Chapter 40 Chapter Six

In the history of the formation and development of the Chinese nation, there have been four major national fusions. The first time started from the Xia Dynasty and lasted about 1,500 years during the Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasties. This was a period of high integration between the Huaxia nation and the surrounding nations.During this period, the Huaxia people used the means of military conquest to integrate Dongyi, Hu, Guifang, Xirong, Sanmiao, Yue, Di, Ba, Wusun and other ethnic groups into one body, forming the main body of the Chinese nation. Nationality - Han nationality. The second time occurred during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. It was characterized by the migration and evolution of ethnic groups in a convective state, that is, some Han people moved to the surrounding areas, while the surrounding ethnic minorities were either forced and invited by the Han people or invaded by force. In short, it is pouring into the mainland in batches.The result was that the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Di, Qiang and other ethnic groups were assimilated and disappeared by the Han nationality.

The third great integration of ethnic groups took place roughly during the Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties. It was characterized by being carried out in the frontier areas, and the Dangxiang, Khitan, Jurchen and other ethnic minorities were integrated into the Han nationality. The fourth time occurred in the Qing Dynasty when the Manchus ruled the Central Plains. During this period, the great integration of ethnic groups laid the foundation for the territory of modern China and the Chinese nation. According to relevant meteorological data, there have been four cold periods in China in the past five thousand years, and the lowest temperature was around 1000 BC, 400 AD, 1200 AD, and 1700 AD.The cold climate made the living environment of the northern nomads difficult, and they had to go south to plunder and invade.The peak period of the integration of the Chinese nation coincided with the time when the nomadic people went south to the Central Plains: the first time was the large-scale southward invasion of the northern Di people in the late Western Zhou Dynasty; During the period, the Khitan, Jurchen, and Mongols went south continuously, and the Qing court entered the customs for the fourth time.

Interestingly, every southward invasion of the northern nomads is mostly similar to a meteorological cold wave, which accumulates in the Mongolian Plateau and southern Siberia, forming a high-pressure cold air mass that is about to move.Whenever the Central Plains dynasty declines or there is civil strife, they drive southward like a low pressure overwhelming the sky.The weaker the Central Plains and the more chaotic the Senai, the faster and deeper they went south. The Northern Wei Dynasty established by the Tuoba tribe of Xianbei is a good example.Before these nomadic peoples invaded the South, they were all regarded as uncivilized barbarians by the Lord of the Central Plains, and they were called "barbarians" scornfully.And once this nomadic people who broke into the interior became the new lord of the Central Plains, a nation that was as backward and barbaric as it used to be would inevitably appear in the north, and then there would be a new round of invasion and dynasty change.For example, the Northern Song Dynasty was invaded by the Liao Dynasty established by the Khitan people, and the Liao Dynasty was destroyed by the Jurchen Jin Dynasty; and the Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the Mongols who came up later. .Every time the barbarians invaded, it brought a huge and tragic catastrophe to the farming culture of the Central Plains, and the people of the Central Plains who were proficient in farming, well-developed in mind, and weak in physique could not fight against the nomads like scourges.What they can do is to overcome rigidity with softness, and gradually assimilate those brutal minorities with a flexible character, a broad mind, a secular philosophy, and a warm life in the endless history.Except for the Mongols who voluntarily withdrew from the Central Plains under the attack of the peasant uprising army in the early Ming Dynasty, other foreign races, as long as they lived in this territory for a long time, all became part of the Han people without exception.Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, the main ethnic groups that have integrated into the Han nationality in whole or in part include Xianbei, Khitan, Jurchen, Shiwei, Tatar, Huns, Turks, Huihe, Dangxiang, Baiman, Liuzhao, etc.And every fusion adds new ingredients and injects new vitality into the blood of the Han nationality.

The Central Plains is not only a magical land, but the Han nationality is also a magical nation that seems to melt all heterogeneous nations.No matter how powerful, how brave, how barbaric, and how rich these ethnic groups are, as long as they live in the Central Plains for a long time and communicate with the Han people for a long time, they will unknowingly change their own personality and characteristics, and integrate with the Han people as a whole .The internal assimilation and cohesion of the Han nationality, which seems to be in a state of disunity, is unbelievably strong and awe-inspiring.That is to say, Gypsies and Jews, two of the most distinctive and most difficult to assimilate ethnic groups in the world, are no exception.

