Regional Autonomy of China''''s Ethnic Minorities

The aggregate population of ethnic minorities has never accounted for more than 9 percent of China's total, currently approaching 1.3 billion. Yet their development and prosperity have always been high on the agenda of the leaders of the People's Republic. One of the first things Chinese leaders did after New China was founded in 1949 was to conduct large-scale studies to identify the country's ethnic groups and name them properly, based on scientific