Sinicization

Sinicization, sinicisation, sinofication, or sinification, or “sinonization“ is a process whereby non-Chinese societies come under the influence of Chinese culture, particularly Han Chinese culture, language, societal norms, and ethnic identity. Areas of influence include diet, writing, industry, education, language, law, lifestyle, politics, philosophy, religion, science and technology, culture, and value systems. More broadly, 'Sinicization' may refer to policies of acculturation, assimilation, or cultural imperialism imposed by China onto neighboring East Asian countries, and minority ethnic groups inside China. Evidence of this can be seen in the value systems, cuisine, architectural style, and lexicons. This is reflected in the histories of Japan, Korea and Vietnam for example, in the adoption of the Chinese writing system as the script of the Han Chinese has long been a unifying feature in the Sinosphere as the vehicle for exporting Chinese culture to these Asian countries. Sinicization, sinicisation, sinofication, or sinification, or “sinonization“ is a process whereby non-Chinese societies come under the influence of Chinese culture, particularly Han Chinese culture, language, societal norms, and ethnic identity. Areas of influence include diet, writing, industry, education, language, law, lifestyle, politics, philosophy, religion, science and technology, culture, and value systems. More broadly, 'Sinicization' may refer to policies of acculturation, assimilation, or cultural imperialism imposed by China onto neighboring East Asian countries, and minority ethnic groups inside China. Evidence of this can be seen in the value systems, cuisine, architectural style, and lexicons. This is reflected in the histories of Japan, Korea and Vietnam for example, in the adoption of the Chinese writing system as the script of the Han Chinese has long been a unifying feature in the Sinosphere as the vehicle for exporting Chinese culture to these Asian countries. The integration or assimilation policy is a type of nationalism aimed at strengthening of the Chinese identity among the population. Proponents believe integration will help to develop shared values, pride in being the country’s citizen, respect and acceptance towards cultural differences among citizens of China. Critics argue that integration destroys ethnic diversity, language diversity, and cultural diversity. Analogous to North America with approximately 300 Native American languages and distinct ethnic groups; in China there are 292 non-Mandarin languages spoken by native peoples of the region. There are also a number of immigrant languages, such as Khmer, Portuguese, English, etc. Before sinicization, non-Chinese indigenous peoples of Southern China, collectively termed by the Chinese as Baiyue inhabited the coastline of China from as far north as the Yangtze River to as far south as the Gulf of Tonkin. Analysis of DNA recovered from human remains shows high frequencies of Haplogroup O1 in Liangzhu culture linking this culture to modern Austronesian populations. It is believed that Liangzhu culture was the ancestral homeland of Proto-Austronesian populations before they spread to Taiwan, and the Southeast Asia. Over time, the southward spread of Han Chinese led to the sinicization of most of the Baiyue populations that remained in Southern China, whether in the Yangtze Valley or in coastal areas from the mouth of the Yangtze to the Gulf of Tonkin. The remnants of these peoples who were not fully sinicized are now recognized officially as the ethnic minorities of the PRC. Descendants of Uyghurs who migrated to Taoyuan County, Hunan have largely assimilated into the Han Chinese and Hui population and practice Chinese customs, speaking varieties of Chinese as their language. During the 8th and 9th centuries in the Tang dynasty, Chinese male soldiers moved into Guizhou (formerly romanized as Kweichow) and married native non-Chinese women, their descendants being known as Lao-han-jen (original Chinese), in contrast to new Chinese people who colonized Guizhou at later times. They still spoke an archaic dialect as of 1929. Many immigrants to Guizhou were descended from these soldiers in garrisons who married non-Chinese women. The Mongol Yuan dynasty appointed a Muslim from Bukhara, Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, as governor of Yunnan after conquering the Bai Kingdom of Dali. Sayyid Ajjall then promoted Sinicization and Confucianization of the non-Han Chinese peoples in Yunnan during his reign. Sayyid Ajjal founded a 'Chinese style' city where modern Kunming is today, called Zhongjing Cheng. He ordered that a Buddhist temple, a Confucian temple, and two mosques be built in the city. Advocating Confucianism was part of his policy. The Confucian temple that Sayyid Ajjall built in 1274, which also doubled as a school, was the first Confucian temple ever to be built in Yunnan. Both Confucianism and Islam were promoted by Sayyid Ajall in his 'civilizing mission' during his time in Yunnan. Sayyid Ajall viewed Yunnan as 'backward and barbarian' and utilized Confucianism, Islam, and Buddhism for 'civilizing' the area. In Yunnan, the widespread presence of Islam is credited to Sayyid Ajjal's work. Sayyid Ajjal was first to bring Islam to Yunnan. He promoted Confucianism and Islam by ordering construction of mosques and temples of Confucianism. Sayyid Ajjal also introduced Confucian education into Yunnan. He was described as making 'the orangutans and butcherbirds became unicorns and phoenixes and their felts and furs were exchanged for gowns and caps', and praised by the Regional Superintendent of Confucian studies, He Hongzuo.