Ethnic Minorities of China

Not everyone knows that China is the most ethnically diverse country in the world. There are more people from more recognized indigenous minority groups (55 in total) in the country and their numbers in total reach the millions. It is because of the sheer size of the ethnic majority Han Chinese that many people assume that Chinese in general are all homogeneous people.

The reasons for the large number of ethnic minorities includes the expansion of the core Chinese state from its central riverine areas to the west and the south in particular. Expansion to the west has meant that Uighurs , Kazaks and Turkic peoples are now included in the Chinese territory. Expansion to the south has brought the Zhuang of Guanxi (the largest single minority group) and the various Tai and Tibeto-Burmese peoples of Yunnan into the Chinese state. In this regard, the most controversial expansion has been the incorporation of Tibet into the Chinese state. Many Tibetans are opposed to this and have resisted the state-building efforts of the Han majority: i.e., developing the infrastructure and organizing the large-scale inward migration of Han Chinese to take advantage of new economic opportunities while de-emphasising (or even attempting to eliminate) Tibetan culture and customs.

Another reason for the large number of ethnic minorities is the many invasions of the country that have been made, including those of the Manchus and Mongolians. Not only did this bring such people ultimately under Chinese control but it also meant that those other people used as clients, fro example the Muslim Hui group, have also been asked to migrate into Chinese territory.

In general, the Chinese state has respected native traditions and provided them with the opportunity for autonomous or at least semi-autonomous regions. Historically, the tu si system was used – also known as ‘barbarians to govern barbarians’ – by which local power structures were permitted to remain in place as long as suzerainty to the Chinese imperial throne was recognized by formal treaty and the periodical offering of tribute in return for access to commercial markets. These systems were adapted under Communism but formal autonomy was essentially retained in return for joining the Communist ideal. Ethnic minority people were excused from the one child per family policy and received certain other civic privileges to help them maintain their identities.

In more recent years, market-based change has become more influential in the country and ethnic minority people have come under the same economic pressures as everyone else. In a number of cases, they have felt it necessary to reinvent themselves and their cultural practices as tourism resources. Capitalism may ultimately eradicate all meaningful ethnic differences.