Bowing avoid bumping heads. The kowtow is the highest sign of reverence in Han Chinese culture, but its use has become extremely rare since the collapse of Imperial China. In many situations, the standing bow has replaced the kowtow. However, in modern Chinese societies, bowing is not as formalized as in Japan, South Korea and North Korea. Bowing is normally reserved for occasions such as marriage ceremonies and as a gesture of respect for the deceased, although it still sometimes used for more formal greetings. In China, three bows are customarily executed at funerals including state funerals, ancestral worship, and at
Han Chinese dynasty, a title that was later shortened to "the King of Han" () during the Chu-Han contention. The name "Hanzhong", in turn, was derived from the Han River, which flows through the region's plains. The river, in turn, derives its name from expressions such as "Tianhan" (, "the heavenly river"), "Yinhan" (, "the silver river"), "Xinghan" (, "the star river") or "Yunhan" (, "the cloud river"), all ancient Chinese poetic nicknames for the Milky Way and first mentioned in the "Classic of Poetry". Prior to the Han dynasty, ancient Chinese scholars used the term Huaxia (, "the magnificent Xia") in