A number of
ethnic groups
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, rel ...
of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
are not officially recognized.
Taken together, these groups () would constitute the twentieth most populous ethnic group of China. Some scholars have estimated that there are over 200 distinct ethnic groups that inhabit China,
compared to 56 groups that are officially recognized. There are in addition small distinct ethnic groups that have been classified as part of larger
ethnic groups that are officially recognized. Some groups, like the
Hui of
Xinjiang
Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...
with the Hui of
Fujian
Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...
, are geographically and culturally separate, except for the shared belief of Islam.
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...
, being the world's largest ethnic group, has a large diversity within it, such as in
Gansu
Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...
, whose Han individuals may have genetic traits from the assimilated
Tangut civilization. Although they are indigenous to
Hainan
Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...
island and do not speak a Chinese language, the Lingao (
Ong-Be) people near the capital (8% of the population) are counted as Han Chinese.
List of ethnic groups
Notes
See also
*
Ethnic minorities in China
Ethnic minorities in China are the non-Han Chinese, Han population in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The PRC officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within China in addition to the Han majority. , the combined population ...
*
Ethnic groups in Chinese history
Ethnic groups in Chinese history refer to various or presumed ethnicities of significance to the history of China, gathered through the study of Classical Chinese literature, Chinese and non-Chinese literary sources and inscriptions, histori ...
*
List of unrecognized ethnic groups of Guizhou
There are dozens of ethnic groups in Guizhou province of China that are not officially recognized. These ethnic groups and their languages include:
*Caijia language, Caijia 蔡家
*Chuanlan 穿兰: over 300,000 people classified as Han Chinese, Han ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
至今没有归属中国尚待被识别的23个少数民族
{{East Asian topics
Ethnic minorities