China's Minorities on the Move : Selected Case Studies 9781317474890, 9780765610232

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China's on the Move

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China's on the Move Selected Case Studies

Foreword by Oru C. Gladney

Edited by

Robyn Iredale, Naran Bilik, and Fei Guo

[!I!] An East Gate Book

Routledge

Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK

An EastGate Book First published2003 by M.E. Sharpe Published2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square,Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue,New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledgeis an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2003 by Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprintedor reproducedor utilised in any form or by any electronic,mechanical,or other means, now known or hereafterinvented, including photocopying and recording,or in any information storageor retrieval system, without permissionin writing from the publishers. Notices No responsibility is assumedby the publisherfor any injury and/or damageto personsor property as a matter of productsliability, negligenceor otherwise,or from any use of operationof any methods, products,instructionsor ideascontainedin the material herein. Practitionersand researchersmust always rely on their own experienceand knowledgein evaluatingand using any information, methods,compounds,or experimentsdescribedherein. In using such information or methodsthey should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including partiesfor whom they have a professionalresponsibility. Productor corporatenamesmay be trademarksor registered trademarks,and are usedonly for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of CongressCataloging-in-PublicationData China'sminorities on the move: selectedcasestudies/ edited by Robyn lredale, Naran Bilik, and Fei Guo. p. cm. "An East Gate book." Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-7656-1023-X(alk. paper); ISBN 0-7656-1024-8(pbk. : alk. paper) I. Migration, Internal-China-Case studies. 2. Minorities-China-Casestudies. I. Iredale, Robyn R. 11. Bilik, Naran. III. Guo, Fei. HB2114.A3 C5485 2003 304.8'089'00951--dc21 2002030899 ISBN 13: 9780765610249(pbk) ISBN 13: 9780765610232(hbk)

Contents Tablesand Figures Forewordby Dru C. Gladney Acknowledgments

Vll

ix xv

I. Introduction L Overview of Minority Migration Robynlredale and Fei Guo 2. Minority Movementand Education Wang Su

3 32

II. Inner Mongolia 3. ContemporaryMongolian PopulationDistribution, Migration, Cultural Change,and Identity Jirgal Burjgin and Naran Bilik

53

4. Ethnic Groupsin Hohhot: Migration, Settlement,and IntergroupExchanges Wang Junmin

69

III. Xinjiang 5. Impactsof Migration to Xinjiang Sincethe 1950s RenQiang andYuan Xin

89

6. PopulationDistributIon and RelationsAmong Ethnic Groups in the KashgarRegion,Xinjiang Uyghur AutonomousRegion MaRong 106 7. Uyghur MovementWithin Xinjiang and Its Ethnic Identity and Cultural Implications Tsui Yen Hu

123 v

vi

IV. Contexts and Patterns of Migration

8. Ethnic Minority Labor Out-migrantsfrom GuizhouProvince and Their Impactson SendingAreas 141 ZhangJijiao 9. SocioeconomicImpactsof Uyghur Movementto Beijing Caroline Hoy and RenQiang

155

The Editors and Contributors Index

175 177

Tables and Figures Tables

1.1 China'sTen LargestNationalities,1953, 1964, 1982, and 1990 1.2 Importanceof Minorities by Region, 1990 1.3 InterprovincialMigrants by Age and Sex, 1985-1990 1.4 Labor Force/OccupationalStatusof Interprovincial Migrants, Han and Minority, 1985-1990 1.5 Percentageand Numberof All Interprovincial Migrants by Destination,1985-90,and SES Index 2.1 Provincial Populationwith CollegeEducation,1990 2.2 EducationalLevel of Nationality Samples 2.3 RelationshipBetweenHukou Statusand Education 3.1 Mongolian Populationin 1912 3.2 PopulationChangein Inner Mongolia by Period 3.3 Mongolian PopulationNationwidein 1949 3.4 Distribution of the Mongolian Rural PopUlationby Activity, 1947 to 1995 3.5 Mongolian Populationand Urbanization 4.1 Levels of Administrationand StudyAreas 4.2 Ethnic Compositionof Four Urban Districts in Hohhot, 1954 4.3 Ethnic Compositionof Four Urban Districts in Hohhot, 1982 4.4 Ethnic Compositionof Four Urban Districts in Hohhot, 1990 4.5 Community Profile of Selected(Hui) Community, 1995 5.1 Net Migration Datafor Xinjiang by Different Sources, 1950-93

