Model humanity:
65-475: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Shangdi ( Chinese : 上帝 ; pinyin : Shàngdì ; Wade–Giles : Shang Ti ), also called simply Di ( Chinese : 帝 ; pinyin : Dì ; lit. 'God'), is the name of the Chinese Highest Deity or "Lord Above" in
130-544: A Chinese religious tradition characterised by a concern for salvation (moral fulfillment) of the person and the society. They are distinguished by egalitarianism , a founding charismatic person often informed by a divine revelation , a specific theology written in holy texts , a millenarian eschatology and a voluntary path of salvation, an embodied experience of the numinous through healing and self-cultivation, and an expansive orientation through evangelism and philanthropy . Some scholars consider these religions
195-563: A Confucian identity, with the foundation of the Holy Confucian Church of China which aims to unite in a single body all Confucian religious groups. Many of the movements of salvation of the 20th and 21st century aspire to become the repository of the entirety of the Chinese tradition in the face of Western modernism and materialism, advocating an "Eastern solution to the problems of the modern world", or even interacting with
260-687: A civilized society that was distinct and stood in contrast to what was perceived as the barbaric peoples around them. The Huaxia identity arose in the Eastern Zhou period as a reaction to the increased conflict with the Rong and Di peoples who migrated into the Zhou lands and extinguished some Zhou states. Although still used in conjunction, the Chinese characters for hua and xia are also used separately as autonyms. The official Chinese names of both
325-556: A common pattern and shape. The word finds itself in many inscriptional contexts, including use in collocation with natural spirits or addressing ancestral deities. There was a type of offerings named "Di-sacrifice", designed for hosting Di's representatives. The earliest references to Shangdi are found in oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang dynasty in the 2nd millennium BC, although the later work Classic of History claims yearly sacrifices were made to him by Emperor Shun , even before
390-413: A complete identification between the two, as Di controls spirits of nature, while Kui does not; Di is frequently pictured sending down "approvals", while Kui is never so pictured; and Kui received cult, while Di did not. Moreover, Kui is frequently appealed in "horizontal" relationship with other powers, undermining any portrait of him as the apex of the pantheon. Interpretations of Shang oracle bones yield
455-541: A connection with Chinese native monotheism , with some furthering the argument by linking it with the unknown god as described in Biblical passage of Acts 17:23–31 . Catholics preferred to avoid it, due to compromises with the local authority in order to do their missions, as well as fear such translation may associate the Christian God to Chinese polytheism. Nowadays, through the secular Chinese-language media,
520-417: A great Temple of Heaven in the imperial capital. Following the principles of Chinese geomancy , this would always be located in the southern quarter of the city. During the ritual, a completely healthy bull would be slaughtered and presented as an animal sacrifice to Shangdi. The Book of Rites states the sacrifice should occur on the " longest day " on a round-mound altar. The altar would have three tiers:
585-536: A similar issue: some preferred the term "Shangdi", while some preferred the term Shen ("god"). A conference held in 1877 in Shanghai, discussing the translation-issue, also believed that "Shangdi" of Confucianism and the Christian concept of God are different in nature. However, by the 20th century, most British missionaries, some Catholics , Chinese Orthodox Christians , and Evangelicals preferred 'Shangdi' as
650-507: A single group they are said to have the same number of followers of the five state-sanctioned religions of China taken together. Scholars and government officials have been discussing to systematise and unify this large base of religious organisations; in 2004 the State Administration of Religious Affairs created a department for the management of folk religions. In the late 2015 a step was made at least for those of them with
715-416: A single phenomenon, and others consider them the fourth great Chinese religious category alongside the well-established Confucianism , Buddhism and Taoism . Generally these religions focus on the worship of the universal God ( Shangdi ), represented as either male, female, or genderless, and regard their holy patriarchs as embodiments of God. "Chinese salvationist religions" ( 救度宗教 jiùdù zōngjiào )
