Ethnic villages of China

formally Village level divisions
Rongshui Miao Autonomous County
Simplified Chinese	村级行政区
Traditional Chinese	村級行政區
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Cūn Jí Xíngzhèngqū
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	村
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Cūn

Ethnic villages are a basic administrative district within China designated for minority ethnic groups. The villages are designated by the government within geographical regions where minority groups live. The approval and establishment of a village is most often the responsibility of provincial governments and prefectural governments, however villages are often established with different requirement standards. According to a local ordinance regarding the protection of interests relating to minority group villages, a meeting is held where 30% of participants belong to a minority group; if the local government approves of the formation of the new establishment, the region is designated an ethnic village. In Hubei province, villages where minorities account for 50% of the population are designated as minority group villages.

The People's Republic of China officially recognises 55 distinct ethnic minorities along with the Han majority. Official recognition of ethnicity, which began in the 1950s, is stated on each citizen's identification card.^[1]

In 2005, the Program to Support the Ethnic Minorities with Small Populations (2005–2010) was formulated and implemented, covering 640 different ethnic-minority villages as recipients of assistance.^[2]