The Han Chinese, alternatively Han people or Chinese people, are an East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 17% of the world population. The Han Chinese represent 91.11% of the population in China and 97% of the population in Taiwan. They are a significant diasporic group in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.
The Han Chinese have exerted a primary formative influence in Chinese culture and history. The Han Chinese trace their ancestry and culture to the Huaxia people, a confederation of agricultural tribes that lived along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in the north central plains of China.
Han Chinese people and culture later spread southwards in the Chinese mainland, driven by large and sustained waves of migration during successive periods of Chinese history, for example the Qin (221–206 BC) and Han (202 BC – 220 AD) dynasties, leading to a demographic and economic tilt towards the south, and the absorption of various non-Han ethnic groups over the centuries at various points in Chinese history. The Han Chinese became the main inhabitants of the fertile lowland areas and cities of Southern China by the time of the Tang and Song dynasties, with minority tribes occupying the highlands.
The term "Han" not only refers to a specific ethnic collective, but also points to a shared ancestry, history, and cultural identity. The term "Huaxia" was used by the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius's contemporaries during the Warring States period to elucidate the shared ethnicity of all Chinese; Chinese people called themselves "Hua people" (华人; 華人; Huárén).
The Warring States period led to the emergence of the Zhou-era Chinese referring to themselves as being Huaxia (literally 'the beautiful grandeur'): under the Hua–Yi distinction, a "Hua" culture (often translated as 'civilized') was contrasted to that of peoples perceived as "Yi" (often translated as 'barbarian') living on the peripheries of the Zhou kingdoms.
Overseas Chinese who possess non-Chinese citizenship are commonly referred as Huaren or Huazu (华族; 華族; Huázú). The two respective aforementioned terms are applied solely to those with a Han background that is semantically distinct from Zhongguo ren (中国人; 中國人) which has connotations and implications limited to being citizens and nationals of China, especially with regard to ethnic minorities in China.
In English, the terms "Han Chinese", "ethnic Chinese", and "Chinese" people, are often conflated.
The name "Han people" (漢人; 汉人; Hànrén) first appeared during the Northern and Southern period and was inspired by the Han dynasty, which is considered to be one of the first golden ages in Chinese history. As a unified and cohesive empire that succeeded the short-lived Qin dynasty, Han China established itself as the center of the East Asian geopolitical order at the time, projecting its power and influence unto Asian neighbors. It was comparable with the contemporary Roman Empire in population size, geographical extent, and cultural reach. The Han dynasty's prestige and prominence led many of the ancient Huaxia to identify themselves as 'Han people'. Similarly, the Chinese language also came to be named and alluded to as the "Han language" (漢語; 汉语; Hànyǔ) ever since and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters".
The word "Han" (漢/汉) in its original poetic meaning found in ancient Chinese works such as the Classic of Poetry, refers to the "Milky Way."
Prior to the Han dynasty, Chinese scholars used the term Huaxia (華夏; 华夏) in texts to describe China proper, while the Chinese populace were referred to as either the 'various Hua' (諸華; 诸华; Zhūhuá) or 'various Xia' (诸夏; 諸夏; Zhūxià). This gave rise to two term commonly used nowadays by Overseas Chinese as an ethnic identity for the Chinese diaspora – Huaren (華人; 华人; Huárén; 'ethnic Chinese people') and Huaqiao (华侨; 華僑; Huáqiáo; 'the Chinese immigrant'), meaning Overseas Chinese. It has also given rise to the literary name for China – Zhonghua (中華; 中华; Zhōnghuá). While the general term Zhongguo ren (中國人; 中国人) refers to any Chinese citizen or Chinese national regardless of their ethnic origins and does not necessary imply Han ancestry, the term huaren in its narrow, classical usages implies Central Plains or Han ancestry.
Among some Southern Han Chinese varieties such as Cantonese, Hakka and Minnan, the term Tangren (唐人; Tángrén; 'people of Tang'), derived from the name of the later Tang dynasty (618–907) that oversaw what is regarded as another golden age of China. The self-identification as Tangren is popular in south China, because it was at this time that massive waves of migration and settlement led to a shift in the center of gravity of the Chinese nation, away from the tumult of the Central Plains to the peaceful lands south of the Yangtze and on the southeastern coast.
This led to the earnest settlement by Chinese of lands previously regarded as part of the empire's sparsely populated frontier or periphery. Guangdong and Fujian, hitherto regarded as backwater regions, were populated by the descendants of garrison soldiers, exiles and refugees, became new centers and representatives of Han Chinese culture under the influence of the new Han migrants. The term is used in everyday colloquial discourse and is also an element in one of the words for Chinatown: 'streets of Tang people' (唐人街; Tángrénjiē; Tong4 jan4 gaai1). The phrase Huábù (華埠; 华埠) is also used to refer to Chinatowns.
The term Zhonghua minzu is currently used as a supra-ethnic concept, but Liang Qichao, who coined the term, used it between 1902 and 1905 to refer to Han Chinese. At the same time, he proposed the concept of a greater minzu (大民族) that encompasses all ethnicities in China, similar to Americans. Subsequently in 1912 and 1913 under the Republic of China, the union of major ethnic groups was further promoted and made official. In the People's Republic of China today, Han is considered the largest of the fifty-six state-recognized minzu ethnic groups, while the term Chinese emphasizes their common citizenship. In practice however, Chinese and Han are often used as synonyms.
Han Chinese can be divided into subgroups, based on the variety of Chinese that they speak. Waves of migration have occurred throughout China's long history and vast geographical expanse, engendering the emergence of Han Chinese subgroups found throughout the regions of modern China today, with distinct regional features.
The expansion of the Han people outside their linguistic homeland in the Yellow River is an important part of their historical consciousness and ethnogenesis, and accounts for their present-day diversity.
There were several periods of mass migration of Han people to Southeastern and Southern China throughout history. Initially, the sparsely populated regions of south China were inhabited by tribes known only as the Bai Yue or Hundred Yue. Many of these tribes developed into kingdoms under rulers and nobility of Han Chinese ethnicity, but retained a Bai Yue majority for several centuries.
Others were forcibly brought into the Sinosphere by the imperial ambitions of emperors such as Qin Shi Huangdi and Han Wu Di, both of whom settled hundreds of thousands of Chinese in these lands to form agricultural colonies and military garrisons. Even then, control over these lands was tenuous, and Bai Yue cultural identity remained strong until sustained waves of Han Chinese emigration in the Jin, Tang and Song dynasties altered the demographic balance completely.
Chinese language (or Chinese languages) can be divided to 10 primary dialects (or languages).