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16 APLPJ 1 (2014-2015)
The Identification of Minorities in China

handle is hein.journals/aplpj16 and id is 160 raw text is: The Identification of Minorities in China Wang Linzhu* I. IN TRO D U CTION ................................................................................... 1 II. THE ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION PROJECT ............................................. 5 A. The First Stage (1950s-1960s) ................................................. 5 1. The Recognition Criteria .................................................. 7 2. The Identification Procedure ............................................. 8 B. The Second Stage (1980s) ..................................................... 10 III. THE C URRENT PRACTICE ..................................................................... 11 IV. THE PROBLEMS OF THE CHINESE PRACTICE OF MINORITY IDEN TIFICATION ............................................................................... 13 A. The Selective Application of Identification Standard ............. 13 B. Creating Internal Divisions inside the Nation ......................... 14 C. Differing Treatment Among Ethnic Groups ............................. 16 V. INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS OF CHINA IN RELATION TO MINORITY R EC O G N ITIO N ..................................................................................... 17 A . IC E SCR ................................................................................... 18 B . IC ER D .................................................................................... 19 V I. C ONCLU SION .................................................................................. 20 I. INTRODUCTION It has been argued that China is a unitary multi-ethnic state consisting of fifty-six different groups. ' Since the Han constitute an absolute majority (more than ninety percent)2 of the total population, all * Ph.D. (Lancaster), LL.M. (Groningen), LL.B. (SUT, China). Lecturer at the School of International Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law. I am greatly thankful to Dr. James Summers and Dr. Sophia Kopela for their helpful comments, to John Pearson for his assistance, and to the APLPJ Editorial Board and anonymous reviewers. All errors and mistakes remain my own. 1E.g. Xianfa [Constitution] Preamble (1982) (China); St. Council, the White Papers: National Minorities Policy and its Practice in China (1999), § 1, available at http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2005-05/26/content 11 31.htm (China); Regional Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities in China (2005), § 1, available at http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2005- 05/27/content_1585.htm; China's Ethnic Policy and Common Prosperity and Development of All Ethnic Groups (2009), Preface, § 1, available at http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2009-09/27/content 1427930.htm. 2 According to the Sixth National Population Census, the Han make up 91.15 percent of the total population. National Bureau of Statistics, Communique of the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on Major Figures of the 2010 Population Census (No. 1), Nat'l Bureau of Statistics (Apr. 28, 2011), available at

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