Ethnic Minorities In China

I live in Xi’an city, which is one of the most ancient cities in China. Xi’an is home to many ethnic minority settlers; for example, there is a thriving Muslim community within the Muslim quarter of the city. Tourists from all over the world visit Muslim street to experience the traditional culture and to eat the abundant and delicious street food. However, some of the minority people do not want to earn money with sweat and hard work, they steal visitor’s wallets and cash. While visitors are angry about this behavior, they are also afraid of the criminals because of the possibility of revenge. This is partly due to the government’s imperfect ethnic minorities policy which provides unique protection for some people. The policy’s ultimate goal

The BBC news reporter Monk (2012) claimed that due to China’s erroneous implementation of its ethnic policy, ethnic minorities have no sense of belonging and, to a certain extent, this has undermined social fairness and national unity. At the same time, the majority groups are not willing to accept the ethnic minority groups. The original intention of the policy was to create a unified multi-ethnic country promoting harmony, friendship, mutual assistance and respect. However, Chinese citizens no longer consider this strategy as suitable for their current situation and development. Therefore, China needs to adjust its policies towards ethnic minorities because of the issues of unreasonable Gaokao bonus points, imperfect regional autonomy, and the unfair justice

Tong and Lei (2014) suggest that this policy is the starting point for ethnicity-related criminal issues. There are only a small number of extremists who are intent on making trouble. This policy enables separatist elements of minority groups to receive reduced punishment or avoid it entirely. It can be argued that it has become an “amulet” for minority separatist criminals. They use the privileges granted by the policies as an umbrella for the crime. However, some people pursue the idea that it is conducive to maintain unity and national stability; the privileges which are granted by the policy can consolidate China’s sense of unity. Not only were the minority extremists grateful, but also the support of anti-Chinese Western forces has intensified. This policy, combined with the actual situation and regional autonomy, has increased the gap between Han Chinese and the ethnic minorities. It deliberately emphasizes the nationalization of religious beliefs in the ethnic minority areas, and also encourages narrow nationalism or separatism in ethnic minority areas which has caused them to become more anti-Chinese than ever. When I was in middle school, our teacher told us to be careful of Muslim or Xinjiang ethnic groups while taking the bus, because of the risk of being stabbed with a hypodermic needle contaminated with HIV. A recent spate of terrorist activities has been blamed on religious