What Was The Effect Of The Han Dynasty

1504 Words7 Pages

Compared to many modern nations-states, the political upheaval that China has faced in the past 100 years has created a multitude of effects on various aspects of Chinese life, especially surrounding the idea of ethnicity. Starting in the early 1900s, Kuomintang leader Sun Yat-sen began to sow the seeds of Han dominance in China, who now makes up approximately 92% of Chinese’s people ethnicities. Sun Yat-sen, looking for a way to overthrow the Qing, a Manchu and non-Han dynasty, used the the idea of being “Han” to rally the Chinese people to a common cause of overthrowing their outside rulers. By using this method to unite the Chinese people, however, he sparked a chain of events that are still being felt today. After the defeat of the Kuomintang …show more content…

From the effects of Mao and Sun, the social hierarchy of China became a pyramid, with the Han sitting on top and a zu’s influence becoming less and less as one goes down. With there now totaling 56 official ethnicities in China, the contrast between some of them is quite striking. Agnieszka Joniak-Lüthi, author of The Han, conducted extensive research in ethnic identity within China’s population. Through this research, the division and system of comparison between ethnicities is apparent, as she states, “an overwhelming majority of research participants identified ‘the Han’ in relation to other minzu of China.” Societal hierarchy became based not only on where you were from or what your occupation was, but also by your ethnicity and the so-called intrinsic qualities that come with it. As Lüthi states, the Han are, “linked with modernity, advancement, and openness,” while minorities are often seen as, “feudal” and “uncivilized”. This prejudice permeates Chinese society, from jobs, housing, schooling, and much more. From this the ethnic minorities at birth are handicapped by this belief that their ability is intrinsically lesser than that of the Han. Some of the most visible examples of this division are the Muslim minorities of China, specifically the Uyghurs and the

Open Document