Kinship ties of the ancient Huaxia: correcting one historiographical inaccuracy

Abstract

The study focuses on Huaxia's beliefs regarding their kinship from the seventh to sixth century BC. One theory holds that the people living in the many ancient Chinese states at that time came together to form an ethnic group known as the Hua, Xia, or Huaxia, based on concepts of shared ancestry among other things. Citations from ancient Chinese texts are provided as confirmation, drawing a comparison between the "barbarians" and the foreign and unconnected polities and the "fraternal" and "related" states of the Huaxia. There are issues with this interpretation, though, as genealogical kinship between certain individuals is seen as evidence of the ethnic identity among the Huaxia, while translations of ancient texts are sometimes erroneous and the statement's context is disregarded. This work offers revised translations and interpretations of certain sections from Chun Qiu Zuo Zhuan (Commentary by Zuo [Qiuming to the] Chun Qiu). The author concludes that these statements refute any notion of a shared ancestry among the ancient Chinese as a whole. Rather, they deal only with the family links that existed between the several governing dynasties. Moreover, even in cases where there were no significant linguistic or cultural divide, the principalities ruled by unrelated monarchs or those whose relationship was deemed too remote could be left out of the list of "related," "fraternal" states. The question is raised as to whether the commoners were part of the emerging community of Huaxia, or whether this term still referred to representatives of the elite. It is obvious that the Huaxia are opposed to "barbarians", but it is not entirely clear whether the commoners were taken into account in the context of this comparison.