One Country, Many Peoples
When people say “Chinese culture,” they often mean the long tradition of the Han people, who make up the large majority of the population, and of the written language, philosophy and arts that developed in the central plains. But China is also home to many other peoples with their own languages, religions, clothing, music and festivals. Any honest account of the country has to include them.
This article offers a short introduction. It cannot do justice to the detail of any single people, and it avoids sweeping statements, since communities differ internally by region, generation and personal choice.
How Peoples Are Officially Classified
The modern Chinese state officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups: the Han and 55 others, usually called ethnic minorities in English. The classification was developed in the middle of the twentieth century, after surveys and discussions that tried to sort a very complicated human landscape into a manageable list. Scholars have long noted that the categories do not map perfectly onto the way people see themselves. Some officially recognized groups are internally diverse, and some communities identify in ways that cut across the official list.
Official recognition affects matters such as language policy, education and representation. It is a legal and administrative framework, not a complete description of identity. This article describes the system neutrally and does not take a position on contested political questions.
Where Different Peoples Live
Minority peoples live across the country, but many are concentrated in border and highland regions. The northern grasslands are associated with Mongolian herding traditions. The northwest includes oasis cities with Uyghur, Hui, Kazakh and other communities. The Tibetan plateau is the main homeland of the Tibetan people. The southwest, including mountainous areas, is especially rich, with many peoples such as the Yi, Miao, Dai, Bai, Zhuang and others. In the northeast, Manchu history is closely tied to the Qing dynasty, which was founded by a Manchu-led state.
Communities also live in cities and in places far from their traditional areas, and the Hui, for instance, are found in many parts of the country. Population movement in modern times has made the picture more mixed.
Languages and Writing
China’s linguistic variety is large. Han Chinese communities speak Mandarin and many other Chinese dialects, some of which differ greatly from one another. Minority peoples speak languages from several different families, including Turkic, Mongolic, Tibeto-Burman and Tai-Kadai languages, among others. Some have their own writing systems, such as Tibetan and Mongolian scripts, while others traditionally used oral transmission or adopted other scripts.
This diversity is one reason the shared written tradition of Chinese characters has long mattered as a unifying tool among Han speakers, while other peoples have kept literary traditions in their own scripts.
Faith, Festivals and Daily Life
Religious life is varied. Tibetan Buddhism is central in Tibetan communities and among some Mongolian ones. Islam is practiced by the Hui, Uyghur and several other peoples. Many communities in the southwest follow local belief systems, ancestor practices or combinations of traditions. Among Han people, folk religion, Chinese Buddhism and the Daoist tradition have all been influential.
Festivals show the variety well. Some peoples celebrate the lunisolar new year in ways similar to Han customs, while others mark different calendars. The Naadam festival is associated with Mongolian communities, with sports such as wrestling, horse racing and archery. Other peoples have torch festivals, song gatherings or harvest celebrations. Traditional dress, embroidery, silver ornaments and weaving are rich in many communities, and they are one reason traditional crafts are so varied across the country.
Long Histories of Contact
Contact among peoples is far older than the modern state. Farming societies, herding societies and mountain communities traded, fought, intermarried and borrowed from each other for thousands of years. The Yuan dynasty was founded by Mongol rulers, and the Qing dynasty by Manchu rulers, which reminds us that rule over the Chinese heartland has often been in the hands of non-Han dynasties. Even earlier, the Tang dynasty drew on peoples and ideas from across Central Asia.
Because of this history, many cultural features that are called “Chinese” have mixed origins, from musical instruments to foods to styles of clothing.
Approaching the Topic Respectfully
A few cautions help. First, avoid treating any people as a single, unchanging “type” in colorful costume; most people live modern lives with the same range of jobs, opinions and ambitions as anyone else. Second, recognize that views of history and policy differ among scholars, residents and outside observers, and this article does not try to settle them. Third, prefer learning from sources written or shaped by the communities themselves where possible.
Seen this way, the study of China’s regions and landscapes is also a study of its peoples. The grasslands, oasis towns and plateau described elsewhere in this cluster are home to long traditions that belong to the full story of Chinese civilization.