The Last Frontier: the effect of Chinas economic policies on minority areas

Equality among ethnic groups is a cornerstone of Chinas ethnic policy

-Information office of the Peoples Republic of China (OIPRC,2009: 226)

In this essay I will discuss the following statement regarding the Chinese economy: All ethnic
minorities benefited equally from Chinas rapid economic development.. With the help of several
articles I will try to explain and compare the various positions that different authors take in this
debate.
The Chinese government officially recognizes 56 different ethnic groups in the 2010 census, one
being the Han Chinese which make up almost 91 percent of the population. The other 55 groups are
so called ethnic minorities, which make up less than nine percent in total (the Zhuang, the largest
minority, has a population of about seventeen million, about one percent of the Chinese population).
These minorities are, however, not treated equally. Despite of Chinas official point of view that all
ethnic groups are equally important, both economically and culturally speaking, the reality is
different. Chinas ethnic minorities are often faced with (implicit) economic disadvantages that cause
an economic division between the Han majority and these minorities. The example I use in this essay
are the Uyghurs, but I think this division is the economic reality that most of Chinas minorities face.
In short, China is a very diverse country and each of its many ethnic minorities has its own social
reality in which that group finds itself. Because I dont have much room in this essay, I will mainly
focus on the Uyghurs as an example of the impact of Chinas socio-economic policies on Han Chinese
on the one hand, and Uyghurs on the other.
The PRCs view on its development plans for ethnic minorities
According to the Information Office of the Peoples Republic of China, Chinas development aid for its
own ethnic minorities began with the First Five-year Plan period(1953-1957). Because they lived in
the more peripheral areas of societies, minorities like the Uyghurs had little means of accessing the
major economic centers In for example the coastal regions. Therefore, the Chinese government
focused on expanding and improving the infrastructure to these remote areas. IOPRC (2009: 238-239)
This trend continued in the 1960s, a lot of industry was moved from the coastal areas to these
minority areas, which boosted the regional economy. The opening-up policies in this period led to
further expansion of the industry in these areas. IOPRC (2009: 240)
From the year 2000 onwards, the PRC stimulates economic development In the minority areas by
either direct investment, or the stimulation of economic investment in these areas. According to the
report of the IOPCR, Chinas five autonomous regions (Xinjian, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and
Guanxi), where most of the population is part of an ethnic minority, have the same preferential
politics as the western provinces of China. This policy has, according to the report, greatly improved
the living standards in these regions. IOPRC (2009: 241)
This chapter of the report ends with the following graph, which shows the GDP growth rates of the
minority regions. This summarizes the PRCs argument that the economy of ethnic minority areas in
China is stimulated so effectively that their economies, and living standards, match those of the rest
of the nation or at least will in the near future.

Source: Chinas Ethnic Minority Policy and Common Prosperity of all Ethnic Groups, IOPRC (248)

