Forging national unity: Ideas of race in China

Abstract

While over fifty different 'minority nationalities' (shaoshu minzu) are officially recognized to exist in the People's Republic of China, well over 90% of the population are classified as 'Han', a term translated in English as 'ethnic Chinese' or 'Chinese of native stock'. Despite the existence in China of cultural, linguistic and regional differences which are as great as those to be found in Europe, the Han are claimed by mainland officials to be a homogeneous ethnic group (minzu) with common origins, a shared history and an ancestral territory. Racial theories have underpinned nationalism in China since 1895. Precisely because of the extreme diversity of religious practices, family structures, spoken languages and regional cultures of population groups that have been defined as 'Chinese', the notion of race has emerged as very powerful and cohesive form of identity. Racial theories have been used by the late Qing reformers, the anti-Manchu revolutionaries, the Kuomintang nationalists, and, more recently, by a number of educated circles in the People's Republic.