9 10 19 20 21 40 43 45 55 57 59 59 64 72 76 76 76 78 91 vii

viii

5.2 Comparisonof Vita! Registration,SampleSurvey,and 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 7.1 7.2 7.3

9.1

Census PopulationChangesAmong Ethnic Groupsin Xinjiang Uyghur AutonomousRegion EmploymentPatternsin Xinjiang by Ethnicity, 1982 and 1990 Population Distributionof Ethnic Minorities in Xinjiang, 1982and 1997 PopulationDistribution in Kashgarby Ethnicity, 1982and 1990 Etlmic Compositionin the City of Kashgarand Four Townshipsin Kashgar,1982 and 1990 Growth of Uyghur Population,1979-1997 Sourcesof Assistancein Finding Jobs,by Location Types of Jobsof Uyghur Rural Migrants in Towns The UnmarriedPopulationof SelectedNationalities in Beijing, 1990

94 109 110 112 115 116 127 129 131 163

Figures

1.1 Distribution of Major Minority Groups,1990 1.2 Minority and Han Out-migrationby Region, 1985-90 1.3 Minority and Han In-migration by Region, 1985-90 1.4 Rateof Interprovincial Net Migration of Minorities, 1985-90

11

16 17 18

Foreword Dru C. Gladney

Analysis of China's growing numbersof internal migrants has rarely focusedon the issueof official ethnic minority participationin this flow of Chinesehumanityin searchof work. At thesametime, studiesof China's morethan 100million minority nationalitieshavetendedto examinethem in their placesof origin, mostly at the peripheriesof China'spolity and society. This timely volume correctsthis oversight.The volume brings togetherChineseand Westernscholarsin a far-reachingcollection of essaystrying to come to terms with the issueof ethnicity and internal migration. In the past,foreignersand the Chinesethemselvestypically pictured China'spopulationas a vast monolithic Han majority, with a sprinkling of exotic minorities living along the country'sborders.This understatesChina'stremendouscultural, geographic,and linguistic diversity-in particularthe importantcultural differenceswithin the Han population.China is now seeinga resurgenceof pride in local history andculture,mostnotably amongsouthernerssuchas the Cantoneseand Hakka who are now classifiedas Han. Thesedifferencesmay increase under economicpressuressuch as inflation, the growing gap between rich andpoor areas,andthe migration of millions of peoplefrom poorer provincesto thosewith jobs. Chinesesocietyis alsounderpressurefrom the officially recognizedminorities such as Uyghursand Tibetans,and their movementsin searchof work, as well as the movementof Han Chineseinto their traditional areasof habitation.For centuries,China has held togethera vast multicultural and multi ethnic nation despite alternatingperiodsof political centralizationandfragmentation.But cultural and linguistic cleavagescould worsen in a China weakenedby internal strife, inflation, unevengrowth, or a post-Jiangpolitical transition. As in the past,minorities will continueto play an importantrole in the moving mosaicof Chinesesociety. ix

x FOREWORD

Officially, China is made up of fifty-six nationalities:one majority nationality, the Han, and fifty-five minority groups.The peoplesidentified as Han comprise91 percentof the populationfrom Beijing in the north to Cantonin the southandincludethe Hakka,Fujianese,Cantonese, and other groups. TheseHan are thought to be united by a common history, culture, and written language;differencesin language,dress, diet, and customsare regardedas minor and superficial.The rest of the populationis divided into fifty-five official "minority" nationalitiesthat were traditionally concentratedalong the borders,such as the Mongolians and Uyghurs in the north and the Zhuang,Yi, and Bai in southern China,nearsoutheastAsia. Othergroups,suchas the Hui and Manchus, are scatteredthroughoutthe nation, and there are minorities in every province,region,and county.An active state-sponsored programassists theseofficial minority culturesand promotestheir economicdevelopment (with mixed results).The outcome, accordingto China'spreeminent sociologist,Fei Xiaotong, is a "unified multinational" state.This volume demonstratesthat with the hugenumbersof migrationsinvolving Han from dramaticallydifferent regionsand cultural backgrounds, as well as the many official minority nationalities,China is certainly a "multinational" state,but may be becomingincreasinglydisunited. This volume takes seriously the placesof origin and ethnicities of migrant popUlations,in a way previousanalyseshave ignored, calling into questionnot only China'spolicies that designateresidence(hukou) and ethnicity (minzu) accordingto increasinglyoutmodedcategoriesof birthplace,work residence,language,andreligion. As such,the volume challengesnot only fixed ideas about residenceand ethnicity, but also the identity of the official majority, the so-calledHan nationality which is the unquestionedfocus of most studiesof migration. In China, the notion of a Han person(Han ren) datesback centuriesand refers to descendants of the Han dynastythat flourished at about the sametime as the RomanEmpire. But the conceptof Han nationality (Han minzu) is an entirely modem phenomenonthat arosewith the shift from the Chineseempireto the modemnation-state.Since the early part of this century,Chinesereformershad beenconcernedthat the Chinesepeople lackeda senseof nationhood,unlike WesternersandevenChina'sother peoplessuchas Tibetansand Manchus.In the view of thesereformers, Chineseunity stoppedat the clan or community level rather than extending to the nation as a whole. Sun Yat-sen,leaderof the republican movementthat toppled the last imperial dynastyof China (the Qing) in

