Self Determination And Minority Rights In China

In this book Linzhu Wang offers an insightful analysis of the rights of China’s minorities from the perspective of self-determination.

On the global stage, China is often seen to be a homogenous nation when, in fact, it is a diverse multi-ethnic society, with 55 minority nationality groups recognized by the government. Scattered across the vast landmass, ethnic minorities in China occupy a precarious place in the state, where the Confucian concept of cultural community plays down ethnicity and encourages integration of minority nationalities into the majority Han-Chinese society. This insightful book reveals the ethnic diversity underlying the People’s Republic of China and examines how ethnicity intersects with social and political issues through key themes such as ethnic inequality, the preservation and contribution of the rich traditions and customs of minority cultures, and the autonomy of regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang. The author investigates the important role of the state and Beijing’s assimilation stance to show how its nationality policy, driven by Confucian assimilation ideology, has dictated China’s own minority rights regime and influenced its foreign policy towards international minority rights. This book by a distinguished scholar of ethnicity in China will be essential reading for students and scholars of race and ethnic relations, nationalism and Chinese culture and society.

The content of autonomy

Over the past 25 years, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has undergone rapid social and economic change. It has also become an increasingly active member of the international community, including in the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Within a framework that maintains the supremacy of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the PRC has aimed to build its legal system and a rule of law that promotes its economic reform policies. However, this rule of law appears to use the law as a tool to maintain political control, and the government reform policies continue to have a serious impact on undermining human rights - with a particular impact on vulnerable groups, including over 700 million rural inhabitants, 140,000 migrants and ethnic minorities.

"Using both case studies and thematic essays, this volume examines the pre-colonial traditions, colonial legacies, and post-colonial ideologies that influence contemporary debates on multiculturalism in the region. It explores the areas of convergence and divergence between these different perspectives, and the extent to which they provide viable frameworks for managing ethnic and religious diversity in the region."--BOOK JACKET.

In The Constitutional Identity of Contemporary China: The Unitary System and Its Internal Logic, Han Zhai an account of constitutional identity merging with China’s constitutional history and her constitutional complex from a comparative perspective.

A clear and accessible study of the principle of internal self-determination in international law.