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I know most ppl use it as "even the CCP acknowledges they're not monoracial" but it should not be cited without these caveats. https://twitter.com/jeannette_ng/status/1375483008858402826
This isn't some sort of dark secret, the flaws of the "55 ethnic minorities + Han" narrative are very well documented. There's even multiple straightforward tables on Wikipedia about unrecognised minorities in China https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unrecognized_ethnic_groups_of_Guizhou
Here's a heartbreaking sixthtone article about a group of people who fall outside the established order and national narrative: http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1424/the-race-for-57th-place-chinas-unrecognized-ethnic-minority
An uncomfortably large amount of this talk about the defining these ethnic minorities (and by extension, if their culture and language deserve protection) focuses on blood quantum style genome analysis that is personally very creepy https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03014460.2020.1782470
In a vacuum, studying human movement, or like, common descent between groups thought separate are not inherently harmful, obviously.
But this is a context where it is being weaponised to invalidate the identity of people. To force assimilation.
But this is a context where it is being weaponised to invalidate the identity of people. To force assimilation.
The phrase "55 minorities" is fundamentally entwined with imperialist violence and paper genocide. Stop citing it uncritically. https://madeinchinajournal.com/2020/09/07/chinas-second-generation-ethnic-policies-are-already-here/
I appreciate that it can absolutely be of use going "look, even the CCP knows China contains people who aren't Han". It's a rhetorical technique that I've definitely used before and probably will again.
But by the same token, the caveats are probably also worth your time.
But by the same token, the caveats are probably also worth your time.
I cannot stress enough though how creepy the official definitions and studies into "ethnic minorities" in China is.
To take another example, here's the use of AI/big data to "sort through" minority groups. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/technology/china-surveillance-artificial-intelligence-racial-profiling.html
To take another example, here's the use of AI/big data to "sort through" minority groups. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/technology/china-surveillance-artificial-intelligence-racial-profiling.html
It's not just immensely reductive in terms of "abstract" identity, these things have very obvious real effects on how humans will be treated. Sorted. Persecuted.
And also here again: https://twitter.com/hardmaru/status/1135377283940700160
And also here again: https://twitter.com/hardmaru/status/1135377283940700160
