Han Chinese

The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 17.5% of the world population. The Han Chinese represent 91.11% of the population in China and 97% of the population in Taiwan. Han Chinese are also a significant diasporic group in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. In Singapore, people of Han Chinese or Chinese descent make up around 75% of the country's population.

The Han Chinese have exerted a primary formative influence in the development and growth of Chinese civilization. Originating from Zhongyuan, the Han Chinese trace their ancestry to the Huaxia people, a confederation of agricultural tribes that lived along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in the north central plains of China. The Huaxia are the progenitors of Chinese civilization and ancestors of the modern Han Chinese.

Han Chinese people and culture later spread southwards in the Chinese mainland, driven by large and sustained waves of migration during successive periods of Chinese history, for example the Qin (221–206 BC) and Han (202 BC – 220 AD) dynasties, leading to a demographic and economic tilt towards the south, and the absorption of various non-Han ethnic groups over the centuries at various points in Chinese history. The Han Chinese became the main inhabitants of the fertile lowland areas and cities of southern China by the time of the Tang and Song dynasties, with minority tribes occupying the highlands.