Nation-Building of China’s Pluralist Unity and the Future Perspectives

According to the official recognition, there are 56 ethnic groups (or nationalities) in contemporary China. There are also several other minority groups left as “un-recognized groups" in China. They are called “people” with the local names they called themselves such as “Deng People” in Tibet region. By the cultural tradition, we call these ethnic groups “Chinese ethnic family” as a united whole. The population size of “Han” group consists 91.6% of the total, 9 groups have a population over 4 millions, at the other end, 7 groups have a population less than 10,000. The gaps among population size show the significant differences between the “core group” (Han), the border ethnic groups with a middle size population, and some marginal groups with very small populations. There is a framework to connect those various groups into a united “nation” as an “ethnic family”. There are three reasons why it called “ethnic family”: (1) all these groups live in a relatively closed geographic area in East Asian continent. This area has deserts and snow forests in its north (Mongolia Steppe and Siberia), seas and ocean in its east, jungles in its south (Burma and IndoChina), the highest mountains and plateau in its west and Southwest (Himalaya and Pamir). All these groups are “natives” in this large area of East Asian continent. (2) For thousands' years, these groups living in this area have had more frequent and essential contact among themselves than their contact with other groups outside this area. These contacts were in all aspects, not only in political and economic, but cultural, intermarriage as well. Actually, these groups have merged, split, re-merged among themselves, and shaped in the historic process of the contact, integration, and assimilation. Some groups have disappeared, and some groups have emerged or semi-emerged as the result of assimilation. (3) These groups developed around a “political, economic, and cultural core," which is Han majority group. Han has been more advanced in many aspects, has a strong influence on other minority group, especially by its cultural tradition. Han group emerged and grew as the result of cultural and economic (agriculture) assimilations, itself is a mixture of different ethnic groups in history and finally became an “ethnic group” with a 1.1 billion population. Of course, other groups also played important roles in history, such as Mongolians during the Yuan Dynasty and Manchu during the Qing Dynasty. But when these minority groups dominated whole China, they obviously accepted Han culture and assimilated with Han. How to describe this “ethnic big family” with its history of thousands' years? How to describe the patterns of its development? How to summary the relationship among these groups? What hold