Origin The
Han-era historian
Sima Qian asserts that "Xia" was the name of the state
enfeoffed to legendary king
Yu the Great, and Yu used it as his
surname. In modern historiography, Huaxia refers to a confederation of tribes living along the
Yellow River who were the ancestors of what later became the
Han nation in China. During the
Warring States (475–221 BCE), self-awareness of a Huaxia identity developed and took hold in ancient China. The Huaxia identity arose in the Eastern Zhou period as a reaction to the increased conflict with the Rong and Di peoples who migrated into the Zhou lands and extinguished some Zhou states.
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 (, translated as "Middle Kingdom" or "Middle State"), that is, as
Zhonghua (). The PRC's official Chinese name is
Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo (), while that of the ROC is
Zhonghua Minguo (). The term
Zhongguo is confined by its association to a state, whereas
Zhonghua mainly concerns culture.
Huaren in general is used for people of Chinese ethnicity, in contrast to
Zhongguoren () which usually (but not always) refers to citizens of China. In overseas Chinese communities in countries such as
Singapore and
Malaysia,
Huaren or
Huaqiao (overseas Chinese) is used as they are also not citizens of China. == See also ==