History of the first day of junior high school: Why do we call ourselves descendants of the Chinese people?

There used to be two tribes in this hot land of China. Their leaders were Emperor Yan and Yellow Emperor respectively. In today's middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, after numerous wars, migrations and integrations, today's Chinese nation has gradually formed. So we are all descendants of the Chinese people and are called descendants of the Chinese people.

The Chinese nation has two nicknames, one is "Chinese children" and the other is "Chinese descendants" (or just "Chinese descendants"). These two appellations can sometimes be used universally, and both refer to the Chinese nation. However, there are some differences between Datong. The term "Chinese children" only appeared in modern times, and its meaning is biased towards culture (it is a group that accepts Chinese culture); The term "descendants of the Chinese people" (or descendants of the Chinese people) has existed since ancient times, and its meaning focuses on blood (ancestors of the same ancestry). Therefore, some ethnic minorities can accept the term "sons and daughters of China" instead of "descendants of the Chinese people" (or "descendants of the Yellow Emperor").

The formation of a nation, first of all, comes from blood. Secondly, it is because of culture. In primitive society, a group of people can live together for a long time, probably a family and a clan forever. In the future, when the tribe grows stronger, it will accept people of different blood ties to participate. Among thousands of ethnic groups in the world, some pay special attention to consanguinity, thinking that blood is thicker than water and exclusive, and it is difficult to accept the participation of outsiders; Some ethnic groups attach importance to culture. As long as outsiders accept our culture, we welcome their participation and do not exclude them. The Chinese nation was a complex composed of many tribes at the beginning of its formation, and later it also showed the characteristics of attaching importance to culture and not paying much attention to blood relationship in its development.

It is precisely because the Chinese nation has a long tradition of attaching importance to culture over consanguinity that the name "Chinese sons and daughters" with strong cultural color is more easily accepted by everyone than the name "descendants of the Yellow Emperor" with strong blood color. Professor Tan Qixiang, a famous historical geographer in China, is the strongest opponent of the name "descendants of the Yellow Emperor". 199 1 In May, when we met in Shanghai to discuss this issue, he pointed out that the theory of "descendants of the Yellow Emperor" was against historical facts, because the Chinese nation had multiple sources, that is, it had no ancestors. The theory of "descendants of the Chinese people" is neither scientific nor conducive to the unity of all ethnic groups in China. Therefore, he believes that the term "China people" should not be used in academic research and formal occasions.

1August, 1996, the author visited the minority areas in western Yunnan and heard some Yi scholars put forward the viewpoint of "Yi people in China", which is worthy of recognition and appreciation. Because the word "China" refers to cultural inheritance, the word "Yi" refers to blood relationship, and "China Yi" is a descendant of the Yi who accepted the culture of China. Its meaning is both simple and thoughtful.

The theory of "descendants of the Chinese people" involves the origin of the Chinese nation. For a long time, we have been used to the monism of China's national history. That is: China for five thousand years. The ancestor of the Chinese nation is the Yellow Emperor, the birthplace of the Chinese nation is the Northwest Loess Plateau, and the Yellow River is our mother river. The spread of Chinese civilization centers on its birthplace and then radiates in all directions. In short, it is a nation, an ancestor, a birthplace and a mother river. Chinese civilization has only one center, and it has gradually spread in all directions. Is the historical truth really like this? Absolutely not. This framework of ancient history was established by Sima Qian in his book Historical Records. At that time, Sima Qian could not speak freely. He knew that Fuxi, who was born in Dongyi, and Shennong, who was born in Nanman, had a longer history than Huangdi, who was born in Xirong. But Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty compared himself with the Yellow Emperor, and he had to regard the Yellow Emperor as the ancestor of the Chinese nation. But he had to give in, just revealing some real situations between the lines, hoping that readers would be "studious and thoughtful" and understand the truth by themselves.

In modern times, the archaeological work in China has just started. Mr. Xu, a famous archaeologist, and Mr. Meng, a famous historian, first challenged China's monism of national history, boldly pointing out that in the legendary Huangdi era, there were at least three ethnic groups in China, and each ethnic group made great contributions to the creation of Chinese civilization. Confucian Confucius and Mencius were born in Dongyi Group, and Taoist Laozi and Zhuangzi were born in Nanman Group. The Chinese nation is not just a descendant of Yanhuang or Huangdi.

Later, due to more and more archaeological discoveries in the Baiyue area of Southeast China, the origin of the Chinese nation and civilization was revised from the past three-point method to the four-point method. No matter whether it is three or four points, the monism of China's national history is always completely overthrown.

Therefore, "descendants of the Chinese people" or "descendants of the Chinese people" are used to represent the "Chinese nation".