Contemporary China by Jacka Tamara & Kipnis Andrew & Sargeson Sally

Author:Jacka, Tamara & Kipnis, Andrew & Sargeson, Sally [Jacka, Tamara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2013-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Summary

For many years, China has had 56 official ethnic groups, comprising the majority Han and 55 ethnic minorities. These categories are not natural, but the result of political relations and historical processes, the most important of which was the Ethnic Classification Project of the early 1950s.The fact that the Han are considered a single, unified group, rather than different groups based on regional differences, means that there is an official distinction between people's regional and ethnic identities. Today, the vast majority of Chinese accept the official ethnic categories, and yet this acceptance does not mean that there are no ethnic tensions. Sizeable ethnic groups concentrated in China's peripheral regions – Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongols – see Han in-migration as a form of colonization. Linguistic extinction and religious repression threaten these groups and a few others, causing resentment. In turn, many Han resent the affirmative-action policies that favor minority groups in certain regions. Modernization processes that have shaped regional and ethnic identities include the improvement of transportation and communications infrastructure; the standardization of Mandarin and the expansion of a Mandarin-based education system; industrialization, urbanization and increased population mobility; and the rise of a significant tourist industry.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.