Huaxia

Huaxia
The Yellow River Breaches its Course by Ma Yuan, Song dynasty
Traditional Chinese	華夏
Simplified Chinese	华夏
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Huáxià Wade–Giles Hua2-hsia4 Wu Romanization gho ya Gan Romanization fa4 ha5 Hakka Romanization fa11 ha55 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping waa4 haa6 Southern Min Hokkien POJ hôa-hā

Huaxia (Hua-hsia; 華夏) is a historical concept representing the Chinese nation and civilization. It came forth out of a self-awareness of the Han Chinese people towards their ancestral tribes, collectively known as the Huaxia.

Etymology

According to the Zuo Zhuan, xia (夏)—which has the meaning of "grand"—was used to signify the ceremonial etiquette of China, while hua (華)—as it means "illustrious"—was used in reference to the beautiful clothing that the Chinese people wore (中國有禮儀之大，故稱夏；有服章之美，謂之華).

History

Origin

In the original sense, Huaxia refers to a confederation of tribes—living along the Yellow River—who were the ancestors of what later became the Han ethnic group in China. During the Warring States (475–221 BC), the self-awareness of the Huaxia identity developed and took hold in ancient China. Initially, Huaxia defined mainly a civilized society that was distinct and stood in contrast to what was perceived as the barbaric peoples around them.

Modern usage

Although still used in conjunction, the Chinese characters for Hua and Xia are also used separately as autonyms.

The official Chinese names of both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) use the term Huaxia in combination with the term Zhongguo (中國/中国, translated as "Middle Kingdom"), that is, as Zhonghua (中華/中华). The PRC's official Chinese name is Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo (中华人民共和国), while that of the ROC is Zhonghua Minguo (中華民國). Today, the term Zhongguo usually refers to the nation itself and Zhonghua to the civilization.

Chinese people commonly call themselves Huaren (華人), an abbreviation of Huaxia with ren (people).

See also

• Yan Huang Zisun, literally "descendants of Yan and Huang"
• Hua–Yi distinction
• Nine Provinces

References

• Liu 2005, p. 9
• Cioffi-Revilla & Lai 1995, pp. 471–72.
• Selin 1997, p. 197.
• Guo & Feng 1997, p. 197.
• Holcombe 2010, p. 7.
• Solé-Farràs 2013, p. 93.