China's fate as a multinational state: A preliminary assessment

Journal of Contemporary China

Volumn 15, Issue 47, 2006, Pages 329-348

  Zhu, Yuchao ^a   Blachford, Dongyan ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF REGINA   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMMUNISM; ETHNIC MINORITY; NATIONAL POLITICS;

ASIA; CHINA; EURASIA; FAR EAST;

EID: 33745114729     PISSN: 10670564     EISSN: 14699400     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10670560500535043     Document Type: Article

References (88)

1. See, e.g. Kumar Rupesinghe, ed., Ethnicity and Conflict in a Post-Communist World (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992)
2. Xu Ling and Liu Jingbei, 'Guanyu sulian jieti de minzu yinsu de jidian sikao' ['Several considerations on the ethnic elements of the demise of the Soviet Union'], Minzu Yanjiu [Ethno-National Studies] no. 3, (1995), pp. 91-94
3. Ge Gongshang, 'Luelun dangjin shijie minzu wenti de taishi' ['On the current ethnic issues in the world'], Ethno-National Studies no. 6, (1994), pp. 56-61
4. Hua Xinzhi, 'Zhuanxingqi minzu yinsu tanxi' ['A discussion of ethnic elements in the transitional period'], Xinan Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao [Journal of the Southwest Minority Institute] no. 5, (1994), pp. 1-6
5. Chen Lianbi, 'Eluosi minzu guanxi lilun he zhengce de bianhua' ['The changes of Russia's theories and policies in ethnic relations'], Ethno-National Studies no. 1, (1999), pp. 32-38.
6. Michael Seymour, ed., The Fate of the Nation State (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004).
7. The Chinese government has officially recognized 56 nationalities in China including the majority Han group and 55 minority groups. See, The Information Office of the State Council, White Paper: National Minorities Policy and its Practice in China (Beijing: The Information Office of the State Council, The People's Republic of China, 1999).
8. June Teufel Dreyer, China's Political System - Modernization and Tradition, 4th edn (New York: Longman, 2004).
9. Jin Chunzi, 'Zhongguo de kuajie minzu' ['The cross border minorities in China'], Ethno-National Studies no. 5, (1994), pp. 22-24.
10. Li Wei, 'Guanyu minzu diqu jingji fazhan zhanlue de fansi' ['Rethinking the economic development strategies in the minority regions'], Ethno-National Studies no. 6, (1994), pp. 71-76
11. Zhang Huijun, 'Minzu diqu jingji fazhan chaju de tanxi' ['An analysis of the gap of economic development in minority regions'], Ethno-National Studies no. 1, (1996), pp. 14-20.
12. Dreyer (China's Political System, pp. 288-289) concludes that five reasons constitute the importance of ethnic minorities for China: strategic, potential immigrant, natural resources, propaganda and tourism.
13. In Lenin's view, if 95% of the population belong to one nationality, this country is a uni-national state; if 90-95% of the population belong to one nationality, this country is a primarily uni-national state; if more than 30% of the population belong to the different nationalities, this country is a complex multinational state. According to this characterization, China can still be seen as a relatively homogenous state. See, Pan Zhiping, Minzu zijue hai shi minzu fenlie - minzu yu dangdai minzu fenlizhuyi [National Self-determination or National Separation - Nationality and Contemporary National Separatism] (Beijing: minzu chubanshe, 1999), p. 27.
14. In fact, in today's world, most states are multinational states, see Walker Connor, 'National self-determination and tomorrow's political map', in Alan C. Cairans et al., eds, Citizenship, Diversity and Pluralism (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1999), pp. 163-176.
15. Dru C. Gladney, Ethnic Identity in China - the Making of a Muslim Minority Nationality (New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998)
16. Susan Blum, 'Margins and centers: A decade of publishing on China's ethnic minorities', The Journal of Asian Studies no. 4, (2002), pp. 1287-1310.
17. According to the 1990 census, ethnic minorities in China reached 91.3 million which accounted for 8% of the total population in China. More recent statistics show that the number is more than 100 million and the survey also shows that up to 1995, the administrated area under China's minority self-government where minorities are concentrated is 64.3% of China's overall territory: See Li Jianhui, 'Zhongguo minzu quyu zizhi zhidu de jianli' ['The construction of China's minority nationality regional self-government'], Dangdai zhongguoshi yanjiu [Modern China History Studies] no. 1, (1995), pp. 23-31.
18. Re. the ethnic minority population situation, see Wang Hongman, 'Shaoshu minzu renkou zhengce jiqi shijian' ['Ethnic minority population policy and practice'], Renkou xuekan [Journal of Population Studies] no. 4, (1999), pp. 23-29.
19. Of course, the dramatic increase of ethnic minority population is also partially the result of re-registration of many formerly registered as Han but who switched their registration based on the fact that one of their parents might be ethnic minorities. We will discuss this further in the next section.
