Tang Ren?

[iMm0rTaLBoi]

Hey again people. I know that I've been posting alot of stuff, but I'm a curious boy. I have another question, this time regarding Cantonese people. I grew up speaking Cantonese and I've noticed that in Cantonese, we call ourselves Tang Ren (tong yan in canto) 唐人. Now politically, tang ren do not exist, all ethnic Chinese people are called Han Ren 漢人. But then why would Cantonese people call themselves Tang Ren??? By the way, we also call Chinatown Tang Ren Jie (ton yan gai) and chinese food tang chan (tong chan). Anyone have any idea why?

[skylee]

We use Tang (唐) and Han (漢) to describe ourselves because of the two powerful dynasties of the same names in Chinese history. I think there are no hard and fast rules on when to use which. It is mostly a habit. Chinese people can be called 唐人, 華人, or 中國人.

I don't think it is right to say all ethnic Chinese people are called 漢人, basically because the concept of being chinese is a bit complicated. I think it is more appropriate to say 漢族.

I remember when I was studying putonghua, once we talked about the famous Chinese actress 斯琴高娃 being 蒙古人. Our teacher was quick to point out that she was 蒙古族人, not 蒙古人 (well in this case there were really two issues - a) there were different minorities/nationalities in China; B) there was a separate nation called 蒙古). Applying this principle, singer 那英 is 滿族人, singer 崔健 is 朝鮮族人, singer 王菲 is 漢族人. And all of them are 中國人.

[florazheng]

Tang Dynasty was the most brilliant dynasty in Chinese history. There were great achievements in literature, economic, arts, foreign trade etc. We Chinese are proud of all these achievements. So overseas Chinese call themselves Tang Ren usually. China Town is called Tang Ren Jie. This is on the basis of the influence of Tang Dynasty.

There are 56 nationalities in China. Such as the nationalities of Tibetan, Mongolian, Korean, Han etc. The popularity of nationality of Han accounts for the majority in China. It have been being dominant culture though there were minor nationalities ruled China but the mainstream culture has been always Han’s culture.

The people of nationality of Han is Han Ren. This is on the basis of nationality.

[IvánQú]

According to Wikipedia:

Amongst Southern Chinese, a different term exists within various languages like Cantonese, Hakka and Minnan, but which means essentially the same thing. The term is Tangren (唐人, literally "the people of Tang"). This also derives from another Chinese dynasty, the Tang dynasty, which is regarded as another zenith of Chinese civilisation. The phrase probably came into existence due to the fact that the Tang dynasty ruled over broader territories southwards than did the Han dynasty, and its influence was felt far more acutely by Southern Han Chinese. In fact, the term survives in most Chinese references to Chinatown, known as 唐人街 ("Street of Tang People").