Brief Introduction of Han Chinese

A Nationality with the Largest Population in the World

Han nationality is a main body of Chinese nationality. By the end of the 20th century, its population has already been up to about 1,200 million. It is the nationality with the largest population both in China and the world. Han people mainly concentrate in Central Plains and spread all over the country. 

Han nationality originates from the Huang Ti times, goes through the Xia Dynasty, Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty, and takes shape in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring states (475-221 BC). So far, it boasts a civilized history of 5,000 years. The Han nationality mainly originates from the Chinese nationality. The name of “Han” starts to be used from the Han Dynasty. Taoism is a religion formed in the history of the Han nationality, which also believes in Buddhism, Catholicism, Christianity, etc.

The agriculture and handicraft industry of the Han nationality are quite developed. Bronze ware, silk, pottery, architecture, and painting have enjoyed a long loud reputation. A lot of works with high artistic achievement emerge, such as the Songs of Chu, Tang poetry, Song Ci, Yuans Qu, and Ming and Qing novels. Four great inventions of papermaking method, printing method, compass, and gunpowder are well acknowledged by the world. In its history, there has produced a lot of great thinkers, scientists, politicians, military strategists, writers, artists, such as Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong, Chou En-lai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, etc. The Han nationality has made great contributions to every single cause of the country. Through the ages, the Chinese culture represented by Confucianism has influenced not merely the whole Chinese nation but also Asia and even the whole world. Its traditional festivals include the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, Pure Brightness, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, etc.

The Han nationality has its own spoken and written languages. Belonging to the Han-Tibetan language family, the Han language is further divided into nine dialects, the northern dialect, Wu dialect, Hunan dialect, Jiangxi dialect, Hakka dialect, southern Fujian dialect, Shanxi dialect, Guangdong dialect. The common language is mandarin. The Han characters feature a high degree of unification.