20. Colin Mackerras, 'Ethnicity in China: The case of Xinjiang', Harvard Asia Quarterly, (Winter 2004), available at: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/ ~asiactr/haq/200401/0401a001.html.
21. Michael Brown, ed., Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001), p. 7.
22. Guo Hongsheng, Zhongguo yu qiansulian minzu wenti duibi yanjiu [Comparative Study of Ethnic Issues in China and the Former Soviet Union] (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1997)
23. Liu Chengdun and Cheng Jichun, 'Sulian he nansilafu minzu zhengce shiwu bijiao' ['A comparison between the ethnic policy mistakes in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia'], Guangdong minzuxueyuan xuebao [Journal of Guangdong Institute of Ethnic Studies] no. 1, (1997), pp. 58-64.
24. Rupesinghe, ed., Ethnicity and Conflict in a Post-Communist World
25. Mou Benli, 'Minzu quyu zizhi zhidu de bijiao yanjiu' ['A comparative study of different ethnic minority self-governments'], Ethno-National Studies no. 5, (2001), pp. 1-8.
26. Hao Shiyuan and Ruan Xihu, Dangdai shejie minzuwenti yu minzu zhengce [Contemporary World Ethnic Issues and Ethnic Policies ] (Beijing: zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1994), p. 5.
27. That is based on the theory constructed by one of China's most well known sociologists Fei Xiaotong. In his opinion, China has a unique tradition based on the shared history of all ethnic groups living in China. See, Fei Xiaotong et al., Zhongguo minzu duoyuan yiti geju [The Structure of the Centralized Multinational State of China] (Beijing: zhongyang minzu xueyuan chubanshe, 1989), pp. 1-36.
28. Mou, 'Minzu quyu zizhi zhidu de bijiao yanjiu'
29. Zhang Erju, Zhongguo minzu quyu zizhi de lilun yu shijian [Theory and Practice of China's Minority Autonomous Regions] (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1988), pp. 39-44.
30. According to Kaup, 'The Zhuang case provides one of the clearest examples of the state imposing its own classification system on a people who previously did not perceive of themselves as a bounded group. In no other situation is a government's active attempt to impose a minority nationality status on a group more pronounced'. See Katherine Palmer Kaup, Creating the Zhuang: Ethnic Politics in China (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000), p. 20.
31. According to the 1990 census, China has 4.59 million Tibetans and 99.6% of them lived in Tibet (2.09 million), Sichuan (1.08 million), Qinghai (0.91 millioin), Gansu (0.36 million) and Yunnan (0.11 million). He Jingxi, 'Woguo zangzu renkou de biandong' ['Change of Tibetan population distribution'], Zhongguo shehui kexue [Chinese Social Science] no. 4, (1995), pp. 105-106.
32. Colin Mackerras, China's Minorities - Integration and Modernization in the Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 100.
33. Pan, Minzu zijue hai shi minzu fenlie.
34. Mackerras, China's Minorities, p. 196.
35. Gardner Bovingdon, 'Heteronomy and its discontents', in Morris Rossabi, ed., Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004), p. 147.
36. David Bachman, 'Making Xinjiang safe for the Han?', in Rossabi, ed., Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers, pp. 175-180
37. Bovingdon, 'Heteronomy and its discontents', pp. 121-129
38. also see, Wang Lixiong, Xinjiang duli shi xinjiang zaifenlie de kaishi [Xinjiang's Independence will be a Start of New Secessions in Xinjiang], (1998), available at: www.chinesenewsnet.com (accessed August 2004).
39. Rossabi, ed., Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers.
40. Mackerras, China's Minorities, p. 167.
41. H. E. Salisbury, The New Emperors: China in the Era of Mao and Deng (Boston: Little Brown, 1992), p. 1.
42. Rossabi, ed., Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers.
43. June Teufel Dreyer, China's Forty Millions (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976).
44. Sai Fuding et al., Lun Minzu Wenti [On Nationality Issues] (Beijing: Minzu Chubanshe, 1994), pp. 1-2.
45. Li Dezhu, 'Disandai lingdao jiti dui Makesizhuyi minzu lilun de xinfazhan xingongxian' ['The third generation leaders' new contribution to the development of Marxist ethnic theory'], Zhongguo minzu [China's Nationalities] no. 7, (2002), pp. 4-6.
46. J. A. Fishman, Language and Ethnicity: In Minority Sociolinguistic Perspective (Clevedon, PA: Multilingual Matters Ltd, 1989), p. 14.
47. Walker Connor, The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), p. 38.
48. Chen, 'Eluosi minzu guanxi lilun he zhengce de bianhua'.
49. Guo, Zhongguo yu qiansulian minzu wenti duibi yanjiu.
50. Jin Shixin, 'Minzu quyu zizhi zhidu de zhongguo tese ji yiyi' ['The meaning and the special Chinese characteristic of the national regional autonomous system'], Ethno-National Studies no. 2, (1995), pp. 68-73.
51. Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (London: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 141.
52. Jin Shixin, 'Minzu quyu zizhi zhidu de zhongguo tese ji yiyi'.
53. Wen Jixia, 'Shehui zhuyi shichang jingji tizhi xia minzu jingji youhui zhengce de sikao' ['The thinking of the minority economic policies under the socialist market economy'], Ethno-National Studies no. 3, (1995), pp. 6-11.