FOREWORD xi

1911,popularizedthe idea that there were "Five Peoplesof China," the majority Han being one and the othersbeing the Manchus,Mongolian, Tibetan, and Hui (a term that included all Muslims in China, now divided into Uyghurs,Kazakhs,Hui, etc.). Dr. Sun was a Cantonese,a transnationalmigrant himself, educated in Hawaii and Japan,who feared arousingtraditional northern suspicions of southernradical movements.He wantedboth to unite the Han and to mobilize them and all other non-Manchugroups in China (including Mongols, Tibetans,and Muslims) into a modem multiethnic nationalistmovementagainstthe ManchuQing stateand foreign imperialists. The Han were seenas a unified groupdistinct from the "internal foreigners"within their borders-theManchus,Tibetans,Mongols,and Hui-as well as the external foreigners on their frontiers, namely the WesternandJapanese imperialists.The Communistslater expandedthe numberof "peoples"from five to fifty-six but kept the ideaof a unified Han group.The Party stressedmaintainingthe unity of the new nation at all costs.The recognitionof minorities, however,also helpedthe Communists'long-termgoal of forging a united Chinesenation by solidifying the recognitionof the Han as a unified "majority." Emphasizingthe differencebetweenHan and minorities helpedto de-emphasize the differenceswithin the Han community.The establishmentof the residence system(hukou) helpedcementtheconnectionbetweenresidency,workplace,and ethnicity. Cultural diversity within the Han has not beenadmitted, and, until the Deng reforms of the early 1980s, travel was restrictedin the country, becauseof a deep(and well-founded)fear of instability andpossibility that the country might just breakup into feuding warlord-run kingdomsas happenedin the 1910sand 1920s.China has historically beendivided along north/southlines, into "Five Kingdoms,""Warring States,"or local satrapies,asoften asit hasbeenunited. A strong,centralizingChinesegovernment(whetherof foreign or internal origin) has often tried to imposeritualistic, linguistic, and political uniformity throughoutits borders.The modemstatehastried to unite its various peopleswith transportationand communicationsnetworksand an extensivecivil service.In recentyearstheseefforts have continued through the controlled infusion of capitalistic investmentand market manipulation.Yet evenin the modernera,theseintegrativemechanisms havenot producedcultural uniformity. The post-Dengexplosionof migration and movement,the decline of the workplace(danwei) system, and weakeningof the residency(hukou) linkagebetweenworkplaceand

xii

FOREWORD

employment(thoughthis volume showsthat hukouis still an important category that helps to determineaccessto social programs,jobs, and other benefits)havetransformedChina into a dynamic moving mosaic of various kinds of Han peoples(southernZhejiangese,Sichuanese, mixed in with Cantonese,Hakka, and northeasterners-"dongbeiren") the official ethnicitiesof the fifty-five minorities. This is the first volume to attemptto understandand measurethe impact of theseethnic and regional interactions. China'spolicy toward minorities involves official recognition, limited autonomy,and unofficial efforts at control. The official minorities hold an importancefor China'slong-termdevelopmentthat is disproportionateto their population. Although 2000 censusestimatesplace their total at 104 million, approximately9 percentof the entire population, the minorities have been traditionally concentratedin resourcerich areasspanningnearly 60 percentof the country's landmassand exceed90 percentof the populationin countiesandvillages alongmany border areasof Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Yunnan. As this volume documents,it is to theseareasthat the Han peoplesare increasingly drawn in searchof opportunitiesand employment.At the same time, massesof minorities, especiallyUyghur, Hui, Tibetan,and Inner Mongolian, are moving throughoutthe country, relying on ethnic networks, in searchof ways to enrich theirkinsmenat home. One issuethat this volume addressesis the questionof why ethnicity hasbeenan importantfactor in migration and identification in contemporary China. One explanationmay be that in 1982 therewere still lingering doubts about the government'strue intent in registering the nationalitiesduring the census.The Cultural Revolution,a ten-yearperiod during which any kind of difference-ethnic,religious, cultural, or political-was ruthlessly suppressed,had endedonly a few years before. The Cultural Revolution was also marked by a chaotic period of substantialmovementof urban populations,many of them sent-down youth, to rural, often minority areas.By the mid-1980s,it had become clearthat thosegroupsidentified as official minorities were beginning to receive real benefits from the implementationof severalaffirmative action programs.The most significant privileges included permission to havemorechildren(exceptin urbanareas,minoritiesaregenerally not boundby the one-childpolicy), pay fewer taxes,obtainbetter(albeit Chinese)educationfor their children, have greateraccessto public office, speakand learn their native languages,worship and practicetheir

