Sinicization
Sinicization, sinofication, sinification, or sinonization is the process by which non-Chinese societies or groups are acculturated or assimilated into Chinese culture, particularly the language, societal norms, cultural practices, and ethnic identity of the Han Chinese—the largest ethnic group of China.
Areas of influence include diet, writing, industry, education, language/lexicon, law, architectural style, politics, philosophy, religion, science and technology, value systems, and lifestyle.
The term sinicization is also often used to refer to processes or policies of acculturation or assimilation of norms from China on neighboring East Asian societies, or on minority ethnic groups within China. Evidence of this process is reflected in the histories of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam in the adoption of the Chinese writing system, which has long been a unifying feature in the Sinosphere as the vehicle for exporting Chinese culture to other Asian countries.
In recent times, the term "Sinicization" has sometimes been used more narrowly in reference to specific policies of the Government of China towards ethnic minorities as well as the promotion of "ethnic unity".
Assimilation
The assimilation policy is a type of Chinese nationalism aimed at strengthening the Chinese national identity among the population. Proponents believe it will help to develop shared values, pride in being the country's citizen, respect and acceptance towards cultural differences among citizens of China. Critics argue that assimilation destroys ethnic diversity, language diversity, and cultural diversity. The historian James A. Millward has claimed that the People's Republic of China has used the concept of sinicization as a means to obscure Han settler colonialism.In China there are 292 non-Mandarin languages spoken by native peoples of the region. There are also a number of immigrant languages, such as Khmer, Portuguese, and English.
Sinicizations
Historical
Baiyue
Before sinicization, non-Chinese indigenous peoples of southern China, collectively termed by the Chinese as Baiyue, inhabited the coastline of China from as far north as the Yangtze River to as far south as the Gulf of Tonkin.As early as the 11th century BC, some of the Baiyue peoples in the Yangtze River Delta started to sinicize, marked by their establishment of the Wu State. These Yue peoples, together with their southerner neighbours who formed the Yue State centuries later, are collectively termed as Yuyue peoples. Over time, the mutual contact between Baiyue peoples and Han Chinese, as well as southward spread of Han Chinese, mostly as war refugees, led to the sinicization of most of the Baiyue populations that remained in southern China, be they in the Yangtze Valley or in coastal areas from the mouth of the Yangtze to the Gulf of Tonkin. The remnants of these peoples who were not fully sinicized are now recognized officially as the ethnic minorities of the People's Republic of China.
Mongolic and Turkic peoples
of northern China was a sinicized empire of Mongolic-Xianbei origin.Historical Shatuo Turks founded three sinicized dynasties in northern China. Descendants of Buddhist Uyghurs who migrated to Taoyuan County, Hunan, have assimilated into the Hui population and adopted Chinese culture practice Chinese customs, speaking varieties of Chinese as their language.
Han, Jin, and Sixteen Kingdoms period
From the late Han dynasty to the early Jin dynasty, large numbers of non-Chinese peoples living along China's northern periphery settled in northern China. Some of these migrants such as the Xiongnu and Xianbei had been pastoralist nomads from the northern steppes. Others such as the Di and Qiang were farmers and herders from the mountains of western Sichuan of southwest China. As migrants, they lived among ethnic Chinese and were sinicized to varying degrees. Many worked as farm laborers. Some attained official positions in the court and military. The numerous tribal groups in the north and northwest who had been heavily drafted into the military then exploited the chaos to seize power by local Chinese warlords.During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao initiated the policy of settling Xiongnu nomads away from the frontier near Taiyuan in modern Shanxi province, where they would be less likely to rebel. The Xiongnu abandoned nomadism and the elite were educated in Chinese-Confucian literate culture. The migration of northern Chinese people to the south further settled China as a multi-ethnic empire.
