(1) The formation of the Chinese Han nationality and the ethnic integration in the pre-Qin period.
The gestation period of the Chinese nation is also the first era of great ethnic migration and integration in history. According to legends and archaeological excavations, from the Yanhuang period to the Yao, Shun and Yu periods, the Yanhuang tribes in the middle reaches of the Yellow River constantly collided and merged, formed alliances and pushed eastward, defeated Tai Hao and the group centered on Mount Tai, established a grand alliance of tribes in the Yellow River basin, and defeated the Miaoman group in Jianghan Basin, which became the core of early ethnic integration in China. Therefore, we say that the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River are the cradle and birthplace of Chinese civilization and the prosperous hinterland of the Chinese nation.
Huaxia nationality is the predecessor of Han nationality. The word "Huaxia" is often used to distinguish the nationalities in the Central Plains from the surrounding nationalities (that is, barbarians and soldiers). However, Huaxia was not actually a trip to the Central Plains. After the formation of Xia, Shang and Zhou tribes, it was like the Yangtze River flowing eastward, which contained thousands of waters and merged into a hundred rivers, eventually forming a huge ethnic group. Generally speaking, in the Zhou Dynasty, not only the "China people" in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties worshipped the Yellow Emperor as their ancestor, but also the Rong people, the stone people and the Yi people in China.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, ethnic integration further developed. At that time, the "Hua Yi" in the Central Plains was gradually merging, and the immigrants had been absorbed and merged by China. Around the Central Plains, Qi and Lu annexed foreigners, Qin conquered Xirong, Chu conquered and unified barbarians, and the speed of border ethnic integration and merger was also accelerating. However, after fierce merger, differentiation, absorption and unification, only a few big countries and a few small countries such as Qi, Yan, Han, Zhao and Wei remained in the Warring States period. Even Qin and Chu, once called barbarians, are also called "Zhu Xia" or "China", and have a tendency to further integrate with neighboring nationalities. The local unification of the region laid the foundation for the unification of China, and also provided an important stage for the first national integration with Huaxia nationality as the core in the history of China.
In short, during this period, the Central Plains and its surrounding ethnic groups continued to condense, merge and expand, and merged into a new ethnic group-Huaxia. Since its birth, the Huaxia nationality has frequently collided and communicated with neighboring nationalities through migration, aggregation and national wars, constantly absorbing fresh blood and snowballing into many non-Huaxia clans and tribes. In this way, the ethnic integration with Huaxia nationality as the core in the hinterland of China is an important feature of ethnic integration in this period.
(B) Ethnic integration in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties
Since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the increasingly serious political corruption, the unified multi-ethnic empire has fallen apart. After that, the brief unification of the three countries and the Western Jin Dynasty led to the coexistence of sixteen countries in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the confrontation between the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In more than 300 years of political division and frequent wars, China society is in a huge turbulent vortex. At the same time, due to the great migration and mixed ethnic groups, the unprecedented second great ethnic integration took place in the history of China.
During this period, various ethnic groups closely related to the Han nationality and its predecessor, the Huaxia nationality, suddenly accelerated the process of ethnic integration after they boarded the political stage in the Central Plains, and they dispersed in succession. Many ethnic groups that have established political power have merged with the Han nationality. Whether in the south or the north, the two-way or multi-directional migration and convection between ethnic groups are the characteristics of national integration in this period. That is, some Han people go to the surrounding areas, and the surrounding ethnic minorities come to the mainland.
