56 Ethnicities of China

[GrebluBro]

China also has the oldest language and the oldest writing, still in existence after thousands of years.

I agree..
India' oldest surviving language is Tamil..It is, along with Chinese, one of top 7 oldest surviving languages in the world
But the speakers are just 6% of India, so most Indians don't give a damn.

[haidian]

India has more ethnic variety hands down.Because of its location,I guess. situated at the crossroad between the east and the west.

[zhaoyun]

China is such a big country with so many humans and such a great history of since and culture so why could people like the Mongolians/Uyghur/Manchu and Göktürks (basically few steppe nomads) conquer them?

Well, there were also times that China conquered the steppe nomads. It was not one way. But the steppe nomads, WHEN they did conquer China, usually did so during a time of political weakness, and because they were very skilled in their military techniques, and they also were very warlike. Chinese people who are sedentary, historically were quite peaceful and geared towards commerce and education, not towards warlike activities.

[RussiaPrussia]

Yes, but most Indian ethnicities look roughly similar, save for some small tribes. In China, you have Caucasoids and Mongoloids.

thats true even caucasians are potrayed in their 2 yuan bill



and other ethnicities

[zhaoyun]

China also has the oldest language and the oldest writing, still in existence after thousands of years.

Honestly, sometimes when I see all this infighting amongst the general races of the West, White, Black, Hispanics, etc, I'm kind of glad that China evolved as a seperate civilization that is apart from the other civilizations. We have our own standards, our own civilization.

[zhaoyun]

thats true even caucasians are potrayed in their 2 yuan bill



and other ethnicities

China is very different from Korea or Japan, who are very homogeneous and exclusive. Japanese and Koreans are always trying to find reasons to exclude others from their identity. Chinese, on the other hand, are very assimilationist, they have always tried to find commonalities to convince their minorities they are Chinese. That's how China got to become so big and united so many different groups of people under one identity.

[YeshAtid]

To what extent are minorities in China sinicized? From what I have read of minorities living in China the CCP gives them a surprisingly high level of autonomy. The Han nationality is often perceived as an umbrella term, encompassing different phenotypes and cultural outlets. If that is the case then there's no real source of incompatibility between the two.

[zhaoyun]

To what extent are minorities in China sinicized? From what I have read of minorities living in China the CCP gives them a surprisingly high level of autonomy. The Han nationality is often perceived as an umbrella term, encompassing different phenotypes and cultural outlets. If that is the case then there's no real source of incompatibility between the two.

Thats pretty accurate. Many minorities do have a good deal of autonomy. Also the Han Chinese label is very superfluous. in reality, many of the Hans in different parts of the country have more in common with the minorities they are next to than Han chinese on the other side. its just an umbrella term.

[Methmatician]

It's because China has been a nation state for 2000 years. Actually China is by far the oldest nation state, so it's assimilated most of its ethnicities to the Han Chinese (who are still very different from each other to this day) as a general majority.

Also, Indian state is a British invention AFAIK.

[Goujian]

Well, there were also times that China conquered the steppe nomads. It was not one way. But the steppe nomads, WHEN they did conquer China, usually did so during a time of political weakness, and because they were very skilled in their military techniques, and they also were very warlike. Chinese people who are sedentary, historically were quite peaceful and geared towards commerce and education, not towards warlike activities.

The Jurchens were semi-sedentary agriculturalists who adopted steppe warfare. Their ancestors the Mohe people were not described as nomadic but were actually farmers who grew sorghum, soybeans, millet and rice and raised pigs and dogs. Their Jurchen descendants later bred horses, oxen and sheep. At best they can be described as semi-nomadic agriculturalists at the time. Then they led a pastoral-agrarian lifestyle, hunting, fishing, and engaging in limited agriculture. The Jurchens emphasised their relatedness with the Mongols for political reasons out of pragmatism and opportunism.

Also the majority of Chinese were not forced to adopt Manchu clothing. Only government officials were banned from wearing hanfu. The rest of the population adopted the clothing from emulating what the elites wore.