| Han Chinese is the largest single ethnic group in China and in the world. Recently, it has attracted extensive interest among scientists such as historian, archaeologist, anthropologist, paleoanthropologist and geneticist, regarding where it originated and how it developed. In general, Han Chinese can trace its origins to Huaxia who formed in the central plain. Following admixture with neighboring natives, Han Chinese became much the largest of the 56 officially recognized ethnic populations in China. Further research should be conducted, however, because Han Chinese formed through a long history and a complex process. The study of ancient DNA may be better to present the Han's evolution, immigration and even expansion of Han culture because of the directly tracking temporal genetic changes. In this study, ancient people from Hengbei site (West Zhou period), Pengyang site (East Zhou period) and Taojiazhai site (East Han period) were analyzed in maternal Lineage. We have attempted to explore the origin of the Han Chinese.Firstly,52 reproducible mtDNA HVRI fragments were obtained from 68 ancient Hengbei people, and they were attributed to 46 haplotypes which belong to 13 haplogroups such as A, B, C, D, F, G, M7, M8, M9, M10, M*, N9a and Z. The frequency of haplogroups in ancient Hengbei people is similar to that in the northern Han Chinese. In the plotting of PCA,Hengbei ancient people clustered with northern Han Chinese in a small district. Sharing population analysis showed that there were the most number of northern Han individuals among Chinese ethnics who shared same haplotypes with ancient Hengbei people. Likewise, the frequency of people who shared same haplotypes with northern Han Chinese is highest in ancient Hengbei people. According to the analysis of molecular variance approach, the Fst between ancient Hengbei people and northern Han Chinese was the lowest (-0.00244). and p value was more than 0.05, indicating the close relationship between ancient Hengbei people and northern Han Chinese. The relative contribution of the two parental populations (ancient Hengbei people and Egyin Gol Valley ancient people, ancient Hengbei people and Egyin Gol Valley ancient people, ancient Hengbei people and southern minorities) in three populations (northern Han Chinese, northern minorities, southern Han Chinese) was estimated by two different statistics (MBE and MRH). The results showed that the ancient Hengbei people contribution to the northern Han Chinese was much higher than that to the northern minorities and southern Han Chinese. Over all. the ancient Hengbei population was close to the northern Han Chinese in maternal Lineage, indicating a stable maternal genetic structure in northern Han Chinese since 3,000 years ago. Again, there was no distinct difference between owners of the tombs with Immolated people, owners of the tombs without immolated people and immolated people.Secondly,6 reproducible mtDNA HVRI fragments were obtained from 6 ancient Pengyang people, and they were attributed to 6 haplotypes which belong to 3 haplogroups such as C, D and M10. To understand the geographic distribution of the sharing populations, the six haplotypes from our study were used as queries to search for sharing populations in the published data of modern people across East Asia and Siberia. The result showed that most of people who shared with ancient Pengyang people were northern Asians and northern minorities of China who can trace their origins to nomads. According to network analysis, in haplogroup C, the Han Chinese originating from the farming people are concentrated in one group. Meanwhile. PW4 is clustered into another group with minorities in northern China, northern Asians and ancient nomads. In haplogroups D4 and M10, the ancient Pengyang people consistently occupy the same nodes as northern Asians, northern minorities of China and ancient nomads. All analysis showed that ancient Pengyang people, living near the central plain area, may originate from nomads.Thirdly,43 reproducible mtDNA HVR-I fragments were obtained from 46 ancient Taojiazhai people, and they were attributed to 24 haplotypes which belong to 8 haplogroups such as A. B, D, F. M10, M*,N9a, and Z. The ancient Taojiazhai people are close to the Han Chinese and some Tibeto-Burman populations in terms of the frequencies of mtDNA haplogroups. The ancient Taojiazhai population pooled into the northern Han Chinese group and was also close to a few Tibeto-Burman populations in plotting of PCA. In the Maximum Parsimony trees, most of Taojiazhai samples were always nearby the Tibeto-Burman populations and Han Chinese. AMOVA was used to evaluate maternal genetic differentiation between ancient Taojiazhai people and other populations. The Fst between Taojiazhai people and Tibeto-Burman population was the lowest (-0.00095), and P value was more than 0.05. In addition, ancient Taojiazhai people and Han Chinese (including northern Han and southern Han) were also not significantly different (Fst value:0.00359 and 0.00406, P:0.05). All studies showed that the ancient Taojiazhai people bore a very high similarity to the Han Chiese and those Tibeto-Burman populations who had high contribution of the Di-Qiang populations. Together with the geographic location and culture of Taojiazhai site, it means that the ancient Di-Qiang populations may be one of the genetic contributors to the Han Chinese people.Lastly, according to the comparison among Han Chinese and the ancient populations in this study and previous studies, ancient Hengbei people was closer to the northern Han Chinese than other retrieved populations in maternal Lineage. However, besides ancient Hengbei people, there were many individuals from other ancient populations shared same haplotypes with northern Han Chinese, indicating that neighouring populations had assimilate into Han Chinese.In conclusion, according to the results maintioned above, we proposed a development process of Han Chinese. Following the confluences of many ancient tribes, Huaxia had formed in central plain. Then, Huaxia people migrated to peripheral area and assimilated neighboring populations as well as absorbed many other cultures. Until Han Dynasty, Huaxia civilization developed into a tribe known as Han Chinese. Like Huaxia, Han still integrated with numerous tribes or ethnic groups gradually following its expansion. Because of its advanced agriculture, technology, and culture, number of Huaxia (or Han Chinese) people was more than that of neighouring population. So, Huaxia (or Han Chinese) played a predominant role in the mixture of populations, which leads to a stable maternal genetic structure in northern Han Chinese since 3,000 years ago. When Han Chinese migrated from the central plain to the southern China and mixed with southern natives, which shapes a differenation between northern Han Chinese and southern Han Chinese in maternal Lineage.
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