People

 

 

 

China, with more than 1.2 billion people, is the most populous country in the world. Overall population density of the country is somewhat over 110 people per square kilometer, which is only about one-third that of Japan and less than many other countries in Asia and in Europe. Regional variations, however, are dramatic as over 90 percent of the Chinese population live on less than 40 percent of the land.

To the left is a map showing the distribution and density of China's population. One tiny dot indicates 50,000 people.

 

How does the distribution of China's population relate to its topography and climate?

Map of China's population density                            

SOURCE:  Zhongguo dili congshu bianji weiyuanhui, Zhongguo zonghe dituji (Beijing: Zhongguo ditu chubanshe, 1990),  p. 47.

Immediately after the 1949 revolution the Chinese government encouraged its people to have large families in order to increase the work force depleted by years of war. However, production and modernization could not keep up with the growing population, thereby forcing a change in government policy.  An extensive birth control program has been in effect since the late 1970s. Nowadays, city-dwellers are required to adhere to the one-child policy, and even in the countryside families rarely have more than two or three children.

This population control propaganda poster reads "Control population growth, improve our human race."

What are the liabilities of a huge population for China? 

Population control propaganda poster from 1988

SOURCE: Photo courtesy of Marc Abramson. Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 1988.

MULTI-ETHNIC NATION

China, like all other large states, is multi-ethnic. The Han people, however, form the large majority, with about 94 percent of the population. While former Chinese governments traditionally acknowledged the Han, Manchu, Mongol, Turkish, and Tibetan ethnic groups, the current Chinese government officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups, including the Han. The Han majority speak Chinese, but most of the minorities speak other languages, falling into 15 main language families. 

 

MORE:  Prior to the two major non-Han dynasties, Yuan (Mongol, 1206-194) and Qing (Manchu, 1644-1911), membership in the Han majority was often a matter of assimilation, for example adopting a Han surname and Han customs, rather than of heritage.  In fact, some Han surnames and some Han heroes are of non-Han origin, but have been adopted by centuries of association.

Below is a map showing the distribution of China's population in terms of the major language families.  Note that what is generally termed Chinese is here divided into Mandarin and Southern.

 

 

Which region has the greatest variety of minorities?

Map of China's current language groups    

SOURCE:  Courtesy of The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.

Han Chinese are also marked by further linguistic diversity, in that the spoken forms of their different dialects vary as widely as the languages of Europe. All of the Han nonetheless use a common written form of Chinese and share common social organization, values, and cultural characteristics that are recognized as Chinese.

If these dialects are not mutually intelligible, how can they use a common written form?
ANSWER:  Each word is represented by one or more Chinese characters, which vary in pronunciation from dialect to dialect.  For more information on the Chinese writing system, see the Calligraphy unit.

To the right is a picture of a farmer's market in Shandong province in North China

How do you suppose people in China would recognize that the buyers and sellers here are Han Chinese?

 

ANSWER:  Their physical appearance rules out certain minorities but not others.  Their clothing, however, is typical of that worn by Han Chinese of their age in their day, and most people would pay as much attention to clothing as to physical appearance.  Clothing, of course, is a very complex medium for conveying information about ethnicity, as it also carries messages about age, class, occupation, interest in fashion, and even politics.  For more on this subject, see the unit on Clothing.

A market  in Shandong,  early  1980s                             

SOURCE:  Nongmuyu ye bu waishi si and Zhongguo nongxue hui, ed., Zhongguo nongye (Beijing: Nongye chuban she, 1983),  p. 193.
Individuals in a Sichuan courtyard, 2001 
SOURCE: Photograph courtesy of Joseph Gotchy

The majority of ethnic minorities today live in the northeast, northwest, and southwest, undoubtedly as a consequence of the expansion of the Han Chinese over the centuries. 

Below and to the right you see members of the Korean minority playing a traditional game.
MORE:  From the first century BCE to the tenth century CE, Northeast China was ruled for the most part by Korean kingdoms, first Koguryo (through the eighth century) and then Parhae (in cooperation with the Malgal people).  Since that time, the border has stuck fairly close to the Yalu River, but people have continued to move back and forth across it.

Why do you think there are so many Koreans in China?

