Quote:
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Originally Posted by footfootfoot
From Wikipedia:
"The reign of the Han Dynasty, lasting 400 years, is commonly considered within China to be one of the greatest periods in the entire history of China"
Who am I gonna believe? You or my lieing eyes? |
What exactly does the word "Han" mean in Chinese?
漢（汉）
First, Han is the name of the ethnic group that accounts for at least 92% percent of Chinese population.
The Han people was named after the Han dynasty, because that most of the basis of Han culture and Chinese nation were formed in the Qin and Han dysnasty.
Then how was the Han dynasty named?
The founder and the first emperor of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, initiated his final and winning campaign in the Chu-Han War against Xiangyu, from a region known as Hanzhong (middle of han), hence the name Han dynasty.
Yet does the character have an actual meaning?
Yes. Han, as well as its various variants such as TianHan (heavens han), HeHan (river han), YunHan (cloud han), etc, refer to a one and only original meaning: the Galaxy.
Ancient Chinese believe that everything in the heavens has its counterpart on the ground, hence the name Hanshui (a river belived to be linked with the Galaxy) and Hanzhong (the region at the middle course of Hanshui).
Another actual meaning of Han in contemporary Chinese (also in contemporary Japanese) is (a) brave man(men). This meaning was probably first developed during the war between Han Empire and Hun Empire (Hun is a northern nomad nation), when defeated Hun soldiers cried out the words "Haohan (good han (soldier))" with their pidgin Chinese.