FOREWORD

XIII

religions (often including practicessuch as shamanismthat are still bannedamongthe Han), and expresstheir cultural differencesthrough the arts and popularculture. Indeed,one might even say it hasbecome popular to be "ethnic" in today's China. Mongolian hot pot, Muslim noodle,Tibetanfusion cuisine,and Korean barbecuerestaurantsproliferatein every city, while minority clothing, artistic motifs, and cultural styles adorn Chinesebodies and private homes.In Beijing, there are scoresof Tibetanrestaurantspopularwith ChineseandWesternersalike, as well as many Thai Family Village restaurants(Dai jia cun), which offer a cultural experienceof the Thai minority (known in China as the Dai), completewith beautiful waitressesin revealingDai-style sarongs and short tops, sensuallysinging and dancing,while exotic foods such as snake'sblood are enjoyedby the young Han nouveauxriches. This rise of "ethnic chic" is in dramatic contrastto the anti-ethnic homogenizingpoliciesof the late 1950santi-Rightistperiod,the Cultural Revolution, andeventhe late 1980s"spiritual pollution" campaigns.Migration for work and even tourism has only heightenedawarenessand interest in China'sinternal ethnic diversity. China's very economicvitality has the potential to fuel ethnic and linguistic divisions, rather than further integratingthe country as most would suppose.This volume documentsthat white ethnic populations are moving, they are not necessarilymingling. As southernand coastal areasget richer, much of central, northern,and northwesternChina is unlikely to keepup, increasingcompetitionand contributingto age-old resentmentsacrossethnic, linguistic,and cultural lines. Southernethnic economicties link wealthyCantonese,Shanghainese, andFujianese(also the majority people in Taiwan) more closely to their relatives abroad than to the political elite in Beijing. Already provincial governmentsin Canton and elsewherenot only resist paying taxes to Beijing but also restrict the movementof goodsand migrantscoming from outsideprovincial--often the sameascultural-lines.Travelersin Chinahaveseen an extraordinaryexpansionof toll roads,indicating greaterinterestin local control. Dislocationsfrom rapid economicgrowth may also fuel ethnicdiv isions.The hugemigrationsof migrantpopulationsdocumented in this volume move acrossChina seeking employmentin not only wealthiercities, but alsopoorerborderareas,often engenderingstigmatized identities and stereotypicalfears of the "outsiders" (wai di ren) within China. Crime, housing shortages,and lowered wagesare now attributed most to thesepeoplefrom Anhui, Hunan, or Gansuwho are

xiv

FOREWORD

taking jobs from locals, complaintssimilar to thosein West Germany aboutthe influx of Easterners after reunification.Being a minority carries the double-edgedstigmaof beingan official outsiderwho hasadditional rights not relatedto residency.And if a minority happensto be a Muslim or a Tibetan,suspicionsof loyalty to alien religious or separatist causescan contribute to their stigmatizationand mistreatmentby local residents.Reportsthat 70 percentof thoseconvictedof crimes in Beijing were"outsiders"havefueled criticisms of China'sincreasingly openmigrationpolicy. Efforts to crackdown on undocumentedworkers andmigrantshaveled to debatessimilar to that over California'sProposition 187. The result of all thesechangesis that China is becoming increasinglydecentered.Worker and peasantunrestreportedthroughout China cuts across and may at times exacerbatecultural and ethnolinguisticdifferencesbetweenthe havesandthe have-nots,who in today'sChinaare often and increasinglyinteractingalong lines marked by multiethnic diversity. While ethnic separatismwill never be a serious threat to a strong China,a China weakenedby internal strife, inflation, uneveneconomic growth, or the strugglefor successionafter Jiang'sexit from the political scenecould becomefurther divided along cultural and linguistic lines. At the sametime, China'sleadersare moving away from the homogenizingpolicies that alienatedminority and non-northerngroups. Recentmovesto allow and even encouragethe expressionof cultural diversity, while preservingpolitical unity, indicatea growing awareness of the needto accommodatecultural diversity_ This will be importantto watchover the next few yearsas Chinaseeksto adoptthe WTO, reunite with Taiwan, and maintain its high economicgrowth. This volume has shown the way by examining not only the fact of migration, but also seriously consideringthe nature and cultural backgroundsof the migrantsthemselves.

