Ethnicity

This chapter first examines relevant terms such as “ethnicity/ethnic,” “nation/national,” “minzu” (民族) and “zuqun” (族群) in the Chinese context, and discusses some crucial problems surrounding the use of such terms. It then turns to tracing both colonial and republican efforts in ethnic knowledge production, preceded by various imperial initiatives. The Ethnic Classification project (1950s–1980s) conducted by the P.R.C. will be examined to illustrate the formation and evolution of the minzu discourse as an invented neo-tradition standardised in the Deng Xiaoping era. The focus on ethnic classification provide a great opportunity to reflect on ethnicity and its ideological, institutional and cultural manipulation in contemporary Chinese society. The chapter concludes itself by introducing present ethnic anxieties, expressions and debates in a market and global era. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019.