Ethnicity and Inequality in China

Björn A. Gustafsson, Reza Hasmath, Sai Ding

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367534868
• eBook ISBN: 9781000297591
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Asian Politics
• Index: Social Sciences

This book analyses the behaviour of ethnic minority groups in China using the first comprehensive national dataset dedicated to capturing the socio-economic profile of ethnic minorities: the China Household Ethnicity Survey (CHES).

Managing ethnic diversity in China has become an increasingly important subject, especially against the backdrop of the nation's rampant economic growth and changing institutional behaviour. The book has an analytical interest in looking at the benefactors of China's growth from an ethnic group dimension, and notably, how the economic life of the 55 ethnic minority groups compares to the Han majority. It's one of the first publications to capture the heterogeneity of ethnic minority groups' socio-economic experience, through intersectional analysis and multi-disciplinary approaches. Contributing factors in explaining ethnic minorities' experiences in the urban labour market are also considered: from how linguistic capital and migration patterns vary for ethnic minorities, to the effects of pro-rural policies. Underpinning these are questions about the extent to which happiness and discrimination impact the economic life of ethnic minorities.

Ethnicity and Inequality in China will prove an invaluable resource for students and scholars of economics, sociology and contemporary Chinese Studies more broadly.

1 Ethnicity and inequality in China

An introduction

Björn A. Gustafsson, Reza Hasmath and Sai Ding

Managing ethnic diversity in China has become a topical subject of note, especially against the backdrop of the nation’s rampant economic growth and changing institutional behaviour in the past three decades. Of particular analytical interest is determining the benefactors of China’s economic growth. How are the 55 ethnic minority groups – comprised of nearly 114 million ethnic minorities or 8.5 percent of the total population – faring compared to the Han majority? Further, what are the contributing factors to explain ethnic minorities’ experiences in the urban labour market? Do linguistic capital and/or migration patterns vary for ethnic minorities versus the Han nationality? What effects do pro-rural policies have on the ethnic minority cohorts? Does happiness and/or discrimination play a role in the economic life of ethnic minorities? This book, written by noted Chinese and international scholars, brings together a series of chapters that analyze this cohort’s behaviour using the first comprehensive dataset dedicated to capturing the socio-economic profile of ethnic minorities, the China Household Ethnicity Survey (CHES).

Suffice it to say, managing ethnic diversity has become a global issue with the Chinese case being no different. There is a plethora of academic literature posing similar research questions and using similar methodologies as this book. For example, in the United States there has been a large amount of effort to throw light on the existence and reasons for differences in wages and behaviour between African-Americans, Hispanics and the Caucasian population. What makes the People’s Republic of China case different is that previous attempts to address issues looking at ethnic disparities in behaviour, well-being and policies in the nation, using large sample surveys, are few and are typically limited to one region or location. This book will make such a description less valid and inspire future research efforts.

Yet it does beg the question, why has there been so little research on ethnicity in China in terms of the type and scope we present in this book? One potential reason is that the public and policymakers are not concerned with such issues. However, this kind of explanation is not satisfactory. Flash ethnic violence and ethnic discontent in general is a reality in China (see Hasmath 2019). At the policy level, ethnicity is front and centre in the constitution of the People’s Republic of China, which for example states that “all ethnic groups are equal” and that the state should protect the lawful rights and interests of the minority ethnic groups. Discrimination against, and oppression of, any ethnic group are prohibited. In addition, as discussed in greater depth in the next section, China has adopted a number of ethnic policies affecting different spheres of economic, social and political life. At the societal level, there is a demand for knowledge on differences in the behaviour between and among ethnic groups, as well as the level of ethnic inequality in the nation.

One of the main reasons why there is so little research on ethnic inequality using large sample surveys in China is due to a lack of involvement by academia. Although there are a substantial number of qualitative studies, such research is generally focused on one of the 55 ethnic minorities, and is generally based on fieldwork in one geographical location. Notwithstanding that such an approach can lead to many valuable insights, the limitation is that the findings are not easily generalized to other circumstances. There is thus an urgent need for studies based on large sample surveys.

Moreover, a related issue is that studies on ethnicity in China have been viewed as too peripheral and/or sensitive in their discipline for researchers trained in quantitative methods. The logic being: “No one else in my discipline is doing this kind of research, why should I?” In addition (or, a consequence of an extension of this logic), there is a lack of easily accessible, adequate household data having a reasonable large spatial coverage. While much has been published by China’s statistical authorities on people living in officially defined ethnic areas, a high number of ethnic minorities live side by side with Hans, in Han majority areas. Conversely, a substantial number of Han people live in many officially designated ethnic minority areas. Therefore, statistical information on minority areas and areas not classified as minority areas is far from perfect for the purpose of mapping and understanding ethnic inequalities. In contrast, the research reported in the book is based on a relatively large household survey. It was designed to cover ethnic minority households and persons, and Han households and persons. It covers rural as well as urban parts of seven regions of China inhabited by a relatively large proportion of ethnic minority persons.

