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Business: Rena Singer Knight-Ridder Newspapers That's why 14-year-old Ya has
it made. He will be able to get into one of Ya is the beneficiary of
Chinese-style affirmative action. As an ethnic Uighur
(pronounced WEE-gur), one of China's many
"ethnic-minority nationalities," Ya is
eligible for comprehensive "privileges" designed to help minorities
attain a piece of China's prosperity pie. Still, Ya is
not optimistic. "All of these privileges are just for
effect," he said bitterly. "We still have no power." His disillusionment reflects the problems 55 minority nationalities The Han are generally richer, better educated and live
longer than the 55 minority nationalities, which are a mixture of exotic hill
tribes, conquered kingdoms and immigrants. Although those minorities make up only 9 percent of
China's people, they have a disproportionate importance: They inhabit about
60 percent of China's land mass - particularly concentrated in China's north
and west border areas rich in natural resources such as oil and timber. For that reason, the government has sought to win their
allegiance with a dizzying array of preferential policies. "This issue is very, very crucial to the Chinese
government," said Policy not inclusive But just as in the It is also, to Western eyes, flawed. That is because
the policy is not based on any philosophy of equality, or any desire to
"celebrate differences." Instead, the Chinese people, for the most part, remain
completely at ease with racial stereotypes. Affirmative action here does not
mean re-evaluating the Han belief that all minorities are "backward,
primitive barbarians" who need the help of their "Han older
brothers" - to quote some cliches. Indeed, treatment of minorities in the popular press,
and for example, the creation of a "minority theme park" - a
sideshow-like museum in Beijing, where curious Han can have their pictures
taken with minorities like Ya - make continued Han
chauvinism painfully apparent. Policy is far-reaching Nevertheless, Chinese-style affirmative action is comprehensive
and so far-reaching that -- There are free elementary, middle and
high-school-level boarding schools and special college-preparatory classes
for minority children. -- Minority children can get into a university with
exam scores 20 to 30 points below the minimum score for Han children. -- A separate network of segregated universities exists
only for minority students. -- Though most Han in urban areas are limited to one
child per family, minority families can have two, and in rural areas many are
legally allowed three. In practice, many minority families simply have as
many children as they want. -- No-interest loans are offered for small minority
businesses. -- Businesses are officially encouraged to hire
minorities. -- A comprehensive, bilingual-education program aims at
helping minorities learn Chinese. Meanwhile, scholars are creating alphabets
for minority languages that had no writing systems to help ensure that these
languages do not die. Autonomous governments In areas where many minority people live, special
"autonomous" governments at the provincial, county and village
level try to give minorities more control over their own affairs. A certain
percentage of government officials in those areas are required to come from
minority populations. In the Hui autonomous region
in central No tax money collected in these autonomous areas has to
be sent to Reading the Chinese press, you'd think the government
had succeeded in winning the minorities' favor. "People of all nationalities are now living and
working in peace and contentment, and their living standards are constantly
improving," an article in July's Beijing Review declared. "All
nationalities live in harmony and are as close as brothers." The real picture is far more complex. Minority relations strained Though minorities in many areas have benefited from
affirmative action, and cross-cultural cooperation and intermarriage are up,
minorities in general remain poorer than the Han. In some of In February, anti-Han-Chinese riots in Xinjiang, an autonomous region populated by Muslim
minorities, left nine people dead. On the Internet, you can find the surprisingly militant
"Free Southern Mongolia!" home page - in English - with links to
home pages for a free These militant groups are relatively small. Far more
common among minorities, however, is a pervasive resentment and suspicion. "They (the Han) take all the natural resources and
make a lot of money," said Ya, the 14-year-old
Uighur. "The Han work at all the oil fields,
they do all the logging. . . . We never see the money they (government
officials) say they send to Xinjiang." Ya and his family, who are from Xinjiang,
say that despite the "autonomous" designation, the region is in
fact controlled by the Han, who have all the connections to Minorities denied `real' access Indeed, Chinese minorities still are denied
"real" access to political power, said Dru
Gladney, an expert on Chinese minorities and
culture at the Gladney points out that although the National People's
Congress has heavy minority representation, the Chinese Communist Party,
where the real power lies, is primarily Han. He said there is no first party
secretary of any Chinese administrative region who is a minority. Minority people also complain of continued Han racism -
the undisguised and condescending belief that Han culture is naturally superior.
That is evident even in the government's Minority
Affairs Commission. "The minorities suffer from backward education,
culture and economy," explained Zhang Zhong
Xiao, the director of Ningxia's religion bureau in
the commission. "They are not so open-minded." A feature story in Women of China magazine asked for
patience with "developing" minorities. "It is understandable
that . . . feudalist, slave and primitive society systems cannot disappear
all at once." Then there is the " The park's director of public relations, describing the
minorities' song-and-dance performances, said although the displays were
"not up to Chinese standards" many Han Chinese were curious about
the "backward and primitive peoples." Many Han are resentful Meanwhile, many Han have come to resent the
preferential treatment for the "ungrateful" minorities. A Han-Chinese Ningxia
government official, "Of course it is frustrating," said the
official, who asked not to be named. "I can't move up even though I am
very qualified. Sometimes the Hui who are promoted
aren't qualified at all, but I have to listen to their orders." As in the "Many people believe the privileges are bad
because the minority students know they don't have to study so hard and they
can get into university," said Liu Guo Qing, director of the Ningxia
foreign-affairs office. "So they become lazy." Nevertheless, the central government remains committed
to a broad spectrum of preferential policies, said Zhao, the professor at "The government is so worried," Zhao said.
"They know these preferences don't work, but the party has no other
option."
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