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Unrest Shines Light on Chinese Ethnic Fractures

'Monolithic myth' fades after riots

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 13, 2009 8:48 AM CDT
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(Newser) – The government clings to the notion of a “harmonious” country, but China is home to 56 “official” ethnic groups and many unofficial divisions—which are widening as some push for “increased cultural nationalism and resistance to Beijing central control,” writes Dru Gladney in the Wall Street Journal. Counter to the “myth of a monolithic China,” some 9% of the population, or 104 million Chinese, are official minorities, and the Han majority has its own “fault lines.”

The Han speak eight “mutually unintelligible languages,” with their own cultural subdivisions. And many people are “coming out” as minorities. “One might even say it has become popular to be ‘ethnic’ in today’s China,” writes Gladney, thanks in part to affirmative action programs and interest in minority restaurants and art. Meanwhile, ethnic unrest could be fueled by regional economic imbalances. Last year saw 100,000 “mass incidents” of civil unrest, the government says.

Uighur boy walks with a women at Uighur sector in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Monday, July 13, 2009. More roads reopened and shops unlocked their doors in Urumqi on Monday, but sporadic incidents reflected the underlying tensions in the city in western China where 184 people died in recent...
Uighur boy walks with a women at Uighur sector in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Monday, July 13, 2009. More roads reopened and shops unlocked their doors in Urumqi on Monday, but sporadic...   (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A relative of Han Chinese victims who were killed during last Sunday's riot cries on during their funeral in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Sunday, July 12, 2009.
A relative of Han Chinese victims who were killed during last Sunday's riot cries on during their funeral in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Sunday, July 12, 2009.   (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
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China is becoming increasingly de-centered. This is a fearsome prospect for those holding the reins in Beijing. - Dru C. Gladney

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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
kokuaguy
Jul 13, 2009 4:17 AM CDT
Obviously that damned socialism is the root of all their problems.

 
China • minorities • ethnic conflict • ethnic diversity • Han Chinese • Uighurs • civil unrest

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