Dca, Jakarta,17 December2002

Acknow ledgments We would like to thank the Institute of Nationality Studies,Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,for hosting the workshopat which these paperswere presentedand discussed.Minority migration is a relatively new topic of focus within China, and a wide range of peopleattended and participatedin a lively and stimulating discussion.Included were peoplefrom Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia as well as from Beijing. In particular we would like to thank Dru Gladney for agreeingto participatein the workshopand provide overview commentsat the end. Dru comesfrom the perspectiveof having worked for many years in Chinaon ethnic minorities, the Hui and others.He was in a uniqueposition to help the group to think about the implications of movementfor ethnicity, society, economics,and politics, and he certainly stimulated interest in the issuesof minority mobility. The study of mobility requires input from a rangeof perspectivesand the fact that anthropologists such as Dru are becomingengagedin this area is very valuable. Dru also agreedto write the Forewordfor this book and for that we are very grateful. His in-depthknowledgeof Chinaand the statusof minority nationalitiesis unique. The editors owe a particular debt of gratitude to Li Youwen from Beijing Foreign StudiesUniversity. She did a meticulousjob of translating many of the paperson a rangeof topics.

xv

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Part I Introduction

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1 Overview of Minority Migration RobynIredale and Fei Guo

Introduction

The Chinesegovernmentis enablingthe increasinglyfree movementof peoplefor botheconomicdevelopmentandthe improvementof individual living standards.This is manifestedin the looseningof controlsovermovement and the overt policies adoptedby administratorsto promotemovements for economic gain. Much of this movementis essentialfor the economic survival of people living in poverty-strickenareas,but other movementinvolvesnot low-incomepeoplebut peopleat the upperendof the income spectrum.They are moving to increasetheir income and to find betteropportunities,and/orfor a betterquality of life. From the founding of the People'sRepublic of China in 1949 to the introductionof reform measuresin the early 1980s,net populationmovement was from rural to urban areas.The trend of this movementwas neithersmoothnor consistentlyin the onedirection. Traditional peasant migration from one rural areato anotheror from a denselypopulated areato a less denselypopulatedregion in searchof resourcesand land continuedduring this period (and still continues).During the early to mid-1950s,however,cities and towns beganto absorblarge numbersof workersfrom rural areas-peoplewho fled from rural collectivization. In the early 1960s,the "hard times of the ThreeYearsof Natural Calamity [the Great Leap Forward], the Movementof Simplification of Administration, and the transferof large numbersof demobilizedmilitary personnelinto rural areasto take up agriculturalactivities" broughtthis urban-orientedmovementalmostto a halt (Wang 1994,27).This situation was compoundedby the events of the Cultural Revolution from 1966-76and the upheavalassociatedwith this. 3

4 INTRODUCTION

With the deathof Mao Zedongin 1976andthe rise of DengXiaoping in 1978, the situation beganto changeand the trend to urbanization resumed.It is arguedthat much of the initial reversalof the flow, in the late 1970sandearly 1980s,wascausedby the returnmovementof people who had beensentto rural areasduring the Cultural Revolution.Their movementbackto urbanareasis describedas"policy rectification" (Ma 1994, 23). The flow gradually expanded toinclude other forms of migration,andthe rateof urbanizationbeganto increasein 1982aschanges to the social and economicsystemsbecamemore widespread.In particular, theintroductionof the rural responsibilitysystemof family-based units controlling productionon land assignedto their care involved a rapid increasein labor productivity and the need to export labor surpluses(Hoy 1996).Someexcesslaborersgainedemploymentin nonagricultural activities, primarily townshipand village enterprises(TVEs). but the surplusbeganto move to urbanareasin searchof jobs. Someof the jobs that they sought were createdby the official endorsementin 1983 of private enterprise.Much of the movementconsistedof temporary migrantswho were not requiredto comply with permanenthousehold registration requirementsand for whom temporary registration becamepossible.The householdregistrationsystem,or hukou,hadbeen introducedin 1956 as a meansof ensuringthat peoplewould not move from their placeof registration.Social and other servicesare accessible only at the placeof registration.Joint ventureand townshipenterprises did not requirepermanentregistration,only temporaryregistration. Many factors have spedup the rate of all internal mobility sincethe early 1980s.First, averageper capita land area is very small, and an increasingnumberof rural laborersleavetheir villages to find nonagricultural jobs. Huanget al. (1995)found that the averageamountof land available per householdin eight villages in the provincesof Jiangsu, Anhui, Sichuan,and Gansuwas 1.3 mu or 0.08 hectares.The difficulty of making a living from very small plots ofland that is often infertile or environmentallydegradedhasbecomeevident. Second,the differential betweenurban and rural incomes and between booming easterncities and inland areaswidened in the 1990s. The Economist(1996,29)statesthat this gap may be the "biggesteconomic andpolitical challengenow facing theChinesegovernment."Thus decentralizationhasresultedin wideningregionaland intraregionaldisparities and in fresh calls in the 1990sby officials in poorerareasfor a recentralizationof control (Zheng 1999).

