The Chinese Government issued the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) for Ethnic Minorities Affairs in late March, 2007, the first of its kind since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.

According to the plan, China’s ethnic minority areas will see much progress by 2010: public infrastructure and the ecological environment will be improved, poverty levels will be eased and the standard of living will be raised.

“The plan aims to provide equal basic public services to all, starting by solving the conspicuous problems and difficulties of ethnic minorities and autonomous regions,” according to Dondrub Wangben, Vice Minister of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.

Lagging behind

The Chinese Government has attached great importance to ethnic minority affairs, and energetically supports work in this regard, said the vice minister. However, due to historical, natural and social reasons, economic and social development have not been well coordinated in many ethnic minority areas and the gap between rural and urban regions as well as between ethnic groups remains large and is a hindrance to building a harmonious society, he said.

China is a unified multi-ethnic country with 56 ethnic groups (for more information, see P.27). More than 100 million people, or 8.4 percent of the country’s total population are from ethnic minorities. Ethnic autonomous regions cover an area of over 6 million square km, making up 63.7 percent of China’s territory.

Of the nation’s 55 ethnic minority groups, 50 are situated in the western part of the country where economic development has progressed slowly, accounting for 75 percent of the total minority population.

According to Dondrub, living conditions in some ethnic minority areas are critically low, with poor infrastructure, a lack of social services and few ways for people to increase their income. Efforts to alleviate poverty have largely proved unfruitful as a result of natural disasters, heavy medical and educational costs.

In 2005, 11.7 million people from ethnic minorities were living in absolute poverty, comprising 50 percent of the total poverty population. The poverty rate among ethnic minorities stood at 6.9 percent, 4.4 percentage points higher than the national average.

According to statistics from the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, there are 22 small-population minorities, referring to those with a population below 100,000, numbering around 630,000 people.

Most of the small-population ethnic minorities live in the remote mountain areas of west China. Many of the 640 administrative villages inhabited by small-population ethnic minorities do not have electricity, drinking water, health clinics, primary schools or telephones. The level of illiteracy in these communities stands at 42 percent and in nine minority groups even exceeds 50 percent.

No discrimination

To carry out its ethnic equality policy, in 1953 the Chinese Government started a large-scale program to identify all of the country’s ethnic peoples. A total of 55 ethnic minorities were identified, making each ethnic minority an equal member of China’s family of peoples for the first time in history.

China’s ethnic groups are spread across the nation and live in a diverse range of communities. In some cases minority peoples can be found living in concentrated communities in areas inhabited mainly by the Han people, while in other cases this situation is reversed. China’s ethnic minorities, though small in numbers, are scattered over vast areas, and live in every province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government.

Equality and unity among ethnic groups have been clearly defined in China’s Constitution and laws. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that all ethnic groups are equal. The state protects the lawful rights and interests of ethnic minority groups and upholds and develops the relationship of equality, unity and mutual assistance among all peoples. Discrimination against any ethnic group is prohibited.

To safeguard equality among ethnic groups and enhance unity, the Constitution contains provisions on the need to combat large ethnic group chauvinism, either Han chauvinism, or local ethnic chauvinism.