Abstract
This article unpacks the contemporary relationship among racial, cultural, and civic notions of the concept of the Chinese nation (Zhonghua Minzu 中华民族), specifically examining Han (汉), Hua (华), and Zhongguo (中国) as categories representative of each identity marker. It examines the relationship between Han and Chinese identities and how people from multiple ethnic identities relate to the idea of the Chinese nation. Han identity is often fused with the larger Chinese identity that in the past conflated the two, sometimes leading to Han chauvinism and a problematic relationship with the state for non‐Han people. Government orthodoxy that emphasizes civic harmony and minimizes national distinction is challenged by exclusive ethnic and racial conceptions. A classical cultural understanding of Chinese identity may be more inclusive yet is undermined by the ongoing territorializing of Chinese nationalism and myth making of Chinese identity in ethno‐national rhetoric.