Ethnic groups

The People's Republic of China is a multi-ethnic unitary country, with 56 ethnic groups. According to the fourth population census of China realized in there are them to 1990 represent 91.96% of the national population and the other groups, 8.04%. The investigation by sampling of 1% of 1995 demonstrated that it enters the 1,200 million inhabitants, the population of the national minorities reach 108.460 million, represent 8.98% of the national population, with an increase of 0.94 percentage points more stop than 1990.

The population of the national minorities, in spite of his reduced amount, distributes itself in ample zones. They are inhabited in all the independent provinces, regions and municipalities directly subordinated to the Central Government. In the present, one mainly distributes in the provinces and independent regions of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Guangxi, Tibet, Yunnan, Guizhou, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Liaoning, Jilin, Hunan, Hubei, Hainan and Taiwan.

The PCCh and the Chinese Government always have paid great attention to the problem of the ethnic groups, and for its right adjustment they have a series of established policies, that summary as it follows: Equality of the ethnic groups, unit among them, regional ethnic autonomy and common prosperity of all the ethnic groups. The special and local Constitution and all the regulations incarnate this basic principle.

With a view to making reality the equality, the unit and the common prosperity of the diverse ethnic groups, the Chinese Government has eliminated the ethnic oppression and the operation and has adopted a system of regional ethnic autonomy with Chinese peculiarities. According to this system, in the zones where they live in community the ethnic minorities have settled down independent jurisdictions so that the local ethnic groups govern their internal subjects. At present, China has five independent regions, 30 independent prefectures and 121 independent districts or flags, besides 1,256 ethnic corners to complement the ethnic autonomy. The areas under ethnic autonomy represent the 64.3 percent of the national territory. There 160 million inhabitants live, among them, 72 million of the minorities. Excluding some little numerous ethnic groups, or groups that live too dispersed, 44 ethnic minorities enjoy regional ethnic autonomy.

The popular assemblies of the independent regions have the right to elaborate independent regulations and own regulations according to the political, economic and cultural characteristics of the locality. Until 1998 ends, these independent regions of minorities altogether elaborated 126 independent regulations and 209 own regulations.

Five independent regions:

The system of regional ethnic autonomy assures the equality the ethnic minorities in relation to the ethnic group have. In order that those minorities exert to fullness the rights of equality in the administration of their internal subjects and in the administration of the state subjects, the Chinese Government has come applying an important policy to conform a picture contingent of minority origin that combines moral integrity with the aptitude. The elections of the APN, the maximum executive agency of China, completely reflect the respect to the rights you monolaugh of them ethnic. All the ethnic minorities of China have chosen their own deputies of the APN according to the Law on the Deputies of the APN and the Local Popular Assemblies of the People's Republic of China, the ethnic groups who count on a population very reduced also can have a deputy at least although they do not fulfill the stipulations to have it. From I APN celebrated in 1954 to the present, in all the national popular assemblies the proportion of the deputies of the ethnic minorities of the APN is higher than the proportion of its population in the national population of the same period. Between the chosen deputies of IX the APN celebrated in 1998, 428 are representing of the ethnic minorities, occupying a 14.3% of the total number of the 2,979 deputies, with 5 percentage points more stop than their percentage in the national population of that one then.

The State enables energetically square of the ethnic minorities, and China counts at the moment with 2.7 million pictures of ethnic minorities. The organisms of being able state, the administrative, judicial and fiscal organisms of central and local level count on a considerable number of the personnel of ethnic minorities that participate in the administration of the state and regional subjects. At present, a 21% of the vice-presidents of the permanent committees of the APN and a 9.6% of the vice-presidents of political the consultative conference of the Chinese town are of ethnic minorities; in the member leaders of the Council of State, one is of ethnic minority; in the departments of the Council of State, two ministers are of the ethnic minorities; the presidents, directors of prefectures, districts and flags of the 155 local governments of independent regions are all personal of the ethnic minorities.

The Chinese Government confers great importance to the reduction of the economic and social breach that is observed in the zones of ethnic minorities in comparison with the rest of the country, and has adopted many preferential measures and policies to give aid to the ethnic minorities and the zones inhabited by them in his economic and cultural development. For example, subsidies for the zones of ethnic minorities”, “subsidies for the construction in the border areas”, “financial subsidies”, “special subsidies to economically underdeveloped zones”, “bottoms for the elementary sustenance in the poor areas of ethnic minorities”, “subsidies for the solution of extraordinary difficulties”, “subsidies”, etc. have settled down “, and the global amount of those allocations exceeds 30,000 million of yuanes to the year.

Thanks to the economic development, the localities of ethnic autonomy have registered historical advances in diverse social activities like the culture, the education, science and technology, the public health, the sports, the press and the edition. Their beautiful cultural traditions have followed ahead and they have been developed; its education has accused a fast progress; in those zones a network of cover of radio and television has been satisfied in the initial; it has taken forms a relatively complete system of impression, edition and distribution. Until 1998 ends, the 36 publishing houses of ethnic minorities have published 4,100 books of diverse types with tiraje of 53 million. The life expectancy has lifted of 30 years in the period immediately subsequent to the National Liberation to more than 60 years at present.

Thanks to the state aid, to the support of the other regions and its own arduous work, the zones of ethnic minorities have accelerated their economic growth and have made a total progress in the other activities. The right to the equality and the right to the ethnic autonomy of the minority towns have been guaranteed, and the interethnic relations of socialist nature have been fomented.

In its Report on the Work of the Government presented/displayed by the Premier Zhu Rongji before III the Session of IX the APN celebrated in March of 2000, Zhu emphasized: “Ours it is a unitary and multi-ethnic country. It has to consolidate and to develop the socialist interethnic relations of equality, unit and mutual aid, and to make reality the prosperity and the progress common of the diverse ethnic groups. It will be continued applying the spirit of the work meeting on the ethnic minorities summoned by the central command and control, in order to accelerate the economic development and integral the social progress of the ethnic minorities and the regions inhabited by them. It is necessary concientiously to apply the Law of Autonomy of the Regions of Ethnic Minorities and to guarantee the right of autonomy of the regions of ethnic minorities and the right of equality of the ethnic groups. To concerted efforts to the picture formation and people with capacities in different matters among the ethnic minorities will be dedicated. The stability of the zones of ethnic minorities and the unit of the mother country will be safeguard decidedly.