How The Han Chinese Became The World's Biggest Tribe
Yahoo News/AFP Sept 15, 2004
PARIS (AFP) - The 1.16 billion Han Chinese, the world's biggest ethnic group,
owe their rise thanks to massive southward migration from northern China led by
the men of their tribe, according to a new study.
Chinese tradition says that the Han sprung from the ancient Huaxia communities
of northern China and that their influence then spread south.
But the question is whether this was a migration of people or simply a cultural
export -- whether the Han language, beliefs and other values were adopted by
static communities who then handed it on to their southerly neighbours.
Genetic sleuthing by Chinese researchers may have found the answer.
Scientists led by Li Jin of Shanghai's Fudan University took blood samples from
871 individuals living in 17 communities across China.
They analysed the blood for telltale sequences in the Y chromosome, which only
males have, and for variations of mitochondrial DNA, which is only handed down
by women.
Little difference was found in the Y-chromosome fingerprint, but there were
broad variations in the mitochondrial sequences. In other words, there was a
clear Han lineage, determined by the males who initially came out of the north.
These men crossed the Yangtze River that until some 2,000 years ago was the
country's ethnic divide. They then fanned out, progressively heading to the
southwest, the southeast and due south, eventually colonising the tropical
island of Hainan.
Li's team says the genetic evidence supports historical records which point to
"continuous southward movements" of the Han due to warfare and famine in the
north.
In the past two millennia, there have been three big migratory waves that pushed
progressively further southwards, in AD 265-316, in 618-907, and in 1127-1279,
with smaller migrations in between, according to the evidence from ancient
scrolls and tablets.
"Our genetic observation is thus in line with the historical accounts," Li's
team writes in Thursday's issue of Nature, the weekly British science journal.
"The massive movement of the northern immigrants led to a change in genetic
makeup in southern China, and resulted in the demographic expansion of Han
people as well as their culture."
In addition, gene flow between northern Hans, southern Hans and southern
natives, also contributed to the genetic mix which shapes the distinctive
genetic profile of China's populace today.