Given that the largest proportion of ethnic minorities in China live in rural areas, six of the book’s chapters discuss rural issues. For instance, Chapter 2 maps and analyzes ethnic income gaps in each of the seven regions. Chapter 3 deals with young adults’ linguistic capital, internet access and economic opportunities. In addition, the reader will find chapter 4 on labour force participation among elders. Chapters 5 and 6 focus on policies for rural China: how public policy affects ethnic minorities and the majority as well as the provision of public goods. The book also includes Chapter 7 on happiness among ethnic minority and majority persons in rural China.

Chapters 8 through 10 of the book deal with ethnic minority persons in urban China. The chapters contrast urban labour market outcomes such as labour force participation and earnings between persons that differ by ethnicity. There is also Chapter 11 looking at urban patterns and determinants of Han and ethnic minority migrations and Chapter 12 contrasting poverty among ethnic minority persons and the Han majority in rural as well as urban areas.

In the remaining space of this chapter, we will set the stage for the book. In this first section we will discuss what is meant by ethnicity in China, followed by a section looking at ethnic minority policies. In the third section we will present the China Household Ethnicity Survey, building on a longer description found in the Methodological Considerations section at the end of the book. Finally, the last section will highlight the main findings of the book’s chapters.

1 Ethnicity in the Chinese context

1.1 Background

China is a nation with a complex history. For several ethnic minority groups their history with Han Chinese is one related to conflict and struggle. Ever since the fall of the Qing dynasty headed by their Manchurian emperors in 1912, the top leaders of China have been Han, with Han persons also comprising the economic and social elite. Nevertheless, ethnic minorities have long officially been recognized in China. For example, during the first years of its post-feudal existence, and until 1928, the flag of the Republic of China displayed five horizontal stripes, one each for what was at that time regarded as the major nationalities: Han, Manchu, Mongol, Hui and Tibetan. During the Republican era (1912–1949) ‘Hui’ stood for a broader category of Muslim people than has been the case during the People’s Republic of China. Much of the present policies on ethnic minorities in China can be traced back to the first years after the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949. This is the case for the definition and identification of ethnic minorities that we will discuss in this section. It is also the case for policies of regional autonomy, language and education, families and preferential treatment of minorities; we will discuss these policies in the next section.

First, some words on where ethnic minority persons live. A fundamental characteristic of China’s ethnic minority population is that it has a different spatial distribution than the majority, Han population. Many ethnic minority persons live in regions rich with natural resources, as well as close to the bordering areas with other nation-states. Many ethnic minority persons in China live far from the political and economic centres, but their locations are quite strategic in nature. In contrast, most Han people live in the eastern and more developed part of the nation.

The different regional distribution of the minority and majority populations existed already when the People’s Republic was established. The introduction of the hukou system during the 1950s, in which each citizen in China was registered to their locale, limited people’s migration during the initial decades of the P.R.C. The clearest exception is the in-migration of Han people to Xinjiang and some other places far from the political centre (see Hasmath 2019). When the People’s Republic opened up for international trade and foreign investments in the 1980s and 1990s, this happened in the eastern part of the nation where the economy grew more rapidly than in the western region. The central government policy of opening up thus benefited the ethnic majority population more than the ethnic minority population, and as a consequence gaps in opportunities and income between China’s minority and majority population increased during this period (see Gustafsson and Li 2003).

Another aspect of the spatial distribution of the population to consider is to what extent people live in urban or rural locations. For long, the rural population numerically dominated the P.R.C. demographics. In contrast, public policies prioritized the urban population, and mo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of tables
• List of figures
• Preface
• 1 Ethnicity and inequality in China: an introduction
• 2 Ethnic income gaps in seven rural regions of China
• 3 Linguistic capital: links to information access and economic opportunity among rural young adults in minority areas in China
• 4 Ethnic minority group differences in the transitions from work to “retirement” of western China’s rural elders
• 5 The redistributive impact of pro-rural policies in the western ethnic minority regions of China
• 6 Rural public goods provision in the western ethnic minority regions of China
• 7 Minorities in rural China: poorer but inherently happier?
• 8 Labor market outcomes of ethnic minorities in urban China
• 9 Discrimination in ethnic minority earnings? evidence from urban China
• 10 Determinants of Han-minority urban income inequality
• 11 Investigating the patterns and determinants of Han and ethnic minority household migration in China
• 12 Poverty among Han and ethnic minorities in seven regions of China
• Methodological considerations: overview of Chinese Household Ethnicity Survey 2011
• Authors’ biographies
• Index