Strangers at home, a pragmatic stratification of Chinese minority ethnic identity as seen through the state-led political socialization process

: a case study of Chinese Korean minority adolescent students in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture

Abstract

Chinese minority governance has been under the spotlight of scrutinizing Chinese political reform in recent years, due to both the diverse and complicated ethnic nature of this state's population and these minorities' interwoven relationship with China's many bordering foreign countries. Fostering a unified identity of the so-called Chinese Nation (Zhonghua Minzu) has therefore been a mission of strategic significance to the state's authority. Education-oriented political socialization of minority youth especially bilingual education has accompanied the development of Chinese minority ethnic identity under the guideline of Minority Regional Autonomy for the past six decades, since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949. The response to the CCP's ethnic minority governance policy has varied according to different minority autonomous regions, yet still there would be no doubts that such political socialization has been one of the most influential factor in shaping minority youth's ethnic identity. With the deepening reform of the Chinese economy and the more ambitious pursuit of Chinese Nation's Great Rejuvenation, the governance of Chinese minorities is arguably more conservative over the past decades, as maintaining the stability in minority regions is vital to China's national security and the ruling authority's governing legitimacy. Korean minority in China is one of the most representative successfully politicized minority, it has been crowned as the "model minority" by the government. Meanwhile, like the some wellknown restless minorities, it has also been one of the few big minorities still keeping a close connection with their Diasporas neighbor countries. This research selects Korean minority in China according to its representativeness in accessing the most traditional and efficient political socialization channels, education and the family environment. The primary research question is that since Chinese authority has been politicizing the minority governance and scaling back the political control in minority autonomous regions, is there stratification in KMEI formation especially concerning the increasing domestic reform and significant Diasporas influences? If there is stratification, then are there differences among different political socialization channels considering their influences on the KMEI formation? And most importantly, which PSC influences KMEI the most on different layers? Is it traditional political institutions of political socialization? Or newly emerging non-political PSC such as life exposure to media? I triangulated my research methodology by applying the theoretical framework of political socialization on the concept of ethnic identity, with the purpose to bring in a more empirically behaviorist-oriented perspective. My main argument asserts that in the authoritarian Chinese state, schools and propaganda as the most efficient and traditional PSCs would have the biggest influences on Chinese minority youth's ethnic identity formation as its influence encompasses the peak-period. And by being the most impressively educated minority youth group in Chinese minority regions, CKM has been selected as the research target. By addressing the above questions light will be shed on the current minority governance policy in China, especially its bilingual education policy. And the major finding of this research has supported the existence of ethnic identity stratification, and different PSCs' varied influences on it. The most exciting finding of this research is that life exposure to media as a non-political and non-institutional information resource has been the most influential political socialization channel during the ethnic identity formation process. A state-led and institution-oriented political socialization considering Chinese minority governance thus faces the risk of losing formative influences especially in the less politicized facets of CKM's ethnic identity. If the Chinese state and its government is genuinely concerned about the preservation of minority cultures and constructing a sense of belonging for the minorities, a balanced view on both politicized institutions and non-political socialization environment is needed, and a transition towards a more liberal direction begs further investigation.

Date of Award	14 Feb 2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Yu Kyung YEO (Supervisor), Yu Shek Joseph CHENG (Supervisor) & Ting GONG (Co-supervisor)