Ethnic groups in China

China officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups: the Han majority and 55 groups classified as ethnic minorities. These classifications shape census reporting, regional autonomy, and some state policies.

Han Chinese: The largest officially recognized ethnic group in China, making up the majority of its population. Han people form the majority against which the official minority category is defined.
Household registration in China: China’s household registration system, which records residents’ status and place of registration. Ethnicity is recorded in household registration documents and linked administrative records.
Ethnic identification project in China: A state-led effort begun in the 1950s to identify and classify ethnic groups in China. Its investigations helped establish the official list of recognized groups.
Affirmative action in China: Preferential policies in areas such as education and family planning directed at some minority populations in China. Such policies have made ethnic classification consequential in access to state programs.
Ethnic classification in China: The state system that identifies and records China’s officially recognized ethnic groups. It established the 56-group framework used in censuses and policy.
Ethnic autonomous areas of China: Provincial, prefectural, county, and township units designated for areas with substantial minority populations. Autonomous areas are a territorial expression of the state’s recognition of minority groups.
Fei Xiaotong: A Chinese anthropologist whose work shaped the study of ethnic relations and classification in China. Fei contributed to the scholarly framework used during the identification project.
Uyghurs: A Turkic-speaking ethnic group concentrated in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Uyghurs illustrate how official recognition intersects with regional autonomy and state policy.
Ethnic minorities in China: The 55 officially recognized ethnic groups in China other than the Han. This collective category comprises the groups included alongside the Han majority.
Regional ethnic autonomy in China: China’s constitutional framework for self-government in designated ethnic autonomous areas. It translates official group recognition into a system of territorial governance.

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