   

Seesaw game                            

SOURCE:  China Pictorial, ed., China in Pictures (Beijing: China Pictorial Publishing Company, 1984), p. 94.

Korean child dressed in furs       

SOURCE:  China Pictorial, ed., Across China (Beijing: China Pictorial Publishing Company, 1985),  p. 109.
ANSWER:  The northern border of Korea touches China.  For some ethnic Koreans, China is their ancestral home; for others, it is where their grandparents sought refuge during the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1905 to 1945.

Mongols are one of the largest minorities in China, concentrated especially in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region.

Many Mongols outside the cities still live in large round tents called yurts.  

A Mongol family outside their yurt helping an injured swan  

SOURCE:  China Reconstructs 33.7 (July 1985), p. 10. 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Mongol children  

SOURCE:  China Pictorial, ed., Across China (Beijing: China Pictorial Publishing Company, 1985),  p. 108.
 

Wrestling, shown below, is a sport the Mongols love.


Mongol wrestlers                                               

SOURCE:  Zhongguo shaoshu minzu diqu huaji congkan zongbianji weiyuanhui, ed., Zhongguo shaoshu minzu diqu huaji congkan, Neimenggu (Beijing: Minzu chubanshe, 1986),  p. 175. 

Most ethnic Uighurs live in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.  Beginning in the Han dynasty, Han Chinese fought for hegemony along the Yili and Tarim caravan routes through this region, but it was not until the Qing dynasty that the area was fully incorporated into the Chinese state.  Uighurs speak a Turkish language and most are Moslem.

Uighur hat vendor    

SOURCE: Photo courtesy of Steven Harrell, Xinjiang.

Most Tibetans live on the Tibetan Plateau, which includes Qinghai province as well as the Tibetan Autonomous Province. 

 

To the left is a woman in traditional Tibetan clothes. Below is a scene showing a Tibetan opera performance.
SOURCE:  Tibet, An Enchanting Land (Kangra District, India: the Office of Research and Analysis Center, Security Department of H. H. the Dalai Lama Gangchen Kyishong Dharamshala-176215), no page number available.

Tibetan opera performance on a public square                                        

SOURCE:  Zhongguo shaoshu minzu diqu huaji congkan zongbianji weiyuanhui, ed., Zhongguo shaoshu minzu diqu huaji congkan, Xizang (Beijing: Minzu chubanshe, 1986),  p.  96.

To the left is a picture showing Buyi  women from Southwest China.

Among ethnic minorities, women's and children's clothing and hairstyle often seems to diverge more from Han customs than men's do.

Can you think of any explanations for this?

 

SOME THOUGHTS:  There could be several factors involved.  In some societies, women are the keepers of tradition.  When holidays arrive, they make the preparations.  Often, they stay at home and tend to the children and the aged.  Thus, they receive less exposure to new ways.  When girls become women, they are married off to other families and continue the tradition, but when boys become men, they go out into the world and learn new ways.  In addition, men may worry less about the effect of change on social patterns if woman seem visibly traditional.

Stone village in Guizhou Province

SOURCE:  China Pictorial, ed., Across China (Beijing: China Pictorial Publishing Company, 1985),  p. 115.

To the right is a picture of Qiang people in Southwest China. 

What do you think these people are doing?


ANSWER:  They are drinking rice wine.

Courtyard scene in Sichuan province

SOURCE:  Zhongguo shaoshu minzu diqu huaji congkan zongbianji weiyuanhui, ed., Zhongguo shaoshu minzu diqu huaji congkan, Sichuan (Beijing: Minzu chubanshe, 1986),  p.  63.

To the left is a picture showing a Yi woman from Southwest China. 

What might be the purpose of the intricate design on her jacket?

 

SOME THOUGHTS:  Aesthetics aside, in other cultures intricate design may show village membership, social class, or personal skill.  Which do you think is the case here?

Yi woman in her costume, Sichuan province   

SOURCE:  Zhongguo shaoshu minzu diqu huaji congkan zongbianji weiyuanhui, ed., Zhongguo shaoshu minzu diqu huaji congkan, Sichuan (Beijing: Minzu chubanshe, 1986),  p.  49.