The Origin And Formation Of The Han Population—A New Perspective From Physical Anthropology

The research on the origin and formation of the Han population nearly started100 years ago.The previous works mainly discussed the formation of the Han population from the perspective of history and ethnology and traced the predecessor back to the “Huaxia people”.But about the earlier history,the previous study is deficient due to the short of historical documents.This paper aim to explore the origin and formation of the Han population on the basis of information of physical anthropology,archaeology,molecular biology,etc.,from the perspective of physical anthropology,using the methods and theories of the ancient ethnography.The paper contains six chapters.Chapter 1, Introduction. First research the origin and the development about“nationality”,tracing the change of its connotation,and explaining the aims and the methods of this paper.Chapter 2, The physical characteristics of the modern Hans. The study of the characteristics of modern Hans is the foundation of the discussing the origin and formation of Hans. This chapter mainly try clarify two problems: First, what about the physical characteristics of the modern Hans, are they a homogeneous group ?Second,what about the physical characteristics of the Ming and Qing Dynasties Hans, and whether they are in consistency with the modern Hans.Chapter 3, The physical characteristics of the prehistoric inhabitants and its evolution. This chapter is mainly to find the beginning and the source about the modern Hans by contrasting the physical characteristics between the modern Hans and the prehistoric people,using the information of human bones from the upper Paleolithic to the late Neolithic.Chapter 4,The change of the physical characteristics about the inhabitants of the Bronze- Early Iron Age. The origin of the modern Hans can be traced back to the Neolithic Age, but the distance of the physical feature between them is far.In theBronze- Early Iron Age,the ancient people and Modern Hans began to have a direct connection. This chapter mainly discuss the initial formation of the modern Hans through the change of the physical characteristics about the Bronze- Early Iron Age inhabitants and interaction of them.Chapter 5,The change of the physical characteristics about the inhabitants of the Qin and Han- Song and Yuan Dynasties. This chapter analyze the change of the physical feature about the Qin and Han- Song and Yuan Dynasties and the migration of them.Frequent large-scale population migration is an important condition for the formation of the modern Hans. "Hans" as a national title appeared after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, but the physical characteristics of the modern Hans did not immediately form. Until the Song Dynasty, modern northern Hans are basically formed.Chapter 6,Conclusion.This part summarizes the content of the paper.