Origin of the Chinese Part 3

In China's history, one finds a repeating pattern of barbarian invasion, followed by Sinicization and subsequent stability and prosperity. The Empire strengthens and the gene pool deepens, but each time at great cost in blood.


We are now in the 12th century, the Song dynasty, bastion of Han Chinese civilization is in decline from corruption, inept rulers, natural disasters and incessant incursions from the Northern Hordes. Two factors should be noted.

First of all, the Song dynasty saw the entrenchment of Confucianism in Chinese politics; this is the beginning of the conservatism that would later render China unable to defend itself against Western Powers. Not only was Confucianism the main school of philosophy, it was made the official dogma of government, and worse, the military. The reformer Wang Anshi whose reforms included implementing a mass military reserve system and investing in military technology to defeat and even colonize China's rivals (Khitans, Tanguts, Vietnamese, Koreans) to permanently remove the threat, was eventually forced out of power by conservatives who favored cloistering China from the outside, and maintaining a status quo with tens of thousands of taels of silver in tribute.

Secondly, the old Turkic nomads of the Mongol Steppe have been defeated, absorbed and exiled westward (where they would bring down 3 empires, Persia, Arab, and Byzantine). The new rulers of the Steppe came from Mongolic (Mongols, Khitans) and Tungustic (Jurchens/Manchus) stock. As opposed to the loose confederation of tribes that comprised the Gokturks, the Khitans, Mongols, and Jurchens all adopted Chinese style centralized government. This in combination with their ferocious and mobile cavalry made large scale invasion and occupation possible because of improved logistics. The Chinese military doctrine had stagnated since the days of the Tang, and was only prepared for sporadic raids of the Turkic horsemen, not the well-supplied mass cavalry invasion.

China retreated in the face of these hordes, finally succumbing to the Mongols completely after the Batter of Zhuya, in today's Hainan. The process of barbarian conquest took 2oo years, from the Jingkang incident to establishment of Yuan rule over all of China. The riverine environment of South China, and the use of gunpowder by the Chinese helped preserve the Song. During these two hundred years, the Northern hordes once again found themselves slowly losing their culture to the superior Chinese civilization. It was during this period that a new phenomenon occurred - the barbarian dynasties started employing Han Chinese in government at the highest levels. The Khitans were the first to do so; they would be emulated by all subsequent barbarian dynasties down to the Qing.

The assimilation was so thorough that the Khitans, once a great empire numbering millions of people, disappeared completely from the history books. It is estimated that about 10% of Northern Han Chinese carry genetic markers of the Khitans, and nearly half of Mongolians, carry the genetic marker. This shows the integration of the Khitans into the Chinese culture, many changing their surnames (from Yelu to Lu or Lui).



Perhaps the best example of assimilation are the Manchus. Even before they crossed Shanhaiguan into China, the Manchus had already absorbed the conquered Han Chinese population outside of Shanhaiguan. Historians estimate that the pre-Qing Manchu population was at least 50% Han. The Manchus, perhaps aware of their small numbers, integrated the Han captives into their 8 Flags military system. Interestingly, after gaining power over China, the Chinese who surrendered before Shanhaiguan were counted as Manchus, not Han.

As the dynasty became established and stable, even the emperor found it hard to maintain Manchu customs and language. Intermarriage between Han and Manchu/Mongol elite was initially banned, but gradually the restriction was relaxed and intermarriages had become so common by Daoguang's era that the emperor was forced to call on only Manchu families outside of Shanhaiguan (relatively pure blooded) to supply imperial consorts. Despite official efforts to promote Manchu as a language, nearly all Manchus were monolingual in the Lingua Franca - Chinese, by the 19th century. Today, despite a population of over 15 million, only 70 or so Manchus can speak their native language.

After 5000 years, from a tribe living off the Yellow river, the Han Chinese race has adapted the customs, genetics, and language of their neighbors and made it their own. The next 5000 years, the meaning of Han could become ever broader, especially as China once again rises in power. The defining lines between Chinese and Korean or Mongolian, or Chinese and Vietnamese could once again become blurred as they have frequently throughout history, only in the future, the 'blurring' would become permanent.

I hope you enjoyed the 3 part series on our ancestral origins. Check back soon for the new article 'New China's Territorial Ambitions'.

I look forward to your comments.

Origin of the Chinese Part 2

The classification 'Han' has officially been imposed on a group of heterogeneous people within the domain of the Han Empire. By the same token, all peoples outside of the empire have become identified as barbarians or 'manyi'. As history of China moves forward, the definition of Han continued its metamorphosis.

In 200 AD, the Han Empire collapsed under the weight of corruption and rising warlordism. After the period of the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty was established over all of the territories of the previous Kingdoms. The China of the time comprised only of what we call China Proper - an area limited by the Great Wall to the north, and the Tibetan Plateau to the west and southwest. Numerous ethnic groups inhabited the fringe of the Chinese empire, and just as the Roman Empire succumbed to the combination of internal strife and external barbarian pressure, so too would the Han Chinese Jin Empire.

Barely 100 years after its founding, the Jin Empire, severely weakened by the Rebellion of the Eight Princes, and a series of incompetent rulers was invaded by northern nomadic Xiongnu - the old nemesis of the Han Dynasty. It should be noted that the Xiongnu of this period has already become much sinicized; their customs, way of life and even their names have taken on Chinese characteristics, and they were identified as separate solely by Han discrimination.

