Prof. Zhang Yuyan, Deputy Director, Chinese Academy of Social Science

Abstract: The Chinese nation has experienced a continuous amalgamation process including cultural fusion and containment, although there have also been battles and conquests among the competing tribes. A brief example, a tribe chose the snake as their totem, but had to change the original mark to a “snake with horns” when they combined with a “deer” tribe.  This was the process of a new amalgamated culture arising. When yet another tribe is incorporated, scales and claws appear on the totem, accounting for the unification of the “fish” tribe and “eagle” tribe.