Huaxia Explained

Huaxia
Pic:	Ma Yuan - Water Album - The Yellow River Breaches its Course.jpg
Piccap:	The Yellow River Breaches its Course by Ma Yuan, Song dynasty
Picsize:	260px
S:	华夏
P:	Huáxià
Gr:	Hwashiah
L:	beautiful grandeur
Gan:	fa4 ha5
Poj:	hôa-hā
Wuu:	gho ya
J:	waa4 haa6
H:	fa11 ha55
Mc:	hwæ hæ^X
Oc-Bs:	*pronounced as /N-qʷʰˤra/ [ɢ]ˤraʔ

Huaxia is a historical concept representing the Chinese nation, and came from the self-awareness of a common cultural ancestry by the various confederations of pre-Qin ethnic ancestors of Han people.

Etymology

The earliest extant authentic attestation of the Huaxia concept is in the Zuo Zhuan, a historical narrative and commentary authored before 300 BCE.^{[1] [2]} 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 in pre-imperial discourses.^{[3] [4]}

According to the Confucian Kong Yingda, 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 clothing that the denizens from those states wore.^{[5] [6] [7]}

History

Origin

The Han-era historian Sima Qian asserts that "Xia" was the name of the state enfeoffed to legendary king Yu the Great, and Yu used its name as his surname.^[8] In modern historiography, Huaxia refers to a confederation of tribes living along the Yellow River who were the ancestors of what later became the Han ethnic group in China.^{[9] [10]} 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.^[11] 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.^[12]

Modern usage

Although still used in conjunction, the Chinese characters for hua and xia are also used separately as autonyms.

The official Chinese names of both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) use the term Huaxia in combination with the term Zhongguo (Chinese: 中國, 中国, translated as "Middle Kingdom"), that is, as Zhonghua (Chinese: 中華, 中华).^[13] 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.

The term Huaren (Chinese: 華人) for a Chinese person is an abbreviation of Huaxia with ren (Chinese: 人, person).^[14] Huaren in general is used for people of Chinese ethnicity, in contrast to Zhongguoren (Chinese: 中國人) 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.^[15] In overseas Chinese communities in countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, Huaren or Huaqiao (overseas Chinese) is used as they are also not citizens of China.^{[16] [17]}

See also

• Hua–Yi distinction
• Kokutai, a similar concept of the Japanese people
• Names of China
• Zhonghua
• Xia dynasty, the first dynasty according to traditional Chinese historiography.
• Yanhuang, an ethnic group located around the Yellow River.
  • Yan Huang Zisun, literally the "Descendants of Yan and Huang"
• Zhongyuan, the central regions associated with Huaxia.

Notes and References

1. Zuo zhuan, "Duke Xiang, year 26, zhuan". text: "楚失華夏．" translation: "Chu lost [the political allegiance of / the political influence over] the flourishing and grand [states]."
2. Shi, Jie (2020). Modeling Peace: Royal Tombs and Political Ideology in Early China, chapter 3 "Integration of Ethnic Han and non-Han". New York: Columbia University Press. note 8 to chapter 3. page 341 of 466
3. Esherick, Joseph (2006). "How the Qing Became China". Empire to Nation: Historical Perspectives on the Making of the Modern World. Rowman & Littlefield.
4. Shi (2020) p. 140, 142 of 466
5. Chunqiu Zuozhuan Zhengyi, "vol. 56" quote: "夏，大也。中國有禮儀之大，故稱夏；有服章之美，謂之華。華、夏一也。" p. 70 of 118
6. Book: Liu, Xuediao . 知書房出版集團 . 2005 . 978-9-867-64065-9 . Taipei . 9 . zh . zh:中國文化史講稿 . 古時炎黃之胄常自稱,「華夏」有時又作「諸夏」《左傳》定公十年(西元前 500 年)有:裔不謀夏,夷不亂華。對於此句其疏曰:中國有禮儀之大,故稱夏;有服章之美,謂之華。 . Liu Xuediao (劉學銚).
7. Book: Zhu, Ruixi . A Social History of Medieval China . Zhang . Bangwei . Liu . Fusheng . Cai . Chongbang . Wang . Zengyu . Cambridge University Press . 2016 . 978-1-107-16786-5 . To quote an ancient text, "there is grand ceremonial etiquette so it is called xia (Chinese: 夏), and there is the beauty of apparel which is called hua (Chinese: 华)."[1] (And that's how China is also called huaxia [{{lang|zh|华夏}}].) [...] [1] 'The Tenth Year of Duke Ding of Lu' (Chinese: 定公十年), Zuo Qiuming's Commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals (Chinese: 左傳), explained by Yan Shigu (Chinese: 顏師古, 581–645)..
8. https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7002#%E5%A4%AA%E5%8F%B2%E5%85%AC%E8%AB%96 Sima Qian's discussion
9. Cioffi-Revilla . Claudio . Lai . David . 1995 . War and Politics in Ancient China, 2700 BC to 722 BC . The Journal of Conflict Resolution . 39 . 3 . 471–72 . 10.1177/0022002795039003004 . 156043981.
10. Encyclopedia: Guo . Shirong . Encyclopaedia of the history of science, technology and medicine in non-western cultures . Feng . Lisheng . Kluwer . 1997 . 978-0-792-34066-9 . Selin . Helaine . Dordrecht . 197 . Chinese Minorities . During the Warring States (475–221 BC), feudalism was developed and the Huaxia nationality grew out of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou nationalities in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. The Han evolved from the Huaxia..
11. Book: Holcombe, Charles . A history of East Asia: From the origins of civilization to the twenty-first century . Cambridge University Press . 2010 . 978-0-521-73164-5 . 7 . Initially, Huaxia seems to have been a somewhat elastic cultural marker, referring neither to race nor ethnicity nor any particular country but rather to "civilized," settled, literate, agricultural populations adhering to common ritual standards, in contrast to "barbarians.".
12. Book: Wu, Xiaolong . Material Culture, Power, and Identity in Ancient China . 2017 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-107-13402-7 . 13–14.
13. Book: Holcombe, Charles . A history of East Asia: From the origins of civilization to the twenty-first century . 2011 . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 978-0-521-73164-5 . 7 . Zhongguo — […] Today, Zhongguo is probably the closest Chinese-language equivalent to the English word China. Even so, both the modern People's Republic of China, on the mainland, and the Republic of China (confined to the island of Taiwan since 1949) are still officially known, instead, by a hybrid combination of the two ancient terms Zhongguo and Huaxia: Zhonghua Chinese: 中華..
14. Book: Solé-Farràs, Jesús . New Confucianism in twenty-first century China: The construction of a discourse . 2013 . Routledge . London . 978-1-13473908-0 . Huaren Chinese: 華人 equivalent to a 'Chinese person'—hua Chinese: 華 is the abbreviation of Huaxia, a synonym of Zhongguo Chinese: 中國 (China), and ren Chinese: 人 is 'person'..
15. Book: Language, Politics and Identity in Taiwan: Naming China . Hui-Ching Chang . Richard Holt . 162–64 . 978-1-13504635-4 . Routledge . 2014-11-20.
16. Book: China and Taiwan: Cross-strait Relations Under Chen Shui-bian . Sheng Lijun . 53 . Institute of Southeast Asian Studies . 30 June 2002 . 978-981-230-110-9 .
17. Book: War Memory and the Making of Modern Malaysia and Singapore . Karl Hack, Kevin Blackburn . NUS Press . 30 May 2012 . 978-9971-69-599-6 . 96.