''Huaxia'' (華夏, ) is a historical concept representing the Chinese nation, and came from the self-awareness of a common cultural ancestry by the various

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

s of pre-Qin ethnic ancestors of Han people.

Etymology

The earliest extant authentic attestion of the concept ''Huáxià'' is in the historical narrative and commentary Zuo zhuan (finished around 300 BCE). In Zuo zhuan, Huaxia refers to the central states (中國 '' Zhōngguó'') in the Yellow River valley, dwelt by the Huaxia people, ethnically equivalent to

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...

in pre-imperial discourses. According to Confucianist

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

's "True Meaning of '' Chunqiu Zuo zhuan''", ''xià'' () "grand" signified the "greatness" () in the ceremonial etiquettes of the central states, while ''huá'' () "flower" or "blossom" was used in reference to the "beauty" () in the

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials ...

that those states' denizens wore.

History

Origin

Han historian Sima Qian asserts that Xia was the name of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

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 ...

to legendary king

Yu the Great Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures promine ...

, and Yu used its name as his surname. In modern historiography, Huaxia refers to a confederation of tribes—living along the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan ...

—who were the ancestors of what later became the Han ethnic group in China. During the Warring States (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 what was perceived as the barbaric peoples around them. 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 logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as '' kan ...

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. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

(PRC) and the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northea ...

(ROC) use the term ''Huaxia'' in combination with the term ''Zhongguo'' (, translated as "Middle Kingdom"), 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'' 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 to one or more nation, nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National i ...

. 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 a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

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

Notes

References