Han Chinese

expand_more Description

The Han Chinese represent the largest and oldest continuous civilization in the world, originally centered on the Yellow River basin in North China where the dependence on cereal agriculture was established, supplemented by vegetables, domestic animals, and fishing. The Han make up most of the population of China proper, as well as on the islands of Taiwan and Singapore. Traditionally, China was an agrarian state with multiple administrative levels down to the village level, where corporate patrilineages ruled. In modern times, with new marriage laws and land reform, power has devolved to women and individual farming households. Religion was a combination of local beliefs and practices from Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism; more recently also Christianity and Communist ideology.

Identifier

Region

• Asia

Subregion

• East Asia

Subsistence Type

• intensive agriculturalists

Samples

• EA
• SCCS

Countries

• China
• Hong Kong
• Macau