Reflective Learning Journal

Centre- Provincial Relations: The Party and the Regions

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China and the Chinese Civilization The Middle County

Concept of China as unconquered territory for thousands of

years

Geographically, culturally and ethnically extremely diverse

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China as a ‘Civilization State

rather than nation State’ – Martin

Jaques

When China Rules the World

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Taiwan and the One China Policy

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In 2003, the Chinese government published a White Paper which states that ‘since the

Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD) [Xinjiang] has been an inseparable part of the

multi-ethnic Chinese nation’

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The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May

and October 1648 in largely ending the European wars of religion.

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Westphalian sovereignty, or state sovereignty, is the principle in international law that each nation

state has exclusive sovereignty over its territory.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxDyJ_6N-6A

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The Warring States period was

an era in ancient Chinese history

following the Spring and

Autumn period and concluding

with the Qin wars of conquest

that saw the annexation of all

other contender states, which

ultimately led to the Qin state's

victory in 221 BC as the first

unified Chinese empire known

as the Qin dynasty.

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The Warring States Period

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Confucius

孔子

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Pu Yi was made puppet emperor of

northeast Manchuria in 1932 which the

Japanese renamed as Manchukuo

After the defeat of the Japanese in 1945

he was captured by the Communist and

imprisoned for nine years labour camp

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The Great Develop the West Campaign

Launched in 2001 西部大开发 From 1999 to 2001, Xinjiang and Guangxi displayed an annual

GDP percent increase of as high as 30%

The combined GDP of the western regions reached 3.33 trillion

yuan in 2005, compared with 1.66 trillion yuan in 2000

Nevertheless, the economic growth rate of China’s East continues

to exceed that of the West, causing the western share of domestic

product to continue to fall.

The West’s contribution to the GDP decreased from 20.88% in

1990 to 17.13% in 2000

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Some Reasons for this disparity

Resources and Population

Competition between provinces/cities

Power of local officials - who are they answerable to

Control over the courts

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Central China is administered through:

23 Provinces including Taiwan

5 Autonomous Regions

Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and

Guangxi

4 Municipalities

Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Shanghai

2 Special Administrative Regions

Hong Kong and Macao

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Minority Policy of the People’s

Republic

Sun-Yat-Sen identified 5 ethnic groups in China

Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Tibetan and Muslim (Hui)

Helped unite people in opposition to Qing rulers who were

Manchu

When Communists came to power in 1949 they looked more to

Soviet model

Identified 56 ethnic groups

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Minority Policy of the People’s Republic

Unlike the USSR the PRC didn’t not set up Republics such as

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Developed concept of Autonomous regions, prefectures, counties

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Inner Mongolia Mongolian Autonomous Region

Tibetan Autonomous Region

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

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China as a ‘multi-ethnic’ state

56 distinct ethnic groups within China

These make up the Zhonghua Minzu, the greater Chinese

nationality

Han make up just under 92 per cent of the population

According to 2010 census 8.49 per cent of people belong to an

ethnic minority approx 106 million people

Taken alone they would be the world’s12th largest country

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Concept of Minzu

Often translated into English as ‘nationality’

Has its origins in Marxist/Leninist ideology

The People’s Republic adopted Stalin’s definition of ethnic minority

Founding text of this ethnography was Stalin’s Marxism and the National

Question 1913

An ethnic group (narod) is defined by ‘a historically formed stable

community of language, territory, economic life and psychological

formation, manifested through a common culture’.

Stalin, Joseph. “Marxism and the National Question.” In Collected Works of

J.V. Stalin Vol. II. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1953.

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Why Autonomy?

“We say China is a country vast in territory, rich in resources and large

in population; as a matter of fact it is the Han whose population is large

and the minority nationalities whose territory is vast and whose

resources are rich.”

Mao Zedong The Writings of Mao Zedong 1949-1976: Vol II January

1956 – December 1957. pp43-66 (Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe 1986)

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Autonomy

Like Chinese Provinces, an autonomous region has its own

local government, but an autonomous region theoretically has

more legislative rights

The governor of an autonomous region is always from the local

minzu

However the real power is in the hands of the local Party

Secretary who is almost always Han

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Shokrait Zakir Chen Quangguo

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Minority Rights

Enshrined in the constitution

Language and culture legally protected

Positive Action

Right to be taught in their own language, practice

culture etc. enshrined in constitution

Family Planning

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Russians

Just over 11,000 Russians in Xinjiang

The earliest Russian community in Xinjiang were

immigrants from 18th century Tsarist Russia. Since then,

the majority arrived during the 19th century and around the

“October Revolution” of 1917.

Some merchants and farmers also settled down in the

border areas of Ili and Tacheng during the 19th and early

20th centuries, later forming communities there.

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Dru Gladney (1994) argues that the ethnic signifier of being Han was fashioned in

‘relational alterity’, or through identifying

‘Otherness’ in the non-Han peoples of China.

In doing so, the assigning of ethnic identities

embodied the colourful, backward, and

exotic/erotic national minorities through a

process of internal orientalism.

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July 5 2009

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February 2017

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Next weeks Seminar question

How, despite all these divisions has

China managed to remain so

strongly unified? Or has it?