OVERVIEW OF MINORITY MIGRATION

5

The third factor, anotherresult of the decline of statecontrol, is the lesseningof controls over internal movement.From the 1950sto the 1970sthere were threeprovisionsfor prohibiting the free movementof people.TheHouseholdRegistrationSystem(hukou)andthe FoodTicket Systemstrictly froze the possibility of moving from rural to urban areas,while the Work Unit Systemoperatedindirectly by tying people's accessto servicesto their placeof work. The Food Ticket Systemwas formally abolishedin 1993 while the hukousystemstill operatesnominally and the Work Unit Systemappliesonly to thoseemployedby the government.In their place, an identity card systemwas introducedin 1986but this hasfailed to achieveits intendedgoal as a systemof management.Corruptionand lack of acceptanceby the public are saidto be the major reasons.The latestannouncement,of 16 August 2001, about "plans to revampthe registrationsystem"and the abolition of "migration restrictionsin the next five years" is very significant (The Economist 2001). The creationof a unified national labor marketwill mean the virtual end to statecontrols over internal migration. The fourth factor is the "double structure,"the institutional division betweenrural and urban which meansthat two very different welfare systemshavebeenoperatingin Chinesesociety sincethe 1950s.Urban residentshavecometo enjoy social welfare, security, healthcare,pensions, housing, and other social infrastructureprovisions that are far superiorto thosein rural areas.Not surprisingly,the effect hasbeenthe developmentof a wide disparity betweenurbanand rural living conditions. Increasedaccessto information and better communicationnow meanthat rural peopleare becomingvery consciousof the inferiority of the servicesthat they are ableto access,and many leavefor urbanareas wherethey hope toimprove their quality of life. Fifth, economicreform has transformedthe systemfrom a centrally plannedto a market-orientedeconomy.Urban employmentopportunities and the attractionsof the urbanenvironmentact as magnets.The introductionof the open-doorpolicy and the creationof specialeconomic zones(SEZs) in 1979 have had the greatestimpact in the coastalareas. The moveto privatizationhasbeena majorpart of the changeoverfrom a centrally plannedto a marketeconomy.With the legalizationof private business,peoplemay now be self-employedandmeettheir own housing, food, and employmentneedsoutsidethe official allocationsystem. Sixth, poorrural areasthat beganto exportmigrantworkersasa means of earningincometo fuel developmentandalleviatepovertypressedfor

6 INTRODUCTION

policiesto managemigration.For example,the SichuanProvincialGovernmentregardedthe export of labor to coastalareasas a strategyfor provincial development,and in 1986 it set up and implementeda setof structuresand regulationsto direct rural-urbanmigration (Zhanget aL 1998).This trendescalatedin the 1990sas moreand morelocal authorities saw the out-migrationof workersas an importantmeansof generating incomefor poor areasand minimizing discontent. Internal migration is expectedto continueto increase.Jiang Zemin's continuationofDengXiaoping'spolicies wasconftrmedin October1997 with the announcementof the intendedprivatization of the state-owned enterprises(SOEs).The CommunistParty'sFifteenthCongressvoted to end its supportof 118,000state-owned industrial concerns,therebyforcing themto becomecompetitiveor ceaseto exist. While this decisionhas not beenimplementedimmediatelyand acrossthe board,thereis a general move in this direction and this is influencing employment,particularly in inland areas.Jiang Zemin's statementon 1 July 2001 that membershipin the CommunistParty would now be opento capitalistsor peopleowning privatecoinpaniesindicatedevenmore of a move in this direction.Accordingto Lawrence(2001), "JiangZemindeclaredthat 'most' peoplein the private sectorareengagedin 'honestlabor and work,' obey the law, and contribute to society. Henceforth,he decreed,the best of them would be allowed to join the party." Employmentopportunitiesin the cities grow rapidly while thosein rural areasdecline.The surplusrural labor force is now estimatedat 150million (The Economist2001). Chain migrationhasescalatedasincreasedinformationflows-by word of mouth, letters,telephone,and television-regardingthe betteropportunitiesand lifestyle of the cities. Out-migrationhasbeenespeciallyheavyfrom poor and ecologicallydamagedareaswherepopulationpressureover the centuries hasmadefarming or pastoralismunsustainable. The major problem lies in the extent of the economic/socialdivide betweenurbanand rural areasand the inferior services(schools,medical facilities, housing) that rural people experience.Mobile rural and otherpopUlationsare voting with their feet to seekout the superioropportunity structuresand social advantagesthat urban and richer rural areasprovide. Wide spatial variations have emergedin China in the processof economicreform, partly as a result of the government'seconomic policies and its emphasison developingthe eastcoast.The responsehas beenwhat would have occurredin most other nations,and the questionis now how to deal with this situation.

