Minority nationalities as frankenstein’s monsters? Reshaping “the chinese nation” and china’s quest to become a “normal country”

Abstract

This article examines a paradigm shift in the PRC that has occurred over the past two decades which has transformed the meaning of “minority nationality” (shaoshu minzu). Today, the very concept of minority nationalities is perceived by Beijing as entailing a threat to the Chinese state and the Chinese nation. The shift underlies a change of China’s institutional form from a “multinational state” to a “unified community of the Chinese nation.” The result is the current heavy-handed approach toward China’s minority peoples, especially in borderlands such as Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia. The article suggests that these minority nationalities are now understood by the Chinese leadership to constitute veritable Frankenstein’s monsters that were created by the Party’s minority-nationality classification system and have now grown strong enough to attack their creator.