뉴스레터

Question

Ethnic minorities in China are currently under in-depth discussions. What is China's policies for minorities?

Answer

There were large-scale tribal protests in Tibet and Xinjiang in mid-March in 2008 and early July in 2009. In addition, a Mongol herder, Mergen, was killed in a car accident by a Han Chinese truck driver on May 10 while protesting against excessive development of mines and devastation of plains. This incident sparked mass protests in Inner Mongolia, which has been considered as a relatively peaceful region. The protests tell us that not all ethnic minorities in China welcome the rapid economic growth of China.

There were more than 400 ethnic minorities when the Chinese government carried out ethnic classification work. It was not until the 1980 when the 55 ethnic minorities were legally and officially recognized. The total population of China stands at nearly 1.3 billion, 91.5% of which are Han Chinese. Although the percentage of ethnic minorities in China is quite small, most of them live near border areas, and have their own religion such as Buddhism in Tibet and Inner Mongolia and Islam of Uyghur people. The issue of ethnicity in China is closely related to other issues regarding borders and religion, and that is why it is much more important than the proportion of ethnic minorities in terms of statistics.

We need to look at the history of relations between Han Chinese and other ethnic groups in China. For the past century, China has strived to reinforce the sense of "one nation". Until Qing Dynasty, China was divided by two regions in general: regions populated by Han Chinese and other ethnic groups (center – periphery). The concept of ethnicity in China is closely related to the central government's policy to "narrow the gap between the center and peripheries". The policy was based on the principle of "one China", and provinces were formed in the peripheries. The Chinese Communist Party proposed a federated government system, but it abandoned the policy after the end of the Sino-Japanese War and pushed ahead with establishing autonomous areas. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was established in 1947 even before the birth of the People's Republic of China.

The establishment of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region served as a model for China's ethnic group policy, and other autonomous areas were developed in many different parts of the country. China's ethnic group policy pursues assimilation in general, but sometimes violent and excessive actions were taken in this regard. For example, the Cultural Revolution in the '60s and '70s took a significant toll on most ethnic minorities. As seen in the Tibetan uprising in March 1959, ethnic groups in China did not always follow the central government's policies but fought against it.

Since the 1980s when China adopted reform and opening-up policy, ethnic groups in China have enjoyed many benefits, including the right to autonomy, preservation of ethnic culture, giving birth to more than one child. From the ethnic minority groups' point of view, however, the central government's policies alone were not sufficient to deal with identity issues, stop devastation of the environment, and offset relative deprivation. It is not likely that issues regarding ethnic groups in China will worsen significantly as was the case with the Soviet Union, but it still has a great impact on China's future growth and prosperity.