Policy of the Central Government
China serves as home to 56 ethnic groups ( each of the 10 big ethnic groups has a population of more than one million). Han (Huaxia) majority makes up 91.5% of the total population of Chinese. The Central People's Government has given effective aid of materials and funds to the minorities annually since 1949. It has led to marked Improvements in their living standards and the quality of medical care. As a result, the
minority people have achieved an increase in birth rate and fast population growth.The combined population of China's minority nationalities reached over 67 million them greater power in administering their own affairs. The rights of self-government organizations in national autonomous areas consist of four main elements:
They may work out their own principles and policies and plans for economic construction in accordance with local conditions and needs under the guidance of state plans.
They can freely manage the income belonging to the autonomous areas concerned in financial affairs.
They many independently develop education for minorities (based on state educational policy) ; make local plans for education, determining the organization of schools, forms of schools, educational system, cu~icula language of instruction and enrolment procedures in education.
*They may develop minority culture in literature, art, publishing, journalism, broadcasting, fi]m and television. For example, film studios in Inner Mongolia,Guangxi, Xingjiang and Ningxia have been set up. They primarily produce films reflecting the lives of the minority peoples, State-funded art schools have set up in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia and Yanbian. They may freely set up local progranls for health services and develop the minorities' own traditional medicine. For instance, the famous Tibetan medicine and pharmacology(traced back 1,000 years and more ) and Mongolian medicine, Dai medicine(Yunnang) make full use of local resources of medicinal material and adopt modes oftreatment suited to local conditions. Many of them have evolved their own effective,time-tested prescription and acquired special healing art. Since 1949, minority schools of medicine and pharmacology have be supported or encouraged by the government. After the "cultural revolution", the government took vigorous steps to revive and develop these ethnic medicines and pharmacologies. A number of new medical institutions have also
been set up and the existing institutions have been improved in Tibet, Inner Mongolia,
and Yunan.
Due to the discriminatory and oppressive policies carried out by the Kuomintang regime (1911--1949) in the mainland, most minority people lived in dire poverty lacked medical care. Since an inequality inherited from history, many minority regions are still rather backward in their economies and culture. According to the needs of national autonomous areas, the state not only provide continuous funds and material aids
annually, the govenlment also sends or transfers teachers, doctors, technologists, skilled workers and cadres to help the areas to develop economically, culturally and educationally. Take the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture (Jilin Province) for example, with the help of the government, more than 20O natural science associations at the professional level to supervise work in animal husbandry, veterinary medicine,
forestry, water conservancy and atomic energy were set up. The organizations have played an important role in boosting farn/ production and animal husbandry.
Besides this, the governinent has built minority teacher training schools, minority
professional secondary schools, ininority technical secondary schools and minority
colleges. In Tibet, for instance, the students of minorities in senior iniddle schools
receive substantial stipends including allocations of money and grants for food and
clothing, The Central Government set up China's 10 ethnic work organs to promote the
socialist ideas of equality, unily and mutual assistance among all nationalities and the
strengthening of their solidarity. Some minority deputies (381 deputies amounting to
government has adopted the following measures to assist the minorities in developing their
economies :
~ All cu~nt policies, regulations or measures that fetter productive forces will be
revised.
~ Raising the state purchasing prices for agricultural produce, livestock and animal
products to increase the people's income and ease their economic burdens.
~ The government conducts detailed surveys of the natural resources within each area
and helps them to formulate a guideline for the economic development. In Inner
Mongolia, work has begun on building four major open pit coal mines for energy
exploitation.
~ The government makes efforts to popularize the contract responsibility system. Each
individual's income is determined by his output.
~ The government allocates special subsidies to the minority areas primarily for
economic construction.
~ The central government calls upon the Han areas to offer the technical and financial
aid to qle minority areas in exploiting the natural resources. For instance, the
tourism industry of Yunan is supported and developed. The industry has made a
rapid development in the past decades. Some major tourist cities such as Kunming
(the site of 99 International Horticultural Exposition) Lijiang ( included in the
UNESCO World Culture Heritage list in 1997) and Dali are well known in the
~ Tbe government encourages the border trade of minority areas with other
neighbouring counties, for instance, the border trade between Guangxi and
Vietnam, the border trade between Tibet and Nepal and the border trade between
Xingjiang and Russia.