In the early portion of the decade, a number of ethnic Tujia in the region and beyond protested initial classifications which labelled them as part of the Miao people.
[1]: 372–373 Following the death of Mao Zedong, and the end of the Cultural Revolution, the Eleventh Congress of the Chinese Communist Party reintroduced policies meant to empower and aid ethnic minorities.
[1]: 376 One report from 1996 found that the one-child policy, which ethnic minorities were supposed to be exempt from, was loosely enforced among the Tujia people of the Autonomous Prefecture.
[1]: 387 On August 14, 2009, Li Dalun was sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes, holding a huge amount of property from an unidentified source and abusing his power by the Higher People's Court in Hunan.
[2][3] On December 18, 2013, Tong Mingqian was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party for "serious violations of laws and regulations".