| Summary: | Building multiethnic China was primarily driven by the cohesion and integration
of main ethnic groups within Chinese territory, but the process was recorded
according to traditional ethnic group discourse system of ancient China, so there
is some doubt whether “nation state” theory can interpret it precisely. This paper
manages to figure out the trajectory of cohesion and integration of main ethnic
groups propelled by ancient Chinese people from the Xia Dynasty to the late Qing
Dynasty by focusing on traditional views on ethnic groups of ancient China. This
paper contend that although there were the phenomena of naming the products of
the integrations after the regimes they belonged to, “Han people,” “Hua people”
and even “Zhonghua (Chinese) people,” became the designations of main cohesive
ethnic groups in China over time, and the concept of “Chen Min (subjects)” and
the appearance of “nationals” that developed during the Qing Dynasty successfully
transformed their identity, which Liang Qichao referred to as “Chinese nation”.
Efforts by the rulers of the Qing Dynasty to bridge the gaps between different
ethnic groups by developing a community of “subjects” (Chenmin), produced the
concept of “Chinese nation” which included the various ethnic groups with the “Han
people” as the main group. This new community merely represents the present-day
cohesion of the Chinese Nation and the internal integration continues.
|
|---|