![]() ![]() Some small yet significant gestures of goodwill have been appreciated by minority peoples. Most minority parents are allowed two children, while others in more remote regions are allowed three. Only those minorities residing predominantly in urban areas are subject to China’s “one-child” policy. More recently, health and education benefits have been given to minority people. This was officially banned by the new government in favor of using the character “nationality.” Each officially recognized minority was allowed a representative to the National Party Congress in Beijing. The original flag of the Republic of China displayed five colors, representing these peoples: the Han, Manchu, Mongolians, Tibetans and Uygurs.Ĭenturies of hostility and prejudice between the Han Chinese and the minority peoples had been best illustrated by the Chinese use of the character for “dog” after the name of a tribe. The Kuomintang government simply denied the existence of ethnic minorities, regarding them simply-and erroneously-as branches of Han. Sun Yat-sen in the 1920s considered China to consist of only five nationalities. It also meant, for some, the first time they were allowed to “officially exist.” Yet for some of the smaller groups, the change meant an end to centuries of exploitation by greedy landlords and slave owners. If any worker of the government unlawfully deprives the citizens of their rights of lawful religious freedom, or violates the customs and practices of any minority nationality, he may be sentenced to imprisonment or compulsory labor for up to two years. ![]() Many soon found the word of the law and the application of it were two different things. For some, such as the Tibetans and Uygurs, the nation’s new leaders reacted mercilessly and violently, not tolerating even the slightest suggestion of claims to independence by these two peoples. The Communist government brought a mixture of fortune to China’s minority peoples. Christian missionaries were ordered to depart. ![]() However, her reaction was to close the door to foreigners for most of the next 30 years. China, once shamed and humiliated, sensed in the founding of the People’s Republic that a new dawn had arrived. On the 1st of October, 1949, Chairman Mao ascended to the podium before one million spectators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and triumphantly declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Parts of their country had been divided up and were controlled by foreign powers, their economy was in tatters, and the countryside was effectively ruled by warlords and gangsters. This attitude surfaced frequently as foreign powers attempted to open China up to trade.īy the beginning of the 20th century, however, the Chinese felt great shame as a nation. The name the Chinese use for their country is Zhong Guo, meaning “The Middle Kingdom.” For more than a thousand years the Chinese have believed they are the cradle of all civilization, the axis for all of mankind. Although numerically the minorities of China account for only 6.7 percent of China’s population, they live in 62.5 percent of China’s territory. China’s ethnic minorities, though numbering more than 100 million people, are largely lost amid the vast ocean of 1.2 billion Han Chinese. Woven into the mosaic of the largest population on earth is a rich thread. ![]() Since the late 1970s-when China again opened her doors to foreign tourists and businessmen- millions of visitors have flocked into the “Middle Kingdom,” sampling her sumptuous food, photographing her scenic beauties, and experiencing her bustling marketplaces.įew, however, have been fortunate enough to experience the “hidden” China. For centuries the outside world has yearned to understand the mysterious land of China. ![]()
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