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#1732758203055780-467: A sky template which is vacant of significant stars, and that the various pole stars are those nearest to this vacant apex which is of crucial importance. He illustrates how the Shang oracular script for Di can be projected on the north pole template of the ancient sky in such a way that its extremity points correspond with the visible star, while the intersection of the linear axes at the centre will map to
845-533: A state, whereas Zhonghua mainly concerns culture. The latter is being used as part of the nationalist term Zhōnghuá Mínzú which is an all Chinese nationality in the sense of a multi-ethnic national identity . The term Huaren ( 華人 ) for a Chinese person is an abbreviation of Huaxia with ren ( 人 , person). Huaren in general is used for people of Chinese ethnicity, in contrast to Zhongguoren ( 中國人 ) which usually (but not always) refers to citizens of China. Although some may use Zhongguoren to refer to
910-489: A tribal but instead an unambiguously good moral force, exercising its power according to exacting standards. Shangdi's favor could thus be lost and even "inherited" by a new dynasty, provided they upheld the proper rituals. Modern researches have paid attention to the adoption of Shang religious practices by the Zhou dynasty , and particularly, the continued worship of Shangdi through altered forms. Modern explanations are based on
975-519: A universal god recognized in different regions and local cultures in order to legitimize their power. Inscriptions of the Shang dynasty point out the collective nature of Shangdi. The fact that the word "Di" was also used to address Shang ancestors show that Di was intimately related to the ancestral spirits. The Shang character for Di features a squared pattern, which was a symbol of the northern ecliptic pole. This square composes many Shang ancestral names, and it even denotes temples and altars dedicated to
1040-507: Is a contemporary neologism coined as a sociological category and gives prominence to folk religious sects' central pursuit that is the salvation of the individual and the society, in other words the moral fulfillment of individuals in reconstructed communities of sense. Chinese scholars traditionally describe them as "folk religious sects" ( 民间宗教 mínjiān zōngjiào , 民间教门 mínjiān jiàomén or 民间教派 mínjiān jiàopài ) or "folk beliefs" ( 民间信仰 mínjiān xìnyǎng ). They are distinct from
1105-591: Is a creator, and thus they differ. Ricci's translation also invited the displeasure of Dominicans and that of the Roman Curia: on March 19, 1715, Pope Clement XI released the Edict Ex Illa Die , stating that Catholics must use "Tianzhu" instead of "Shangdi" for Christianity's God. When Protestantism entered China in the middle of the 19th century, the Protestant missionaries also encountered
1170-543: Is a historical concept representing the Chinese nation , and came from the self-awareness of a common cultural ancestry by the various confederations of pre-Qin ethnic ancestors of Han people. The earliest extant authentic attestation of the Huaxia concept is in the Zuo Zhuan , a historical narrative and commentary authored before 300 BCE. In Zuo zhuan, Huaxia refers to the central states (中國 zhōngguó ) in
1235-521: Is commonly used by contemporary Chinese (both mainland and overseas) and by religious and secular groups in East Asia, as a name of a singular universal deity and as a non-religious translation for God in Abrahamic religions . "Shang Di" is the pinyin romanization of two Chinese characters . The first – 上 , Shàng – means "high", "highest", "first", "primordial"; the second – 帝 , Dì –
1300-476: Is the ultimate authority, the king of gods who should be admired by the king". Usage of the word "Di" had significantly changed, and by the Han it had been used to refer to much more terms. In some cases, "Di" still denoted a high deity with a distinguished charge over celestial objects, but in others it was written in collocation with other words, incorporating the connotation of "god" to those concerned. "Di" featured in
1365-477: Is typically considered as shorthand for huangdi ( 皇帝 ) in modern Chinese, the title of the emperors of China first employed by Qin Shi Huang , roughly some 2200 years ago, and is usually translated as "emperor". The word itself is derived from Three "Huang" and Five "Di" , including Yellow Emperor ( Chinese : 黃帝 ; pinyin : Huangdi ), the mythological originator of the Chinese civilization and
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#17327582030551430-591: The Book of Rites . Some scholars even find influences from Manichaeism , Mohism and shamanic traditions . In the Ming and Qing dynasties many folk religious movements were outlawed by the imperial authorities as "evil religions" ( 邪教 xiéjiào ). With the collapse of the Qing state in 1911 the sects enjoyed an unprecedented period of freedom and thrived, and many of them were officially recognised as religious groups by