OVERVIEW OF MINORITY MIGRATION

7

Neoclassicaltheory predictsthat peoplewill migrateonly if they hope to becomebetteroff, but this hasnot necessarilybeenthe case,and it is inevitablethatnot all the outcomeswill be positive.Obviously increased mobility includesthe movementof ethnic minorities, but this aspectof the phenomenonhas receivedlittle attentionto date.On the whole, migrantshavebeentreatedas an ethnically homogeneousgroup. Gladney (1991)arguesthat interestin ethnicity in Chinahasincreasedsince1991, but this does not show up in migration research.The Chinesecensus data allow analysisby nationality for most demographicand socioeconomic phenomena,including mobility, but thesedatahavenot beenanalyzed by eitherlocal or overseasresearchers. To datethe limited research on minority movementhas beenconductedby a few Chineseminority demographers, anthropologists,and sociologists,and two or threeoverseasresearchers. Oneof thesestudiesis includedin this book-thechapter by CarolineHoy and Ren Qiang on the movementof Uyghurs into Beijing. A review of Chineseand English literature also revealedlimited researchon Han Chinesemigration into primarily minority regions. Two of thesestudies-oneby Ma Rong on the impact of Han mobility in the Kashgarregion of Xinjiang and the otherby Ren Qiang and Yuan Xin on Han movementinto Xinjiang as a whole-arealso included in this collection. The researchinto minority mobility, which is outlinedin this chapter, was designedfor the purposeof analyzingthe overall processesat work in the internal migration of ethnic minorities in China. The aim was to start to fill the gap in migration researchand to discusspolicies and conditionsthat areconduciveto the developmentof positive and healthy social, economicand political outcomes. Minorities constituted8.04percentof theChinesepopulation,or around 100 million people,in 1990. Outsideof China this is a very significant figure, but within China this small percentagehas beenusedas a reason for justifying the lack of attentionto minority migration. Another reason for the lack of researchis the political sensitivity associatedwith any minority topic. Secessionistmovementsin Xinjiang andTibet, bombings perpetratedby particular groups, and other eventsgenerally lead to attemptsto downplayethnicdifferences,minority cultures,and issuesto do with cultural pluralism. Furthermore,sinceChina'sopening-up therehavebeenmoreand moretechnocratsenteringinto the powerstructureswho havelittle knowledgeaboutChineseethnic minorities.To their

8

INTRODUCTION

way of thinking "sciencealways has the final say" and a homogenous China,not a diversified one, will help promotethe "modernisation"process.They arguethat in the face of inadequateresources,ethnicity and genderissuesshouldsometimesgive way to more urgenteconomicconcerns.(Iredaleet al. 2001, 12)

But issuesassociatedwith minorities arecrucial and occupya critical place in the Chineseschemeof things for two major reasons:the nUlllbersandgeographicalspreadof minorities,andthe proportionof China's naturalresourcescontainedwithin national-minorityregions.By far the "greatestproportion, sometimeseven the whole, of forestry resources, mining resources,preciousmedical resources,tropical cropsand bases of animal husbandry"are located in minority regions, according to Postiglione(1992, 21). The following sectionwill provide somebackgroundon the size and location of China'sethnic minorities. Background on Minorities First, it is necessaryto define what is meant by ethnic minorities or minority nationalitiesin China.The term mostcommonlyusedis minzu, meaning"a people" and "an ethnic group," and it was taken directly from the Japaneseterm minzokuat the start of the twentieth century. After his long stay in Japan,SunYat-senwas largely responsiblefor the widespreadadoptionof this term in China.Thedefinition of ethnicidentity is an unusuallycomplexissuein China as eachgroup has two definitions: self-definition by the ethnic group itself and definition by the state. After 1949,the processof "identifying minority nationalities"began in earnestand consistedof visits by Chinesecentraldelegationsto minority regions. The teamsconsistedof linguists, ethnologists,archaeologists, economists,and expertsin literature and the arts who "were expectedto live, work and relax with the peoplethey were investigating" (Iredale et al. 2001,43).By 1979, officials had designatedfiftyfive minoritiesandwith the HanChinesethis madefifty-six nationalities in China.Over four hundredgroupsactually appliedfor recognitionasa minority nationality, and though they have not been officially recognized, many have featuresthat identify them as different from other groups.Thustheir self-identificationis different from the stateacknowledgmentof their ethnic identity.

