General Info
China is a large country noted for its dense population and vast territory. There are altogether 55 ethnic groups in China. The defining elements of an ethnic group are language, homeland, and social values. 53 ethnic groups use spoken languages of their own; 23 ethnic groups have their own written languages. Most of the 7 percent of the ethnic groups live in the vast areas of the West, Southwest and Northwest. The largest is the 12 million-strong Zhuang in southwestern China. Although ethnic groups account for about 7% of the population, they are distributed over some 50% of Chinese territory, mostly in the border regions. Equality, unity and common prosperity are the fundamental objectives of the government in handling the relations between ethnic groups. China exercises a policy of regional autonomy for various ethnic groups, allowing ethnic group peoples living in compact communities to establish self-government and direct their own affairs.
Han Chinese
Han Chinese makes up 93 percent of the total population. According to the 1995 sample survey of 1 percent of China's population, there were 1.09932 billion Han people (an increase of 56.84 million since the Fourth National Population Census of 1990), accounting for 91.02 percent of China's total population. Han people are found in all parts of the country, but mainly in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River (Huanghe), Yangtze River (Changjiang), Pearl River (Zhujiang) and the Northeast Plain. The areas inhabited by ethnic groups are mainly in the border regions of northern, northeastern, northwestern and southwestern China.
The Han people has its own spoken and written language, known as the Chinese language, which is commonly used throughout China and is the working language of the United Nations. The Hui and Manchu ethnic groups also use the Han (Chinese) language.
Ethnic Groups
Most of these 7 percent live in the vast areas of the West, Southwest and Northwest. The largest is the 12 million-strong Zhuang in southwestern China. Although ethnic groups account for about 7% of the population, they are distributed over some 50% of Chinese-controlled territory, mostly in the sensitive border regions. Ethnic group separatism has always been a threat to the stability of China, particularly among the Uighurs and the Tibetans, who have poor and often volatile relations with the Han Chinese. Therefore, the Chinese government has set up special training centers, like the National Ethnic Groups Institute in Beijing, to train loyal ethnic group cadres for these regions. Equality, unity and common prosperity are the fundamental objectives of the government in handling relations between ethnic groups. To this end, while maintaining a unified leadership of the state, China exercises a policy of regional autonomy for various ethnic groups, allowing ethnic group peoples living in compact communities to establish self-government and direct their own affairs.
Self-government of Ethnic Groups
Self-government in ethnic group autonomous areas is affected through the local people's congress and people's government at the particular level. There are currently five autonomous regions in China. They are Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region founded on May 1, 1947, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region founded on October 25, 1958, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region founded on October 1, 1955, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region founded on March 5, 1958 and Tibet Autonomous Region founded on September 9, 1965. In addition, China also has 30 autonomous prefectures and 121 autonomous counties (or in some cases, banners). The committee of the People's Congress and the head of the government of an autonomous region, autonomous prefecture or autonomous county belong to the area's designated ethnic group.
Organs of self-government in regional autonomous areas enjoy extensive self-government rights beyond those held by other state organs at the same level. These include enacting regulations for self-government and specialized regulations corresponding to local political, economic and cultural conditions; making independent use of local revenue, and independently arranging and managing construction, education, science, culture, public health and other local undertakings. The Central Government has greatly assisted in the training of ethnic group cadres and technicians through the establishment of institutes and cadre schools for ethnic groups to supplement regular colleges and universities. It has, in addition, supplied the ethnic group autonomous areas with large quantities of financial aid and material resources in order to promote their economic and cultural development.
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