1495-457: The Chinese folk religion consisting in the worship of gods and ancestors, although in English language there is a terminological confusion between the two. The 20th-century expression for these salvationist religious movements has been "redemptive societies" ( 救世团体 jiùshì tuántǐ ), coined by scholar Prasenjit Duara . A collective name that has been in use possibly since the latter part of
1560-502: The Christian conception of God . While initially he utilized the term Tianzhu ( 天主 ; Tiānzhǔ ), lit. "The Lord of Heaven", Ricci gradually changed the translation into "Shangdi" instead. His usage of Shangdi was contested by Confucians, as they believed that the concept of Tian and "Shangdi" is different from that of Christianity's God: Zhōng Shǐ-shēng, through his books, stated that Shangdi only governs, while Christianity's God
1625-630: The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) use the term Huaxia in combination with the term Zhongguo ( 中國, 中国 , translated as "Middle Kingdom" or "Middle State"), that is, as Zhonghua ( 中華, 中华 ). The PRC's official Chinese name is Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo ( 中华人民共和国 ), while that of the ROC is Zhonghua Minguo ( 中華民國 ). The term Zhongguo is confined by its association to
1690-457: The Shang clan meant that Shang nobles continued to rule several locations (despite their rebellions) and to serve as court advisors and priests. The Duke of Zhou even created an entire ceremonial city along strict cosmological principles to house the Shang aristocracy and the nine tripods representing Huaxia sovereignty; the Shang were then charged with maintaining the Rites of Zhou . Likewise,
1755-519: The Xia dynasty . Shangdi was regarded as the ultimate spiritual power by the ruling elite of the Huaxia during the Shang dynasty : he was believed to control victory in battle, success or failure of harvests, weather conditions such as the floods of the Yellow River , and the fate of the capital city and kingdom. Shangdi seems to have ruled a hierarchy of other gods controlling nature, as well as
1820-484: The early republican government . The founding of the People's Republic in 1949 saw them suppressed once again, although since the 1990s and 2000s the climate was relaxed and some of them have received some form of official recognition. In Taiwan all the still existing restrictions were rescinded in the 1980s. Folk religious movements began to rapidly revive in mainland China in the 1980s, and now if conceptualised as
1885-588: The spirits of the deceased . These ideas were later mirrored or carried on by the Taoist Jade Emperor and his celestial bureaucracy , and Shangdi was later syncretized with the Jade Emperor. Shangdi was probably more transcendent than immanent , only working through lesser gods. Shangdi was considered too distant to be worshiped directly by ordinary mortals. Instead, the Shang kings proclaimed that Shangdi had made himself accessible through
1950-580: The theology of the classical texts , especially deriving from Shang theology and finding an equivalent in the later Tiān ("Heaven" or "Great Whole") of Zhou theology. Although the use of "Tian" to refer to the absolute God of the universe is predominant in Chinese religion today, "Shangdi" continues to be used in a variety of traditions, including certain philosophical schools , certain strains of Chinese Buddhism , Taoism , Confucianism , some Chinese salvationist religions (notably Yiguandao ) and Chinese Protestant Christianity . In addition, it
2015-459: The "greatest ancestor " by some worshippers during this time. In the later Shang and Zhou dynasties, Shangdi was conflated with Heaven ( 天 , Tiān ). The Duke of Zhou justified his clan's usurpation through the concept of the Mandate of Heaven , which proposed that the protection of Shangdi was not connected to their clan membership but by their just governance. Shangdi was not just
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2080-729: The Chinese word of "Shangdi" and "Tian" are frequently used to as a translation for the singular universal deity with minimal religious attachment to the Christian idea of God, while Confucians and intellectuals in contemporary mainland China and Taiwan attempt to realign the term to its original meaning. Catholics officially use the term Tianzhu , while Evangelicals typically use Shangdi and/or Shen ( 神 , "god" or "spirit"). Chinese salvationist religions Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Chinese salvationist religions or Chinese folk religious sects are
2145-476: The Confucian idea of Shangdi, conceived as both transcendent and immanent , and act only as a governor of the world, and the Christian idea of God, which they conceived contrary to those of Christian as a deity that is completely otherworldly (transcendent) and is merely a creator of the world. As mentioned above, sacrifices offered to Shangdi by the king are claimed by traditional Chinese histories to predate
