Chinese Heritage {draw:a} {draw:a} A Chinese Opera (Beijing Opera) performance in Beijing, one of the many aspects of traditional Chinese culture People in the culture {draw:a} {draw:a} People in imperial China - Qing dynasty {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} Identity Many ethnic groups have existed in China. In terms of the numbers, however, the pre-eminent ethnic group is the Han Chinese. Throughout history, many groups have been assimilated into neighboring ethnicities or disappeared without a trace. At the same time, many within the Han identity have maintained distinct linguistic and regional cultural traditions. The term has been used to describe the notion of Chinese nationalism in general. Much of the traditional cultural identity within the community has to do with distinguishing the family name. {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} Regional Traditional Chinese Culture covers large geographical territories; each region is usually divided into distinct sub-cultures. Using modern names, here are some distinctions: The Yangtze River areas include Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} Society {draw:a} {draw:a} Gold detailing on a throne used by the Qianlong Emperor. The Chinese dragon was a symbol reserved for the Emperor of China or high level imperial families during the Qing Dynasty {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} Structure Since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period, some form of Chinese monarch has been the main ruler above all. Different periods of history have different names for the various positions within society. Conceptually each imperial or feudal period is similar, with the government and military officials ranking high in the hierarchy, and the rest of the population under regular Chinese law.[3] Since the late Zhou Dynasty (1046' 256 BCE), traditional Chinese society was organized into a...