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Ethnicity
56 Eethnic Groups |
There are 56 ethnic groups in China.
The Han people form the largest, numbering
1.1 billion and making up 93.3 percent
of the country's population. The other
ethnic groups, that is the minority nationalities,
total 160 million, only 6.7 percent of
the Chinese nation.
Of the minority nationalities, 15 have
over a million people each; 13 over 100,000
each; 7 over 50,000 each; and 20 have
fewer than 50,000 people each.
The Han people live all over the country
but their compact communities are in the
Huanghe, Changjiang and Zhujiang valleys
and the Songhua-Liaohe Plain of the northeast.
The minority nationalities inhabit 60
percent of the country's total area, and
they live mainly in the border regions.
All nationalities in China are equal,
as stipulated by the Constitution of the
People's Republic of China, They take
part in the administration of state affairs
as equals, irrespective of their numbers
or the size of areas they inhabit. Every
minority nationality is represented in
the National People's Congress, which
is the highest organ of state power of
the People's Republic of China.
National regional autonomy is practiced
in areas where the minority nationalities
live in compact communities. There are
5 national autonomous and 75 autonomous
counties (or banners in Inner Mongolia).
Local autonomous governments are established
and local affairs are administered by
the minorities themselves. All national
autonomous regions are inalienable parts
of the People's Republic of China.
At present, because of various historical
factors the minority nationality areas
are less developed than Han areas economically
and culturally. Over the last three decades,
the Chinese Government has adopted many
policies and measures, including the provision
of manpower, financial and technical support,
to help develop these minority nationality
areas. Such help, of course, is a two-way
street, for minority nationality areas
have also contributed to the economic
development of the areas inhabited by
the Han people
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