Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 3, 2023

 

The Evolution of Social Organizations and the Formation of Chinese Identity among the Northern Peoples

(Abstract)

 

Yang Jun

 

Most of the northern peoples were at a critical stage in their evolution from a pre-state society to a state, so had to address the issue of identity transformation. This critical stage coincided with the period of close interaction between the northern peoples and the Chinese dynasties, so identification with the Chinese dynasties inevitably became an option for their own identity transformation. The attraction to the northern peoples of the political philosophy of the Central Plains dynasties, one that incorporated all the “Four Barbarians” and China’s advanced society, economy and culture prompted them to gradually lean toward the Central Plains dynasties in the process of identity transformation, and eventually to establish a national identity as “Chinese”. The Chinese identity of the northern peoples was a rational path for the development of the northern peoples themselves, and had a historical inevitability.