The government of the People's Republic of China officially
recognizes China as being composed of 56 nationalities . China's
55 minorities only make up 8.8 percent of its total population,
while the majority, the Han, compose approximately 91.2 percent
(Gladney 1991: 223).
This investigation of minorities in China attempts to reveal
that the government has adopted special policies for its 55
recognized minorities. The reasons for, and the consequences of
minority policy will be addressed, as will the complex
relationship that exists between the minorities and the Han
majority. Finally, the policies themselves and their utility
will be examined in order to ascertain whether the policies have
been beneficial and to whom.
The methodology used in this investigation consists of
participant observation and personal interviews. I travelled to
North-East China's Jilin Province, where I conducted ethnographic
research. This fieldwork focussed on the Chinese-Korean minority
living in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, and is used
to put the scholarly literature into perspective.
The Korean-Chinese hold a special position, unlike no other
nationality in China. Not only are the Korean-Chinese fairly
recent immigrants, but their educational levels are believed to
be the highest in the nation, considerably higher than national
averages (Lee 1986: 3-4, 117). The birthrate of the Korean-
Chinese is also highly commended as it is the lowest of any one
nationality, including the Han (Gu and Zhao 1994: 19). Thus,
although the Korean-Chinese can be used to show the linkages
between the literature and fieldwork, one must not forget the
special circumstances that they enjoy, which I elaborate upon
further in this thesis.
Essentially, through examination of the literature and the
ethnographic fieldwork I have conducted, several conclusions are
put forth in this thesis. First, special policies exist that
favour China's 55 minority groups over the Han majority. Second,
these policies could have been enacted for several reasons.
These include: 1) to allow China to continue along the socialist
path; 2) as an attempt to correct past injustices; 3) to increase
the overall standard of living of China's citizens; 4) to provide
defence against border attack; 5) to reduce minority discontent;
6) to promote a better image of China; 7) to relieve population
density problems in urban areas; 8) to allow China to better
exploit its natural resources; and 9) to promote national unity,
and loyalty and reduce local nationalism and Han chauvinism.
Third, these policies benefit both parties, with no one party
being totally dependent on the other. Finally, although some
authors disagree (Gladney 1991; Mackerras 1994), it will become
apparent in this thesis that minority policy in China has been
successful for the most part. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/5860 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Hickson, Dayna Dione |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 6794108 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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