The name "Han" was derived from the name of the eponymous dynasty, which succeeded the short-lived Qin dynasty and is historically considered to be the first golden age of China's Imperial era due to the power and influence it projected over much of East Asia. As a result of the dynasty's prominence in inter-ethnic and pre-modern international influence, Chinese people began identifying themselves as the "people of Han" (), a name that has been carried down to this day. Similarly, the Chinese language also came to be named the "Han language" () ever since. On Oxford Dictionaries, the Han are defined as "The dominant ethnic group in China". In the "Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania", the Han are called the dominant population in "China, as well as in Taiwan and Singapore." According to the "Merriam-Webster Dictionary", the Han are "the Chinese peoples especially as distinguished from non-Chinese (such as Mongolian) elements in the population."