Re: Racial Classification & credit line

J Y S Czhang scripsit:

>     to the point where hatreds 'tween
>         Northern Han (more Mongol/Manchu/Altaic than Han-ish) and
>         Southern Han (hardcore Han, more "pure Sino-Tibetan" and/or
> Austro-Tai than anything else) are practical instinctive
> kneejerk/goosestep responses a la cats and dogs...
>     Then there are the Western Han (more Turkic/Uighyr than Han)...
2/3 right.  In fact, the Southerners claim to be Han (or Tang) out of
hypercorrection and resentment of Northern proclaimed superiority, but
in fact they are basically Tai, which means that there are no "real Han":
"all Chinese are partial Chinese", as I said before.  "Han" is like
"American": a set of agreed-on conventions which don't represent a
direct follow-on to any of the predecessor cultures (though it's true
some contributed more than others).

--
"Do I contradict myself?                        John Cowan
Very well then, I contradict myself.            jcowan@reutershealth.com
I am large, I contain multitudes.               http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
        --Walt Whitman, _Leaves of Grass_       http://www.reutershealth.com