Introduction

This article explores the earliest history of the Han Chinese; where they came from, who they are and how they became the main ethnic group in China.

Homeland

The Sinitic people is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan people and is the largest ethnic group in China.

The Han Chinese originated from the middle region of Yellow River basin in northern China and also along the Wei River tributary to the Yellow River.

Yellow River homeland

Proto-Sinitic homeland

Before the Han Chinese went down to the Yellow River basin, they originated from eastern part of Qinghai province in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau where the source of the Yellow River starts.

The Kunlun mountain is the approximate original place of proto-Chinese as recorded in Chinese classics in the Zhou dynasty.

The proto-Sinitic created the Yangshao neolithic culture in the middle Yellow River basin.

The proto-Sinitic was a merger of two closely-related Sino-Tibetan tribes with similar culture and language; each led by Yellow (Huang) Emperor and Red (Yan) Emperor.

Proto-Sinitic and two emperors

Earliest Chinese dynasties

Han Chinese can trace their origins to the the earliest Chinese civilization which spans at least 4500 years.

The earliest Chinese civilizations which started along the Yellow River basin were

Xia 夏 (2070-1600 BC)
Shang 商 (1600-1046 BC)
Zhou 周 (1046-256 BC)
Qin 秦 (221-206 BC)

During that period, Han Chinese ancestors were known as Huaxia (華夏). It was only during Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) that they were called Han Chinese (漢).

Earliest Chinese dynasties & Terracotta army

The great ancient Chinese accomplishments were the inventions of paper making, printing, gunpowder, compass, tea production, silk cloth, acupuncture, The Great Wall of China and Terracotta Army.

While the Shang and Zhou dynasties have solid archaeological proof of their existences, the Xia dynasty is most probably the Erlitou culture in Henan province. Watch video below for a documentary of the earliest Chinese dynasties and their archaeological sites.

Migration of Han Chinese to the south

During times of civil war and also invasion from Altaic people (Mongolian, Manchu etc), Han Chinese migrated further south towards southernmost China to provinces such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Annam from the Han dynasty onwards.

During 304-316 AD (Western Jin dynasty), the first massive migration occurred

with the invasion of northern China by the 'Five Barbarians'.

During 874-884 AD (Tang dynasty) and 907-979 AD (after collapse of Tang dynasty), the second massive migration occurred with the Huang Chao rebellion and various civil wars.

During 1125-1142 AD (Song dynasty), the third massive migration

occurred with the invasion of northern China by the Tungusic Jurchen people and also the Mongol invasion during 1211-1279 AD (Song dynasty).

By the end of Tang dynasty in the 10th century AD, they became the ethnic majority in southern China.

Migration of Han Chinese to the north

However, expansion and migration towards the north before the Qing dynasty (1644-1912 AD) was limited due to the physical barrier of Great Wall of China which was built to keep out northern invaders and also the harsh colder weather wasn't a desirable place to live.

The Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD) expelled the Mongols out of China

which paved the way for a long-running migration into Inner Mongolia

due to population increase and scarcity of land in northern China.

During 1840-1980 AD (Qing dynasty-PRC), the Han Chinese migrated

in large numbers to northern Xinjiang after the massacre of the western Mongols

by the Manchu in the late 18th century.

During 1860-1912 AD (Qing dynasty), Han Chinese started to migrate in large numbers towards Northeast China due to factors such as famine, overcrowding

and protection of land from Russian intrusion.

By the mid 20th century, they became the ethnic majority in these northernmost regions.

Migration to Southeast Asia

During the 19th and 20th century, they migrated further south into Nanyang (Southeast Asia) due to famine in China and better economic conditions in colonial Southeast Asia.

This wave came via the sea route from the treaty ports in the southern provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Hainan and also via the land route from Yunnan.

Migration to Southeast Asia

By 1901 AD, the Han Chinese became the ethnic majority in Singapore.

Thailand and Malaysia have the largest and second largest overseas Han Chinese population respectively in the world today outside of Greater China.

Northern and Southern Han Chinese genetics

A certain percentage of Han Chinese men intermarried with the ethnic minority women resulting in two main division of Northern and Southern Han Chinese with the Yangtze River as the approximate divider.

Northern and Southern Han Chinese

Both Northern and Southern Han Chinese paternal components are predominantly Han Chinese.

Han Chinese women contributed a higher percentage than the northern minority women to the Northern Han maternal gene. The northern minorities are Altaic people such as Mongols and Tungusic people (e.g. Manchu).

Han Chinese women and southern minority women contributed almost equally to the Southern Han maternal gene. The southern minorities are Hmong-Mien and Kra-Dai people.

Han Chinese religion & culture

The Han Chinese traditional religion and culture is based on a mixture of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

Buddhism was introduced into China during Han dynasty and

reached its golden years during Tang & Song dynasties

Taoists (bottom) & Buddhists (inset)

Chinese writing & languages

The earliest Chinese writing called Oracle Bone Script was found carved on ancient tortoise shell in around 1200 BC (Shang dynasty). This script transformed into the Clerical Script during the Han dynasty which is preserved as the Traditional Chinese script used today.

Although the Chinese writing remains essentially the same but the different Han subgroups developed mutually unintelligible spoken languages due to sound changes and also influences from ethnic minority languages.

Chinese writing & languages

Han Chinese subgroups

There are 7 main branches of the Han Chinese; each with its own sub-branches:

Mandarin: Northern(Beijing), Central(Henan), Southern(Sichuan)
Wu: Northern(Shanghai), Southern(Wenzhou), Western(Huizhou)
Gan: Northern(Nanchang), Southern(Fuzhou)撫州
Xiang: Northern(Changsha), Southern(Shuangfeng)
Min: Southern(Taiwan Min), Eastern(Fuzhou), Northern(Nanping)
Hakka: Southern(Meizhou), Northern(Ganzhou)
Yue: Eastern(Canton), Western(Ngau-Lau)

Han Chinese subgroups

Note that there is still another third layer of sub-sub-branch below these main sub-branches before reaching the subgroups but we don't want to go into too many details.

The specific origin for some of the subgroups of Han Chinese are narrated in more details on different articles in this blog.

Conclusion

Han Chinese are Sino-Tibetan people who originally came down from the Tibetan Plateau into the Yellow River plains in North China.

Due to invasion from the Mongolic and Tungusic tribes, and also many civil wars in North China, Han Chinese migrated on a large scale in many waves to southern China.

The mass migration of Han Chinese to southern China displaced a large number of natives into south-western China and also South East Asia. In other words, Han Chinese are not sinicized natives.

Sources

1. Genetic proof of Northern and Southern Han:
Note: The sample size of participants in the genetic survey is small and the percentages quoted in the link above are just approximation and not absolute truth. A much larger sample size could yield different percentages.

2. The Kunlun Mountains paradise of Taoism

3. Comparison of Han Chinese and Tibetan genes
Quote: The Tibetan and Han Chinese genomes are essentially identical in terms of the frequency of polymorphisms in the roughly 20,000 genes, though some 30 genes stood out because of dramatic differences between the Tibetans and the Han.

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Ethnic origin of Han Chinese