[citation needed] Yet others were forcibly brought into the Sinosphere by the imperial ambitions of emperors such as Qin Shi Huangdi and Han Wu Di, both of whom settled hundreds of thousands of Chinese in these lands to form agricultural colonies and military garrisons.

Even then, control over these lands was tenuous, and Bai Yue cultural identity remained strong until sustained waves of Han Chinese emigration in the Jin, Tang and Song dynasties altered the demographic balance completely.

The first urban conurbations in the region, for example, Panyu, were created by Han settlers rather than the Bai Yue, who preferred to maintain small settlements subsisting on swidden agriculture and rice farming.

The "Eight Great Surnames" were eight noble families who migrated from the Central Plains to Fujian - these were the Hu, He, Qiu, Dan, Zheng, Huang, Chen and Lin clans, who remain there until this very day.

[citation needed] It is likely that the difference in census figures was due to the complete breakdown in administrative capabilities, as well as the widespread escape from the north by the Han Chinese and their mass migration to the south.

Guangdong and Fujian both experienced a significant influx of Northern Han Chinese settlers, leading many Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew individuals to identify themselves as Tangren, which has served as a means to assert and acknowledge their ethnic and cultural origin and identity.

The Mongol conquest of China during the thirteenth century once again caused a surging influx of Northern Han Chinese refugees to move south to settle and develop the Pearl River Delta.

[85][86][87][88][89][90] These mass migrations over the centuries inevitably led to the demographic expansion, economic prosperity, agricultural advancements, and cultural flourishing of Southern China, which remained relatively peaceful unlike its northern counterpart.

Clashes and tensions between the two groups over land, water, ethno-racial,[dubious – discuss] and cultural differences led to the relocation of some communities and over time, varying degrees of intermarriage and assimilation took place.

[107] Singapore is the only nation in the world where Overseas Chinese constitute a majority of the population and remain the country's cultural, economic and politically dominant arbiters vis-à-vis their non-Han minority counterparts.

[104][108][103] Up until the past few decades, overseas Han communities originated predominantly from areas in Eastern and Southeastern China (mainly from the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan, and to a lesser extent, Guangxi, Yunnan and Zhejiang).

The ethnic stock to which the Han Chinese originally trace their ancestry from were confederations of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age agricultural tribes known as the Huaxia that lived along the Guanzhong and Yellow River basins in Northern China.

This was especially true in the latter part of the Tang era and the Five Dynasties period that followed; the relative stability of the south coast made it an attractive destination for refugees fleeing continual warfare and turmoil in the north.

Taiwan, previously inhabited mostly by non-Han aborigines, was sinicized during this period via large-scale migration accompanied by assimilation, despite efforts by the Manchus to prevent this, as they found it difficult to maintain control over the island.

[146] In Sun's revolutionary philosophical view, Han identity is exclusively possessed by the so-called civilized Hua Xia people who originated from the Central Plains, and were also the former subjects of the Celestial empire and evangelists of Confucianism.

[151] Educational achievement and academic success gained through years of arduous study and mastery of classical Confucian texts was an imperative duty for defending and protecting one's family honor while also providing the primary qualifying basis criterion for entry among ambitious individuals who sought to hold high ranking and influential government positions of distinguished authority, importance, responsibility, and power within the upper echelons of the imperial bureaucracy.

This elevation in their social standing, respectability, and pedigree was greatly augmented both within their own family circles, as well as among their neighbors and peers compared with the regular levels of recognition that they would have typically enjoyed had they only chosen to remain as mere commoners back in their ancestral regions.

Extended family groupings have been very important to the Han Chinese, and there are strict conventions as how one may refer to aunts, uncles, and cousins and the spouses of the same, depending on their birth order as well as whether these blood relatives share the same surname.

[182] During China's Neolithic period, southwestern rice growers transitioned to millet from the northwest, when they could not find a suitable northwestern ecology – which was typically dry and cold – to sustain the generous yields of their staple as well as it did in other areas, such as along the eastern Chinese coast.

Historically, ambitious individuals who aspired to seek top government positions of distinguished authority, importance, and power were mandated to demonstrate their proficiency in the Confucian classics assessed through rigorous examinations in Imperial China.

Han literature itself has a rich tradition dating back thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature vernacular fiction novels that arose during the Ming dynasty which were employed as a source of cultural pleasure to entertain the masses of literate Chinese.

[187] The Han Chinese have made significant contributions to various fields in the advancement and progress of human civilization, including business and economy, culture and society, governance, and science and technology, both historically and in the modern era.

[193][194][195][189] The work of medieval Chinese polymath Shen Kuo (1031–1095) of the Song dynasty theorized that the sun and moon were spherical and wrote of planetary motions such as retrogradation as well as postulating theories for the processes of geological land formation.

Among such prominently illustrious names that have been honored, recognized, remembered, and respected for their historical groundbreaking achievements include Nobel Prize laureates Tu Youyou, Steven Chu, Samuel C.C.

[201][202][203][204][205][206][excessive citations] The botanist Shang Fa Yang was well-noted for his research that unlocked the key to prolonging freshness in fruits and flowers and "for his remarkable contributions to the understanding of the mechanism of biosynthesis, mode of action and applications of the plant hormone, Ethylene.

"[218] The physician and physiologist Thomas Ming Swi Chang is the inventor of the world's first artificial cell made from a permeable plastic sack that would effectively carry hemoglobin around the human circulatory system.

[221] Min Chueh Chang was the co-inventor of the combined oral contraceptive pill and is known for his pioneering work and significant contributions to the development of in vitro fertilization at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology.

[243][244][245][246] A 2022 study states that the massive Han subgroups differ in some of their ancestral components despite a shared Neolithic Yellow River farmer ancestry, reflective of their vast demographic history.

These genetic findings are in concord with historical records confirming the continuous and large migratory waves of Northern Han Chinese inhabitants escaping dynastic changes, geopolitical upheavals, instability, warfare and famine into what is now today modern Southern China.

[268] About 2,000 years ago, between the Warring States period and Eastern Han dynasty, the northeast coastlines of China faced an eastward migration from the Central Plains, shaping the genetic structure of local populations to the present.