[super175]

"Han" is about like saying "American Indian".

There are how many different tribes? Cherokee, Blackfoot, Ute...there are hundreds and all are different.

In China some even had their own writing. There is a program that comes on TV every now and then about 'nu-shu' writing. It is a totally different form of Chinese writing.

It was barely preserved because the cultural revolution burned everything they could find written in that language.

Also don't forget, those 'jian-ti' characters were created by the Communists.

The CCP went on a tirade to destroy all minority cultures. To them there was going to be 'one-China' and that meant everything. During the Cultural Revolution they destroyed so much of the various Chinese heritages.

For many years "Chinese/China" were used as synonyms for "Communism". If you did not believe in Communism then you were not "Chinese".

[Robert Lomax]

"Han" is about like saying "American Indian".

IMO "Han" is about like saying "white". Germans are white and so are the British, but they are not 100% the same.

When looking at China IMO, it is best to look at it as a mega state like the European Union. "Han" is not like saying American Indian and neither are racial comparisons the best way to look at this picture. If there was a comparison for the Han Chinese in the west it would be like calling someone who lives in Europe (French, German, Swed, etc.) a European and imagine Europe as one country with a central government. (ie. the European Union)

Though their cultures are similar to a degree, Han people speak a variety of different languages that are totally unintelligible from one another. These languages vary depending on what region one is from. The only similarity in language between these so-called dialects is the common writing system.

Since 1949 and educational reforms more Han are able to speak putonghua (the "common language" or Mandarin) than ever before. This does make the "Han" appear to be a more monolithic but still they have regional differences that are just as significantly real as the differences that occur within Europe. As for the minority nationalities, they can be more easily compared to the American Indians.

The Han do have the advantage of sheer numbers. More and more Han are moving into areas that have been traditionally minority areas. Is this a systematic effort to eliminate the minorities and potential problems in the future or a natural phenomenon of a growing Han population? Probably a little of both. This however, has been occuring long before the communist came to power. The Mongols even complained about this during the Qing dynasty. Today, the Mongols from "Outer Mongolia" rarely if ever recognized their their sinicized Inner Mongolia brothers to the south as being true Mongolians. Most Mongols in China today have fully assimilated into Chinese/Han society.