‘All ethnic groups matter’: new Chinese textbook cites splits in the West to justify Beijing’s integration policies
- Authors write that China’s past policies ‘entrenched ethnic differences, fostered a narrow sense of ethnicity and … ethnic minority exceptionalism’
- Analysts expect affirmative action for ethnic minority groups will be further rolled back as Beijing backs down from emphasising their distinctive qualities
A new textbook to be taught at Chinese universities cites political division in the West to justify Beijing’s ethnic integration policies, whose focus has shifted from minorities to “all ethnic groups”.
The book, An Introduction to the Community for the Chinese Nation, was published in February and will soon be listed as a compulsory text at many universities, as is the case with courses on Marxism and Xi Jinping Thought.
They also say it signals that affirmative action for ethnic minority groups will be further rolled back as Beijing backs down from emphasising the distinctive qualities of those groups.
The book argues that after the 1970s, under the influence of neoliberalism in the West, “antagonisms between various groups based on subnational and subcultural identities have continued to grow, with racial and ethnic tensions being particularly intense”.
03:28
State-backed tourism booms in Xinjiang cities ringed by camps
It cited “political divides” and “social cleavages” in the United States as examples, and referred to the attack on the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. The textbook said in the US lower-middle class white people “blame people of colour and ethnic minorities” for the wealth gap brought by economic globalisation.
