Education and Citizenship Education of Ethnic Minority Groups in China: Struggles between Ethnic Diversity and National Unity

Abstract

This chapter examines the struggles between ethnic diversity and national integration in education and citizenship education for ethnic minorities in China. It argues that despite the Communist Party of China’s emphasis on ethnic pluralism, the state uses education and citizenship education for ethnic minorities as a hegemonic instrument to subordinate ethnic diversity into national unity and social stability and to assimilate ethnic minority cultures and identities into state-prescribed national ones. Social stability and national security concerns have long been used to balance ethnic diversity and national integration in China, and they are important considerations in handling ethnic relations and affairs and in providing education and citizenship education for ethnic minority students. To maintain social stability and strengthen national integration, the Communist Party of China solicits ethnic solidarity and ethnic minority support by implementing preferential ethnic minority policies to protect ethnic minority rights and ethnic distinctiveness and to facilitate minority participation in Han-dominated mainstream society. When social stability, ethnic solidarity, and territorial integrity appear threatened, the state uses national security concerns, particularly the self-perceived threat of foreign aggression, to justify increased control over ethnic minority relations and the assimilation of ethnic minority groups into mainstream society.