The History of Racial Theories in China

Abstract

Racial theories first made an appearance in China at the end of the nineteenth century. In Europe the idea of a 'yellow race' probably only appeared at the end of the seventeenth century as a reaction to Jesuit reports from China on the symbolic value of the color yellow. The reformers used evolutionary theories very selectively, claiming that racial survival in a context of international competition was the inescapable consequence of profound evolutionary forces. Instead of appealing to Charles Darwin's emphasis on competition between individuals of the same species, they were inspired by Herbert Spencer's focus on group selection. 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 become a very powerful and cohesive form of identity.