Hey,which do you like?

[footfootfoot]

I found it interesting that my impression of "traditional" Chinese dress was actually Manchurian style. I'm guessing that most of our first impressions of China and its culture were formed during the 1800's when there was an influx of immigrants to this country and England's Colonial occupation of China brought the "orientalist" fad into being. I think that coincided with the victorian era. Don't bet on my scholarship though.

Welcome 77, can you give us a quick rundown of the dates of the various dynasties, and when the Han was most prominent? (I could also Wiki this)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Han_Dynasty

[Ibby]

Han really isnt so much a dynasty as a race, a culture, an ethnicity. The Han Chinese are the Chinese majority, just as Han Yu is the Chinese language. The manchus came down and took over China way back when, and imposed the braids, bound feet, and manchu dress on the native population, as a way to enslave and rule them.

[footfootfoot]

From Wikipedia:
"The reign of the Han Dynasty, lasting 400 years, is commonly considered within China to be one of the greatest periods in the entire history of China"

Who am I gonna believe? You or my lieing eyes?

[Ibby]

the Han dynasty WAS a dynasty, but as sevenseven means it, it's a culture.

[sevenseven]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

I do now, thank you - very interesting.


I don't care about how much I can get out of China and I think it's unlikely many people on this forum do either. However national dress as a symbol of Han Chinese suppression is obviously important to you, and I respect that.

I should say thank you too.

It's difficult to renew traditional dress which was suppresed for 362 years.But we(young han people-the hope of China) can't give up even though so many chinese thought han-costume is japanese kimono or korean hanbok when we wore it in the streets.It's like revolution about national traditional.It's young han's turn.We can't pretend not seeing the fact that manchurian is standing for China in other countries now.We will do everything for our national and country even die.Neighbouring countries can study everything from China.But they can't say it's original from their countries.Chinese can't say it's japanese or korean symbol yet.We also hope all the world know the fact.Because China become more and more important now.We should introduce the real China culture to the whole world not a invader's culture.

[sevenseven]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Culture changes all the time, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. What people choose to wear is not as important as their job, their education, having enough, and raising the children.

It's a side of culture.I think culture has spirit and root like human-being.Who creat the culture?Human-being!It's living.

As a modern han-chinese people,I accept western culture,but it doesn't mean I will give up my national culture.Chinese is good at studying then add the good of other cultures into our own culture.It's han-chinese national character.

[sevenseven]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

The history of Chinese clothing is interesting, I suppose--but doesn't everyone just wear jeans and t-shirts nowadays anyway? I think neither Han nor Manchurian really represent modern China anymore.

First, Han is the name of the ethnic group that accounts for at least 92% percent of Chinese population.

So please tell me who can really represent modern China now?

[sevenseven]

Originally Posted by Ibram

Dui, wo zhu guo bei jing san nian, gen xiang gang yi nian... wo xian zai zhu zai tai bei, xian xue han yu.

Let me help you to edit your reply,ok?

"Dui,wo zai bei jing zhu guo san nian,zai xiang gang zhu guo yi nian.wo xian zai zhu zai tai bei,xiang(?) xue han yu."

Good luck in Taipei.Hope you can study Han well.Then we can chat or talk in Han character.

[sevenseven]

Originally Posted by Ibram

Han really isnt so much a dynasty as a race, a culture, an ethnicity. The Han Chinese are the Chinese majority, just as Han Yu is the Chinese language. The manchus came down and took over China way back when, and imposed the braids, bound feet, and manchu dress on the native population, as a way to enslave and rule them.

The manchurian came down(yes) and took over(no,invaded is right,take over doesn't equal invade,manchurian killed nearly totally 1,000,000,000 han-chinese who were my ancesters).When they invaded China during the end of Ming Dynasty,manchurian wasn't native national of China.

Other expression of yours was basically right.

[sevenseven]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

From Wikipedia:
"The reign of the Han Dynasty, lasting 400 years, is commonly considered within China to be one of the greatest periods in the entire history of China"

Who am I gonna believe? You or my lieing eyes?

What exactly does the word "Han" mean in Chinese?

漢（汉）

First, Han is the name of the ethnic group that accounts for at least 92% percent of Chinese population.

The Han people was named after the Han dynasty, because that most of the basis of Han culture and Chinese nation were formed in the Qin and Han dysnasty.

Then how was the Han dynasty named?

The founder and the first emperor of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, initiated his final and winning campaign in the Chu-Han War against Xiangyu, from a region known as Hanzhong (middle of han), hence the name Han dynasty.

Yet does the character have an actual meaning?

Yes. Han, as well as its various variants such as TianHan (heavens han), HeHan (river han), YunHan (cloud han), etc, refer to a one and only original meaning: the Galaxy.

Ancient Chinese believe that everything in the heavens has its counterpart on the ground, hence the name Hanshui (a river belived to be linked with the Galaxy) and Hanzhong (the region at the middle course of Hanshui).

Another actual meaning of Han in contemporary Chinese (also in contemporary Japanese) is (a) brave man(men). This meaning was probably first developed during the war between Han Empire and Hun Empire (Hun is a northern nomad nation), when defeated Hun soldiers cried out the words "Haohan (good han (soldier))" with their pidgin Chinese.

[sevenseven]

There are two basic styles in which ancient Chinese sat on the ground.

Ji style(left picture)

Ji style is the standard, polite and ceremonial sitting style for ancient Chinese people. When sitting in the Ji style, one sits with his/hers calves bending under the thights and his/hers back stretrching vertically.

