Ethnic minorities in China

[7] The ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the PRC include those residing within mainland China, as well as Taiwanese indigenous peoples pursuant to its sovereign claim over Taiwan.

[citation needed] Also, where the Republic of China (ROC) government in Taiwan, as of 2020, officially recognises 16 Taiwanese indigenous tribes, the PRC classifies them all under a single ethnic group, the Gāoshān (高山, 'high mountain') minority, out of reluctance to recognize ethnic classifications derived from the work of Japanese anthropologists during the Japanese rule.

[citation needed] This understanding persisted (with some changes during the Qing dynasty due to the importation of Western ideas) until the Communists seized power in 1949.

The Japanese were trying to spread the lie that Chinese Muslims were one race, in order to propagate the claim that they should be separated from China into an "independent political organization.

"[13] Early documents of the People's Republic of China (PRC), such as the 1982 constitution,[15] followed the Soviet practice of identifying 'nationalities' in the sense of ethnic groups (the concept is not to be confused with state citizenship).

The English translation (common in official documents) of 'nationality' again follows Soviet practice; in order to avoid confusion, however, alternative phraseology such as 'ethnicity' or 'ethnic group' is often used.

[16] Since this would lead to absurd results—every village could hardly send a representative to the National People's Congress—the social scientists attempted to construct coherent groupings of minorities using language as the main criterion for differentiation.

In fact, many of those labeled as specific minorities bore no relationship to the music, clothing, and other practices presented with images and representations of "their people" in the media.

[21][22] Responding to this interest, many minority entrepreneurs, despite themselves perhaps never having grown up practicing the dances, rituals, or songs themselves, began to cater to these tourists by performing acts similar to what the older generation or the local residents told.

[citation needed] The categorization of 55 minority groups was a major step forward from denial of the existence of different ethnic groups in China which had been the policy of Sun Yet-Sen's Nationalist government that came to power in 1911, which also engaged in the common use of derogatory names to refer to minorities (a practice officially abolished in 1951).

[citation needed] After the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there was a shift in official conceptions of minorities in China: rather than defining them as 'nationalities', they became 'ethnic groups'.

"[citation needed] Following the breakup of the Soviet Union intellectuals and policymakers within China began to argue that the designation of minority groups could be a threat to the country.

These proposals made by Ma and others were controversial at the time but they would find a place at the heart of the policy of the Xi Jinping administration.

Xi has shifted state policy towards assimilation in what he calls the "grand minzu fusion" or "the coalescing of blood and minds.

"[24] The CCP under Xi has reacted to violence committed by a number of Uyghurs by the imprisonment of this group in the Xinjiang internment camps.

[31] Articles 115 and 116 of the constitution state that in the provincial level autonomous regions and the autonomous prefectures and counties set aside for minority administration, local states via the local people's congresses "have the power to enact regulations on the exercise of autonomy and other separate regulations in the light of the political, economic, and cultural characteristics" of those areas.

[31] One notable preferential treatment ethnic minorities enjoy was their exemption from the population growth control of the One-Child Policy.

But according to an investigative report by The Associated Press published at 28 June 2020, the Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country's Han majority to have more children.

[32] While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is far more widespread and systematic than previously known, according to an AP investigation based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor.

The campaign over the past four years in the far west region of Xinjiang is leading to what some experts are calling a form of "demographic genocide".

In addition, the PRC government has provided preferential economic development and aid to areas where ethnic minorities live.

[33] Minorities have widely benefited from China's minimum livelihood guarantee program (known as the dibao) a programme introduced nationwide in 1999 whose number of participants had reached nearly twenty million by 2012.

[citation needed] The Chinese government has committed a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang.

A study conducted by three scholars in 2012, "Getting Ahead in the Communist Party: Explaining the Advancement of Central Committee Members", found that ethnic minorities had an advantage when being considered for promotion in Congress.

[39] These policies attempt to promote stability and legitimacy among the ethnic minority population through concerted efforts to involve them in the country's politics .

Other scholars add that the Party is eager to include ethnic minorities in the government because of the backlash that China has faced from the rest of the world concerning the way they treated Tibet and most recently the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.