ABSTRACT
China is a multi-ethnic nation, with 56 officially identified ethnic groups. Among them the largest is the Han, and the 55 others are known as ethnic minorities for their much smaller populations. China conducted its fifth national census on November 1, 2000, when it found the nation’s population to be 1,265.83 million (the populations of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan not included). The Han population was 1,159.4 million, or 91.59% of the national total, and the population of the 55 minorities amounted to 106.43 million, or 8.41% of the national total (Wang Can 2004). Most of the minorities are people native to China, so we can take Native Studies to be Minority Studies in the Chinese context and discourse. In addition, in China, during the feudal period, Han culture became the centre, with other minority cultures around it, and it was believed that Han would ‘civilise’ the minority ethnic groups.
