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Placing Race, Culture, and the State in Chinese National Identity: Han , Hua , or Zhongguo ?
Author(s) -
Rae James DeShaw,
Wang Xiaodan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
asian politics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.193
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1943-0787
pISSN - 1943-0779
DOI - 10.1111/aspp.12263
Subject(s) - chauvinism , nationalism , china , national identity , harmony (color) , gender studies , identity (music) , ethnic group , sociology , state (computer science) , political science , law , anthropology , politics , aesthetics , philosophy , art , computer science , visual arts , algorithm
This article unpacks the contemporary relationship among racial, cultural, and civic notions of the concept of the Chinese nation ( Zhonghua Minzu 中华民族), specifically examining Han (汉), Hua (华), and Zhongguo (中国) as categories representative of each identity marker. It examines the relationship between Han and Chinese identities and how people from multiple ethnic identities relate to the idea of the Chinese nation. Han identity is often fused with the larger Chinese identity that in the past conflated the two, sometimes leading to Han chauvinism and a problematic relationship with the state for non‐Han people. Government orthodoxy that emphasizes civic harmony and minimizes national distinction is challenged by exclusive ethnic and racial conceptions. A classical cultural understanding of Chinese identity may be more inclusive yet is undermined by the ongoing territorializing of Chinese nationalism and myth making of Chinese identity in ethno‐national rhetoric.