Chinese ethnic minorities refer to ethnic minorities living in China. Because the Han nationality is China's largest population, there are fewer other ethnic groups, and it is customarily called a minority.
China has been a unified multi-ethnic country since ancient times. After the founding of New China, there were 56 ethnic groups identified through the central government.
background introduction
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chinese governments (whether Han or a central government established by ethnic minorities) had a set of policies and systems on ethnic affairs, but there was no equality among nations.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the party and the government formulated a set of guidelines and policies that are appropriate to China's national conditions and correctly resolved China's national problems, namely, the policy of ethnic equality , national unity, ethnic regional autonomy, and the common development and prosperity of all ethnic groups. .
After the founding of New China, according to the wishes of the people in most ethnic minority areas, the Chinese government adopted different methods to gradually implement democratic reforms in ethnic minority areas and completed them in the late 1950s. This reform abolished all the privileges of the privileged lords, nobles, and heads, and eliminated the old system of exploiting people and oppressing people, turning millions of ethnic minorities into liberation, gaining personal freedom and becoming the country and their destiny. Owner.
Over the past 60 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, all ethnic groups in China have formed socialist ethnic relations of equality, unity and mutual assistance. The ethnic minorities that have been oppressed and discriminated against for a long time have truly become the masters of the country.
Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, some ethnic minorities whose social form was before the founding of the primitive society, slavery or feudal serfdom, spanned hundreds of years or even thousands of years in a few decades. The divide has entered modern society.
Distribution characteristics of
The characteristics of the distribution of various ethnic groups in China are large scattered, small settlements, and mixed living. There are ethnic minorities living in the Han area, and Han people living in ethnic minority areas. This pattern of distribution is formed by the interaction and flow of various ethnic groups in the long-term historical development process.
Although the ethnic minority population in China is small, it is widely distributed. All provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government have ethnic minorities, and most county-level units have more than two ethnic groups.
China's ethnic minorities are mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Guangxi, Tibet, Yunnan, Guizhou, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Liaoning, Jilin, Hunan, Hubei, Hainan, Taiwan, and other provinces and autonomous regions.
Yunnan has the largest ethnic group in China. Among the 56 ethnic groups in the country, there are 52 in Yunnan, including 26 ethnic groups with a population of more than 5,000. In addition to the Han nationality, there are 25 ethnic minorities.
Number of
According to the statistics of the sixth census in 2010, among the population of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and active servicemen, the Han population is 122,593,264, accounting for 91.51%; the minority population is 113,792,211, accounting for 8.49%.
Compared with the fifth national census in 2000, the Han population increased by 66,537,177 people, an increase of 5.74%; the minority population increased by 7,362,627 people, an increase of 6.92%. [1]
areas
China's ethnic minority areas are vast and rich in resources. As of 1997, the total area of ethnic autonomous areas reached 6,162,900 square kilometers, accounting for 64.2% of the country's total area; the grassland area of 300 million hectares, accounting for 75% of the country's grassland area, China's famous five natural pastoral areas, both In ethnic minority areas; the forest area is 56.48 million hectares, accounting for 43.9% of the country; the forest stock is 5.249 billion cubic meters, accounting for 55.9% of the country; the water resources reserves are 446 million kilowatts, accounting for the national total. The amount is 65.9%. In addition, there are a large number of mineral resources, as well as abundant animal and plant resources and tourism resources.
Basic policy of
The system of regional ethnic autonomy is a basic policy adopted by the Chinese government in light of China's actual situation and an important political system of China.
In May 1947, China established the first ethnic autonomous region under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and the Tibet Autonomous Region were successively established. As of 2017, a total of 155 ethnic autonomous areas have been established nationwide, including 5 autonomous regions, 30 autonomous prefectures, and 120 autonomous counties (flags).
Among the 55 ethnic minorities in the country, 44 ethnic groups have established ethnic autonomous areas. The number and layout of autonomous areas are basically compatible with the ethnic distribution and composition of China.
birth policy
Tajik
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese government implemented a birth policy that was broader than the Han nationality. In order to improve the quality of ethnic minority populations and speed up the economic and social development of ethnic autonomous areas, the people's congresses of various ethnic autonomous areas in China have formulated family planning for ethnic minorities in the region in accordance with the spirit of the state's "national minorities must also implement family planning." Policy, but its policy is significantly wider than the Han people's birth policy. This makes the growth rate of the minority population far higher than the national average. The results of the five national censuses show that the Chinese ethnic minorities: 35.32 million on July 1, 1953, 40 million on July 1, 1964, and 67.24 million on July 1, 1982, July 1, 1990, The daily number was 91.2 million, and on November 1, 2000, it was 13,643,300, and on November 1, 2010, it was 13,379,200 [2]
language equality
After the founding of New China, the party and the government adhered to the policy of implementing ethnic equality and language equality. The use and development of minority languages have received due respect and legal guarantees. The "Common Program" and the " National Regional Autonomy Law of the People's Republic of China " adopted by the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference clearly stipulate that all ethnic minorities have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written languages.
In the 1950s, the state-organized personnel to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the language and writing of ethnic minorities, establish specialized national language work institutions and research institutions, train national language professionals, and help ethnic groups with language without words or words but not complete and not universal. Create, improve or reform the text and promote the use of minority languages in various fields. These ethnic languages are mainly used in the fields of bilingual teaching, adult literacy, and press and publication.
Among the 55 ethnic minorities, except for the Hui people who have all switched to Chinese, the other 54 ethnic groups have their own language. With the acceleration of China's modernization process, some minority languages are facing the danger of extinction. Although China has achieved certain achievements in minority language protection, its linguistic diversity protection situation is still grim.
In recent years, the protection of national languages has achieved some gratifying results, but the current situation of linguistic diversity protection is still grim; it is necessary to further raise awareness of the importance of national languages. As Professor Zhou Haizhong, a well-known Chinese scholar, said: Today's weak national language is facing the impact of strong language, globalization, the Internet, etc., and its social use function is in a dangerous situation of gradual weakening or disappearing; therefore, relevant institutions and linguistic circles All should take active and effective measures to rescue the endangered national language; protect the national language, which is conducive to the inheritance and development of human civilization, and is also conducive to national unity and social stability. [3]
religious equality
Minority photo
China is a country with many religions, mainly Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, etc. Most ethnic minorities in China have religious beliefs, and some ethnic groups believe in certain religions in masses, such as Tibetans who believe in Tibetan Buddhism. According to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China on the freedom of religious belief of citizens, the Chinese government has formulated specific policies to respect and protect the freedom of religious belief of ethnic minorities and to protect all normal religious activities of ethnic minority citizens. Among the ethnic minorities in China, Tibetan Buddhism (commonly known as Lamaism) consists of seven ethnic groups: Tibet, Mongolia, Tu, Yugu, Menba, Pumi, and Naxi; the Buddhism of the Upper Buddhism (commonly known as Theravada Buddhism) has ethnic groups such as the Sui, Brown, and Deang. Some Yi people; there are 10 ethnic groups who believe in Islam, Uygur, Kazakh, Dongxiang, security, Sarah, Kirgiz, Tatar, Uzbek, Tajik; Christians are part of the clan, Miao, Lahu, Jingpo, and Yi. A small group of Russians and Ewenki people believe in Orthodox Christianity. In some ethnic minorities such as Dulong, Nu, Qi, Jingpo, Gaoshan, Oroqen, and Baobab, they still maintain primitive nature worship and multiple beliefs. All ethnic groups, regardless of their religion, their normal religious activities are protected by law. In areas where ethnic minorities live in diaspora, their right to freedom of religious belief is also fully respected and protected.