China's Policies Towards Ethnic Minorities

China is a united multi-ethnic country of 56 ethnic groups. The Chinese government has formulated a series of ethnic minority policies to facilitate their political, economic and cultural progress. These polices include:

1. All ethnic groups are equal. By China's Constitution, all ethnic groups enjoy equal rights, with the central government protecting each group's legal rights and interests, on a united, mutually beneficial basis. The government frowns upon any prejudice against various ethnic groups.

2. Regional ethnic minority autonomy. This is a practice introduced where ethnic minority people live in significant numbers. Such a region has an autonomous government to administrate its own affairs. As of now, China has 155 autonomous areas on different levels — five autonomous regions, 30 autonomous prefectures and 120 autonomous banners or counties.

3. Policy that facilitates cultural and economic progress in ethnic minority areas. Over the past few years, the central government made great efforts to boost the development of China's west, including Xinjiang and Tibet. China's west is vast, taking up 56 percent of the total Chinese territory and 22.8 percent of Chinese population. By the year 2005, the central government had a total investment in China's west of RMB 460 billion. By April 2009, 5,000 enterprises in Xinjiang had received tax breaks of up to RMB 5.76 billion, thanks to the central government's western development strategy. Another central government financing program benefited 135 counties or banners along China's 21,000-km-long land border line – many located in Xinjiang. This program is designed to improve local infrastructure of these frontier areas, help them build up a self-generated growth mechanism, and raise the living standard of local people. To help the progress of 22 smaller ethnic minority groups – below 100,000, in 2006 the central government began to input RMB 500 million each year for ten years in a row.

4. Policy to increase the quota of government workers coming from ethnic minority groups to a certain percentage within party committees, governments, people's congress and political consultative conference on various levels.

5. Policy to facilitate education, culture, and public health throughout ethnic minority areas.

6. Policy to encourage ethnic minority people to use their own languages. By Chinese Constitution, each ethnic group has the right to use and develop its own language.

7. Policy of respecting the customs and habits of ethnic minority people, the customs regarding their diet, their holidays, their marriage practice and their burial habits. Public media should abide by their customs and should do their best not to violate them in any way. In addition, this policy also gives ethnic minority people the right to alter any of these customs.

8. Policy to respect and protect ethnic minority people's religious preferences. By China's Constitution, Chinese citizens have the right to choose a religious belief. Most minority people are religious followers. Ten minority groups are Islamic believers. As of now, China has over 30,000 Islamic mosques nationwide.