Han — English Dictionary

Proper noun

1. An imperial Chinese dynasty, ruling (with interruptions) from 206 BC to AD 220, marked by the expansion of the Yellow River's Huaxia culture to the recent conquests of the Qin and a flowering of economic, literary, and scientific development

   Synonyms

   Han Chinese

   Related words

   hanzihanjakanjiHán tựChinese characterChinese ideographChinese letterChinese logogramChinese radicalChinese syllable

   Examples

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   According to the hair-dress it is probably that of a woman. There are some 102 slight traces of polychromy on the white slip. Other heads possessing similar qualities were dug up from early Han tombs in Pao-chi district, Shensi Province.

   The eclectism of political thought during the Han is reflected in Liu Hsiang's evaluation of Shang Yang.

   Ai quickly became renowned for provocative works, which included smashing a million-dollar Han Dynasty Urn in 1995.

2. The Chinese ethnicity, when distinguished from other peoples of the Chinese state

   Examples

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   Trade was the major economic link between Tibet and other regions in China. Special economic systems (estate, serfdom) made it impossible for Han immigrants to engage in agriculture and animal husbandry in Tibet. The geographic features of the plateau (high elevation, rarefied air, mountains, etc.) limited the volume of trade and migration between Tibet and other regions.

   According to the 2000 census, the Han make up 92 percent of China's population; the minority groups combine for about 8 percent (about 106 million people).

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   “The people of both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the Chinese nation, are children of Yandi and the Yellow Emperor,” he told a group of Chinese and Taiwanese reporters who had been allowed to follow him on the trip, referring to mythical emperors revered as founders of China’s dominant Han ethnicity.

3. A river in central China.

   Examples

   Hankow, China, is located 600 miles from the coast, on the north bank of the Yang-tse-Kiang River, at its junction with the Han River.

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   “By transferring such a significant volume of water away from the Han River Basin, the project is depriving the area of the most basic input it will need to develop in the years and decades to come,” said Britt Crow-Miller, a research assistant professor at Portland State University.[…] The Danjiangkou reservoir gets its water from the Han River, a tributary of the Yangtze River which feeds several major cities in central China such as Wuhan, an economic power house in Hubei province sporting a $144 billion GDP.

Proper noun

1. An ancient Chinese county, viscounty, and kingdom of the Zhou dynasty and the Qin–Han interregnum

2. The realm of this former state under other rulers

3. The star Zeta Ophiuchi in traditional Chinese astronomy, named for this state

4. A surname.

   Examples

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   In May 2019, former Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) proposed adopting the Hanyu Pinyin system for the city's street signs at an estimated cost of NT$73 million (US$2.54 million), though the plan was ultimately delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Han left office after losing a recall vote on June 6.

Proper noun

1. A former city in Huai'an, Jiangsu, China.

2. A former state in Jiangsu, China under the Zhou dynasty

3. A canal in Jiangsu, China, connecting Hancheng (now Yangzhou) on the Yangtze with Mokou (now Huai'an) on the Huai.

   Related words

   HanchengHanjiang

Proper noun

1. A surname from Korean.

Proper noun

1. A First Nations people of Canada and an Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group.

   Examples

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   In the courtroom, with its massive wooden judicial bench, pot-bellied stove and engravings of outdoor scenes and territory notables on the wall, it was easy to visualize the grizzled sourdoughs, the Han Athabaskan Indians from Eagle Village three miles upriver and the back-country trappers waiting on the hard chairs, fur caps in hand, for the judge to render justice.

2. The Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Han people, or Hän Hwëch'in, in Alaska and the Yukon.

   Related words

   Han-ch'engHan RiverHan Solo

Noun

1. imperial dynasty that ruled China (most of the time from 206 BC to AD 220) and expanded its boundaries and developed its bureaucracy; remembered as one of the great eras of Chinese civilization

   Synonyms

   Han dynasty

   Broader terms

   dynasty