Han chauvinism

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Han chauvinism
Traditional Chinese 大漢族主義
Simplified Chinese 大汉族主义
Literal meaningGreat Han-ism

Han chauvinism is a political ideology that speaks out for the ethnic Han Chinese people and its uniqueness throughout human history. Han chauvinists believe that the current influence from the West has downgraded the development of China's own cultural customs, and in response, it has become instrumental in leading the increasingly traditionalist movement, which was launched in 2001. Participants come together both online and in person in cities across China to revitalize their vision of the authentic “Great Han” and corresponding “real China” through traditional ethnic dress and Confucian ritual. [1] [2]

Contents

The constitution of the People's Republic of China officially opposes "Han chauvinism" and "local ethnic chauvinism". The latter refers to nationalism based on the anti-Han sentiment or separatist nationalism of ethnic minorities in China.

History

Han Chinese nationalism has a historic root of being focused on the Han Chinese people, the dominant ethnic group in China. Han Chinese nationalism had been often used as a rallying force stemming the historical pride of Han Chinese people and the way it developed to become one of the world's earliest civilizations. [3] [4]

Since the Han dynasty, ideas of Han Chinese nationalism have appeared when China started to adopt ethnic minorities, Han were called "Huaxia" at the time. [5] [6] [7] The Han people called themselves "Han" since the Southern and Northern dynasties to commemorate the Han dynasty and then distinguish it from the Northern nomadic peoples.[ citation needed ]

Mao Zedong first criticized Han chauvinism in 1938 and these criticisms continued throughout his rule. [8] For example, Mao's 1956 speech On the Ten Major Relationships emphasizes the need to oppose Han chauvinism. [9]

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s notions of China as a multicultural state have been subjected to criticism by the western media. [10] Many policies have been made to give privileges to minority ethnicities, leading to legal inequality. [11] [12]

CCP former leader Deng Xiaoping also criticized Han chauvinism. [8]

The current CCP general secretary Xi Jinping has officially criticized Han chauvinism. [13] However, the Chinese Dream, a core concept of Xi is believed by some to have nationalistic dimensions, [14] [15] [16] and under Xi, the CCP portrays itself as the custodian of a conservative, Han-centric vision of "China's outstanding traditional culture". [17]

In ethnic relations

Although the current Chinese government has largely attempted to promote the idea of a multiethnic nationalism instead of a singular ethnic nationalism, individuals have pointed about the lack of an agreed-upon definition of Chinese nationalism may have impacted on China's political decision with regard to other non-Han people and non-Chinese nations. [18] [19] [1] [20]

Tibetans

Since the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, controversy has existed due to the view that Tibet was historically a feudal region which practiced serfdom/slavery and that this only changed due to communist influence in the region in order to liberate the Tibetans. [21] [22] [23] [24] Some academics have described relations with Tibetans as a form of Han settler colonialism. [25] [26] [27]

Xinjiang

Since 1758, the region of Xinjiang have had issues with government policy, which further extended to ethnic relations. [28] Han and Hui people often live closer to Uyghurs and stereotypes were developed. [29]

Mongols

Mongols have been perceived to be better integrated into the society than that of Uyghurs and Tibetans. [30] However, there were ethnic tensions and stereotypes. [31] [32]

Relationship to Chinese nationalism

Han nationalism and Chinese nationalism (as well as Han Chinese chauvinism or Chinese chauvinism) are different in terms of ideology, with the latter frequently focusing on a more multi-ethnic form of nationalism. [33] There were a significant and large group of proponents of a multi-ethnic form of Chinese nationalism along with other scholars as well. [34] [35]

