Many people have seen the phrase "those who offend me and strengthen the Han Dynasty will be punished even if they are far away", which means that those who invade the powerful Han Dynasty will be killed no matter how far they flee. Since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the term "Han people" has continued for more than 2,000 years without interruption.
Even after the change of dynasties, we are still called "Han Chinese", and you must know that the king was especially concerned about his name during his reign, but he tolerated it and did not change it. This title remained unchanged during the period of Qin Shi Huang's expansion of territory or the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, so what does it mean?
** of the "Han Chinese".
The term "Han people" originated from the establishment of the Han Dynasty, and other names appeared before that. For example, the Chu people and the Qi people, the early ancient people did not have a specific concept of the nation, and generally called themselves by the name of the country at that time. However, the Han Chinese appellation goes far beyond the history and reign of the Han dynasty. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, its strength made the Xiongnu fearful, and at that time it truly interpreted that there was only one way to invade the Han Dynasty.
After Liu Bang established the Western Han Dynasty, he became the native Han emperor, and he led his army to repeatedly inflict heavy losses on the Xiongnu, so that the Xiongnu did not dare to invade the Central Plains again. The battle, though protracted, was a rare myth of undefeat. This also made the prestige of the "Han people" and "Han army" far and wide, and made many small countries admire them. During the Han Dynasty, most of the people who lived there were local residents, so the term "Han people" continued.
The Han Dynasty ruled for more than 400 years, and the country was prosperous, the treasury was full, and the national strength was strong, and foreign enemies did not dare to attack. It is customary for neighboring countries to call them Han Chinese. After the end of the Han Dynasty, the term "Han people" continued, mainly because of the prosperity of the country. After the end of the Han Dynasty, it entered the period of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, when the country's territory was serious, wars were continuous, and the situation was turbulent.
At that time, the local residents began to miss the peace and tranquility of the Han Dynasty's rule, and continued to call themselves "Han people". On the one hand, this title is a nostalgia for the Han Dynasty, and on the other hand, it is also a nostalgia for the prosperity and stability that he enjoyed as a Han Chinese. The sense of belonging that the Han Dynasty brought to the people was incomparable to that of other dynasties. In addition, the Han army was also very united at that time, and people had a preliminary understanding of national unity, which is one of the reasons why the title "Han people" was inherited.
In addition, because after the fall of the Qin State, Xiang Yu divided Hanzhong and Bashu regions to Liu Bang with Hanzhong as the boundary, so Liu Bang was named the king of Han, and the territory became the Han State with the name of the country. After Liu Bang unified the dynasty, the country became a dynasty called the Han Dynasty, which is also one of the origins of the title "Han people".
Different races in various dynasties
The profound influence of the Han Chinese continues to this day, and the Han Chinese have become one of the largest of China's 56 ethnic groups with a large population. It can be seen that the Han Dynasty had a very far-reaching impact on the country. In addition, the Qing Dynasty, which is closest to us, is also a nation that attaches more importance to it. As a powerful ethnic group during the Qing Dynasty and valued by the imperial family, the Manchus also had certain limitations in their importance.
After the Han became a large ethnic group, there were many Han Chinese in various parts of China, while the Manchus were generally in areas closer to the royal family, so they were limited by geography. Even so, the Qing Dynasty had strict requirements for the division of the Manchus. The Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty was the beginning of the division of the Manchus. Before the Qing army entered the customs, there was no distinction between high and low in the Eight Banners, only the Yellow Flag Manchuria belonged to the emperor himself. Later, in order to consolidate the imperial power and divide the high and low, the Qing Dynasty redivided the Eight Banners.
Among them, the inlaid yellow flag, the positive yellow flag, and the positive white flag are directly controlled by the emperor and are called the upper three flags, and the queen also selects from the upper three flags. The inlaid white flag, the blue flag, the blue flag, the red flag, and the red flag are collectively referred to as the five flags, of which the blue flag is mostly the Han army. In addition, in the original Xia, Shang and Zhou periods, the popular names such as "Huaxia" or "Xia" and "Hua" were generally divided according to the country name at that time.
Before the Qin Dynasty, the term "Huaxia people" lasted for a long time. Now for the Chinese people, regardless of nationality, they will be called the sons and daughters of China. In the pre-Qin period, there were also names that began with the name of the country, such as the people of Qin, the people of Chu, etc., but these names were not continuous, more like the name of the people of a certain region. Similar to calling people from different regions, such as Chongqing, Guangdong, Yunnan, etc., did not rise to the level of "Han people".
So in the final analysis, no matter what kind of title has appeared in history, it cannot replace the title "Han people". The origin and inheritance of the title "Han people" is also the result of the support of strong national strength.