"I dedicate this page to
all my Chinese friends"

"May Peace Prevail on Earth"
(in Chinese)

Indigenous peoples of China

Indigenous peoples of Tibet

Chinese Nationalities
and Their Populations

Table of Populations

Ethnic Groups in China

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. The Mongoloid has dry earwax while others have wet earwax.

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.

Myth Origins

The English word "myth" comes from the Greek word "mythos" which means word or story. Humans have used myths to describe or explain things that they couldn't have comprehended otherwise. Questions like: why do the seasons
change?, where did the first human beings come from? or why does the sun travel across the sky?. Myths served as the basis for rituals by which the ways of humanity and those of nature could be psychologically reconciled.

Myths are an important part of every society, including our own. Without at least a basic understanding of a cultures myths it's impossible to fully understand that culture because myths express a societies beliefs and justify it's institutions, customs and values.

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 Five Elements

Water has the properties of soaking and descending
Fire both heats and moves upward
Wood allows it form to be shaped into straight and curved pieces
Metal can be melted, molded and then hardened
Earth provides nourishment through sowing and reaping

Five Elements	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Directions	East	South	Center	West	North
Seasons	Spring	Summer	Long Summer	Fall	Winter
Colors	Blue	Red	Yellow	White	Black
Flavors	Sour	Bitter	Sweet	Acid	Salt
Organs	Liver	Heart	Spleen	Lung	Kidney
Sense Organs	Eye	Tougue	Mouth	Nose	Ear

The history of Chinese literature begins with the Shih Ching or Book of Songs, an anthology of 305 lyrics of various types, compiled ca. 600 B. C. Most of the songs probably were composed and sung between 1000 and 700 B. C., mostly at Chou court ceremonies (and thus provide a cross-section of early-Chou culture). Some Sinologists have suggested, however, that certain lyrics from the Book of Songs may represent much earlier work, dating from the Shang dynasty
(as early as ca. 1700 B. C.).

Dongyi (Easter Yi) Origin

Whatever the work's true dates of composition, two important traditions account for the origin and survival of the Book of Songs. The first, recorded by a Chinese historian from the first century B. C., maintains that Confucius personally selected these 305 poems from an earlier collection of over three thousand. Choosing poems which exemplified his ideas about statecraft and harmonious personal relations, Confucius arranged them in their present order, revising the musical scores to which the songs were customarily sung.