Chinese Nation - Han nationality

The Han nationality is distributed in all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, with a population of more than 1137.3861 million, accounting for 91.59% of the total population in 2000. The Han nationality is not only China but also the most populous nationality in the world. Han nationality is also the main ethnic group in other parts of the country. If you dare (full name: the first SAR of Shan State in Myanmar) (the proportion of Han population is 93%), Singapore (77%), Christmas Island (Australia) (61%), Penang (Malaysia) (56%). At the same time, it is also one of the important ethnic groups in many countries.

Among the brilliant technological achievements of ancient China, the four great inventions mentioned below have the greatest influence on the development of science and technology and the historical process of the world.

(1) Papermaking: according to archaeological findings, there was paper in China about the 1st century BC, but at that time, the paper was only a by-product of the textile industry, which was low in output and poor in quality, and could not be used for writing. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, based on previous experience, Cai Lun made bold reforms and innovations in papermaking. In addition to using hemp as raw material, it also uses bark and other things containing fiber. The production and quality of paper are greatly improved by using the technology of lime alkali cooking. Since then, the paper began to replace bamboo and silk and spread throughout the country. After the 6th century, the papermaking technology of our country continued to spread. Korea, Japan, Arabia, Europe, and other places have learned papermaking. Since then, the paper has become an important tool to spread culture and exchange ideas.

(2) Printing: after the invention of Chinese papermaking, printing also came into being due to the need to publishing books. At the beginning of the 6th century, the earliest engraving printing appeared in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. This kind of printing generally uses wood as raw material, first engraves the reverse character on the board, then paints the ink on the board, and prints on the paper. Because of saving labor and time. It soon became popular. In the Song Dynasty, engraving printing reached its peak. In 971, Emperor Taizu of the Song dynasty printed Dazangjing in Chengdu, with a total of 5048 volumes and 130000 engravings, which took 12 years to complete. Such large-scale printing is enough to show that engraving printing has reached a fairly high level.

From 1041 to 1048, Bi Sheng, a sculptor, created movable type printing. That is to make a blank of the same specification with clay and carve a single inverted word on one end and then burn it hard to form a single clay type. The appearance of movable type printing is a great revolution in the history of printing. In Yuan Dynasty, Wang Zhen changed clay type to wood type and created the wheel typesetting frame. After that, the movable types made of tin, copper, lead, and other metal materials appeared. Movable type printing was spread to Korea and Japan after the 13th century, and it was not until the middle of the 15th century that Europe mastered it. Movable type printing is another great contribution made by Chinese people for mankind.

(3) Gunpowder: gunpowder was invented in the process of alchemy. From the 8th to 9th century, alchemists already knew that when sulfur, niter, and charcoal were mixed and burned, violent reactions would occur. In this way, the black powder with these three materials as raw materials was invented in the Tang Dynasty. By the Song and Yuan Dynasties, various drug ingredients had a reasonable quantitative ratio and were first used in the military. The earliest gun, musket, rocket, mine, bomb, and other gunpowder weapons appeared. The bronze fire mirror collected in the Museum of Chinese history was made in 1332. It is the earliest copper gun found in the world at present. Because it relies on gunpowder as the driving force, it has great power and is called “copper general”. Gunpowder spread to Arab countries in the 13th century, and the Arab and Persian countries called gunpowder “Chinese Snow”. After the 14th century, the technology of making gunpowder weapons in China spread to Europe through Arabia.

(4) Compass: the earliest compass appeared in the Warring States period. At that time, the natural magnet was ground into a spoon shape, and it was put on a particularly smooth site for guidance. It was called Sinan. In the late Song Dynasty, it was found that iron and steel could produce magnetism after grinding on the magnet. So there is a compass made of this material. Due to the need for the development of navigation, people began to use the floating compass as the raw material to distinguish the direction on rainy days. By Yuan Dynasty, navigation had been completely guided by compass. With the development of foreign trade and maritime transportation, compass and its application technology spread to the Arab region and soon to Europe.

There is no religion of the Han nationality that the whole nation believes in, but the concept of “animism” handed down from ancient times and the worship of nature have always affected the folk beliefs of the Han nationality. Because of the belief that there are supernatural spirits with personality and consciousness dominating the material world, the Han people have always believed in “immortals”. There were many gods worshipped by Han people in ancient times.

