Zhonghua minzu

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Zhonghua minzu
Traditional Chinese: 中華民族
Simplified Chinese: 中华民族

Zhonghua minzu (Chinese: 中华民族; Pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínzú), is a Chinese term that refers to the modern notion of a Chinese nationality transcending ethnic divisions, with a central identity to China as a whole. It includes peoples who have historically interacted, contributed and assimilated to various extents with Chinese civilization. It is sometimes translated into English as the "Chinese nation".

The boundaries of Zhonghua minzu are fuzzy but most Chinese today use the term to include all peoples within the territorial boundaries of China integrated as one national, political, cultural and perhaps even ideological-moral group. It is sometimes also extended to overseas Chinese.

Zhonghua refers to the concept of "China" and is the term used in the formal names for both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. Minzu can be translated as "nation", "people", or "ethnic group".

Confusion can arise because the term "Chinese" in Western languages is often used to refer both to Zhonghua minzu and to the Han ethnicity, two concepts which are usually (although not always successfully) kept distinct among modern Chinese speakers.

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[edit] History

The immediate roots of the Zhonghua minzu lie in the Qing Empire, a multi-ethnic empire created in the 17th century by the Manchus. Faced with the necessity to legitimize their rule over the different peoples that they had conquered, the Manchus sought to portray themselves as ideal Confucian rulers for the Chinese, Grand khans for the Mongols, and Chakravartin kings for Tibetan Buddhists. This involved developing clear ethnic or religious identities within the empire. Administratively, the empire was divided into the provinces of China (China proper) and the territories of Mongols, Tibetans, and Muslims, which were not subject to the control of the Chinese bureaucracy. In this fashion, the Qing court intended and to a large part succeeded in gaining the loyalty of the large Han Chinese gentry, whose cooperation was essential to govern China, as well as other groups such as the Mongols, who acknowledged the Qing as successors to Chinggis Khan.

In the late 19th century, the identities which the Qing promoted were modified under the influence of Western concepts of ethnicity and nationality. Chinese nationalists such as Sun Yat-sen initially planned to expel the Manchus as "foreign invaders" and establish a Chinese nation-state modelled closely after Germany and Japan. This model was eventually discarded out of a fear that an overly restrictive view of the ethnic nation-state would result in the dismemberment and domination of the Qing empire by Western powers.

The term Zhonghua minzu was coined by the late Qing philologist Zhang Binglin and originally referred only to the Han Chinese. Sun Yat-sen adopted a stance of uniting all the ethnic groups within China under the concept of Five Races Under One Union, based on the ethnic categories of the Qing, and expanded the meaning of Zhonghua minzu to encompass this. He wrote, "Some people say, after the overthrow of the Qing, we do not need nationalism anymore. Those words now are certainly wrong.... Right now we speak of the 'union of five nationalities' (Han, Manchu, Mongol, Hui and Tibetan), but how is it our country only has five nationalities? My stand is that we should incorporate all the peoples within China into one Chinese nation (Zhonghua minzu)...and develop the Chinese nation into a very civilized nation, only then will we no longer need nationalism."

The philosophy of Zhonghua minzu was first publicly espoused by President Yuan Shikai in 1912, shortly after the overthrow of the Qing Empire and the founding of the Republic of China. Facing the imminent independence of Outer Mongolia from China, Yuan Shikai stated, "Outer Mongolia is part of Zhonghua minzu [the Chinese nation] and has been of one family for centuries" (外蒙同為中華民族，數百年來儼如一家).

After the fall of the ROC and the founding of the People's Republic of China, the concept of Zhonghua minzu became influenced by Soviet nationalities policy. Officially, the PRC is a unitary state composed of 56 ethnic groups, of which the Han ethnic group is by far the largest. The concept of Zhonghua minzu is seen as an all-encompassing category comprised of people within the borders of the PRC.

This term has continued to be invoked and remains a powerful concept in China into the 21st century. It continues to hold use as the leaders of China need to unify into one political entity a highly diverse set of ethnic and social groups as well as to mobilize the support of overseas Chinese in developing China.

