The regional ethnic autonomy system is the system 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 ...

that gives ethnic minorities a political system to assemble autonomous government bodies in areas where many ethnic minority people live together. This system was aimed at achieving ethnic equality in China. It is based on ''People’s Republic of China Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law'' enacted in 1984 amended in 2001 and ''Provisions on Implementing the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law'' enacted in 2005.

History

In 1941, Ethnical Regional Autonomy System was experimented by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

led government in Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region. In the governmental principal file, ethnic Mongolian and Chinese Muslim were to establish autonomous region based on ethnical equality principle. It was a reflection against

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

's devious ethnic policy as well as a result of studying Soviet Union's ethnical policy. In 1947, Mongolian Autonomous Region was established. After that, various autonomous regions, prefectures, and

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

were established in 1950-1963 and 1979–1990, with some exceptions like

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the ...

in 1965 and the latest Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County in 2003. Ethnic Autonomy Region were generally established in areas where more than 20% of the population is ethnic minority people.

Autonomous government body

The autonomous government body are People's Congress and People's Government. As other Chinese political power structure. The real governmental power lies flexibly between Party's Commission and People's Government. The administrative level of autonomous government body is principally decided by the population and area of the region. Autonomous regions is the highest level of administrative body in China, with the same status of a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, followed by

autonomous prefecture Autonomous prefectures ( zh, c=自治州, p=zìzhìzhōu) are one type of autonomous administrative divisions of China, autonomous administrative division in China, existing at the Prefecture-level divisions of China, prefectural level, with eith ...

and

autonomous county Autonomous counties () and autonomous banners () are Counties of China, county-level autonomous administrative divisions of China. Autonomous counties tend to have a large number of ethnic minority citizens compared to ordinary counties (if not ...

Autonomous governments' rights and policy guidelines

Autonomous government has the right to make ethnic laws, improvisingly execute specific ethnic related issues, enjoy relatively higher economic independence and higher reserve fund in central government, have a separate ethnic related budget in Chinese State Council, enjoy independent cultural control to a certain degree, use the major ethnic minority language as official language, organize local police militia. But law making and execution power need permission from

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

and State Council respectively.

Ethnic minority benefit in China

Government jobs

The head of people's government and people's congress should be ethnic minority person. In the people's congress, when multiple ethnicities live in the same autonomous region, every ethnicity should have representatives, especially giving low population ethnicities considerable more representative positions. In the people's government, the consisting personals and the belonging branches should try their best to employ ethnic minority officials, and when there are ethnic minority candidates who meets the selecting criteria, they should be priorly employed. The ratio of ethnic minority officials should correlate to the ratio of ethnic minority population in the region, when the ethnic minority population is over 1/2 of the local population, and should be higher than the ratio of ethnic minority population, when is lower than 1/2.

Bonus points in Gaokao

According to different policies in different Chinese provincial gaokao committee, the ethnic minority students residing in ethnic autonomous regions can get free bonus points, varying from 10 to 35 in total 750 points.

Respect for ethnic custom in university

In Chinese universities, the undergraduate education still go on by grouping students into classes. And the ethnic minority students will be asked about the special custom and culture by the supervisors. The supervisors and university staff would try to avoid taboo and offences to ethnic minorities. Due to the large number of Chinese Muslims, most Chinese universities have a specific dining section for them.

References

{{reflist Autonomous administrative divisions of China Ethnic groups in China National districts of the Soviet Union