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北京大学英语新闻网/Peking University News
the former dynasty and offering the Feng and Shan sacrifices and that for Confucius.
Therefore, no matter whether the Han ethnic group reigned or the surrounding ethnic
groups ruled on the Central Plains, it can be said that the culture and lineage of the
ethnic groups were never disrupted.
According to Mr. Wang Tongling, the history of the development of the Chinese
nation can be divided into eight stages: a. the embryo stage of the Han ethnic group
(from the primeval times to the times of Emperors Yao and Shun and the Three
Dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou), b. the first degeneration stage of the Han ethnic
group (the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring State period), c. the first
restoration stage of the Han ethnic group (the Qin and Han Dynasties), d. the second
degeneration state of the Han ethnic group (the Three Kingdoms, the Two Jin
Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties), e. the second restoration
stage of the Han ethnic group (the Sui and Tang Dynasties), f. the third degeneration
stage of the Han ethnic group (the Five Dynasties and the Song and Yuan
Dynasties), g. the third restoration stage of the Han ethnic group (the Ming Dynasty),
and h. the fourth degeneration stage of the Han ethnic group (the Qing Dynasty).
Prof. Fei Xiaotong published in 1989 the article of ―the Pattern of Diversity in Unity of
the Chinese Nation‖, in which he believed that ―the three Dynasties of Xia, Shang
and Zhou was the historical process when the Huaxia ethnic group cluster, the
predecessor of the Han ethnic group, developed from a diversified one into an
integrated one. ……The over 500 years of the Spring and Autumn period and the
Warring States period, …… were a period when the Han ethnic group took shape as
an ethnic entity. This is consistent with the ―embryo stage of the Han ethnic group‖
proposed by Wang Tongling. The article of Prof. Fei is also a summary of the
ethnology of the Chinese nation. The core idea of the paper is the analysis on how
the ―Chinese nation‖ gradually evolved by stages and levels into a structure of
―diversified pattern in unity‖. Wang Tongling and Lin Huixiang both supported the
―theories of ethnic group merging‖ and ―Han ethnic group dominance‖ in the
development history of the Chinese nation, while, differently from them, Prof. Fei
Xiaotong noticed that there was a transitional stage from ―local diversity in unity‖ to
―global diversity in unity‖ in such a process. Specifically speaking, there were two
local ―entities of unity‖ of the agricultural regions on the Central Plains and the
husbandry regions of the north in constant contacts and seesaw battles between
each other. In the Yuan Dynasty there was a momentary ―major unity‖ of the two.
However, it was not until the Qing Dynasty that the two local entity of unity were
firmly merged.
The ethnic groups in China today have been evolved from those in history, so the
study of ethnic groups should never ignore the history.
China Reading Weekly: Besides the reference to the historical experience in China,
what are the current research results in the world that the current study on the ethnic
issues in China needs to borrow from?
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