Ethnic Minority Population Growth and Distribution
As the majority of the population is of the Han ethnic group, the other 55 ethnic groups are customarily referred to as the national minorities. During the past decades, ethnic minorities have generally higher growth rates than the majority Han. This is probably because they are not under the one-child policy. Their total proportion in the population of China has grown from 6.1% in 1953, to 8.04% in 1990, 8.41% in 2000, and 8.49% in 2010. Among these ethnic groups, the major ones include Zhuang (16 million, 1.28%), Manchu (10 million, 0.84%), Uyghur (9 million, 0.78%), Hui (9 million, 0.71%), Miao (8 million, 0.71%), Yi (7 million, 0.61%), Tujia (5.75 million, 0.63%), Mongols (5 million, 0.46%), Tibetan (5 million, 0.43%), Bouyei (3 million, 0.23%), and Korean (2 million, 0.15%).
The population density of ethnic minority areas is quite different from that of the coastal Han areas. For example, the Tibet Autonomous Region inhabited by ethnic minorities has a population density of only 1.8 people per square kilometer. Besides, there are two features of the population density of ethnic minorities. First, small settlements and large mixed houses. The minorities are mainly settled down in the southwestern, northwestern and northeastern provinces and autonomous regions in China. However, there are also many Han people living in these areas, and the proportion of Han people is quite high. Second, the distribution is scattered, but ethnic minorities are mainly living in the western and border areas. There are 11 provinces and autonomous regions with 56 nationalities, accounting for 35.5% of the 31 provinces and autonomous regions. Despite the wide distribution of ethnic minorities, their population is still concentrated in the western and borderland regions. China’s borderline is more than 20,000 kilometers. Most of the regions along the borderline are ethnic minority areas.
The Transformation of Ethnic Relations
Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese governments (no matter whether it was a Han or a central government established by ethnic minorities) had a set of policies and systems on ethnic affairs, but there was little equality among each minority. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party and the government formulated a set of guidelines and policies that are more suitable to China’s national conditions and have resolved China’s ethnic problems. These guidelines and policies include the policy of ethnic equality, national unity, ethnic regional autonomy, and the common development and prosperity of all ethnic groups. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, according to the wishes of the people in most of the ethnic minority areas, the Chinese government adopted different methods and gradually implemented democratic reforms, which was completed in the late 1950’s, in ethnic minority areas. These reforms abolished all the privileges of the lords, nobles, and heads, and eliminated the old system of exploiting people and oppressing people, turning millions of ethnic minorities into ones who have personal freedom and are the master of their own fate.
Equality, unity and common prosperity are the fundamental objectives of the Chinese government in handling the relations between ethnic groups.
