Han

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Revision as of 02:03, 11 June 2010 by imported>Superleila

The Han ethnic group has the largest population in China as well as in the world. The Han people account for 91.59% of China's total population. According to the statistics of 2005, there were 1,182.95 million Han people, 90.56% of China's total population. The Han people are descendents of the ancient Huaxia people and other peoples in China. The name Han originates from the Han Dynasty.

Population: 1,159.40 million

Major area of distribution: all over the country

Language: Chinese

Religion: Buddhism, Taoism, Muslim, Christianity

Han clothes


The language of the Han ethnic group belongs to the Chinese-Tibetan language family. Written characters originated from a pictographic system invented 4,000 years ago, making it the world's oldest pictographic writing surviving in use until now. The language spoken by the Han people has many dialects which can be roughly classified into seven large groups: Northern Mandarin (Beijing), Gan (Jiangxi), Hakka, Min (Fujian), Wu (Shanghai), Xiang (Hunan) and Yue (Cantonese). Each language group contains a large number of dialects. Of them, the Northern Mandarin dialect is the most popular in most parts of China.

Some of the festivals the Han people celebrate include Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Pure Brightness Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Laba Festival and Winter Solstice Festival.

The Han people have carried out large scale agricultural production as early as in the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC – 476 BC). Han people's skills in the production of silk, tea and porcelain are famous in the world. In the history of China, there have been many outstanding Han people in politics, economy, science, philosophy and culture. They have made important contributions to China and the world.