Different views on Chinas social-economic policies
In their article, Gustafson and Li show that the average income of the minority people indeed
increased over time, with about 26%. However, the average income of the majority (Han) population
in these areas increased with 56% in the same period, almost double that of the minorities.
(Gustafson and Li, 2003: 819) The main cause of this income gap is, according to the authors, to be
found in the difference in geographic locations that the different ethnic groups are located in. Most
of the times, the ethnic minorities in a province are located in the periphery of a province and have
lesser access to the economic assets of the center. Gustafson and Li conclude that the smaller the
special area between the majority and the minority groups, the smaller the difference in income will
be. (Gustafson and Li, 2003: 820)
Khan and Riskin offer a similar explanation for Chinas income inequality. They state that inequality
within rural areas has dropped within the same period that Gustafson and Li described, as did the
inequality within the urban areas (though the decline is somewhat lower due to migrant populations
in the cities). The main cause for Chinas large income inequality is the income difference between
urban and rural areas, whereby the income is much higher in the urban areas. (Khan and Riskin 2005,
381-383) However, it is often the case in China that the rural, peripheral areas are inhabited by
ethnic minorities, while the urban areas are often dominated by the ethnic majorities. The income
gap between rural and urban areas thus can often hint at an income gap between different ethnic
groups.
Xinjiang as example: Opening up the West
From 2000 onwards, the Chinese government adopted a new socio-economic policy for the minority
areas, called Opening Up the West. However, the PRCs policies about this strategy are often vague,
and incoherent. Goodman (2004: 319)
The economic benefits that this policy would give, however, do not help to bring the ethnic
minorities in this region to the same level of economic and social wealth as the dominant Han
Chinese. A direct consequence of the Opening Up the West policy was the migration of Han
Chinese to the minority areas. For example, the Han population in Xingjian grew to 40,2 percent of
the total population in the year 2000. Becquelin (2004: 359) It didnt result in regional financial
independence either. Foreign Direct Investment in the Xingjian province is one of the lowest in the
whole of the PRC, while two-thirds of the budget consists of central government support.
Furthermore, although China has seen increased privatization of companies in the past decade, most
of the industry in Xingjian is completely owned by the government. Becquelin (2004: 361-362)
In practice, this situation entails that the economic benefits that Xingjian would get from the
Opening Up the West policy, would be far outweighed by the economic benefits that the central
government and the coastal provinces receive from it. Most of the oil (one of Xingjians biggest
exports) is drilled by state owned enterprises in the well-reachable north of the province (a result of
the increase in infrastructure in the last few decades). The main cities in the north of the province,
however, are mainly inhabited by Han Chinese. According to the Xingjian census in the year 2000 the
population of the cities Urumqi and Changji, two major cities in the north of the province, consist of
about 75% Han Chinese. Most of these oil incomes will therefore be mainly distributed amongst the
Han Chinese, while the large Uyghur population in the South will probably not benefit as much from
this. This shows that the Uyghurs find themselves in a double periphery: their province, Xinjian, is
already in the periphery of China, as it is not connected to the sea, nor does it have many
connections to the rest of China; but within this province, the Uyghurs are mostly situated in the
south, which has little connections to the rest of the province or the rest of China, while the Han
dominate the economic centers In the north.
The oil from the Xinjiang province is used in Chinas coastal areas, which use it in for example the
manufacturing industry. This results in an economic growth of these provinces that is even greater
than that of Xinjiang, since they make a profit on Xinjiang oil. And thus the economic division
between Xinjiang and the coastal areas widens.
Conclusion
Although the PRC has enacted multiple economic and social policies aimed at ethnic minorities that
have indeed increased the income of ethnic minorities, they have not succeeded in the leveling of
income and living standards between ethnic groups. It is often the case, like in Xingjian, that the Han
majority of the population benefits the most of these policies, because they dominate the economic
centers in the provinces, even those who are officially autonomous minority provinces. The ethnic
minorities, like the Uyghurs often dominate the peripheral, hard to reach areas of the provinces. This
situation eventually leads to an increase in income disparity between the majority and the minorities
of the population, because the majority (in this case the Han) will benefit most from economic
policies and thus their income will grow more in relation to that of the minorities. Eventually, I
believe this will lead to an even more peripheral role for Chinas ethnic minorities, as the rural areas
become increasingly more the peripheries of Chinas economy.
Word count: 1472



References
Becquelin, N. (2004). Staged Development in Xinjiang. The China Quarterly, 178, 358-378.
Goodman, S.G. (2004). The Campaign to Open Up the West: National, Provincial-Level and
Local Perspectives. The China Quarterly, 178, 317-334.
Gustafson, B. & Li, S. (2003). The Ethnic Minority-Majority Gap in Rural China during
Transition. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 51, 805-822.
Khan, A.R. & Riskin, C. (2005). Chinas Household Income and Its Distribution. The China
Quarterly, 182, 356-384.
Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (2009), China's
Ethnic Minority Policy and Common Prosperity of All Ethnic Groups, Beijing: IOSCPRC
National Bureau of Statistics (2010) Tabulation on the 2010 Population Census of the Peoples
Republic of China,
http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/statisticaldata/censusdata/rkpc2010/indexch.htm, consulted on 10-
12-2013
Xingjian Census, in: Toops, S. (2004). Demographics and Development in Xingjian after 1949.
East-West Center, Washington.