Forced by wars and famines, the Gypsies left India in the 10th century and began to migrate in groups.They do not have a fixed home, and they wander around in caravans as a means of transportation and housing, and their footprints are all over Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia.They don't care about agriculture and mulberry, but are good at music, love singing and dancing, and like to live a wandering life without a fixed place. They make a living by divination, selling medicine, performing arts, begging, animal taming, repairing and other traditional occupations.Wherever they go, they do not follow the Romans, and until today, they still strongly maintain their own national characteristics.However, those gypsies who entered China were like a few raindrops falling on the desert, and quickly integrated with the farming culture of the Han nationality.Searching through the history books, it is difficult to find records about them.

The Jews have their own religion. They were conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC and lost their homeland. Since then, they have lived in exile for nearly two thousand years.They have also been scattered all over the world. Even though they suffered bloody massacres, they have stubbornly maintained their religious beliefs and living habits.The earliest Jews who entered China were around the 10th century AD, and by the 12th century, a large number of Jews lived in Kaifeng to do business.At the beginning, they can also maintain the extremely unique personality of their own nation.Oppression leads to resistance, tolerance leads to harmony, and harmony leads to assimilation.The tolerant, broad and flexible mind of Han traditional culture is unconsciously changing and shaping them.Gradually, they lived together with Han people, changed their Chinese surnames, used Chinese names, spoke Chinese, and intermarried with Han people.As a result, their traditional language disappeared, their living habits changed, and their original physical signs and traditional images (such as the eagle nose) also changed, making them no different from the Han people.The Han people have no real religion, so they converted from the old Judaism to the local Islam, and they also advocated and believed in the Confucian moral and ethical theory.By the second half of the 19th century, the Kaifeng Jews had been completely assimilated.This is probably also a special exception in the history of the Jewish nation.

Why does the Chinese nation have such a huge assimilation power?What is the reason?It is far beyond what this article can undertake to crack this complex password.In the process of analyzing the Han people's assimilation of foreign races, we noticed a very prominent phenomenon, that is, some factors in Han culture are quite consistent with the deep nature of human beings.For example, all ethnic groups are not afraid of power, but can accept the advantage of the situation; for example, people believe in the other side, but they pay more attention to this side, pay attention to reality, and yearn for the world; Life has such a characteristic. During the Han and Tang Dynasties, many foreigners (including those Persian businessmen) once they arrived in Luoyang and Chang'an, they were "unfortunate to think of Shu" and did not want to go back, so they settled down for a long time; Being discriminated against, not classifying based on race, blah blah blah.

As a result, the Han nationality has become extremely domineering in the process of assimilating foreign races for thousands of years, always arrogantly looking down on those weak and barbaric nations as a celestial dynasty, and has condensed into a superior national mentality. It is believed that Chinese civilization is the oldest, most advanced, and unsurpassed universal civilization in the world.Even in modern times, a rather strange anomaly has appeared in the history of the Chinese nation-the refusal to accept the advanced industrial civilization of the West has become unimaginably stubborn.Could it be said that traditional Han culture can only assimilate others, but cannot allow other advanced cultures to transform and assimilate themselves?

There are still more than 2,000 ethnic groups that have continued and developed to this day in the world, ranging from nearly one billion people to small ones with only a few hundred or dozens of people.All modern nations, no matter how big or small, strong or weak, all have their own essential characteristics, all have unique features that distinguish them from other nations, all have advantages over other nations, and all have made or made great contributions to human culture. or small contributions.Today, with highly developed science and technology, the world is becoming a small "global village". The exchanges and exchanges between nations must become closer and more frequent, and conflicts and integration are inevitable.However, whether it is conflict or integration, there is only one result, that is, mutual influence and mutual assimilation.American ethnology professor Hatton once said: "In modern times, no one can be said to belong to a pure race, that is, to belong to one origin and one species. Because in the civilized world, all races are mixed with each other. This kind of Adulteration and mixing is an expression of the travel, trade and aggressive relations between the various races since ancient times."

The integration and assimilation of nations is a historical process of human beings as a whole, and it is also an inevitable development trend.From this point of view, the overall Sinicization policy strictly implemented by Emperor Xiaowen Tuoba Hong more than 1,500 years ago is a great reform that conforms to the historical trend and development trend.Putting aside moral judgments of good and evil and utilitarian success or failure, at least his conscious act of agreeing with advanced culture has set a valuable example for future generations.