[edit] Implications

The adoption of the Zhonghua minzu concept has given rise to the reinterpretation or rewriting of Chinese history. For example, the Manchu Dynasty was originally often characterized as a "conquest regime" or a "non-Han" regime, conveniently ignoring the prominent role that ethnic Chinese played in the Qing conquest of China. Following the adoption of the Zhonghua minzu ideology, which regards the Manchus as a member of the Zhonghua minzu, the distinction between non-native and native dynasties had to be abandoned. In Chinese orthodoxy, the Manchus, being as "Chinese" as the Han, could no longer be regarded as "barbarian conquerors", and the Qing empire could no longer be regarded as a "conquest empire".

Rewriting history also meant reassessing the role of many traditional hero figures. Heroes such as Yue Fei and Koxinga, who were originally considered to have fought for China against barbarian incursions, had to be recharacterized as minzu yingxiong (ethnic heroes) who fought not against barbarians but against other members of the Zhonghua minzu (the Jurchens and Manchus respectively). At the same time, China acquired new heroes such as Chinggis Khan, who became a "Chinese" hero by virtue of the fact that the Mongols were part of the Zhonghua minzu.

Despite the superficial application of the Zhonghua Minzu concept to ethnic groups and history, the older concept of China as largely synonymous with the Han ethnic group is still widespread, even in China. For instance, discussions of Chinese cuisine usually refer to the culinary practices of and subdivisions within the Han majority, and do not seriously pretend to categorize "Chinese" food according to the theoretical framework of Zhonghua minzu.

[edit] Controversy

The theory behind the ideology of Zhonghua minzu is that it includes not only the Han but also other minority ethnic groups within China, such as the Mongols, Manchus, Hmong, Tibetans. This theoretical concept is not universally accepted, even in China. Supporters of the separate historical identities of different ethnic groups reject the notion these ethnic groups are part of a single people with Han Chinese. Proponents of Tibetan independence or Uighur independence would even reject the concept of Zhonghua minzu as grounds for a unified nation-state. They would argue that their peoples have a culture, history of political independence, and sense of nationhood which is quite distinct from that of the Han Chinese, and that under the right of self-determination, they have a right to political independence from the Chinese state.

The concept of Zhonghua Minzu is also attacked by supporters of Taiwan independence who while not denying that most people on Taiwan are ethnically Han Chinese, argue that Taiwan has a right to independence because it forms a separate and distinct political community from the Mainland.

The boundaries of who is or is not a member of the Chinese nation are not necessarily consistent. A person of Russian (Éluōsī Zú), Korean (Cháoxiǎn Zú), Vietnamese (Jīng Zú), Kyrgyz (Kēěrkèzī Zú), Hmong (Miáo Zú), or Mongol (Měnggǔ Zú) ethnicity with Chinese citizenship would be considered a full member of the Zhonghua Minzu. A Russian living in Russia, a Korean living in Korea, a Vietnamese living in Vietnam, a Kyrgyz living in Kyrgyzstan, a Hmong person living in Southeast Asia, or a Mongol living in Mongolia would almost universally be considered not to be. On the other hand, Cháoxiǎn Zú living and working in Korea or Mongolian from Inner Mongolia living and working in the independent state of Mongolia would be considered members of the Zhonghua Minzu, which can give rise to potential issues of identity.

Whether ethnic Han Chinese living overseas and not having Chinese citizenship are considered part of this Chinese nationality depends on the speaker and the context. Overseas Chinese in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore make a clear distinction between being Chinese in a political sense and being Chinese in an ethnic sense, making it unclear whether or not they belong to such a group that contains both political and ethnic connotations.

The conceptual boundaries of the Zhonghua minzu are complicated by independent countries such as Mongolia and Korea, with their differing interpretations of historical peoples and states. For instance, the claim of Genghis Khan as a "Chinese" by China is contested by the Mongolians, who regard him as the father of the Mongolian state.

A dispute of a similar nature has arisen over the status of the state of Koguryo in ancient history, with the Chinese claiming it as Chinese on the grounds that much of it existed within the historical borders of China and the Koreans claiming that it was Korean on ethnic grounds.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2006)
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[edit] External links

fi:Kiinan etniset ryhmät zh:中华民族

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