The Han nationality has a long history, passed down from generation to generation, and gradually formed a complete system of national traditional festivals. In a year, the main festivals are listed in the order of the lunar calendar.

The first day of the first month is new year’s day, that is, the Spring Festival. The seventh day of the first month is man’s day. The 15th day of the first month is Shangyuan Festival, also known as Lantern Festival or Lantern Festival. February 12 is the flower festival, also known as the hundred flowers’ birthday. March 3 is Shangji Festival, also known as Xiuyi Festival. In March, there is Qingming Festival, and the cold food festival falls on the second day (or the first day) before Qingming. The eighth day of April is Buddha’s day. The fifth day of May is the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival. The seventh day of July is Qixi, which is called Qiqiao festival or daughter’s day. July 15 is Zhongyuan Festival, also known as the ghost festival. August 15 is the Mid Autumn Festival. The ninth day of September is the Double Ninth Festival. There is winter solstice in November. The night of the last day of December is new year’s Eve. Also, there are commune days, which are divided into spring commune and autumn commune. They are the days for farmers to pray for the new year; on the day of Fu, they sacrifice to the hermit to avoid the heat; on the day of La, they sacrifice to the gods to drive away from the disease.

Up to now, the most prosperous, grand, and lively festivals of Han nationality are Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid Autumn Festival.

Spring Festival is the grandest festival of the year. It usually starts from Lunar New Year’s Eve, dust collection, sending kitchen king, hanging New Year pictures, and pasting Spring Festival couplets. It has a reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, commonly known as “New Year’s Eve dinner”. It reaches a climax at the beginning of the first month. The main activity during the Spring Festival is “New Year’s greetings”. In general, the elder should give some “lucky money” to the younger generation. Men, women, and children all wear new clothes and dress up. During the festival, a variety of cultural and sports activities will be carried out. There are many taboos in festivals. If you can’t sweep the floor, don’t say unlucky words, don’t cook with women, and most of them are for the good fortune. In addition to breaking some superstitious customs, the rest are still popular.

In addition to tomb sweeping and ancestor worship, the ancient Han people also carried out kite flying, swing, shuttlecock kicking, Cuju (football, Polo), and other cultural and sports activities. Some also have the custom of outing and planting willows. Now, in addition to paying homage to the ancestors’ tombs, young students also pay homage to the martyrs’ cemeteries in memory of the revolutionary martyrs. The festival food in the south is mostly Qingming fruit.

The main customs of the Dragon Boat Festival are that every household should make and eat zongzi, hang Acorus calamus and Artemisia Argyi leaves on the door, spray realgar wine on the corner of the house; children should hang sachets and draw the word “King” with realgar wine on their forehead; adults drink realgar wine. The main activity is the dragon boat race.

The main customs of the Mid Autumn Festival are to eat reunion dinner, eat moon cakes, worship the moon and enjoy the moon.

Han nationality has its own long and beautiful clothing, namely Hanfu. Hanfu, whose full name is “traditional costume of Han nationality”, also known as Hannigan, Hanzhuang, and Huafu, is a unique Han nationality style and character formed through a natural evolution in the main residential areas of Han nationality from the Yellow Emperor’s accession to the throne to the middle of the 17th century (late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty), with “Huaxia Han” culture as the background and leading ideology, and Chinese etiquette culture as the center. Its main features are the cross collar, right lapel, waist, tied with a rope, also with a hook, giving people the impression of free and elegant.

From the legendary Yellow Emperor to the difficulty of Jiashen (1644). After the Qing army entered the pass in 1644, a highly centralized government with Manchu as the core was established. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty ordered the whole country to shave hair and change clothes, while Han clothes gradually disappeared.

In 1683, the Qing army entered Taiwan and destroyed more than Zheng Chenggong’s troops. From then on, Hanfu completely disappeared from the daily life of the Chinese nation. After more than 200 years of rule in the Qing Dynasty, today’s Han people gradually forget their clothes and become the only people in the world who don’t have their own national costumes. Today people see Tang costumes, cheongsam, and long gowns are all Manchu national costumes or improvements.

At the beginning of the 21st century, more and more Han people wear Hanfu again. At the same time, through the restoration of traditional festivals, the restoration of traditional rituals, the sacrifice of the sages, the promotion of traditional theories, the promotion of traditional musical instruments, and so on, they re-publicize the restoration of traditional Hanfu and wear Hanfu for promotion. This spontaneous movement is called the Hanfu movement.