Series |
Sinica venetiana
Edited book | The Historian’s Gaze
Chapter | China’s Ethnic Relations in Historical Perspective: From the Qing to the People’s Republic
China’s Ethnic Relations in Historical Perspective: From the Qing to the People’s Republic
Abstract
The geographical region known as ‘China’ has historically been inhabited by many ethnic groups, with the Han (漢) emerging as numerically the largest. Throughout China’s history, ethnic relations have been the most important issue, with direct bearing on political unity or division, war or peace in the region. China’s ethnic relations were marked by incessant conflicts and incorporations between the majority Han and other ethnic groups, or by fighting and integration among the minority ethnic groups themselves. This essay reviews the intricate, historical evolution of China’s ethnic relations in the modern period from the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644‑1911) to the People’s Republic. We focus on the formulation and implementation of the ‘nationality policy’ by the central governments, investigating policy intentions, goals, strengths, and weaknesses. Special attention is paid to some sensitive regions and ethnic groups.
Submitted: July 26, 2022 | Accepted: Dec. 7, 2022 | Published Oct. 11, 2023 | Language: en
Keywords Autonomy • Migration • Minzu (ethnicity and nationality) • Segregation • Minority regions
Copyright © 2023 Yu Shen, Larry Shyu. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-723-4/004