In the north, ethnic groups such as Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Shi and Qiang, known as the "Five Lakes" in history, came in droves and established many political powers in the Yellow River basin. Generally, no matter which ethnic group is in the dominant position, these ethnic regimes are mostly related to the clan class of the Han nationality; At the same time, the combination of political forces often takes various forms of alliances. Northern nationalities migrated to the Central Plains and established political power. One of the most direct consequences is that Hu and Han live together in the Central Plains, which provides a prerequisite for the integration of all ethnic groups. In the long-term coexistence and intermarriage with the Han nationality, these ethnic groups are interdependent, absorbing each other and establishing countless contacts. Gradually, the differences between them and the Han nationality in economy, culture, language, costumes, surnames, customs and even religious beliefs gradually narrowed and gradually merged with the Han nationality. For example, by the late Northern Wei Dynasty, the ethnic minorities such as Xiongnu, Jie, Shi and Qiang had disappeared from history, while Rouran, Tuguhun and Zile gradually merged with the Han nationality. By the time the Sui Dynasty unified the Yellow River basin, almost all the ethnic minorities who moved from the north to the Central Plains were integrated by the Han nationality, and even the Xianbei nationality finally completed the sinicization. Of course, under the background of national integration in this period, the important event that has to be mentioned is the reform of Emperor Xiaowen in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
After Emperor Xiaowen established the Northern Wei regime, in order to consolidate the rule, develop the economy, enhance the national strength, conform to the development trend of national integration, imitate the Han regime, establish a feudal political system, implement the three-long system and the land equalization system, change Hu's surname to Han's, and change Hu's clothing to Hanfu's, and advocate the marriage between Hu and Han. Among them, the implementation of the equal land system gradually restored and developed the northern economy, which was conducive to the transformation of ethnic minorities from nomadic life to agricultural life and played a powerful role in promoting national integration. Moving the capital to Luoyang can directly accept the advanced culture of the Han nationality and greatly accelerate the integration of the Hu nationality.
In the south, since the Qin and Han Dynasties, many China people or Han people have entered the barbarian areas, southwest Yi and Lingnan areas in large numbers. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, in order to escape the war and heavy taxes, the Han nationality moved to Longyou and Hexi, or moved to Jiangzuo with the Jin family moving south, even in traditional settlements such as barbarians, slang, Liao and Yi. At the same time, Yuzhou people, Man Jing people and Zhou Yong people moved northward, and these people were recruited to the mainland to become editors of the Southern Dynasties. Through this two-way, countercurrent migration and mixed habitation, as well as uninterrupted military conquest, marriage alliance and the establishment of Zuojun County, the phenomenon of Han alienation and Yi Sinicization has become more and more common in southern China.
(3) Song Liao Xia, Jin and Yuan Dynasties.
Since the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, history has entered a period of great unity after experiencing great division and chaos: Liao, Song, Xia, Jin and Yuan. There are two main characteristics of ethnic integration in this period: first, ethnic integration first occurred in areas ruled by various ethnic regimes, that is, mainly in border areas. Secondly, in the process of confrontation, disputes, conflicts and gradual reunification between the Northern Song Dynasty-Liao Dynasty-Xixia and the Southern Song Dynasty-Jin Dynasty-Xixia, the pattern of ethnic separation was changed again due to the great ethnic migration, which promoted the new ethnic integration and laid the foundation for the unprecedented reunification of the Yuan Dynasty.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the establishment of Liao, Xia, Jin and Jin Dynasties promoted the ethnic integration in this region.
Qidan, which established Liao, originated from Xianbei. It gradually developed by conquering the eastern Uighur, Silla, Tubo, Tangut, Shiwei, Shatuo, Gu Wu and other ethnic groups and expanding southward. With the development to the south, the number of Han people under Liao rule increased day by day, and the gap narrowed in the conflict and blending with the Central Plains. The final result of national integration is the formation of Liao culture with Chinese culture as the core and the characteristics of the Qidan nationality and the times.
Xixia was founded by the Tangut, which is an important ethnic group with the Tangut Qiang as the main body, absorbing the elements of the northwest ethnic groups such as Di, Qiang and Tubo. Its development has gone through a long process of national integration. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xixia's power expanded rapidly, forming a tripartite confrontation with the Northern Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty, Jin Dynasty and Southern Song Dynasty. In its heyday, Xixia ruled Ningxia, northern Shaanxi, western Gansu and parts of Inner Mongolia, which contributed to the development, unification and ethnic integration of the northwest region.
Nuzhen, who originated in Blackwater and rose in Northeast China, destroyed Liao, Li and Jin. Jin destroyed Liao, inherited Liao culture, and directly collided with Han culture. Especially in the process of going south, Jin moved a large number of captured Han people to the northeast, and also moved a large number of jurchen people out of their hometown and scattered in Qidan and Han areas. This inter-ethnic migration and integration has promoted ethnic integration and cultural exchange.
In the southern part of the Song Dynasty, the tribes of the Tibetan Plateau under the rule of Tubo, the Wuman and Baiman nationalities under the rule of Dali, and the tribes of the Southern Liao Manchu also strengthened their mutual integration and integration with the Song Dynasty to a certain extent.