2210-533: The Qing dynasty is huìdàomén ( 会道门 "churches, ways and gates"), as their names interchangeably use the terms huì ( 会 "church, society, association, congregation"; when referring to their corporate form), dào ( 道 "way") or mén ( 门 "gate[way], door"). Their congregations and points of worship are usually called táng ( 堂 "church, hall") or tán ( 坛 "altar"). Western scholars often mistakenly identify them as " Protestant " churches. The Vietnamese religions of Minh Đạo and Caodaism emerged from
2275-494: The Shang believed in Shangdi's blessings for the king, which some scholars interpreted as a belief in the ruler's granted authority by the gods. This belief was resonant with the theory of Tian, in that the monarch received divine authority to rule. Obedience of the Shang people was likely to be ensured by implementing a Zhou concept in which the Shang found similarities with their native beliefs. The connection of many rituals with
2340-400: The Shang to be consular spirits of Di, and often were given direct offerings as representations of the supreme deity. Many inscriptions found on Shang bones and bronze indicate that Di's multiplicity could be further understood by interpreting the "Shang" in "Shangdi". Scholars argue that the "Shang" component illustrated the inequivalence between Di and Shangdi . Shangdi, according to them,
2405-399: The Shang's lesser houses, the shi knightly class , developed directly into the learned Confucian gentry and scholars who advised the Zhou rulers on courtly etiquette and ceremony. The Confucian classics carried on and ordered the earlier traditions, including the worship of Shangdi. All of them include references: The Four Books mention Shangdi as well but, as it is a later compilation,
2470-450: The Shang, it is observed that Di did not receive direct cult. Instead, his consular spirits would be manifested into the human world to be offered sacrifices. The Shang often identified these spirits as Di, and sometimes perform a "Di-sacrifice" to them, illustrating intimate connections of the recipients with the being. Under Shangdi or his later names, the deity received sacrifices from the ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty annually at
2535-584: The Xia dynasty. The surviving archaeological record shows that by the Shang, the shoulder blades of sacrificed oxen were used to send questions or communication through fire and smoke to the divine realm, a practice known as scapulimancy . The heat would cause the bones to crack and royal diviners would interpret the marks as Shangdi's response to the king. Inscriptions used for divination were buried into special orderly pits, while those that were for practice or records were buried in common middens after use. During
2600-675: The Yellow River valley, dwelt by the Huaxia people, ethnically equivalent to Han Chinese in pre-imperial discourses. According to the Confucian Kong Yingda , xià ( 夏 'grand') signified the 'greatness' ( 大 ) in the ceremonial etiquettes of the central states , while huá ( 華 'flower', 'blossom') was used in reference to the beauty ( 美 ) in the hanfu clothing that the denizens from those states wore. The Han-era historian Sima Qian asserts that "Xia"
2665-531: The ancestor of the Chinese race. However, 帝 refers to the High God of Shang, thus means "deity" (manifested god), . Thus, the name Shangdi should be translated as "Highest Deity", but also has the implied meaning of "Primordial Deity" or "First Deity" in Classical Chinese. The deity preceded the title and the emperors of China were named after him in their role as Tianzi , the sons of Heaven. In
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2730-422: The astral connections of Shangdi, drawing on a view that interest in the sky was a focal character of the religious practices of the Shang, but also of the earlier Xia and Erlitou cultures . Especially intriguing is the fact that palatial and ceremonial structures of these cultures were carefully aligned to the celestial pole and the procession of pole stars . Pankenier notes that the true celestial pole lies in
2795-609: The classical texts the highest conception of the heavens is frequently identified with Shang Di, who is described somewhat anthropomorphically. He is also associated with the pole star. The conceptions of the Supreme Ruler (Shang Di) and of the Sublime Heavens ( Chinese : 皇天 ; Wade–Giles : Huang-t'ien ) afterward coalesce or absorb each other. The Shang pronunciation of "Di" is reconstructed as *têks . The Shang dynasty designed 23 versions of Di, all based on
