Before the introduction of national identification, the Hans were a unit which was integrated from several minorities, this very unit was called Huaxia Han. Since national identification was introduced, the Hans had become a separate ethnic group coexisting with other minorities. The difference between Huaxia Han and Ethnic Han was demonstrated by the fact of minorities’identification with Han via attaching themselves with the latter in history, as was already pointed out by Wang Mingke, and Miao’s refusal of Han identity in modern times, as mentioned by Zhang Zhaohe. Ignoring this difference is the reason that caused later scholar’s misunderstanding of Xu Langguang.The neglect of the differences between the two has also caused many debates and deviations in the academic circles when studying the ethnic question.This paper aims to explain the differences between the Huaxia Han and Ethnic Han, in order to alleviate and eliminate some debates in ethnic studies.
