What is an Ethnicity

Some pics......

It depends on a society, usually a nation.  How it is defined in one country is not necessarily how it is defined in another.  For instance, in the US, "Hispanics" are one ethnicity and "Whites" are another, yet in Hispanic countries, Hispanics are either "White" or "mixed". 

It can be one factor, or many.  If you look at the former Yugoslavia, for instance, you may have more than one "ethnicity" speak the same language, yet have different religions.  More often then not, in other countries the single most important factor is simply language, since there is no physical difference between the majority and the minority.  In the US, language is not a factor, but physical appearance is. 

Depends on what the local society allows.  In the US there is been some effort to allow for "mixed" classifications, in order to accommodate the growing number of children of mixed marriages.

Depending on the society, there may be no difference.  It may be that how a certain society defines an "ethnicity", may coincide with a perceived notion of "race".

In order to gain an idea of "prominence", we need to list "ethnic" classifications, country by country.  The problem is that how an ethnicity is established in one country may be irrelevent in another country.  For instance if you are a member of a Hakka minority in China, this classification will have no meaning in the US where a Hakka will be classed simply as "Asian" and thus have no differentiation from the majority Han of China.  Again, how an ethnicity is defined in "white" in one country may be defined as "hispanic" in the US.

As far as I know, the tendency in the US is to actually identify more ethnic groups.  Otherwise a form of "dissolution" is to create a category called "other race" in which offspring of mixed ethnicity which would otherwise have to use existing uncompromising categories can express their uniqueness.  With the increase in mixed marriages mixed offspring may opt for categories other than traditional categories. 

In absolutist regimes, "dissolution" may take the form of official denial of the existence any ethnic group.  China for instance had for a long time denied the existence of many ethnic groups, but lately has recognized some.

Strange!!!!! I can find the delete button in my last post though.Would any of the Moderators like  to send me a PM/Email & enlighten me regarding the inaccuracies/irregularities with the DELETE button?

The Hakka is branch of Han-Chinese who migrated southwards during course of history.

http://www.mpichard.ca/hakka.htm

http://www.asiawind.com/hakka/

BTW: Maju is right about perceived identity.

A local woman called by others ��sister Hua��from Beijing(shes known for her enthusiastic efforts in preserving traditonal Beijing residence, the ��SiHeYuan��) who's grandmother is a French. She looks more like European than Asian, but shes bothered at other-Chinese looked at her with odds and curiosity ever since her childhood, as she regards herself a Chinese.

Another Chinese professor from southern province who studies evironmental changes of ��yellow earth plateau��(which supposed to be the cradle of Chinese civilization as its original settlement area of the Yellow emperor, leader of the HuaXia people) acknowledged that by racial features he belongs more to Polynesian than to HuaXia group, but stated that his heart is with the Yellow emperor.

Han-Chinese trace their ancestry via well-kept family books, or oral legends(its not exclusively to Han-Chinese, but for other ethnic people as well. for example, the Miao people kept their family records by oral recording which pass down from one generation to next. That they kept their identity so well, even they migrated southward long time ago, they still remember they were once belong to the ��DongYi��,since their ancestor is ChiYou, once leader of ��DongYi��).

For instance, while my family before my grandfather were for generations poor peasants, but it has been passed down to grandfather that my family were not originally lived in the rural area near HeBei province, and our family name we got now is not our original one.(its common for poor peasants who work for rich landlords adopting their names)

He told my older brother we orginally came from ShanDong province, had the surname Jiang, which JiangShang is our ancestor, whos guardian minister to the first king of Zhou dynasty, and founder of Qi kingdom during ��spring&autumn�� period, Qi kingdom under leadership of JiangXiaoBai(King Huan of Qi) became the first ��chief state��during��spring&autumn���� by correlative historical records, JiangShang is the descendant of legendary ��fire emperor��.

Chinese is very serious about their ancestors.

For example, the Yan army(in alliance with states of Zhao,Han,Wei,Chu) in retaliation of earlier Qi assaults, in 284 B.C attacked Qi kingdom, and conquered more than 70 cities in a swift, only 2 cities remained ferociously resistant. The Yan army laid siege to the cities, the commander of Yan army YueYi(one of most famed general of��warring states��) who led the initial huge victory insisted that buying the heart of Qi people is more important than keep military pressure if Yan wants conquer the 2 final cities. But the king of Yan suspected YueYi's delay in his complete conquest of Qi land. Switched commanding post to arrogant general QiJie from YueYi. QiJie in order to drew the Qi army out of their fortresses, dug all Qi ancestral tombs in the surrounding rual area��This barbarous act intolerantly enraged the Qi people. Under general TianDan(another most famed general of ��warring states��)'s command, the Qi army actively went out of their fortresses and assaulted the Yan army with TianDan's secret weapon "fire ox army"(tie knives to the head of ox, and flammable materials at their tails, drove them into formation of Yan), Yan army was utterly defeated, commander QiJie was killed, Qi recovered all her lost territory.

Same story with "Eastern Jin" dynasty period, called "five barbarian incursion of central plain" . some of the "barbarians" occupied north&central China too dug Han-Chinese ancestral tombs. Famous Chinese calligrapher(praised as "saint of calligraphy")WangXiZhi upon hearing message of his ancestral tombs were dug, angrily condemned such barbarous act. WangXiZhi dismissed court's invitation to high offical status, but longed for retake of the ancestral land to the north as he took a governmental post set for gathering supplies for northern expeditions.

Meanwhile another famous general of this period, ZuTi, his ancestral tombs too were dug by the "barbarian". ZuTi is said to had ambitions of march northwards and vowed to retake lost lands. He would often consider the time "darkest period for the Chinese", that its said once ZuTi upon hearing calls of rooster in the midnight, he couldnt control his excitement to dance, others asked why hes so excited, ZuTi replied"the rooster is calling, dawn will be early, and this darkness would end!"(this story ever became a Chinese idiom��dance upon hearing calls of rooster��) While at crossing the Yangtze river on ships, ZuTi symbolicly stick the oar into river and made a swear, that he and his troops wont return to south of river til they have succeeded in retaking homeland back from the hands of the "barbarians". (which ever became another Chinese idiom ��stick the oar in the middle of river��)

But weak Eastern Jin court was reluctant at it.

When the "HeXi corridor" fell to the Tubo kingdom(for nearly a century) during middle of Tang dynasty, 50,0000 Han-Chinese became Tubo slaves, they were forced to speak Tibetan,wear Tibetan cloth, adopt Tibetan cutoms, Han-cloth were forbidden to were. Even that, the Chinese never forgot who they are, as they would during important ancestral day prostrate themselves in Han-cloth to the East,as its where the Tang dynasty is.