During this period, when conflicts and disputes occurred between major political entities, they also conducted frequent exchanges by sending envoys, paying tribute, exchanging markets and marrying, and conducted more extensive economic and cultural exchanges. In this way, not only a large number of ethnic minorities have been integrated into the Han nationality, but also many Han people have been integrated into the ethnic minorities. Specifically, a large number of Khitans entered the Central Plains in the Southern Song Dynasty, and by the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, they had been regarded as Han Chinese by the Yuan government. There are eight kinds of Han people listed in Tao's Record of Dropping out of Farming in Nancun, and the name of "Qidan" gradually disappeared at the end of Yuan Dynasty. From Emperor Taizong of Jin Dynasty to the end of Jin Dynasty, the inward migration of Nuzhen never stopped. In particular, Jin Xuanzong moved his capital to Bianjing because of the oppression of Mongols, and more Nuzhen moved in, accounting for about half of the total number of Nuzhen. They live together with the Han people, intermarry, change their surnames to the Han people and advocate Confucianism. Nuzhen's national characteristics gradually lost. The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty classified Jurchen, Han people and Qidan people as the third class, with the same political treatment, which objectively eliminated the national boundary between Jurchen and Han people and made Jurchen more Chinese. By the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Jurchen in the Central Plains had completely integrated into the Han nationality.
(D) National integration in Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was an important period for the consolidation of China's unified multi-ethnic country. Compared with the previous generation, ethnic integration and ethnic exchanges at this time are magnificent, with climax after climax, and present some new characteristics.
First of all, the great integration of Manchu, Han and other nationalities has been realized. As early as when the Qing army entered the customs, there was already contact between Manchu and Han. After the Qing army entered Shanhaiguan, Manchu moved into Shanhaiguan in large numbers, which objectively broke the geographical boundary between Manchu and Han and formed a mixed situation. At the same time, in order to consolidate the rule, Manchu rulers also actively sought to unite with the Han landlord class and other ethnic minorities. In this way, in the long-term multi-ethnic coexistence, Manchu has developed and expanded because of its integration into the Han nationality and other ethnic groups. At the same time, some members have separated and integrated into other ethnic groups. This kind of consanguineous exchange is not only beneficial to the integration of Manchu and Han, but also close the relationship between fraternal peoples.
Secondly, compared with the previous generation, ethnic integration in border areas has been strengthened. In the early Qing Dynasty, 55 ethnic minorities in China had basically formed today's pattern, mainly concentrated in border areas, showing a state of mixed residence, small settlements and widespread dispersion. After the Qing Dynasty made Beijing its capital, it put down the separatist activities in Junggar and the rebellion in Hezhuo, and gave titles to Tibetan religious leaders and ministers stationed in Tibet, thus strengthening the control and management of border areas. Objectively speaking, this not only strengthens the connection between the frontier and the mainland, but also facilitates the integration of all ethnic groups in the frontier. For example, in the management of the northern frontier in the Qing Dynasty, the Hezhe, Daur, Oroqen and Ewenki nationalities scattered in Heilongjiang and Wusuli River basins were first moved to the hinterland of Northeast China. Then, after years of campaigns, he took control of the Mongolian plateau and the western regions, promoted the "Union Flag System" and ruled all Mongolian ministries. At the same time, due to war, famine, famine and many other reasons, the Han people in the mainland also flowed into the northern frontier in large numbers and lived together with other ethnic groups. In the vast areas of the north, the wandering and living together of different ethnic groups has set off a climax of ethnic integration with the integration of Han, Manchu and Mongolian as the core, and Uygur, Daur, Ewenki, Oroqen and other ethnic groups have also participated in it.
Third, the people of all ethnic groups have strengthened their cohesion, communication and integration in jointly opposing Qing rule and resisting foreign invasion. At the beginning of entering the customs, Manchu nobles had implemented a series of policies to disturb the people, such as enclosure, charging and tonsure. In the process of cutting off the Nanming regime and pacifying the "San Francisco" war in the south, the Eight Banners army also harassed the people of China. These policies once caused class opposition and resistance of all ethnic groups, and objectively strengthened the ties between the people of all ethnic groups in their common resistance to Qing rule. The rule of the late Qing Dynasty became increasingly decadent, and the great powers got their hands on China one after another. In the case of internal troubles and foreign invasion, in the struggle of sharing weal and woe, it has promoted the awakening and unity of the Chinese nation and strengthened the cohesion and integration of all ethnic groups.