"This book is a collection of Professor Ma Rong's papers on current and future ethnic relations in China. Some of the studies, presented in the book, are fundamental theories on ethnic relations, while others are specific problems he observed and identified while conducting surveys in different parts of the country. His papers are based on reality and China's current situations, which may shed some light on the theoretical and practical studies on ethnic relations in China"--
Abstract Following the Opium Wars, traditional notions of China as encompassing "all under heaven" (tianxia 天下) and the "Sino-barbarian dichotomy" (huayi 華夷) could no longer be sustained. Under the pressure and intimidation of the Great Powers' advanced warships and fire power, the Qing government signed the unequal treaties and China was forced to adopt Western conceptual reasoning, discursive language, and rules of conduct. Western knowledge and lexicon was successively translated into Chinese, affecting transformations in local discourse and society. As part of this process, Japanese texts, which contained a great volume of Chinese characters, became an important medium for the transmission of Western epistemology. During the first Opium War between China and England, the cultural and political hegemony of the Great Powers were demonstrated through debates over interpretations of the Chinese character yi 夷. During the Late Qing, Chinese intellectuals drew on their foundations in traditional Chinese lexicon to understand and adopt the foreign-derived words zhongzu 種族 (race) and minzu 民族 (nation). This process reflects both shifts in how Chinese people regarded collective identity and the various presumptions underlying state-building visions.
The rapid growth of economy in the 20th century is largely due to the accelerative development of scientific achievement and technology. Modern educational system–especially research universities–has played a key role. Today's world is led by knowledge society. China developed her manufacture sector recently, but the difference in labour productivity between China and the US increased significantly during the same period. Therefore, in order to catch up with progress of western countries, improving their research universities and research culture are great challenges faced by both China and India.
China has been a multi-ethnic political polity for over two thousand years. "Culturalisation" of ethnic minorities in peripheries has been a tradition in China deeply rooted in the Confucianism. This tradition resulted in a united-pluralistic polity with a huge population and the non-stop writing history throughout a series of dynasties. The People's Republic began to adopt the policies of the former USSR since the 1950s and gave ethnic minorities more political status, or what is called "politicisation" of ethnic minorities in China. This policy has improved socioeconomic development of minority groups and promoted group corporations but also has strengthened the group consciousness among the minorities. The collapse of the Soviet Union provides a lesson that this policy orientation might provide an institutional basis for national disintegration when internal and external powers work together. Meanwhile, the "equality de facto" has been the goal of official ethnic policy since the 1950s and many policies have been designed and practiced in favour of minority groups, but there also some debate on its social consequences which also need our attention.
China has been a multi-ethnic political polity for over two thousand years. 'Culturalisation' of ethnic minorities in peripheries has been a tradition in China deeply rooted in the Confucianism. This tradition resulted in a united-pluralistic polity with a huge population & the non-stop writing history throughout a series of dynasties. The People's Republic began to adopt the policies of the former USSR since the 1950s & gave ethnic minorities more political status, or what is called 'politicisation' of ethnic minorities in China. This policy has improved socioeconomic development of minority groups & promoted group corporations but also has strengthened the group consciousness among the minorities. The collapse of the Soviet Union provides a lesson that this policy orientation might provide an institutional basis for national disintegration when internal & external powers work together. Meanwhile, the 'equality de facto' has been the goal of official ethnic policy since the 1950s & many policies have been designed & practiced in favour of minority groups, but there also some debate on its social consequences which also need our attention. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.
Ethnic conflict remains surprisingly persistent throughout the world. The persistence is particularly surprising in socialist countries, where one might have thought that the narrowing of income gaps between all ethnic groups, the favoured investment projects in ethnic minority regions, the official emphasis on equal education and occupational opportunity (often in favour of minority groups), and affirmativeaction programmes to ensure that ethnic minorities were well-represented in national congress and official positions would have provided significant new contacts and created new relationships among ethnic groups.
In the summer of 1988, a survey was carried out to study the social and economic changes and current situation of the Han-Tibetan relationship in the Tibet Autonomous Region. With survey data on ethnic conflict in the city of Lhasa, the author examines the ethnic relations between the Han Chinese and the Tibetans and their residential patterns. (DÜI-Sen)
