From the Language of Class to the Rhetoric of Development

Discourses of ‘nationality’ and ‘ethnicity’ in China

Bibliographic Data

ID8120281
AuthorsElena Barabantseva (0000-0001-5169-8128, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume17
Issue56
Pages565-589
Publication date2008-06-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary China (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1067-0564 • E-ISSN: 1469-9400
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10670560802000332
OpenAlexW2144104520
LanguageEN
Citations received12

In the People's Republic of China's (PRC) continuous state-building project since its establishment in 1949, the notion of nation and nationality (minzu) has been uninterruptedly utilised by the leading elite in its political programmes. The notion of the ‘nationality question’ (minzu wenti) was employed especially for addressing the issues of the officially identified minority nationalities at the time when the multinational nature of the state was made fundamental. However, how a multinational character of the Chinese state is interpreted by the state elite and how this interpretation is shaped by their policies have arguably changed along with the political and economic preferences of the regime. This paper aims to explore the meaning of ‘nationality question’ during the period of socialist construction, and traces the shift in its notion during the reform period which started in the 1970s. The essay pays attention to the change in the preferred corresponding English term of minzu wenti. I argue that the substitution of the ‘nationality question’ term, which was dominant during the socialist period, with the concept of the ‘ethnic question’ during the reform period points not only to the changing character of the government policies towards minorities, but also legitimises them as the only suitable and rightful in the context of economic reforms

Aesthetics · China · Context (archaeology · Elite · Ethnic group · Immigration · Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Multinational corporation · Nationality · Period (music · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · State (computer science · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Chinese history and philosophy · Gender Studies · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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