Topical Talk IV

“Ethnic Relations in Socialist China”

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Prof. Han Xiaorong delivered a talk entitled “Ethnic Relations in Socialist China” on 13 February 2023.

Prof. Han Xiaorong holds a BA in history from Amoy (Xiamen) University, an LLM in ethnic studies from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, an MA in anthropology from Tulane University, and a PhD in history from the University of Hawaii-Manoa. He is currently a Professor, Head of the Department of Chinese Culture, as well as Director of the Confucius Institute of Hong Kong at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has previously held positions with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii-West Oahu, Trinity College, The National University of Singapore, Butler University, and Lingnan University (Hong Kong). His research has focused on the interactions between intellectuals and peasants and between state and ethnic minorities in China, as well as China’s relations with Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam. His publications include Chinese Discourses on the Peasant, 1900-1949 (SUNY, 2005), Red God: Wei Baqun and His Peasant Revolution in Southern China, 1894-1932 (SUNY, 2014), Zhongguo minzu guanxi sanlun [Essays on China’s Ethnic Relations] (Singapore, World Scientific, 2015), and numerous articles. He has been serving as the co-editor-in-chief of China and Asia: A Journal in Historical Studies since 2019.

In this talk, Prof. Han elaborated on the evolution of the multi-ethnic state of China with the focus on the twentieth century, especially the period since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. He also analysed the similarities and differences between the Chinese Nationalists and Chinese Communists in their policies toward the ethnic minorities, and assessed the status of China’s ethnic relations since the beginning of the reform era in the late 1970s.