OVERVIEW OF MINORITY MIGRATION

9

Table 1.1 China's Ten Largest Nationalities, 1953, 1964, 1982, and 1990 Nationality Han Zhuang Manchu Hui Miao Uyghur Yi Tujia Mongol Tibetan

1953 census (no.) 547,283,057 6,611,455 2,418,931 3,559,350 2,511,339 2,775,622 3,254,269 1,462,956 2,775,622

1964 census (% growth) 19.00 26.84 11.44 25.67 10.78 43.98 3.89 524,755 34.37 -9.89

1982 census (% growth) 43.82 59.53 59.48 61.39 80.83 49.07 61.30 439.82 73.55 53.73

1990 census (% growth) 10.80 15.70 128.18 19.04 46.89 20.99 20.43 101.23 40.68 18.57

Source:Mackerras(1994, 238). Note: Tujia were not countedas a minority group until the 1964 census.

Numbers The estimatednumberof peoplein eachof the ten major nationalitiesin 1953, 1964,1982,and 1990is shownin Table 1.1.TheUyghursarethefifth largestminority group, the Mongols the eighth, andthe Tibetansareninth.

GeographicalLocation Ethnic minorities have traditionally beenlocated mainly in the north, west, and southernparts of China, in areasborderingother countries. With the exception of Gladney'swork (e.g. 1991, 1996) on the Hui, most researchinto minorities hasfocusedon peoplein the more hospitable and accessiblesouthernpartsof the country. Table 1.2 showsthe total populationof eachof the thirty provinces/ autonomousregions/municipaUtiesat the 1990 censusand the number and proportion of each region's population that belong to a minority nationality. In the last column, the regionsare rankedin terms of their minority component,with Tibet ranking first with 96.3 percentand Jiangsuthirtieth with 0.02 percent.Table 1.2 groupsthe regionsby geographiclocationsothattheoverall spreadof minoritiesstandsout clearly. It is clear that the west and parts of the south and north were home to most minority peoplesin 1990 (Figure 1.1). The easternregions have extremelylow proportionsof minorities,with Hubei beinghighestamong

IO

INTRODUCTION

Table 1.2

Importance of Minorities by Region, 1990 Total population (no.)

Minority population

(%)

Rank (1-30)

414063 202,666 2,309,093 82,295 4,166,523 6,165,912 2,525,365 1,998,632

3.8 2.3 3.9 0.3 19.4 15.6 10.2 5.3

19 20 18 28.5 8 10 11 14

2,235 153,343 212,752 324,352 466,800 101,288 505,900 1,009,521 2,140,579

0.5 0.2 0.5 0.6 1.6 0.3 0.6 1.2 4.0

26.5 30 26.5 24 21 28.5 24 22 17

4,823,837 355,317 16,577,766 1,116,582

8.0 0.6 39.2 17.0

13 24 4 9

4,890,024 11,242,295 12,358,054 2,115,192 1,857,478 2,217,478 1,878,040 1,549,068 9,461,474

4.6 34.7 33.5 96.3 4.5 8.3 42.1

15 5 6 1 16 12

Province/Region North 10,819,414 Beijing 8,785,427 Tianjin 61,082,755 Hebei Shanxi 28,758,846 Inner Mongolia 21,456,518 39,459,694 Liaoning 24,659,790 Jilin 35,215,932 Heilongjiang East Shanghai 12,341,852 Jiangsu 67,056,812 41,446,015 Zhejiang 56,181,005 Anhui 30,048,275 Fujian 37,710,177 Jiangxi 84,392,104 Shandong 85,534,200 Henan 53,970,501 Hubei South 60,657,992 Hunan 62,829,741 Guangdong 42,244,884 Guangxi 6,558,075 Hainan West 107,218,310 Sichuan Guizhou 32,391,051 36,972,587 Yunnan 2,196,029 Tibet 32,882,286 Shaanxi 22,371,085 Gansu 4,456,952 Qinghai 4,655,445 Ningxia Xinjiang 15.158,883 1,130,510,638

91,323,090

Total

(no.)

33.3 62.4

8.04

3

7 2

30

Source:State Population Census Office and State Statistical Bureau (1993), yols.l and 4.

them at 4 percent.The table showsthat 96.3 percentof Tibet's population belongedto a minority nationality in 1990. Xinjiang Uyghur AutonomousRegion, on the northwesternfrontier adjoining India, Pakistan,Turkestan,and Kazakstan,is the largestad-

OVERVIEW OF MINORITY MIGRATION

Figure 1.1

II

Distribution of Major Minority Groups , 1990

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