Great Han

The Great Han is an ethnographic study of the Han Clothing movement (Hanfu yundong), a neo-traditionalist and majority racial nationalist movement that has emerged in China since 2001. Participants come together both online and in person in cities across China to revitalize their utopian vision of the authentic "Great Han" and corresponding "real China" through pseudo-traditional ethnic dress, reinvented Confucian ritual, and anti-foreign sentiment. Employing close analysis of movement ideas and practices, this book finds that the movement's "real China," envisioning a pure, perfectly ordered, ethnically homogeneous, and secure society, is in fact an imaginary vision constructed in response to the challenging realities of the present. Yet this national imaginary is reproduced precisely through its own perpetual elusiveness. The Great Han is a pioneering analysis of Han identity, nationalism, and social movements in a rapidly changing China.

"The Great Han uncovers uncomfortable truths around the origins, beliefs, and aims of the Han clothing movement. Through the careful interrogation of daily practices, personal histories, imaginaries, dilemmas, and desires of the movement’s participants, the book shows the continuous appeal and seductive power of ethnic identity labels.", "This monograph is excellent, refreshing, and thought provoking. I believe that this monograph should be of interest to interlocutors within the fields of Chinese studies, anthropology, sociology, human geography, heritage, and Asian studies more broadly.", "Engages deeply with ethnography and other academic theories."

Kevin Carrico is Lecturer in the Department of International Studies (Modern Languages and Cultures) at Macquarie University and the translator of Tsering Woeser's Tibet on Fire.