Multiethnicity and ethnonationalismin the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

The topic of this article is the regional autonomy existent in China since the 1940s, a state policy that has contributed to the thwarting of aspirations of self-determinism or independence (ethnonationalism). However, experiences in conflict management and ethnic tensions within China’s extensive borders demonstrate that autonomy is often a necessary preamble to the construction of independence. China has ample experience in the administration of multiethnicity due to the national government’s policies of regional autonomy and the imposition of a pact of united territories among different nationalities that exist due to a long history of territorial annexations.