In the ensuing 200 hundred years of chaos, two separate processes of mixing occurred. In the area north of the Yangtze, the Proto-Turkic/Mongolic groups invaded one after another, each committing terrible atrocities on its predecessors and the local Han groups. The Xiongnu were soon replaced by their subordinates the Qiang; the Qiang in turn by the Tiele, and so forth. Each nomadic barbarian group established their dominance briefly after entering China and were replaced just as quickly by the next group. Finally, some semblance of stability appeared in the North of China with the emergence of the Xianbei. The Tuoba Xianbei group established the Wei Dynasty over Northern China, ending periodically the incessant fragmentation and bloodshed. Emperor Wen of Wei decreed official requirements of sinicization of his subjects, and moved the capital to Luoyang, a center of Han Chinese civilization and learning. He also ordered several barbarian last names to be sinicized; for example, the imperial name Tuoba was changed to 'Yuan'. In the process, the former barbarians have fully sinicized in all but physical appearance.

In the area south of the Yangtze, the refugee Jin Dynasty was usurped by military strongmen, who were then usurped themselves, and dynasties changed frequently. The refugee Han managed to assimilate much of the local Yue (ancestors of the Thai, Hmong, and Vietnamese) groups and introduce advanced agriculture to the productive Yangtze watershed, setting in motion the gradual shift of China's economic engine from North to South, and from West to East.

The assimilation of this time period was further consolidated by the unification of China by the Sui and the Tang dynasties. Already sinicized in manner, language, religion and customs, the only vestige of the barbarians was the physical appearance. It was noted by the emissaries from Japan and Baekje (a relatively unbiased first hand account) that the fifth emperor of the Tang, Xuanzong, had reddish hair. Also, historical accounts describe Tang Taizong, the most valiant of Tang emperors, as having greenish eyes and golden hair, obvious Turkic features. In addition, the names of the founders of the Tang reveal barbarian lineages, such as the name Zhangsun, from Taizong's chancellor, Zhangsun Wuji.

In time, the larger population of the ethnic Han would dilute these physical differences to render them invisible. Genetics however still show that the of contemporary Chinese, those from the North show greater genetic similarities to the Mongolians, Koreans and other Central Asian groups than to Southern Chinese groups. Southern Chinese groups share more genetic similarities to Southeast Asian ethnic groups than to Northern Chinese.

Chaos returned to peace and another 300 years of prosperity and consolidation and a new Han Chinese identity emerged stronger than before. However, the emergence of new nomadic powers and the decline of Han military strengths would usher in a new period of challenges and opportunities for the Chinese civilization. See Part 3 of Origin of the Chinese.

Origin of the Chinese

It's amazing that so few people have asked this question to date, "Where do the Chinese come from?", since it has the world's largest population and presents a seemingly homogeneous front.

As a matter of fact, the dominate ethnic group in China is the Han, which to most people are, and for the rest of this article will be synonymous with Chinese.

Where do the Han really come from? Was it one racially pure people that proliferated in isolation or did outside genetics contribute? To answer these questions, let start from the beginning, before there were Hans. The name Han identifies people of the Han Empire, which ruled from present day Korea to Vietnam, from the East China Sea to the Tarim Desert, lasted some 400 years from 206 BCE to 220 CE.

The origin story of the Chinese goes way back into history or pre-history. 3000 years before the Han dynasty, when what we call China today was inhabited by various tribes, the mythical ancestors of the Han, the Huaxia, controlled swathes of land centered around the Yellow River. According to legend, the leader of the Huaxia, Huangdi, defeated the 4 surrounding tribes, to the North, South, East, and West of Huaxia and incorporated their people and territory. The 4 leaders of those tribes, along with Huangdi became known as the 5 Emperors. Legends also tell of Huangdi defeating and assimilate the tribe of Yandi. Together, Huangdi and Yandi have been viewed as the progenitors of the Han race, which refers to itself as 'descendants of yan and huang'. Also, '3 sovereigns and 5 emperors' are also viewed by the Han as the founding dynasty of China. From the very beginning, the Chinese people have been mingling with other races. Though these stories have little substantial evidence, it shows at the very least that the Han have had no claims to racial purity from its inception.

The next 3 thousand years saw increased warfare, migrations, and assimilation and only at the end of the era of the Warring States did a unified cultural identity emerge from the 7 main states that spanned most of China. The assimilation was consolidated by the unification of China and some 500 years of centralized government and peace.

But the amalgamation was not done, as barbarians will soon contribute their gene pool. See Origin of the Chinese Part 2.

Life and Great Firewall of China

Google has recently threatened to pull out of China for ethical reasons and implicitly hinted that the government were behind many cyberattacks on its network.



China does not have the best human rights record, I mean, barely 20 years ago the largest pro-democracy protest in the country ended in a bloodbath. However, things are changing rapidly. Although I can't deny that the government will continue to resolutely crackdown on protests of any sort, it now does so with a different purpose - stability.

20 years the communist government was at odds with its founding doctrine, therefore could not legitimize its rule. The bloody crackdown on June 4th, 1989 was necessary to prevent the country from descending into chaos. 20 years later, the government has re-christened itself the steward of economic development, and the rallying cry has been changed from socialism to 'socialism with Chinese characteristics', an euphemism for market capitalism.

So let's get some facts clear:
YES China routinely censors web content deemed subversive or 'disturbing to social
stability'
YES China will arrest anyone who speaks out too bluntly against the government.
and YES it will invade the privacy of those deemed dangerous or subversive.

The following sites are inaccessible in China: Wikipedia.com, CNN.com, BBC.co.uk and dozens other less known websites.

However, the intention is not to control/restrict people's lives but to limit the the effect of the fallout of individual grievances on the general public. To be honest, all the average middle class Chinese have accepted this minor inconvenience in exchanged for continued prosperity and rising living standards.

China is not free in terms of speech; there is no democratic government to speak of. However, given the reality of things, this is possibly the best way for its people.

I know this sounds cynical, but look at the alternative: India, the largest democracy made up of starving villagers who are too hungry to care about voting.