If having foreign ancestry qualifies someone as foreign, then by the same logic, having Han Chinese ancestry qualifies someone as Han Chinese—logic is fair. In that case… well, let's include Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Vietnamese, and so on—all Han Chinese! Hmph, we don't need them included.
In recent years, a baseless claim has emerged, exaggerating the bloodline differences between Han Chinese in the North and South. In reality, the bloodline similarities between the North and South are remarkably well-preserved. How much impact can a tiny minority of other ethnic groups have on the Han Chinese, who are overwhelmingly numerous? Compared to some other ethnic groups, their stability and cohesion are extremely high. In terms of purity, it's hard to find anyone else that can claim to be purer. As for the continuity and inheritance of our culture, that goes without saying. This extreme exaggeration of minor differences while deliberately ignoring major similarities is no different from the fallacy of the Japanese invasion of China—an attempt to sow discord among the Chinese people and ultimately undermine and divide China.
*****
Related to the work:
In ancient times, Han Chinese people wore their hair in a bun, both men and women had to comb it all back (only children could wear their hair down). If, as depicted in movies and television dramas, a small portion was tied up while a lot of hair was left loose, it was considered taboo. Li Shangyin's *Yishan Leizuan* lists many inauspicious things, one of which is women's hair hanging down without being gathered. If he knew that even men in movies and television today wear their hair down, he would surely be furious.
Whether to tie one's hair up, wear the right-fastening garment, or wear it with a belt, or to wear it loose, cut it short, fasten it on the left, or use buttons—this truly reflects the distinction between Chinese and barbarians. Duke Huan of Qi, assisted by Guan Zhong, helped the states of Yan and Wei defeat the Rong people. Confucius lamented, "Without Guan Zhong, we would have worn our hair loose and our clothes fastened on the left," meaning that without Guan Zhong, if our states had perished, we would have all become like the Rong people, with our hair loose and our clothes fastened on the left. (Duke Huan of Qi was an ancestor of Huan She, hehe.)
Whether the Xiongnu and Turks were of Mongol or Caucasian descent is a matter of much debate and remains unresolved. It should be said that neither was composed of a single ethnic group, but rather a mixture of numerous ethnic groups and tribes of Mongol and Caucasian descent. The Xiongnu were likely the same as the Xianyun (Quanrong), a major enemy of the Zhou Dynasty. The Book of Songs frequently sings of warriors going to war against the Xianyun, such as in the poem "Gathering Ferns": "Gathering ferns, gathering ferns, the ferns are now growing. Saying 'Let's go home, let's go home,' but the year is almost over. No home, no family, because of the Xianyun… No time to rest, because of the Xianyun. How can I not be vigilant every day? The Xianyun are so dangerous! When I went away, the willows were swaying. Now I return, the rain and snow are falling. My journey is slow, I am thirsty and hungry. My heart is grieved, no one knows my sorrow!" To drive away the Xianyun, they had no houses, no homes, constantly on the move, unable to sleep soundly. Oh, warriors!
During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, they seemed to have changed their name to Xiongnu, and the ancient pronunciations of Xianyun and Xiongnu are very similar. The states of Zhao and Qi built the Great Wall to defend against the Xiongnu.
During the Qin Dynasty, Meng Tian had already defeated the Xiongnu. Unfortunately, the Xiongnu returned after the fall of Qin, and were defeated again during the Han Dynasty. However, the Xiongnu were still present after their defeat, and during the Western Jin Dynasty, they even reached Chang'an and established two small states during the Five Barbarian Invasions.
The Xiongnu later migrated westward, but this people without a written language left a gap of hundreds of years for posterity. No one knows where they went, what they did, or which ethnic groups they assimilated with after leaving China. It is generally believed that the Hungarians are their descendants, but the Bulgarians are more likely to be their descendants, although this descendant has already incorporated too many other ethnic elements.
Wiegel summarized the descriptions of the Xiongnu people in Chinese history as follows: "They were short and stocky, with large, round heads, broad faces, high cheekbones, wide noses, thick beards, and only a small tuft of stiff hair under their chins. They wore earrings through pierced long earlobes. Except for a tuft of hair on the top of their heads, the rest of their heads were shaved. They had thick eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, and bright, piercing gazes. They wore loose robes that reached their calves and were slit in the sides, with belts around their waists that hung down in front. Due to the cold, the sleeves were tightened at the wrists. A short fur sash was wrapped around their shoulders, and they wore fur hats."
