''Huaxia'' is a historical concept representing the

Chinese nation ''Zhonghua minzu'' () is a political term in modern Chinese nationalism related to the concepts of nation-building, ethnicity, and race in the Chinese nationality. Collectively, the term refers to the 56 ethnic groups of China, but being a ...

, and came from the self-awareness of a common cultural ancestry by ancestral populations of the Han people.

Etymology

The earliest extant authentic attestation of the ''Huaxia'' concept is in the ''

Zuo Zhuan The ''Zuo Zhuan'' ( zh, t=左傳, w=Tso Chuan; ), often translated as ''The Zuo Tradition'' or as ''The Commentary of Zuo'', is an ancient Chinese narrative history traditionally regarded as a commentary on the ancient Chinese chronicle the '' ...

'', a historical narrative and commentary authored before 300 BCE. In Zuo zhuan, Huaxia refers to the central states (中國 ''

zhōngguó China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

'') in the Yellow River valley, dwelt by the Huaxia people, ethnically equivalent to

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

in pre-imperial discourses who are said to be the descendants of the

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch, or Huangdi ( zh, t=黃帝, s=黄帝, first=t) in Chinese, is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero included among the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He is revered as ...

. According to the Confucian

Kong Yingda Kong Yingda (; 574 – 648), courtesy names Chongyuan () and Zhongda (), was a Chinese philosopher during the Sui and Tang dynasty. An ardent Confucianist, he is considered one of the most influential Confucian scholars in Chinese history. Hi ...

, ''xià'' ( 'grand') signified the 'greatness' () in the ceremonial etiquettes of the central states, while ''huá'' ( 'flower', 'blossom') was used in reference to the beauty () in the ''

hanfu ''Hanfu'' (, lit. "Han Chinese, Han clothing"), also known as ''Hanzhuang'' (), are the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese since the 2nd millennium BCE. There are several representative styles of ''hanfu'', such as the (an ...

'' clothing that the denizens from those states wore.

History

Origin

The

Han-era The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring int ...

historian

Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...

asserts that "Xia" was the name of the state

enfeoffed In the Middle Ages, especially under the European feudal system, feoffment or enfeoffment was the deed by which a person was given land in exchange for a pledge of service. This mechanism was later used to avoid restrictions on the passage of t ...

to legendary king

Yu the Great Yu the Great or Yu the Engineer was a legendary king in ancient China who was credited with "the first successful state efforts at flood control", his establishment of the Xia dynasty, which inaugurated Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic ru ...

, and Yu used its name as his

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

. In modern historiography, Huaxia refers to a confederation of tribes living along the

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

who were the ancestors of what later became the Han ethnic group in China. During the

Warring States The Warring States period in Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and struggles for gre ...

(475–221 BCE), the self-awareness of the Huaxia identity developed and took hold in ancient China. Initially, ''Huaxia'' defined mainly a civilized society that was distinct and stood in contrast to surrounding peoples who were perceived as barbaric. The Huaxia identity arose in the Eastern Zhou period as a reaction to the increased conflict with the Rong and Di peoples who migrated into the Zhou lands and extinguished some Zhou states.

Modern usage

Although still used in conjunction, the

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

s for ''hua'' and ''xia'' are also used separately as autonyms. The official Chinese names of both the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(PRC) and the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

(ROC) use the term ''Huaxia'' in combination with the term ''Zhongguo'' (, translated as "Middle Kingdom" or "Middle State"), that is, as ''Zhonghua'' (). The PRC's official Chinese name is ''Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo'' (), while that of the ROC is ''Zhonghua Minguo'' (). The term ''Zhongguo'' is confined by its association to a state, whereas ''Zhonghua'' mainly concerns culture. The latter is being used as part of the nationalist term ''

Zhōnghuá Mínzú ''Zhonghua minzu'' () is a political term in modern Chinese nationalism related to the concepts of nation-building, ethnicity, and race in the Chinese nationality. Collectively, the term refers to the 56 ethnic groups of China, but being a ...

'' which is an all Chinese nationality in the sense of a multi-ethnic

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

. The term ''Huaren'' () for a Chinese person is an abbreviation of ''Huaxia'' with ''ren'' (, person). ''Huaren'' in general is used for people of Chinese ethnicity, in contrast to ''Zhongguoren'' () which usually (but not always) refers to citizens of China. Although some may use ''Zhongguoren'' to refer to the Chinese ethnicity, such usage is not common in Taiwan. In overseas Chinese communities in countries such as

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, ''Huaren'' or ''Huaqiao'' (overseas Chinese) is used as they are also not citizens of China.

Notes

References