2860-539: The foremost Shang predynastic ancestors. J. C. Didier pointed out that the central square of the word "Di" housed all main-lineage Shang ancestral spirits. These spirits represented Di's core of cosmic divinity and carry his will to bless the human world. "Di" also emcompasses non-ancestral deities that could be unfavorable towards living beings, a result of adopting foreign cults. These gods represent Di's authority to exercise control over disastrous events, contrary to "friendly" Shang ancestral square. Spirits were considered by
2925-427: The gods of nature are conceived as his envoys or manifestations. Shang sources also attest his cosmological Five Ministries . Di, or Tian, as later texts explain, did not receive cult for being too remote for living humans to sacrifice to directly. Instead, an intermediary such as an ancestor was necessary to convey to Di the offerings of the living. According to some prominent scholars, including Guo Moruo , Shangdi
2990-528: The highest for Shangdi and the Son of Heaven ; the second-highest for the sun and moon; and the lowest for the natural gods such as the stars, clouds, rain, wind, and thunder. It is important to note that Shangdi is never represented with either images or idols. Instead, in the center building of the Temple of Heaven, in a structure called the "Imperial Vault of Heaven", a "spirit tablet" ( 神位 , shénwèi) inscribed with
3055-605: The label "secret sects" ( 秘密教门 mìmì jiàomén ) to distinguish the peasant "secret societies" with a positive dimension of the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods, from the negatively viewed "secret societies" of the early republic that became instruments of anti-revolutionary forces (the Guomindang or Japan ). Many of these religions are traced to the White Lotus tradition ("Chinese Maternism", as mentioned by Philip Clart ) that
3120-506: The modern discourse of an Asian -centered universal civilisation. The Chinese folk religious movements of salvation are mostly concentrated in northern and northeastern China, although with a significant influence reaching the Yangtze River Delta since the 16th century. The northern provinces have been a fertile ground for the movements of salvation for a number of reasons: firstly, popular religious movements were active in
3185-422: The multiplicity in which the deity was divided into superior ( shang ) and lesser ranks ( xia ). They argued that the adopted spirits which constitute Di's unfavorable actions to them living realm would, possibly, be housed in the lesser rank, or "Xiadi" ( 下帝 ), while the "friendly" ancestral spirits would compose the "Shangdi" as a counterpart. Contemporary Confucian theologians have emphasised differences between
3250-431: The name of Shangdi is stored on the throne, Huangtian Shangdi ( 皇天上帝 ). During an annual sacrifice, the emperor would carry these tablets to the north part of the Temple of Heaven, a place called the "Prayer Hall For Good Harvests", and place them on that throne. It was during Ming and Qing dynasty, when Roman Catholicism was introduced by Jesuit Priest Matteo Ricci , that the idea of "Shangdi" started to be applied to
3315-667: The name of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi), the Flame Emperor (Yandi) and various other figures. In later eras, he was commonly known by the name "Heavenly Ruling Highest Deity" ( 皇天上帝 , Huángtiān Shàngdì ) and, in this usage, he is especially conflated with the Taoist Jade Emperor . In Shang sources, Di is already described as the supreme ordainer of the events which occur in nature, such as wind, lightning and thunder, and in human affairs and politics. All
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#17327582030553380-471: The newly conquered Shang people. The Zhou dynasty aimed to make an impression that the term "Di" was native to them. These actions were perceived by Chang as a Zhou attempt at a similar cult adoption for the purpose of uniting Shang and Zhou under one political entity. There were other reasons behind the Duke of Zhou's attempt in merging Di with the concept of Tian. Evidence from oracle bone inscriptions show that
3445-550: The parallel between Shang and Zhou adoptions. Historically, the regency of the Duke of Zhou sought to re-stabilize the Zhou dynasty. The Zhou court modeled their adoption after the Shang, whose imports of local cults as well as official worship of tribal deities played an important role in maintaining kingly sovereignty of the monarchs over subjugated polities. According to Ruth H. Chang, continuation of Shang religion also provided opportunities to further share changing religious activities
3510-421: The population of China, which is around 30 million people, claim to be members of folk religious sects. The actual number of followers may be higher, about the same as the number of members of the five state-sanctioned religions of China if counted together. In Taiwan, recognised folk religious movements of salvation gather approximately 10% of the population as of the mid-2000s. Huaxia Huaxia