The multifaceted image of Han Chinese nationalism further developed during the buildup to modern Chinese statehood. [36] [37] [38] [39] Han Chinese nationalism also played a part in World War II, when the Second Sino-Japanese War occurred, where the Han Chinese people frequently suffered, and fought, against the Japanese. [40] [41]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Carrico, Kevin (29 August 2017). The great Han : race, nationalism, and tradition in China today. Univ of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-29549-0. OCLC   1125804033.
  2. ↑ "Fantasy, Not Nationalism, Drives Chinese Clothing Revival". The Business of Fashion. 23 January 2019.
  3. ↑ Cabestan, Jean-Pierre (1 June 2005). "The Many Facets of Chinese Nationalism". China Perspectives. 2005 (59). doi: 10.4000/chinaperspectives.2793 – via journals.openedition.org.
  4. ↑ Zheng, Dahua (2019). "Modern Chinese nationalism and the awakening of self-consciousness of the Chinese Nation". International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology. 3 (1). doi: 10.1186/s41257-019-0026-6 . ISSN   2366-1003. S2CID   209509370.
  5. ↑ "Selections from the Han Narrative Histories". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
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  8. 1 2 Meyer, Patrik. "Could Han Chauvinism Turn the 'Chinese Dream' into a 'Chinese Nightmare'?". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  9. ↑ Lin, Chun (2006). The transformation of Chinese socialism. Durham [N.C.]: Duke University Press. p. 101. ISBN   978-0-8223-3785-0. OCLC   63178961.
  10. ↑ Ghai, Yash (2000). Autonomy and Ethnicity: Negotiating Competing Claims in Multi-Ethnic States. Cambridge University Press. p. 77. ISBN   9780521786423.
  11. ↑ Liu, Xiaoyuan (2010). Recast All Under Heaven: Revolution, War, Diplomacy, and Frontier China in the 20th Century. Recast All Under Heaven: Revolution, War, Diplomacy, and Frontier China in the 20th Century. pp. 115–116. ISBN   9781441134899.
  12. ↑ Law, Ian (2012). Red Racisms: Racism in Communist and Post-Communist Contexts. Springer. ISBN   978-1137030849.
  13. ↑ 王淑卿. "Xi outlines ethnic affairs for new era". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  14. ↑ Meyer, Patrik. "Could Han Chauvinism Turn the 'Chinese Dream' into a 'Chinese Nightmare'?". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  15. ↑ "Han Chauvinism and the Chinese Dream". 17 June 2016.
  16. ↑ Friend, John M.; Thayer, Bradley A. (2017). "The Rise of Han-Centrism and What It Means for International Politics" (PDF). Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism. 17 (1): 91. doi:10.1111/sena.12223 . Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  17. ↑ Tina Burrett; Jeff Kingston (2023). Routledge Handbook of Trauma in East Asia. Taylor & Francis. p. 200. Under Xi Jinping, the CCP portrays itself as the custodian of a conservative, Han-centric vision of 'China's outstanding traditional culture' (Vickers 2021a).
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  19. ↑ Harris, Peter (1997). "Chinese Nationalism: The State of the Nation". The China Journal (38): 121–137. doi:10.2307/2950337. JSTOR   2950337. S2CID   146969772.
  20. ↑ Law, Ian (8 September 2012). "Racial Sinicisation: Han Power and Racial and Ethnic Domination in China". In Law, Ian (ed.). Red Racisms. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 97–131. doi:10.1057/9781137030849_4. ISBN   978-1-349-33608-1.
  21. ↑ Hofer, Theresia; Sagli, Gry (21 April 2017). "'Civilising' Deaf people in Tibet and Inner Mongolia: governing linguistic, ethnic and bodily difference in China". Disability & Society . 32 (4): 443–466. doi:10.1080/09687599.2017.1302319. ISSN   0968-7599. PMC   5425626 . PMID   28553018.
  22. ↑ Barnett, Robert (2008). Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China's 100 Questions. University of California Press. p. 84. ISBN   978-0-520-24464-1.