Fu style(right picture)

Fu style is another common sitting style for ancient Chinese people. When sitting in the Fu style, one sites with his/hers legs crossed on the ground and his/hers back stretrching vertically.

[sevenseven]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Welcome 77, can you give us a quick rundown of the dates of the various dynasties, and when the Han was most prominent? (I could also Wiki this)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Han_Dynasty

I don't know why I can't open wiki now.

Thanks for your welcome.I will post a quick rundown of the dates of the various dynasties when the Han was most prominent soon.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The Han dynasty was from about 200BC to 200AD except for 15 years of the Xin dynasty in the middle.

From Wiki

The reign of the Han Dynasty, lasting 400 years, is commonly considered within China to be one of the greatest periods in the entire history of China. As a result, the members of the ethnic majority of Chinese people to this day still call themselves "People of Han," in honor of the Liu family and the dynasty they created.

During the Han Dynasty, China officially became a Confucian state and prospered domestically: agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished, and the population reached over 50 million. Meanwhile, the empire extended its political and cultural influence over Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Central Asia before it finally collapsed under a combination of domestic and external pressures.

To draw a lot of funds for his triumphant campaigns against the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu relinquished land control to merchants and the riches, and in effect legalized the privatization of lands. Land taxes were based on the sizes of fields instead of on income. The harvest could not always pay the taxes completely as incomes from selling harvest were often market-driven and a stable amount could not be guaranteed, especially not after harvest-reducing natural disasters. Merchants and prominent families then lured peasants to sell their lands since land accumulation guaranteed living standards of theirs and their descendants' in the agricultural society of China. Lands were hence accumulating into a new class of landholding families. The Han government in turn imposed more taxes on the remaining independent servants in order to make up the tax losses, therefore encouraging more peasants to come under the landholding elite or the landlords.

Ideally the peasants pay the landlords certain periodic (usually annual) amount of income, who in turn provide protection against crimes and other hazards. In fact an increasing number of peasant population in the prosperous Han society and limited amount of lands provided the elite to elevate their standards for any new subordinate peasants. The inadequate education and often complete illiteracy of peasants forced them into a living of providing physical services, which were mostly farming in an agricultural society. The peasants, without other professions for their better living, compromised to the lowered standard and sold their harvest to pay their landlords. In fact they often had to delay the payment or borrow money from their landlords in the aftermath of natural disasters that reduced harvests. To make the situation worse, some Han rulers double-taxed the peasants. Eventually the living conditions of the peasants worsened as they solely depended on the harvest of the land they once owned.

"..who in turn provide protection against crimes and other hazards", sounds like the Mafia.

[sevenseven]

http://www.answers.com/topic/history-of-china

Chinese Dynasties
Dynasty Characteristics and History
Hsia
c.1994–c.1523 B.C. Semilegendary Emperor Yu built irrigation channels, reclaimed land. Bronze weapons, chariots, domestic animals used. Wheat, millet cultivated. First use of written symbols.
Shang or Yin
c.1523–c.1027 B.C. First historic dynasty. Complex agricultural society with a bureaucracy and defined social classes. Well-developed writing, first Chinese calendar. Great age of bronze casting.
Chou
c.1027–256 B.C. Classical age (Confucius, Lao Tzu, Mencius) despite political disorder. Written laws, money economy. Iron implements and ox-drawn plow in use. Followed by Warring States period, 403–221 B.C.
Ch'in
221–206 B.C. Unification of China under harsh rule of Shih Huang-ti. Feudalism replaced by pyramidal bureaucratic government. Written language standardized. Roads, canals, much of the Great Wall built.
Han
202 B.C.–A.D. 220 Unification furthered, but harshness lessened and Confucianism made basis for bureaucratic state. Buddhism introduced. Encyclopedic history, dictionary compiled; porcelain produced.
Three Kingdoms
A.D. 220–265 Division into three states: Wei, Shu, Wu. Wei gradually dominant. Confucianism eclipsed; increased importance of Taoism and Buddhism. Many scientific advances adopted from India.
Tsin or Chin
265–420 Founded by a Wei general; gradual expansion to the southeast. Series of barbarian dynasties ruled N China. Continued growth of Buddhism.
Sui
581–618 Reunification; centralized government reestablished. Buddhism, Taoism favored. Great Wall refortified; canal system established.
T'ang
618–907 Territorial expansion. Buddhism temporarily suppressed. Civil service examinations based on Confucianism. Age of great achievements in poetry (Li Po, Po Chü-i, Tu Fu), sculpture, painting.
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
907–960 Period of warfare, official corruption, general hardship. Widespread development of printing (see type); paper money first printed.
Sung
960–1279 Period of great social and intellectual change. Neo-Confucianism attains supremacy over Taoism and Buddhism; central bureaucracy reestablished. Widespread cultivation of tea and cotton; gunpowder first used militarily.
Yüan
1271–1368 Mongol dynasty founded by Kublai Khan. Growing contact with West. Confucian ideals discouraged. Great age of Chinese playwriting. Revolts in Mongolia and S China end dynasty.
Ming
1368–1644 Mongols expelled. Confucianism, civil service examinations, reinstated. Contact with European traders, missionaries. Porcelain, architecture (see Chinese architecture), the novel and drama flourish.
Ch'ing or Manchu
1644–1912 Established by the Manchus. Territorial expansion but gradual weakening of Chinese power; decline of central authority. Increasing European trade; foreign powers divide China into spheres of influence. Opium War; Hong Kong ceded; Boxer Uprising. Last Chinese monarchy.

[sevenseven]

Except Yuan and Ch'ing or Manchu,others are all han people dynasty.

Han Tang Sung Ming were all very great.