3575-404: The possibility of Di being equated with Shang Jia, the utmost and supreme being of the "Six Spirits" who were predynastic Shang male ancestors. The bone graph for Shang Jia consists of a square encompassing a cross. Since the cross shape is understood to be "Jia", the square is therefore "Shang", indicating it to be the ancestral square that constitute Di's central core. David Pankenier has studied
3640-462: The references are much more sparse and abstract. Shangdi appears most commonly in earlier works: this pattern may reflect increasing rationalization of Shangdi over time, the shift from a known and arbitrary tribal god to a more abstract and philosophical concept, or his conflation and absorption by other deities. As early as the Western Zhou period, Di had become fully synonymous with Tian, as
3705-552: The region already in the Han dynasty , and they deeply penetrated local society; secondly, northern provinces are characterised by social mobility around the capital and weak traditional social structure, thus folk religious movements of salvation fulfill the demand of individual searching for new forms of community and social network. According to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2012, approximately 2.2% of
3770-494: The same tradition of Chinese folk religious movements. A category overlapping with that of the salvationist movements is that of the "secret societies" ( 秘密社会 mìmì shèhuì , or 秘密结社 mìmì jiéshè ), religious communities of initiatory and secretive character, including rural militias and fraternal organisations which became very popular in the early republican period, and often labeled as " heretical doctrines" ( 宗教异端 zōngjiào yìduān ). Recent scholarship has begun to use
3835-417: The souls of their royal ancestors, both in the legendary past and in recent generations as the departed Shang kings joined him in the afterlife. The kings could thus successfully entreat Shangdi directly. Many of the oracle bone inscriptions record these petitions, usually praying for rain but also seeking approval from Shangdi for state action. Shangdi was seen as somewhat human or at least anthropomorphic and
3900-402: The two words were used interchangeably in various bronze inscriptions. One such situation appears in bronze castings during King Li of Zhou 's reign (9th century BC), pointing out the prevalence of equating both words with each other. By the time of the Han dynasty , the influential Confucian scholar Zheng Xuan glossed: " Shangdi is another name for Heaven ". Dong Zhongshu said: "Heaven
3965-535: The vacant celestial pole. Pankenier argues that the supreme Di was identified with the celestial pole, an idea familiar in later stages of Chinese religion, linking with the Tàiyī 太一 ("Great One") fully documented as early as the 4th century BC. The interpretation of Shangdi as the celestial pole, Taiyi and as Ku the progenitor of the Shang is not contradictory. Feng Shi argues that Ku and Di are indeed identical. The Shang probably deliberately identified their ancestor with
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#17327582030554030-459: Was already active in the Song dynasty ; others claim a Taoist legacy and are based on the recovery of ancient scriptures attributed to important immortals such as Lü Dongbin and Zhang Sanfeng , and have contributed to the popularisation of neidan ; other ones are distinctively Confucian and advocate the realisation of a "great commonwealth" ( datong 大同 ) on a world scale, as dreamt of in
4095-411: Was only a part of Di in the mind of the Shang people, and that there was presence of Shangdi's counterpart. Interpreting versions of the character "Di" in Shang texts, Didier found out that versions with two horizontal lines above the graph denoted "Shangdi", while those possessing three lines would connote a broader meaning of " Shangxiadi " ( 上下帝 ). This connotation appearing in Shang inscriptions reveal
4160-551: Was originally identical to Ku (or Kui) or Diku (" Divus Ku"), the progenitor (first ancestor) of the Zi ( 子 ) lineage, the founders of the Shang dynasty, attested in the Shiji and other texts. According to this interpretation, this identification had profound political implications, because it meant that the earthly Shang kings were themselves by birth aspects of divinity. Further evidence from Shang sources suggests that there wasn't
4225-626: Was the name of the state enfeoffed to legendary king Yu the Great , and Yu used its name as his surname . In modern historiography, Huaxia refers to a confederation of tribes living along the Yellow River who were the ancestors of what later became the Han ethnic group in China. During the Warring States (475–221 BCE), the self-awareness of the Huaxia identity developed and took hold in ancient China. Initially, Huaxia defined mainly
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