(1)外文名称: Ethnic Groups in China
    (2)中文名称: 中国的民族
    (3)内容:
                      Nationalities in China
   China, a multi-national state, has 56 ethnic groups. Apart from the Han,there are 55 other ethnic groups, namely, the Zhuang, Hui, Uygur, Yi, Miao,Manchu, Tibetan, Mongolian, Tujia, Bouyei, Korean, Dong, Yao, Bai, Hani, Kazak, Dai, Li, Lisu, She, Lahu, Va, Sui, Dongxiang, Naxi, Tu, Kirgiz, Qiang, Daur, Jingpo, Mulam, Xibe, Salar, Blang, Gelo, Maonan, Tajik, Primi, Nu, Achang, Ewenki, Jino, Uzbek, Gin, De'ang, Yugur, Bonan, Monba, Drung, Oroqen,Tatar, Russian, Lhoba, Gaoshan and Hezhe.
   As the Han people make up 92% of the country's population, the other ethnic groups are usually referred to as minority groups. Their combined population accounts for 8% of the national total. Marked differences exist among the ethnic minorities with respect to the size of the population. The most populous is the Zhuang with a population of 13 million, who live in compact communities in Guangxi, South China. The one which has the smallest population is the Hezhe with a little more than 1,500 members, who live scattered in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. Of the ethnic groups, those with a population exceeding a million number 15, those with over 100,000 people each number 13, and there are 7 others which have
more than 50,000 members each and 20 others with a population smaller than that.
   In addition, in Yunnan Province, Tibet and other areas, there are some ethnic groups whose national identity remains to be determined.
   The Han people live in compact communities mainly in the valleys of the Yellow, Yangtze and Pearl rivers and on the Songliao Plain in Northeast China. The minorities, small as their population is, are widely distributed across the country, covering 50 to 60 percent of its territory. They concentrate chiefly in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, Guangxi, Ningxia,
Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Hunan, Hebei, Hubei, Fujian and Taiwan. Generally, they live in mountains, highlands, pastoral areas and forest regions.
   Due to repeated population migrations, government-imposed land reclamation and immigrations as well as drastic changes in the past, the distribution of China's ethnic groups has followed a pattern in which they live in mixed groups, in compact communities and in noncontiguous areas. For illustration, quite a few ethnic minorities inhabit Yunnan province, Southwest China. The Koreans live in compact communities in Yanbian, Northeast China; the Tujias and Miaos, in western Hunan, Southern China; the Lis, on Hainan island. Furthermore, about 10 million minority people reside in mixed groups or in non-contiguous areas across the land.
   The Han language is the lingua franca of China today.
   The 55 ethnic minorities in general have their own language. Prior to the founding of new China, except for the Hui, Manchu and She who used the Han language in both spoken and written form as their own, 11 minorities-the Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Korean, Kazak, Xibe, Dai, Uzbek, Kirgiz, Tatar and Russian--had their own written scripts in common use. Seven others -- the Yi, Naxi, Miao, Jingpo, Lisu, Lahu and Va-- had their own written scripts, which, however, were not in common use. The rest had no script at all. Following the founding of new China, with the assistance of the Chinese government, 10 ethnic groups including the Zhuang, Bouyei, Miao, Dong, Hani and Li created or
standardized their scripts and some others such as the Uygur, Kazak, Jingpo,Lahu and Dai reformed theirs.
   With regard to language classification 29 minority tongues belong to the Sino-Tibetan family, 17 to the Altaic family, 3 to the Austro-Asiatic family, 2 to the Indo-European family, and the speech of the Gaoshan in Taiwan to the Malayo-Polyesian family.
   The ethnic groups have different religious beliefs. The Hui, Uygur, Kazak, Kirgiz, Tatar, Uzbek, Tajik, Dongxiang, Salar and Bonan, 10 groups in all, adhere to Islam. Four other groups-- the Tibetan, Mongolian, Dai and Yugun -- follow Buddhism. Besides, many of the Oroqens, Ewenkis and Daurs believe in
Shamanism, a primitive religion. Christianity, and Daoism, a religion native to China, has a certain following among the Han people.
   Economic growth is quite uneven among the nationalities as a result of the differences in historical, geographical, communications and natural conditions as well as in the stages of social development. Generally, the level of economic growth of the Han areas is relatively high while that of the minority regions which are remote or far from the Han areas is low.
   Equal treatment for all the nation's ethnic groups represents the fundamental principle of the Chinese government to follow in handing the ethnic question. As stipulated in all the versions of the Constitution promulgated after the founding of new China, all ethnic groups are equal and discrimination against, or oppression of, any ethnic group and acts undermining the unity of the ethnic groups are prohibited.
