"Zuo Zhuan" records: "To serve the Xia." "Chu eats China." "Shang does not seek Xia, and barbarians do not disrupt China." From this, we know that our people have been since ancient times. We call ourselves Zhuxia, Huaxia, or just Xia or Hua. After the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States, Huaxia became the name of our race. The other ethnic groups are called Yi, Di, Rong, and Man.
So, how did the Huaxia tribe come into being?
We say that the formation of a nation requires a long period of running-in, integration and even sacrifice before it can be condensed into a nation with the same language, the same emotions, and the same culture. , the same economy, and the same territory. It can be said that the formation of a nation is a history of barbaric struggle and a history of civilization and unity.
The Chinese people referred to in the Qin and Han Dynasties actually originated from the three major ethnic groups of Huaxia, Dongyi and Nanman in ancient times. Among the three major groups, the representatives of the Huaxia Group are called Emperor Yan and Emperor Huang. During the decline of Yan Emperor Shennong's clan, Huang Emperor's Xuanyuan clan was "accustomed to using fighting to conquer but not gain anything". After the Battle of Banquan and the Battle of Zhuolu, the Yellow Emperor eliminated dissidents, merged, integrated and unified many ethnic groups in the Central Plains, forming a The main body of the Chinese ethnic group. The three major groups of Huaxia, Dongyi, and Nanman are the core parts of the Huaxia tribe. The Huaxia Group originated on the Loess Plateau in present-day Shaanxi Province. It has gradually spread along both sides of the Yellow River in some places in northern and central China before history began. The representative of the Dongyi clan is the Taihao clan. The legendary Yellow Emperor fought with Chi You, the most rude among the princes, in Zhuolu, and captured and killed Chi You. This Chi You belonged to the Dongyi Group. The area inhabited by the Dongyi Group extends from northern Shandong in the north, to eastern Henan in the west, to the extreme south of Henan in the southwest, to the central part of Anhui in the south, and to the sea in the east. The representatives of the Nanman group are Fuxi and Nuwa. The geographical area of ??this group is centered on Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and other places. The formation process of the Huaxia tribe is the process of long-term struggle and mutual integration between the three tribal groups of Huaxia, Dongyi and Nanman. After war, the victor becomes stronger and stronger. "Historical Records" says that the Yellow Emperor "went to the sea in the east, climbed Wanshan, and Daizong. In the west, he went to Kongtong, and climbed to Jitou. In the south, he went to Jiang, and climbed to Xiongxiang. In the north, he drove xunyu, which is consistent with Busan, and the city is in Zhuo. "Lu Zhi'a." That is to say, the Yellow Emperor surrendered to Emperor Yan and some other tribes, and his power reached Bohai in the east, Gansu in the west, the Yangtze River in the south, and Youling in the north, and established an "imperial capital" in Zhuolu County, Hebei Province today. An early "country" that was powerful and relatively stable. With the passage of time and the development of history, the Huaxia Group of the Yellow Emperor and his descendants continued to merge with other tribes. The intermarriage between the two daughters of the Yu family, Yu Shun, and the Tao Tang family, Emperor Yao, meant the further integration of the Huaxia Group and the Dongyi Group. Emperor Shun's conquest of Sanmiao means that a harmonious nation is greater than hatred, friendship is greater than competition, unity is greater than disunity, intermarriage from generation to generation, and a unified body of national integration that continues to multiply and thrive - the Huaxia tribe has basically been formed.
According to what was said before, the Chinese ethnic group had been formed as early as the Yao and Shun periods. However, there are also dissenters in the field of history who believe that the Huaxia clan was only formed during the Xia Dynasty. Scholars who hold this view believe that the formation of a nation is based on the purpose of destroying clan tribes and diluting the concept of blood relationship. The formation of this national unity and the establishment of the Xia Dynasty state were a simultaneous historical process. At the end of primitive society, the social structure of the Yan and Huang era was composed of families, clans, phratry and tribes, which did not conform to the laws of national development.
It is believed that the concept of the Huaxia tribe was only formed in the Xia Dynasty, based on the formation of the country as the basis for the formation of the Huaxia tribe. However, according to modern archaeological discoveries and research, the formation of the country should be pushed back more than a thousand years from the Xia Dynasty. So, it seems backward to think that the Huaxia clan was only formed in the Xia Dynasty. The long-term backward concept comes from the fact that we not only do not understand the history of our country before the Xia Dynasty, but we are unwilling to study it in depth. We only know the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty, and we think that China had only legends and no history in the past. This concept has always constrained the thinking of Chinese historians.
Some scholars believe that the Huaxia tribe originated from the Shang, Zhou and Warring States periods. In fact, the process of forming a nation is long and arduous, often going through repeated processes of division, reunification, re-division, and re-unification. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately state in which dynasty and generation it was born. For example, the Han nationality was formed on the basis of the Huaxia nationality formed during the Yao and Shun periods. It went through the national unification of the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Spring and Autumn, Warring States, Qin, and Han dynasties, and continued to integrate with surrounding ethnic minorities before it developed and became a unique nation. The splendid ancient civilization and the vast population of the Han nation.
"Shang Shu·Wucheng" said: "China is barbaric and will not lead others." "Xia is a big country. Therefore, the big country is called Xia. Huaxia is called China." "Cao Zijian" written by Wei Caozhi of the Three Kingdoms "Collection" said: "Deterrence of thousands of vehicles, China dominates." "Shuowen" explains "Huaxia" this way: "China, tea and beauty." That is to say, "Huaxia" means the beautiful and prosperous Central Plains region Produce powerful countries and nations. "Zuo Zhuan" says: "China is called Xia because of its great etiquette, and it is called Hua because of its beauty in uniforms." It also says: "The color of the official uniforms is called Hua, and the great country is called Xia." This is actually not the original intention of Huaxia. But it is an extended word.
Huaxia" is the predecessor of the Han people. The Huaxia people believe that the Central Plains resides in the four directions, so they call the place where they live Zhonghua. Huaxia and Zhonghua initially referred to the Central Plains region of our country, and later included the entire territory of our country. ——Everything under its jurisdiction is called Huaxia or Zhonghua, also known as China.
The Chinese nation is the collective name for all the ethnic groups in our country. It is not only a bloodline concept, but also a geographical concept and a cultural concept. It constitutes a national whole with bloodline, geographical location and cultural identity. Integrated into the long history