The Turks were a diverse group, their ethnicity and race unclear. Ashina, however, may have been Caucasian; some ancient texts describe them as having red faces and blue eyes, exhibiting more Caucasian characteristics. One book mentions an embroidered portrait (or perhaps a portrait, not a drawing) of a Turkic nobleman with blue eyes. Therefore, when I wrote about Xiao Qu, I described him as blue-eyed. However, children born to blue-eyed and black-eyed parents usually have black eyes; I can only say I'm writing fiction, and Xiao Qu just happened to fall into that extremely rare few percent.
The Turks included both white and yellow people. Some, like the Ashina clan, were white and of Caucasian descent. Even people like An Lushan, who were of non-Turkic descent, were white. However, the Tang Dynasty clearly distinguished between the Turks and the non-Turks. The Turks were the Turks, and the non-Turks were the non-Turks; they were never mixed up.
I mentioned Ashina Simo in my book, remember? This guy looked "like a Hu" (a term referring to a non-Han people), not like a Turk, so the Turkic Khan was very suspicious of him (perhaps suspecting he was born from an affair between his mother and a Hu), and never promoted him. Fortunately, Emperor Taizong of Tang later treated Ashina Simo quite well and even made him Khan.
Clearly, the Turkic and non-Turkic peoples are very different. I used to know a Turkish man and two Americans; at first glance, they all had high noses and deep-set eyes, but the two Americans (whose great-grandparents were German) told me that the Turkish man looked different from them. So, white people are different too. This Turkish man had a thin face and a narrow nose. I also knew two other Turkish men who had fat heads, big ears, and oily faces, looking very much like Arabs.
Turkic legends say they originated from the Western Sea (as I sang in the song "The Western Sea Lapses the Shore," referring to my beautiful homeland, which is how they came to be). Experts have verified that it was the Caspian Sea between Asia and Europe. Therefore, they developed from west to east and eventually fought with the Chinese. The Gobi Desert (Lake Baikal) and the Altai Mountains were their strongholds after their eastward expansion.
Emperor Wen of Sui had already dealt a heavy blow to the Turks, but unfortunately, Emperor Yang of Sui was extremely wasteful, and the Turks attacked again. (The Qin and Sui dynasties, the Han and Tang dynasties, are remarkably similar.) Emperor Taizong of Tang destroyed the Eastern Turks, and Emperor Gaozong of Tang, relying on his father's team, destroyed the Western Turks. However, Empress Wu Zetian, in her pursuit of the throne, killed countless meritorious officials, leaving the court without capable ministers and the borders lacking generals. The Turks then rallied and launched another attack, invading repeatedly and losing vast territories. All the wars fought were in vain, and so many brave men were sacrificed in vain. It wasn't until the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang that the Turks were defeated once again.
The Turks also fled westward, supposedly returning to their ancestral homeland. Along the way, they also integrated with many other ethnic groups, and the modern Turkish people are vastly different from those of a thousand years ago.
The Persians (Iranians) are Persians. The land of modern Iraqis (Arabs) was formerly the land of the ancient Babylonians, and the land of the ancient Egyptians was also occupied by the Arabs. Both the Persians and Arabs later converted to Islam, and they are not the same as the Turks.
The Turkic hairstyle, as described in the book, is a shaved head that reaches above the eyebrows. The rest of the hair can be worn down or braided. So, before I, Xiao Qu, took office in the Western Turkic Khaganate, I shaved half my head and wore my hair down to show my loyalty. As a result, Wei Ying hit my bald head twice.
Even if you're bald in the front, you can still braid your hair in the back. Xuanzang wrote that when he saw the Western Turkic Khan, many high-ranking officials had braids.
I haven't studied the specifics of how they braided their hair, but it probably wasn't like the Manchus who wore a single braid. I remember seeing a Turkic statue with several very long lines carved on the back to represent braids, maybe five or six.
The Xianbei people generally wore braids, and there was even a tribe called the Bald Hair Tribe. Just look at that name!
The Rouran people (also known as the Ruru or Rouran, not the Loulan people) were originally slaves of the Xianbei Tuoba tribe. The Tuoba people called him Mugulu, meaning bald. It's unclear whether this baldness was an individual trait or a collective characteristic. Books say the Rouran people wore braids.
Not only the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Rouran, Turks, and Manchus, but also the Mongols used to have shaved heads with braids in the back. So the hairstyles of the Mongols in the TV shows XF watches are correct. I've thought about it for a long time and still don't understand why people from the grasslands all have this hairstyle. Logically, since the weather there is cold, they should have kept more hair to keep warm. (By the way, Japanese men have a shaved front and a half-tied back. Could it be that they were originally shaved in the front, and later, influenced by the Han Chinese, they tied their hair up, but didn't completely change it, so it became like that?)