A number of ethnic groups of the People's Republic of China are not officially recognized.
[1] Taken together, these groups (simplified Chinese: 未识别民族; traditional Chinese: 未識別民族; pinyin: wèi shíbié mínzú) would constitute the twentieth most populous ethnic group of China.
There are in addition small distinct ethnic groups that have been classified as part of larger ethnic groups that are officially recognized.
Han Chinese, being the world's largest ethnic group, has a large diversity within it, such as in Gansu, whose Han individuals may have genetic traits from the assimilated Tangut civilization.
[citation needed] Although they are indigenous to Hainan island and do not speak a Chinese language, the Lingao (Ong-Be) people near the capital (8% of the population) are counted as Han Chinese[citation needed].