54. Barry Sautman, 'Preferential policies for ethnic minorities in China: the case of Xinjiang', Nationalism and Ethnic Politics no. 4, (1998), pp. 86-118.
55. Li, 'Guanyu minzu diqu jingji fazhan zhanlue de fansi'; actually, among all the minority regions, only Xinjiang's economic performance and income levels are comparable with other well-off provinces
56. see Bachman, 'Making Xinjiang safe for the Han?'.
57. Song Quan, 'Lun shichang jingji tiaojian xia minzu youhui zhengce de jianchi he wanshan' ['On perfecting and continuing the policies in favor of minorities under the conditions of a market economy'], Zhongyang Minzu Daxue Xuebao [Journal of the Central Minority University] no. 2, (1999), pp. 1-6.
58. Thomas Heberer, China and its National Minorities - Autonomy or Assimilation (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1989), p. 52.
59. Mackerras, 'Ethnicity in China'.
60. Xu Xifa, 'Woguo shaoshu minzu renkou zhengce chuyi' ['A brief discussion of China's minority population policy'], The Social Economy of Xinjiang no. 6, (1994), pp. 80-85.
61. Sautman, 'Preferential policies for ethnic minorities in China: The case of Xinjiang'.
62. Mackerras, China's Minorities, p. 45
63. Li Bolin, 'Shilun woguo minzu quyu zizhizhidu de sige fazhan jieduan' ['On the four stages of the development of China's ethnic minority region self-government'], Neimenggu shehuikexue [Inner Mongolia Social Science Studies] no. 5, (2000), pp. 32-37.
64. The Information Office of the State Council, White Paper.
65. Mackerras, 'Ethnicity in China'.
66. Heberer, China and its National Minorities, p. 126.
67. Stephen D. Krasner, ed., Problematic Sovereignty - Contested Rules and Political Possibilities (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), pp. 2-3.
68. Ann Kent, China, the United Nations, and Human Rights (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), pp. 55-57
69. June Teufel Dreyer, 'The potential for instability in minority regions', in David Shambaugh et al., eds, Is China Unstable? (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2000), pp. 131-132.
70. Kent, China, the United Nations, and Human Rights, p. 70.
71. For example, see the US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, Julia Taft's statement to the House International Relations Committee: 'Since Tibet is not a sovereign state, we do not conduct diplomatic relations with the representatives of Tibet's Government-in-exile. We do, however, maintain contact with a wide variety of representatives inside and outside China with views of Tibet. We also meet with the Dalai Lama in his capacity as a world religious leader and Nobel Prize recipient' (11 March 2003). Available at: http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/ea/uschina/ taft311.htm.
72. Alex Perry, '10 questions for the Dalai Lama', Time, (17 October 2004).
73. Richard Falk, 'Self-determination under international law: The coherence of doctrine versus the incoherence of experience', in Wolfgang Danspeckrruber, ed., The Self-Determination of Peoples (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002), p. 31.
74. For example, according to General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) and 2625 (XXV), 'authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent states' should not be construed (given that the government in question is not racist and non-representative). See Patrick Thornberry, 'Self-determination, minorities, human rights: A review of international instruments', in Charlotte Ku and Paul F. Diehl, eds, International Law - Classic and Contemporary Readings, 2nd edn (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003), pp. 140-141.
75. Richard Falk, Human Rights Horizons (New York: Routledge, 2000), p. 99.
76. Tom Farer, 'The ethics of intervention in self-determination struggles', Human Rights Quarterly no. 25, (2003), p. 404.
77. Allen Buchanan, 'Secession, state breakdown, and humanitarian intervention', in Dean K. Chatterjee and Don E. Scheid, eds, Ethics and Foreign Intervention (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 197-198.
78. Thornberry, 'Self-determination, minorities, human rights', pp. 140-142
79. Farer, 'The ethics of intervention in self-determination struggles', p. 404.
80. Ibid.
81. Kent, China, the United Nations, and Human Rights, pp. 79-80.
82. For example, the Chinese Communist Party leader in Xinjiang, Wang Lequan, claimed that one of the most important missions for the Xinjiang government is to fight minzu fenlie shili (nationalist separatist forces). Available at: http://news.sina.com.cn (accessed 25 October 2002).
83. Falk, Human Rights Horizons, p. 113.
84. Melvyn C. Goldstein, 'Tibet and China in the twentieth century', in Rossabi, ed., Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers, p. 227.
85. Shambaugh et al., eds, Is China Unstable?, pp. 13-17.
86. This is another intriguing question which we will discuss further in a separate paper.
87. Ross Terrill, The New Chinese Empire (New York: Basic Books, 2003), p. 26.
88. For a similar claim see Mackerras, China's Minorities, p. 275.