Ancient History
The modern Han ethnicity was originally known as the Huaxia as it developed around the Wei and Yellow Rivers. The differences they saw between themselves and the other peoples and cultures around them around them is now known as the Hua-Yi distinction.
Historical groups once considered "barbarous" and occasionally still referenced pejoratively in Chinese include:
- "Nanman"—A pejorative reference to Yue and other ethnic groups in southern and southwestern China and Indochina. Like the Yue, many of these are now considered Han Chinese, following centuries or millennia of Sinification. The term was used in Japanese (as Nanban) to refer to European traders in Japan.
- "Xirong"—Originally an ancient ethnic group, it became used to refer to all non-Han ethnic groups in northwestern China, such as the Uyghurs.
- "Beidi"—Originally an ancient ethnic group, this term was later used to refer to all non-Han ethnic groups in northern China beyond the Great Wall, including Mongolians and the Manchu.
- "Dongyi"—Originally ancient ethnic groups who lived east of the Huaxia along the coast of modern China.
Read more about this topic: Han Chauvinism
Famous quotes containing the words ancient and/or history:
“It is the dissenter, the theorist, the aspirant, who is quitting this ancient domain to embark on seas of adventure, who engages our interest. Omitting then for the present all notice of the stationary class, we shall find that the movement party divides itself into two classes, the actors, and the students.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)