4.1 “Ethnic” Place

Zili Village, Kaiping County, Guangdong. Source.

Today

  1. Introduction to Part 2: Place and Territory
  2. This week: Discuss the relationship of national and ethnic identity in China with place and territory.
  3. Discuss the term minzu and two common forms in China: Zhonghua minzu and shaoshu minzu.
  4. Explore ideas about native place, and discuss the spatial nature of identity and culture.

Readings

Joniak-Lüthi (2013)
Yang (2009)

Key concepts

  • minzu
  • Hanzu (Han minzu, national majority)
  • native place

Reading Response

Introduction to Part 2: Place and Territory

Syllabus overview: learning outcomes, and readings over the next couple of weeks

Ways of Thinking Geographically

  • “earth writing” (geo-graphy)
  • attending to spatial relationships and spatial difference
  • description: what is where (and when)
  • analysis: why is that there (then)
  • attend to human-environment relations
  • culture: recognizing that our individual and collective sense of place matters
  • power: the making of territory shapes us in significant ways

China’s ethnolinguistic diversity

Chinese dialects

Ethnolinguistic groups in China

Minzu

Minzu 民族
the two characters ‘min’ and ‘zu’ were not used together in China until the late 19th century
a subgroup of the Chinese nation (Han, Mongols, Tibetans, etc.)
different from “ethnicity” in that it is an important state category in China, rather than a self-identifying group with a persistent ethnic identity
the state creation of official minzu categories was one of the key changes in late 20th century China
minzu structures both individual identity and social relations; institutionalized in government

Common uses

Hanzu (Han minzu) 汉族
the national majority (92%)
debate in 1950s about when in history the Han minzu was formed
Shaoshu minzu 少数民族
ethnic minority (8%)
Ethnic classification should be understood in the context of the CCP state project and class nation-building: provided the key demographic blueprint for a unified multiethnic country
Zhonghua minzu 中华民族
all people who live within China’s territory
in Republican period, the Chinese people, Han, plus Manchu, Mongol, Hui, and Tibetan: the Nationalists in particular expected ethnic groups to assimilate
in Mao era through today, the Chinese nation, seen as one people under a unified socioeconomic system: Mao would himself criticize Han ethnocentrism; in both cases, though the state became the defining element in the national question

Differences with nationality/ethnicity

  • minzu is a fixed state invention; ethnicity is an identity held by a group (Yang 2009, 744)
  • differs from Stalin’s nationality because minzu includes ethnic groups in different “developmental stages,” and that don’t fit Stalin’s four-commons (See Yang (2009).)
  • differs from western ethnicity in that it is designated by the state (minzu could indicate a mix of ethnic groups, a single ethnicity, a sub-ethnic unit or a tribal community)

Minzu policies today

  • officially, all peoples are considered equal, though in practice there are differences (certain ethnic “benefits,” nominal autonomy, discrimination, securitization)
  • the state has extended into ethnic minority to a historically unprecedented degree, for the most part with acceptance
  • those that do not accept minzu policies now face the full force of China’s state-building interventions, securitization, and “civilizing” projects
  • “second-generation” ethnic policy reexamining the approach taken since the 1950s

Native place

native place
a variety of definitions, but broadly a “local” identity
“father’s place of origin or birth, mother’s place of origin or birth, current place of living, hukou location, birthplace, place where one grew up…” (Joniak-Lüthi 2013, 865)
“native-place-determined mindset” jiaxiang guannian 家乡观念 (Joniak-Lüthi 2013, 852)

1. What aspects of “Han” identity are “ethnic”?

In your group, review the key terms Joniak-Lüthi employs (minzu, ren, jia, min), and then discuss the question: Are these terms – and related socionyms and stereotypes – “ethnic”? If so, how? Pull out at least one key example from the text (with a page reference).

2. How is Han identity spatial?

Using the synthesis handout, develop your (group) understanding of what Joniak-Lüthi could say about the spatiality of ethnicity in China, that is the relationship of ethnic identity and geography: How does “Han-ness” relate to place, region, and/or nation?

Wrap up

For next class

  • Review Yang (2009) with an eye for the relationship between ethnicity, place, and territory.

References

Joniak-Lüthi, Agnieszka. 2013. “The Han Minzu, Fragmented Identities, and Ethnicity.” The Journal of Asian Studies 72 (4): 849–71.
Yang, Bin. 2009. “Central State, Local Governments, Ethnic Groups and the Minzu Identification in Yunnan (1950s – 1980s).” Modern Asian Studies 43 (3): 741–75.