Peripheral Nationalism in China and the Dominance of Han Ethnicity

By Harsh Pandey

Being a Party State governed by the Communist Party of China (CPC), nationalism does not come as an official state ideology of the People’s Republic of China mainly because Communism is an internationalist ideology, and according to it, nationalism serves the class interests of the bourgeoisie. However, in the early 20^th century, when the West and Japan colonized China, competing claims of nationalism worked alongside. One nationalism was promoted by the Mandarins of China (educated elites in Chinese empires worked in the courts of Chinese kings). Their ideas of nationalism were based on Confucian order and hierarchy. There were also liberal nationalistic strands working for citizen’s rights and on a bottom-up approach towards nationalism. The ethnic nationalism of Hans and the Marxist nationalism of class were also apparent in early 20^th-century China.

After the end of the civil war in China, it accommodated all the abovementioned nationalist ideas except liberal nationalism, where citizens were given rights. However, at the same time, peripheral China, which constituted the erstwhile Chinese empire or were the small independent states constantly facing the wrath of the Chinese empire, also built their nationalism. These nationalisms developed as ethnic in response to Chinese Han domination. Most noteworthy among these nationalisms are Tibetan nationalism, Uighur nationalism, and nationalism of inner Magnolia. In subsequent times, Taiwan and Hong Kong developed their own nationalisms and national identities because of their aversion to the ruling of mainland China by the communists. Taiwan and Hong Kong adopted democracy and liberalism as central tenets of their national identity.

Scholars claim that there is no such thing as China or Chinese identity in terms of a unitary nation, and whatever we see in terms of nationalism is actually the domination of Han identity.

Different Peripheral Nationalisms in China

Sinicization is nothing but an extension of Han ideas. There is no representation of ethnic minorities to debunk the claim of separate but loyal Chinese minorities. There are officially recognized 56 ethnic groups in China. The majority of China, around 92%, belongs to the Han ethnicity. Other minority ethnicities make up 8 percent of the population. According to a survey of the Chinese government, there are 108 million people who identify themselves as different from the majority community. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, more than 90 per cent of the population belongs to the Han ethnicity. The other prominent nationalities are Uighurs, Tibetans, Mongols, Huis, and Kazakhs. Interestingly, all of their lives are on the Periphery of Chinese borders.

Uighurs are ethnic Muslims from the Xinjiang province of China. Xinjiang in Chinese means the new territory. They trace their lineage to their Turkish identity and are different from the majority of Hans in cultural and civilizational aspects. A total of 13 million Uighurs live in Xinjiang, one of the largest provinces of China. The problem between Han Chinese and Uighurs is century old, when like Han Chinese Uighurs too wanted to have a separate nation, but the Soviet Union crushed their primary influence in nation-building. Religion took a backseat during Mao’s time. However, the PRC recognized them as separate ethnicities and provided them with the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. However, this autonomy was just on paper, as the PRC exploited Xinjiang’s resources, and the region was underdeveloped after rapid economic growth in China made Uighurs host the Han population, who started to settle in. However, at a very nascent stage, China started to curb the nationalist sentiments in the Uighur region in the name of anti-terrorism. Now, there is no high-level representation of Uighurs in the CPC. The elites of the community are also feeling betrayed. China is being harsher with the Uighur population and trying to make them into the fold of Sinicization (which actually is an extension of Han identity). It has used measures such as the relocation of Han majority CPC cadres to the Uighur regions to change the demography in the region, creating settler colonialism in the Xinjiang region.

Tibetans are ethnically different from Han Chinese. They developed a separate identity with the effect of English control. After the end of British Colonial rule in India, the Chinese forcefully took Tibet. Now, 3.5 million Tibetans are living in Tibet. Around 6.5 million Tibetans live in India. Their religious leader, the Dalai Lama, who is, according to their religion, known as the Incarnation of Buddha, also lives in India. Tibet is a contentious issue in India-China relations. India also fought a war with China for related problems. Tibetan nationalism is well-identified in many regions of the world. The Dalai Lama got the Nobel Prize, which shows his international presence. Still, the process of Sinicization is haunting the Tibetans, and their separate identity constitutionally guaranteed in China are nothing but hollow words.

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The other prominent ethnic nationalities are Mongols, who reside in Northern China; they have a population of 5.8 million. The rapid economic growth and increasing encroachment to the hinterlands are causing problems for the people of inner Mongolia, where the footprints of Han domination are visible. Hui and Kazakhs are two other prominent ethnic nationalities of China; they practice Islam. However, Huis are more intermingled with the majority population as they speak Mandarin, but their religion creates issues for them to assimilate into Han-dominated culture. Kazakhs live in Northern Xinjiang, practice separate cultures and face persecution from the Chinese government along with their Uighur brethren, causing tensions in Central Asia.

A different kind of peripheral nationalism that China is trying to curb most is Taiwan and Hong Kong. These two places do not share territorial boundaries with Mainland China. However, the majority of the population belongs to the majority Han community. Both regions have developed their distinct way of political identity, which undoubtedly influenced their society. In Taiwan, with a prolonged civil war between nationalists and communists, they found the Island of Taiwan as a safe place after the nationalist defeat. Nationalists of Taiwan followed the liberal democracy and market economy, which has been overwhelmingly liked by its citizens. Currently, the People’s Republic of China, which is an authoritarian regime, is trying to coerce Taiwan to assimilate with Communist China. Hong Kong poses a different challenge to mainland Chinese nationalism, where it was envisaged as a cosmopolitan city. It was in control of the British for a hundred years and developed a different political system that was liberal and democratic. It is antagonistic to China’s communist system. Most of the time, China portrays the Hong Kong issue as the effect of Western imperialism and different from the Asian values of hierarchy that China advocates. However, this is not true. Hong Kong has always been home to refugees and dissidents of the Chinese empire.

In recent times, overt attempts in Hong Kong and covert attempts in Taiwan by Communist China have been visible where both nations have been threatened and coerced to follow totalitarian Communist China’s party-state models.

Han Dominations and Subjugation of Peripheral Nationalism in China

There are many successful examples of states that developed a multiethnic and multicultural identity as a nation. The case in point is the United States of America, India and Canada. However, multiethnic nations have failed in totalitarian regimes, for example, the Soviet Union, which, during the height of its power, was subjugating more than 20 nationalities. China is still doing the same, where its dominant ethnicity, Han (like the Soviet Union’s Russians), is part of the very few ruling elites, making it essentially an empire. Author Joel Kotkin, while writing for Foreign Policy magazine, accurately sums up the level of Han domination in China. He writes, “Essentially, the Han has become a tribal superpower that treats other groups — from China’s non-Han minority to much of the rest of the world — as a vast semi-colonial periphery. And with its growing economic and military might, Han China may soon be able to impose its will on some of these “lesser” cultures, should it desire”.

In the current regime of Xi Jinping, Han nationalism is subjugating all other ethnic minorities in one way or another. There are various reports that in Xinjiang, only ethnically Han people, who constitute only 3.5 per cent of the population, hold overwhelmingly 66 per cent of top-ranking government positions at township levels, and Han people fill 100 per cent of seats in counties. In the same Han Chinese outnumber Tibetan officials by 2-to-1. According to data from 2021, out of fifteen vice-chief administrative positions, only four are held by Tibetan officials; ethnic Hans hold the rest.