This is an innovative, thought-provoking, and important contribution to our understanding of contemporary Chinese society. -- James Leibold, coeditor of Critical Han Studies: The History, Representation, and Identity of China's Majority At a time when minority identities and conflicts between minorities and the state have become increasingly salient for our understanding of China and its politics, we need to pay more attention to the question of what Han identity means for the Han themselves and how conflict between Han and minorities is explained by the nature of Han identity. The Han makes an important contribution to this understanding. -- From the foreword by Stevan Harrell, author of Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China

Open-access edition: DOI 10.6069/9780295805979

This ethnography explores contemporary narratives of “Han-ness,” revealing the nuances of what Han identity means today in relation to that of the fifty-five officially recognized minority ethnic groups in China, as well as in relation to home place identities and the country’s national identity. Based on research she conducted among native and migrant Han in Shanghai and Beijing, Aqsu (in Xinjiang), and the Sichuan-Yunnan border area, Agnieszka Joniak-Luthi uncovers and discusses these identity topographies. Bringing into focus the Han majority, which has long acted as an unexamined backdrop to ethnic minorities, Joniak-Luthi contributes to the emerging field of critical Han studies as she considers how the Han describe themselves - particularly what unites and divides them - as well as the functions of Han identity and the processes through which it is maintained and reproduced.

The Han will appeal to scholars and students of contemporary China, anthropology, and ethnic and cultural studies.

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"Contemporary anthropological research infrequently focuses on the Han, who constitute 91.5 percent of the Chinese population. Social anthropologist Joniak-Lüthi takes a big step “to explore the Han and Han-ness”… An ambitious work, similar to defining America and Americanism. Recommended."

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"This should be a must-read for anyone interested in historical and contemporary notions of identity in China."

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"I am constantly intrigued by what it means to be Han. . . . Agnieszka Joniak-Lüthi's remarkable new book casts light on this question, and reveals Hanness as a slippery and multivalent designation. . . . The fieldwork undertaken by the author for this study, and the deep analysis to which she has subjected it, has produced a wonderful contribution to scholarship on the Han, but I believe it illumines also the ways in which we all see ourselves."