Northern and Southern dynasties
The Northern and Southern dynasties was a period in the history of China that lasted from 386 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Though an age of civil war and political chaos, it was also a time of flourishing arts and culture, advancement in technology, and the spread of Mahayana Buddhism and Daoism. The period saw large-scale migration of Han Chinese to the lands south of the Yangtze. The period came to an end with the unification of all of China proper by Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty. During this period, the process of sinicization accelerated among the non-Han arrivals in the north and among the indigenous people in the south. This process was also accompanied by the increasing popularity of Buddhism and Daoism in both northern and southern China.Tang dynasty
During the eighth and ninth centuries in the Tang dynasty, Chinese male soldiers moved into Guizhou and married native non-Chinese women, their descendants being known as Lao-han-jen, in contrast to new Chinese people who colonized Guizhou at later times. They still spoke an archaic dialect as of 1929. Many immigrants to Guizhou were descended from these soldiers in garrisons who married non-Chinese women.Yuan dynasty
The Mongol-led Yuan dynasty appointed a Muslim from Bukhara, Sayyid Ajall Shams al-Din Omar, as governor of Yunnan after conquering the Bai-led Dali Kingdom. Sayyid Ajall is best known among Chinese for helping sinicize Yunnan province; the promotion of Islam, Confucianism, and Buddhism would be part of his 'civilizing mission' upon the non-Han Chinese peoples in Yunnan, who he viewed as "backward and barbarian."He founded a "Chinese style" city called Zhongjing Cheng, where modern Kunming is today, and ordered that a Buddhist temple, two mosques, and a Confucian temple be built in the city. The latter temple, built in 1274 and doubled as a school, was the first Confucian temple ever to be built in Yunnan. By incorporating Chinese and consequently Confucian thought in the dynasty, scholars now deem Kublai Khan as an adopted Chinese citizen of Mongol ethnicity, rather than simply being mutually excluded from the definition of fellow Chinese he governed. As such, Sayyid Ajall would be the one to introduce Confucian education, rituals, and traditions into Yunnan, including Chinese social structures, funeral rituals, and marriage customs. He would go on to construct numerous Confucian temples throughout his reign.
Confucian rituals were taught to students in newly founded schools by Sichuanese scholars. The natives of Yunnan were instructed by Sayyid Ajall in such Confucian ceremonies as weddings, matchmaking, funerals, ancestor worship, and kowtow. The native leaders had their "barbarian" clothing replaced by clothing given to them by Sayyid Ajall as well. The governor was praised and described as making "the orangutans and butcherbirds become unicorns and phoenixes and their felts and furs were exchanged for gowns and caps" by He Hongzuo, the Regional Superintendent of Confucian studies.
Sayyid Ajall would also be the first to bring Islam to the area, and thus the widespread presence of Islam in Yunnan is credited to his work. Both Marco Polo and Rashid al-Din Vatvat recorded that Yunnan was heavily populated by Muslims during the Yuan dynasty, with Rashid naming a city with all Muslim inhabitants as the "great city of Yachi." It has been suggested that Yachi was Dali City, which had many Hui people.
Sayyid Ajall's son Nasir al-Din became Governor of Yunnan in 1279 after his death.
Historian Jacqueline Armijo-Hussein has written on Sayyid Ajall's confucianization and sinicization policies in various papers, including in her dissertation "Sayyid 'Ajall Shams al-Din: A Muslim from Central Asia, serving the Mongols in China, and bringing 'civilization' to Yunnan" ; and in "The Origins of Confucian and Islamic Education in Southwest China: Yunnan in the Yuan Period" and "The Sinicization and Confucianization in Chinese and Western Historiography of a Muslim from Bukhara Serving Under the Mongols in China".
Ming dynasty
During the Ming conquest of Yunnan Chinese military soldiers were settled in Yunnan, and many married the native women.Qing dynasty
The rulers of the Qing dynasty were ethnic Manchus who adopted the norms of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. The "orthodox" historical view emphasized the power of Han Chinese to "sinicize" their conquerors, although more recent research such as the New Qing History school revealed Manchu rulers were savvy in their manipulation of their subjects and from the 1630s through at least the 18th century, the emperors developed a sense of Manchu identity and used Central Asian models of rule as much as Confucian ones. There is also evidence of sinicization, however. For example, Manchus originally had their own separate style of naming from the Han Chinese, but eventually adopted Han Chinese naming practices.Manchu names consisted of more than the two or one syllable Chinese names, and when phonetically transcribed into Chinese, they made no sense at all. The meaning of the names that Manchus used were also very different from the meanings of Chinese names. The Manchus also gave numbers as personal names.
Historical records report that as early as 1776, the Qianlong Emperor was shocked to see a high Manchu official, Guo'ermin, not understand what the emperor was telling him in Manchu, despite coming from the Manchu stronghold of Shengjing. By the 19th century even the imperial court had lost fluency in the language. The Jiaqing Emperor complained that his officials were not proficient at understanding or writing Manchu.
Eventually, the Qing royal family gave their children Chinese names, which were separate from the Manchu names, and even adopted the Chinese practice of generation names, although its usage was inconsistent and error-ridden. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Manchu royal family stopped using Manchu names.
The Niohuru family of the Manchu changed their family name to Lang, which sounded like "wolf" in Chinese, since wolf in Manchu was Niohuru; thus forming a translation.
Although the Manchus replaced their Manchu names with Chinese personal names, the Manchu bannermen followed their traditional practice in typically used their first/personal name to address themselves and not their last name, while Han Chinese bannermen used their last name and first in normal Chinese style.
Usage of surnames was not traditional to the Manchu while it was to the Han Chinese.