Ethnic minorities in China Totally Explained

Everything about Chinese Nationalities totally explained

Ethnic minorities in China refer to the non-Han Chinese population in mainland China and Taiwan. The People's Republic of China (PRC) officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within China in addition to the Han majority. As of 2005, the combined population of officially recognised minority groups numbered at 123.33 million, comprising of 9.44% of mainland China and Taiwan's total population. In addition to these officially recognized ethnic minority groups, there are PRC nationals who privately classify themselves as members of unrecognized ethnic groups (such as Jewish, Tuvan, Oirat and Ili Turki). Also, foreign nationals who have become Chinese citizens form yet another separate group.
In general, the officially recognized ethnic minority groups reside within mainland China, with the exception of the Taiwanese aborigines. The Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan officially recognises 13 Taiwanese aborigine groups, while the People's Republic of China classifies them all as a single ethnic minority group, the Gaoshan. Hong Kong and Macau don't use this ethnic classification system, and figures by the PRC government don't include the two territories.
These ethnic minority groups, together with the Han majority, make up the greater Chinese nationality known as Zhonghua Minzu.

Naming

Ethnic groups in China are often called nationalities in official English-language documents of the People's Republic of China, such as the nation's 1982-adopted constitution. This is in the naming style of the Soviet Union government. The Chinese word minzu (民族) is used to translate the German and Russian words for "people" and "nationality" as used in Marxist-Leninist ideology. However, all the ethnic minorities in China are Chinese citizens, regardless of the fact that they're sometimes referred to as different "nationalities" in English, and the Chinese-language term that's used to refer to different ethnic groups, minzu, isn't specific on citizenship status.
Officially, English-language terms such as "ethnic minorities", "ethnic groups", and "national minorities" are also used in PRC publications.

Ethnic groups

Most ethnic groups are distinctive from one another, but there are some that are very similar to the Han majority group. For example, most Hui Chinese are indistinguishable from Han Chinese except for the fact that they practice Islam.
   Some of the ethnic groups as classified by the PRC government contain, within themselves, diverse groups of people. Various groups of the Miao minority, for example, speak different dialects of the Hmong-Mien languages, Tai-Kadai languages, and Chinese languages, and practice a variety of different cultural customs. Some ethnic groups with smaller populations are simply classified by the PRC together with another distinct ethnic group, such as the case with the Utsuls of Hainan being classified as part of the Hui minority, and the Chuanqing being classified as part of the Han majority.
   While Han Chinese make up the vast majority of China's total population, the population distribution is highly uneven with large parts of western China having Han Chinese as a minority.
   The multi-ethnic nature of China is a result of many centuries of assimilation, expansion and modern consolidation of territories incorporated during the Qing Dynasty, whose emperors were themselves Manchu and not members of the Han majority. Today, modern Chinese ethnic theory is heavily influenced by that of the Soviet Union.
   The degree of integration of ethnic minorities with the national mainstream community varies widely from group to group. With some groups, such as the Tibetans and the Uyghurs, there's some resentment against the majority. Other groups such as the Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, and Koreans are well integrated into the national community.

Demographics of the ethnic minorities

The People's Republic of China (PRC) officially recognises 56 distinct ethnic groups, the largest of which are Han Chinese, which constitutes about 91.9% of the total population. The 55 other ethnic groups are officially recognised as ethnic minority groups. The large ethnic minority groups in terms of population include the Zhuang at 16 million, the Manchu at 10 million, the Hui at 9 million, the Miao at 8 million, the Uyghur at 7 million, the Yi at 7 million, the Tujia at 5.75 million, the Mongols at 5 million, the Tibetans at 5 million, the Buyei at 3 million, and the Koreans at 2 million.
Minority population grows faster than that of the majority Han Chinese, in 1953 at 6.1%, in 1990 at 8.04%, in 2000 at 8.41％, and in 2005 at 9.44%. In the most recent survey, their population growth is about seven times faster than that of the Han Chinese.

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