This article dismantles Xi Jinping’s claim that the Han ethnicity vanished long ago and was replaced by a blended “Chinese nation.”
Through historical examples—from foreign dynasties ruling the Central Plains to the persistent brutality of Han-led regimes—Masayuki Takayama demonstrates that the Han identity has remained intact and is reflected in the CCP’s arrogance and cruelty today.
The essay argues that Xi’s invented concept of a “Chinese nation” serves to justify territorial claims over Uyghur and Tibetan regions, and exposes the deep historical roots of deception and violence in China’s political culture.

Xi Jinping often speaks of “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
I had always thought “Chinese” referred to cuisine—Italian, French, Chinese.
I never knew it was supposed to be an ethnic name.
He even claims it is the ethnicity that created all culture that ever flourished in China.
That was news to me.

China’s history has been watched over by the Great Wall.
Inside the wall lived the people of the Central Plains, the Han.
Over the centuries, “barbarians” crossed the wall and established dynasties there.
The Northern tribes built the Yin; the Western Rong built the Zhou; the Eastern Yi built the Qin, producing brilliant bronze and iron civilizations.
Later came the Xianbei and the Mongols.
During all this time, the Han people in the Central Plains lived under foreign dynasties as slaves.
Being enslaved in one’s own homeland is unbearable.
Some analysts argue that this produced the Han people’s servile, cruel, and shamelessly deceitful ethnic character.

History records a gap when no foreign tribes appeared.
During such intervals, the Han secretly built their own regimes.
The Han dynasty of the second century BC is one example.
Perhaps out of pride, they adopted the name of that dynasty as their ethnic name, “Han.”
But because their roots lay in slavery, Han rule was plagued by suspicion, greed, and chaos.
Never had the people longed so eagerly for the barbarians to return and restore stability.
Afterward came the blessed era of foreign rule again—until 1,300 years later, the nightmare Han dynasty of the Ming arose, and 600 years after that, the present Chinese Communist Party emerged.

The CCP surpasses all previous Han regimes in brutality.
They have already killed 50 million people in the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, and continue to add to that number today.
Looking back at history, the so-called “great Chinese nation” never appears anywhere.

“No, that’s not true,” Xi Jinping says.
He insists that Han, Rong, Yi, and others all merged long ago, and that only a blended “Chinese nation” exists now.
But the idea that the Han disappeared in ancient times is dubious.
During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Han clearly existed.
When the Jurchens from the north saw someone behaving rudely or boorishly, they scolded him: “You act just like a Han.”
From this came words such as villainous Han, perverted Han, and rogue Han.
These terms still describe the Chinese today.

The Manchu Qing also ruled over Han people.
They kept their hair unkempt, so the Manchus imposed the queue hairstyle.
Those who resisted were beheaded, reducing the Han population slightly.
During the Opium War, the Han sided with the British.
Their banner read “Destroy the Manchus and Revive the Han.”
This clearly shows the Han still existed.

Japan first saw the Han masses during the Sino-Japanese War.
“From ancient times, the Han have possessed a cruel nature,” warned Yamagata Aritomo.
“If captured alive, they will inflict tortures worse than death—cutting off genitals, slicing off ears and noses, gouging out eyes, and finally severing limbs.”
After defeat, the Empress Dowager Cixi abolished the imperial examinations and made overseas study the new path for bureaucrats.
The first was Wang Jingwei, who had topped the imperial exams and was sent to study in Japan.
Her boldness is notable, though her reputation is poor—she was accused of diverting funds from the Beiyang Fleet and of mutilating a rival concubine, but those acts were done by Empress Lü of the Han dynasty.

The Beiyang Fleet had twice the equipment and warships of Japan.
They lost because the Han officers and soldiers fled.
Their extraordinary talent for shifting blame and slandering others proves how vigorous the Han ethnicity remained even in Cixi’s time.

Xi Jinping’s claim that “the Han disappeared long ago” has no foundation.
The arrogance and brutality of today’s CCP seem to proclaim: “The Han are still alive and well.”
So why did Xi erase the Han and invent the fictitious “Chinese nation”?
Perhaps so he could claim that Uyghur and Tibetan lands always belonged to China.
As an emperor or as a land swindler, Xi is hardly first-rate.