Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers

by Rossabi, Morris

• ISBN13: 9780295983905
• ISBN10: 0295983906
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr

Summary

Upon coming to power in 1949, the Chinese Communist government proclaimed that its stance toward ethnic minorities - who comprise approximately eight percent of China's population - differed from that of previous regimes and that it would help preserve the linguistic and cultural heritage of the fifty-five official "minority nationalities." However, minority culture suffered widespread destruction in the early decades of the People's Republic of China, and minority areas still lag far behind Han (majority) areas economically.Since the mid-1990s, both domestic and foreign developments have refocused government attention on the inhabitants of China's minority regions, their relationship to the Chinese state, and their foreign ties. Intense economic development of and Han settlement in China's remote minority regions threaten to displace indigenous populations, post-Soviet establishment of independent countries composed mainly of Muslim and Turkic-speaking peoples presents questions for related groups in China, freedom of Mongolia from Soviet control raises the specter of a pan-Mongolian movement encompassing Chinese Mongols, and international groups press for a more autonomous or even independent Tibet.InGoverning China's Multiethnic Frontiers, leading scholars examine the Chinese government's administration of its ethnic minority regions, particularly border areas where ethnicity is at times a volatile issue and where separatist movements are feared. Together these studies provide an overview of government relations with key minority populations, against which one can view evolving dialogues and disputes.

Author Biography

Morris Rossabi is professor of history at the City University of New York and visiting professor of East and Inner Asian history at Columbia University

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	3	(16)
MORRIS ROSSABI
1 White Hats, Oil Cakes, and Common Blood	19	(34)
The Hui in the Contemporary Chinese State
JONATHAN N. LIPMAN
2 The Challenge of Sipsong Panna in the Southwest	53	(31)
Development, Resources, and Power in a Multiethnic China
METTE HALSICOV HANSEN
3 Inner Mongolia	84	(33)
The Dialectics of Colonization and Ethnicity Building
URADYN E. BULAG
4 Heteronomy and Its Discontents	117	(38)
"Minzu Regional Autonomy" in Xinjiang
GARDNER BOVINGDON
5 Making Xinjiang Safe for the Han?	155	(31)
Contradictions and Ironies of Chinese Governance in China's Northwest
DAVID BACHMAN
6 Tibet and China in the Twentieth Century	186	(44)
MELVYN C. GOLDSTEIN
7 A Thorn in the Dragon's Side	230	(40)
Tibetan Buddhist Culture in China
MATTHEW T. KAPSTEIN
Bibliography	270	(15)
Contributors	285	(2)
Index	287