   The minority groups should be able to take part in the
administration of state affairs on an equal footing with the majority Han. They should be guaranteed equal rights at all levels of state power. To this end, the state grants preferential treatment to them with regard to the quotas of their representation in the National People's Congress, the supreme organ of state power, and the local people's congresses. For instance, of the 2,970 deputies to the 7th National People's Congress which was inaugurated in March 1988, 445 were from the ethnic minorities. This figure made up nearly 15% of all the deputies and almost doubled the proportion of the minorities'
population in the national total. Moreover, each of the minority was represented.
   The institution of regional autonomy represents a basic policy of the Chinese government to solve the country's ethnic
problems. The law of regional autonomy for minority groups endorsed by the 6th National People's Congress in 1984 is a basic law which guarantees the implementation of the fundamental principle and stipulations concerning regional autonomy as laid down by the constitution. To date, 45 of the 55 ethnic minorities have instituted regional autonomy, with 148 autonomous areas
established. Those people who enjoy regional autonomy account for 87% of the combined population of all the minorities.
   The Chinese government always considers it vital to train qualified minority officials to administer the affairs within their own  groups and to turn out as soon as possible qualified minority intellectuals to help reduce poverty in their own areas. So in 1950, it promulgated for trial implementation a program for training officials from among the minority people. To speed up the training of such officials, it set up a dozen or so
institutes for minority groups including central, southwest, northwest, Qinghai, Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet, Guangxi and central-south institutes. In some provinces and autonomous regions special schools or training courses were opened to train minority officials. All this is in addition to the preferential
treatment given by various colleges and universities across the country to minority candidates for enrolment.
   Following is the population of Chinese ethnic minorities and their distribution (according to 1990 (fourth) national population census):
   nationality      population        distribution
   Zhuang           15,489,630        Guangxi, Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou
   Hui               8,602,978         Ningxia, Gansu, Henan, Xinjiang, Qinghai,
                                     Yunnan, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, Liaoning,
                                     Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang,
                                     Tianjin, Jilin, Shaanxi
   Uygur             7,214,431         Xinjiang, Hunan
   Yi                6,572,173         Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi
   Miao              7,398,035         Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan,
                                     Guangdong, Hubei
   Manchu           9,821,180         Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei,
                                     Beijing, Inner Mongolia,
   Tibetan          4,593,330         Tibet, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan
   Mongolian        4,806,849         Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Liaoning,
                                     Jilin, Heilongjiang, Qinghai, Hebei,
                                     Henan, Gansu, Yunnan
   Tujia             5,704,223         Qinghai, Gansu, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan,
                                     Guizhou
   Bouyei           2,545,059         Guizhou
   Korean           1,920,597         Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Inner
                                     Mongolia
   Dong              2,514,014         Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi
   Yao               2,134,013         Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan, Guangdong,
                                     Guizhou
   Bai               1,594,827         Yunnan, Hunan
   Hani              1,253,952         Yunnan
   Kazak             1,111,718         Xinjiang, Gansu
   Li                1,110,900         Guangdong
   Dai               1,025,128         Yunnan
   Lisu                574,856         Yunnan, Sichuan
   She                 630,378         Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong
   Lahu                411,476         Yunnan
   Va                  351,974         Yunnan
   Sui                 345,993         Guizhou, Guangxi
   Dongxiang          373,872         Gansu, Xinjiang
   Naxi                278,009         Yunnan, Sichuan
   Tu                  191,624         Qinghai, Gansu
   Kirgiz              141,549         Xinjiang
   Qiang               198,252         Sichuan
   Daur                121,357         Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang
   Jingpo              119,209         Yunnan
   Mulam               159,328         Guangxi
   Xibe                172,847         Xinjiang, Liaoning, Jilin
   Salar                82,280         Qinghai, Gansu
   Blang                87,697         Yunnan
   Gelao               437,997         Guizhou, Guangxi
   Maonan               71,968         Guangxi
   Tajik                33,538         Xinjiang
   Primi                29,657         Yunnan
   Nu                   27,123         Yunnan
   Achang               27,708         Yunnan
   Ewenki               26,315         Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang
   Gin                  18,915         Guangxi
   De'ang (original    15,462         Yunnan
   Benglong)
   Uzbek                14,502         Xinjiang
   Jino                 18,021         Yunnan
   Yugur                12,297         Gansu
   Bonan                12,212         Gansu
   Derung                5,816         Yunnan
   Tatar                 4,873         Xinjiang
   Oroqen                6,965         Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang
   Russian              13,504         Xinjiang
   Gaoshan               2,909         Taiwan, Fujian
   Hezhen                4,245         Heilongjiang
   Monba                 7,475         Tibet
   Lhoba                 2,312         Tibet