  23. ↑ Denyer, Simon. "A romantic opera in Tibet just happens to bolster China's historical position there". The Washington Post . ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  24. ↑ "Friedman: Chinese Believe Tibetans, Other Ethnic Groups Should be Incorporated into One China". Council on Foreign Relations . Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  25. ↑ McGranahan, Carole (17 December 2019). "Chinese Settler Colonialism: Empire and Life in the Tibetan Borderlands". In Gros, Stéphane (ed.). Frontier Tibet: Patterns of Change in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands. Amsterdam University Press. pp. 517–540. doi: 10.2307/j.ctvt1sgw7.22 . ISBN   978-90-485-4490-5. JSTOR   j.ctvt1sgw7.22 .
  26. ↑ Ramanujan, Shaurir (9 December 2022). "Reclaiming the Land of the Snows: Analyzing Chinese Settler Colonialism in Tibet". The Columbia Journal of Asia. 1 (2): 29–36. doi: 10.52214/cja.v1i2.10012 . ISSN   2832-8558.
  27. ↑ Wang, Ju-Han Zoe; Roche, Gerald (16 March 2021). "Urbanizing Minority Minzu in the PRC: Insights from the Literature on Settler Colonialism". Modern China . 48 (3): 593–616. doi:10.1177/0097700421995135. ISSN   0097-7004. S2CID   233620981.
  28. ↑ Liu, Amy H.; Peters, Kevin (8 September 2017). "The Hanification of Xinjiang, China: The Economic Effects of the Great Leap West". Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism. 17 (2): 265–280. doi: 10.1111/sena.12233 .
  29. ↑ Ildikó Bellér-Hann (2008). Community matters in Xinjiang, 1880-1949: towards a historical anthropology of the Uyghur. BRILL. p. 75. ISBN   978-90-04-16675-2 . Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  30. ↑ Qin, Amy (31 August 2020). "Curbs on Mongolian Language Teaching Prompt Large Protests in China". The New York Times .
  31. ↑ Tighe, Justin (May 2008). "The Purge of the Inner Mongolian People's Party in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1967–69: A Function of Language, Power and Violence. ByKerry Brown. Folkestone, Kent, U.K.: Global Oriental, 2006". The Journal of Asian Studies . 67 (2): 707–708. doi:10.1017/S0021911808000910. ISSN   1752-0401. S2CID   161598031.
  32. ↑ Wu, Zhong (8 June 2011). "Green motives in Inner Mongolian unrest". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 12 July 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  33. ↑ Zheng, Dahua (30 December 2019). "Modern Chinese nationalism and the awakening of self-consciousness of the Chinese Nation". International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology. 3 (1): 11. doi: 10.1186/s41257-019-0026-6 . S2CID   209509370.
  34. ↑ Tang, Wenfang He, Gaochao (30 August 2010). Separate but loyal : ethnicity and nationalism in China. Honolulu, HI: East-West Center. pp. 17–18. OCLC   678575064.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  35. ↑ Marsh, Jenni (26 May 2020). "China says it has a 'zero-tolerance policy' for racism, but discrimination towards Africans goes back decades". CNN . Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  36. ↑ "Genocide as Nation Building: China's Historically Evolving Policy in East Turkistan". Journal of Political Risk. 7. 29 August 2019.
  37. ↑ Wang, Ke; Fletcher, Carissa (8 September 2019). The East Turkestan Independence Movement, 1930s to 1940s. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. ISBN   9789882377844 – via Project MUSE.
  38. ↑ Sperling, Elliot (2004). "History and Polemics". East-West Center – via JSTOR.
  39. ↑ Dai, Tinglan. "The Great Han: The Development, Evolution, and Influence of Chinese Ethnic Nationalism on Modern Chinese Society and Government" (PDF).
  40. ↑ "Han Nationalism in China". Al Jazeera Center for Studies.
  41. ↑ Modongal, Shameer (31 December 2016). Lu, Zhouxiang (ed.). "Development of nationalism in China". Cogent Social Sciences. 2 (1): 1235749. doi: 10.1080/23311886.2016.1235749 . S2CID   54202582.
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