Ethnic minorities in China

For a list of ethnic groups in China, see List of ethnic groups in China and Languages of China.

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Ethnic minorities in China are the non-Han population in the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The PRC officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within China in addition to the Han majority.[1] As of 2020, the combined population of officially-recognized minority groups comprised 8.89% of the population of Mainland China.[2] In addition to these officially-recognized ethnic minority groups, there are Chinese nationals who privately classify themselves as members of unrecognized ethnic groups, such as the very small Chinese Jewish, Tuvan, and Ili Turk communities, as well as the much larger Oirat and Japanese communities.

In Chinese, 'ethnic minority' has translated to shǎoshù mínzú (少數民族), wherein mínzú (民族) means 'nationality' or 'nation' (as in ethnic group)—in line with the Soviet concept of ethnicity—and shǎoshù (少數) means 'minority'.[3][4][5] Since the anthropological concept of ethnicity does not precisely match the Chinese or Soviet concepts (which are defined and regulated by the state), some scholars use the neologism zúqún (族群, 'ethnic group') to unambiguously refer to ethnicity.[6] Including shaoshu mínzu, Sun Yat-sen used the term zhōnghuá mínzú (中華民族, 'Chinese nation' or 'Chinese nationality') to reflect his belief that all of China's ethnic groups were parts of a single Chinese nation.[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. However, the PRC does not accept the term indigenous people or its variations, since it might suggest that Han people are not indigenous to Taiwan, or that Taiwan is not historically a part of China.[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] (Despite the fact that not all Taiwanese indigenous peoples inhabit in the mountains; for example, the Tao People traditionally inhabit the island of Lanyu.) The regional governments of Hong Kong and Macau do not use this ethnic classification system, so figures by the PRC government exclude these two territories.

  1. ^ "Ethnic Groups in China". English.gov.cn. 26 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Main Data of the Seventh National Population Census". www.stats.gov.cn. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  3. ^ Binggao, Jin. [1987] 1988. "When Does The Word 'Minority Nationality' [Shaoshu Minzu] [First] Appear in Our Country?," translated by Tibet Information Network. Bulletin of the History of the Tibet Communist Party 1(19). p. 45 ff.
  4. ^ Chang, Ntxheb. "Conclusion: Splendid China and Being Minzu." Being Shaoshu Minzu in Contemporary China. US: Boston College. via Mediakron.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Perry, Elizabeth J.; Selden, Mark, eds. (5 April 2010), "Alter/native Mongolian identity: From nationality to ethnic group", Chinese Society (0 ed.), Routledge, p. 284, doi:10.4324/9780203856314-17, ISBN 978-0-203-85631-4
  7. ^ Landis, Dan, and Rosita D. Albert. 2012. Handbook of Ethnic Conflict: International Perspectives. Springer. ISBN 978-1461404477. p. 182 (archived).