Chinese Nationalities
and Their Populations

Table of Populations

Ethnic Groups in China

Indigenous Peoples of China

Indigenous peoples of Tibet

No one knows exactly where the Chinese came from or who they are.  It is believed that the humanoid - human-like creatures - appeared about two and half million years ago and that the humans as we know today, homo sapiens sapiens, came into being some 35,000 years ago. Although the oldest known writings - written language - date back only 5,000 years at best, we can 'read' our history by studying fossils, our DNA, geological data, cosmological data, our language, and so on, and from these records, we can determine the origin, or rather the prehistoric history, of the Chinese race, the 'White-clad People' (called "Dong-yi" -- the eastern barbarians, 濊貊族  by Chinese historians).

Ancient Chinese had different terms for barbarians in four directions. Dongyi or Yi-of-the-East will be designations for people in the east, i.e., the offsprings from the two clans of Tai-hao-shi and Shao-hao-shi. The term meant for different people during different stages of history. Though, legendary overlords of China, like Yandi (Fiery Lord) and Huangdi (Yellow Lord, r. bc 2697-2599 ?), might be both born near Qufu of Shandong Province in the east, and Lord Yandi, Lord Huangdi and Lord Zhuanxu were recorded to have treated Qufu of Shandong as the capital. Sima Qian's "Shi Ji" mentioned that Huangdi (Yellow Lord), in the east, climbed Mount Wan-shan (i.e., Fan-shan in today's Langya, Shandong Peninsula). Among the ancient eight Chinese overlords, clearly seven belonged to the same old family. The lineage of Yandi (Shen-nong), Huangdi, Shaohao, Gaoyang (Lord Zhuanxu), Gaoxin (Diku), Tangyao (Lord Yao), and Yushun (Lord Shun) is spelled out in prehistory section. Even barbarians could be traced to the same family as Chinese founders. Kong An'guo of Han Dynasty claimed that among the four evil tribes exiled by Lord Yao, Hundun were infilial descendants of Huangdi the Yellow Lord; Gun was infilial son of Lord Zhuanxu; the 'Sanmiao' (Qiangic) people were said to be infilial descendants of Yandi the Fiery Lord.

Early Chinese literature was heavily influenced by Shamanism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The early literature, which began as an oral tradition, depicted a love of nature and man and held that man was a part of nature. Good was rewarded and evil was punished and values like loyalty to the King, filial piety, respect for one's elders, true friendship and chastity were emphasized.

The Chinese are classified as the Mongoloid (the 'yellow' race) along with Korean, Japanese, Native Americans, Mongols, Eskimos, and so on. The Yellow race makes up 33% of the world population. The Caucasoid (the "white" race), including the Australian aborigines, Arabs, Indians, Polynesians, and so on, accounts for 59% of the world population, while the Negroid (the 'black' race) accounts for only 8%. It is believed the Negroid and Caucasoid are more closely related than the Mongoloid, which gave rise to the regionalism hypothesis whereby the Mongoloid has evolved from homo erectus while the Negroid and the Caucasoid have evolved from a common ancestor homo antecessor.

Ancient Chinese had different terms for barbarians in four directions. Dongyi or Yi-of-the-East will be designations for people in the east, i.e., the offsprings from the two clans of Tai-hao-shi and Shao-hao-shi. The term meant for different people during different stages of history. Though, legendary overlords of China, like Yandi (Fiery Lord) and Huangdi (Yellow Lord, r. bc 2697-2599), might be both born near Qufu of Shandong Province in the east, and Lord Yandi, Lord Huangdi and Lord Zhuanxu were recorded to have treated Qufu of Shandong as the capital. Sima Qian's "Shi Ji" mentioned that Huangdi (Yellow Lord), in the east, climbed Mount Wan-shan (i.e., Fan-shan in today's Langya, Shandong Peninsula). Among the ancient eight Chinese overlords, clearly seven belonged to the same old family. The lineage of Yandi (Shen-nong), Huangdi, Shaohao, Gaoyang (Lord Zhuanxu), Gaoxin (Diku), Tangyao (Lord Yao), and Yushun (Lord Shun) is spelled out in prehistory section. Even barbarians could be traced to the same family as Chinese founders. Kong An'guo of Han Dynasty claimed that among the four evil tribes exiled by Lord Yao, Hundun were infilial descendants of Huangdi the Yellow Lord; Gun was infilial son of Lord Zhuanxu; the 'Sanmiao' (Qiangic) people were said to be infilial descendants of Yandi the Fiery Lord.