The genetic divide in China

Chen Ching-chih:

The genetic evidence also indicates the migration of modern humans in prehistoric Asia. It suggests a gradual prehistoric population movement from south to north. In Asia, levels of genetic variation are greater in the south, which would be expected if modern humans arrived there first. There are also profound genetic differences between the Chinese north and south of the Yangtze River. Genetically, northern Chinese resemble Mongols, Manchurians and Koreans, while southern Chinese are more like Vietnamese, Thais and other Southeast Asians. Even though China has been "unified" for more than 2,000 years, and while there has been internal movement, it has remained genetically divided.

The north and south are two different worlds; although bound by a common written language and political base, they have maintained some of their former divisions.

In addition to Li Jin's studies, other genetic research has helped to bury some myths that have grown up about Chinese genetic origins. For example, it had been widely accepted that there was a massive population expansion of Han Chinese from north to south during the past 2,000 years of imperial rule -- overlaying, displacing and ultimately replacing the bulk of indigenous minorities in the south. Recent historical research has shown, however, that Han identity in the south was, for pragmatic political reasons, adopted or synthesized by southern indigenous peoples only over the past few hundred years.

This suggests that much of the population migration from the north to the south was more perceived than real, and supports the view that regional populations may have been more stable over the past few thousand years than was previously assumed.

To ethnocentric northern Chinese, the idea that they descend from southerners is about as welcome as the news that all Chinese are descended from Africans. In China, the north is the Middle Kingdom, the source of all civilization and culture. For example, most Chinese -- southerners and northerners -- will say they are descended from the Yellow Emperor. However, if Huang Di actually existed, the "out of Africa" theory suggests that the Yellow Emperor was descended from modern humans who worked their way north from southeastern Asia, perhaps several tens of thousands of years earlier.

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