijing dialect of Mandarin as the national Putonghua 普通话 (common speaking). Beginning in the 1950s the Government also simplified some of the traditional Chinese characters to eliminate illiteracy of which was adopted by Singapore later. All other locales beside the above two are still using the traditional characters for their writing. Both forms of writings are intelligible to each other though.
Chinese culture has been long characterized by religious pluralism. The Chinese folk religion has always maintained a profound influence. Indigenous Confucianism and Taoism share aspects of being a philosophy or a religion, and neither demand exclusive adherence, resulting in a culture of tolerance and syncretism where multiple religions or belief systems are often practiced in concert, along with local customs and traditions. Han Chinese culture has also been long influenced by Buddhism, while in recent centuries, Christianity has also gained a foothold in the population.
Official portrait of a Han family
A portrayal of Han people 6 centuries ago
A Han family at the turn of the 20th century
A Han family in the 1960s
A Han family in the 1970s
Just a picture of two generations today
A picture of 4 generations today
The Yellow River Valley where the civilization of Han people began