Sinification definition world history
The long-term aim of the Communist Party is to make China unified, and the most recent tool for this is the creation a Chinese nation. This term was included in the Constitution last year, which contradicts the definition of China as a multi-national state.
Unifying China includes promoting a Chinese identity through history and culture. The current borders and ethnic composition of China are presented as the results of natural processes. History is written from the viewpoint of the Han Chinese and their relations with the border regions. Culture is discussed in a similar Han-centric manner.
The Party has set “Chinese values” against “universal values” and religions. It demands religions to be Sinified in order to alleviate any risks they might pose to national unity.
Most concretely, the creation of a Chinese nation is affecting the people in Xinjiang. This has given rise to concerns in other countries. The Sinification of minority nationalities may potentially become a new stumbling block in China’s relations with Western states.
Introduction
The Communist Party of China (CPC) is obsessed with national unity. According to the traditional and still largely prevaili
sinificationnoun
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun sinification. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English
| 1920 | 0.002 |
| 1930 | 0.0029 |
| 1940 | 0.0042 |
| 1950 | 0.005 |
| 1960 | 0.0067 |
| 1970 | 0.0082 |
| 1980 | 0.0097 |
| 1990 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 0.011 |
| 2010 | 0.011 |
/ˌsɪnᵻfᵻˈkeɪʃn/
sin-uh-fuh-KAY-shuhn
/ˌsɪnəfəˈkeɪʃən/
sin-uh-fuh-KAY-shuhn
The earliest acknowledged use of the noun sinification is in the 1880s.
OED's earliest evidence for sinification is from 1888, in China Review.
Nearby entries
- Sinhali, n. & adj.a1727–
- sinhalite, n.1952–
- Sinic, adj.1650–
- sinical, adj.1593–
- Sinicism, n.1842–
- sinicization, n.1885–
- sinicize, v.1880–
- sinicized, adj.1854–
- Sinico-, comb. form
- Sinico-Japanese, adj. & n.1841–
- sinification, n.1888–
- sinify, v.1888–
- sinigang, n.1912–
- sinigrin, n.1876–
- sinister, adj., n., & adv.1411–
- sinister bar, n.1646–
- sinister bend, n.1612–
- sinister-handed, adj.a1657–
- siniste
Today’s edition was put together and translated with the generous help of Robert A. Kapp, former academic, president of the US-China Business Council from 1994 to 2004 and a current special advisor to the US-China Education Trust. – Thomas
Zheng Yongnian is one of China’s foremost, globally recognized public intellectuals, a scholar and commentator of broad international experience (Ph.D. Princeton, MacArthur Foundation grant, editor of several series of publications on contemporary China, inter alia). He is currently a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen). In this commentary, Prof. Zheng wades into the current controversy over China’s allegedly excessive industrial production and the resultant rapidly rising tide of PRC exports (most disturbingly of electric vehicles and greentech products), not only to developing countries but to highly developed Western country markets. He offers a sophisticated repackaging of now-familiar Chinese official responses to Western…
Sinicization Meaning
Sinicization, at its core, is the process of strengthening Han Chinese culture within and without mainland China. In sinicization, people of non-traditional Chinese descent in China and its neighboring countries become exposed to and adopt Han Chinese culture, including moral values, language, education systems, philosophy, religion, technology, diet, etc. In that sense, sinicization can be viewed as a process of imperialism.
Art depicting 9th century Tang Dynasty General Zhang Yichao battling Tibetans for control of a province in northwestern China. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
When defining sinicization, however, it begs another question: what is Han Chinese culture? And what were the means of its spread of influence throughout Medieval East Asia?
Han Chinese / Hanzu / 汉族:
A term used to describe the majority ethnic group of China deriving their history and cultural identity from the ancient agricultural Huaxia people of mainland China.
To this day, Han Chinese is an enduring ethnic concept used to describe the majority of the Chinese populace (and nearly a fifth of the global world population). Indeed, Han Chinese is often mist
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