China's Minorities, Cultural Change, and Ethnic Identity

Abstract

China's non-Han ethnic groups have been precipitated both through assimilation and territorial expulsion at the hands of the agriculturalists who gradually formed the Han Chinese majority and became the basis of empire, and by the last dynasty's incorporation of the thinly populated regions to the west and north. Recent research distinguishes assimilation from acculturation, indicating that both may occur at local initiative on local terms, and in the non-Han as well as the Han direction. New ethnicities have emerged through ecological adaptation and isolation. China's recognized minorities continue to play an important role in defining both the self-image of Han Chinese and China's identity as a modern nation-state.