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北京大学英语新闻网/Peking University News
Ma Rong: In my opinion, the following points should be noticed in the study of the
ethnic issues in China: first, study should be made on the development framework
and basic thought of the history of the relations of the ethnic groups in China to
understand how our ancestors viewed the differences of the groups, how they
established their own identity system, how they regarded the relations between
different groups, what their handling methods and guiding thoughts were, and how
they coordinated the conflict of interest between the group and the individual.
Second, systematic analysis and examination should be made on the Stalinism
dominant in the ethnological theory and practice in China today. Third, the ethnic
issues in the western worlds and relevant theories and practices need to be studied
and understood.
The western worlds can be divided into two categories according to the nature of the
ethnic issues and the thought in addressing these issues: one is the Europe, mainly
the countries in Western Europe and the other includes the immigrant countries
represented by the USA, also including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the
―culturalization‖ of racial-ethnical issues, the USA takes a relatively thorough path as
it is completely an immigrant country. Europe was the place of origin of nationalism
and nation state in the time of industrialization. It was also the originator of the
―politicalization‖ of nations. Later it started to receive the influence of the USA and
became open and tolerant to immigrants. However, Europe is far less experienced in
this respect compared with the USA, at least when viewed through the current
revolting sentiment of the second generation immigrants. These are the two
reference systems of the western world. There are also two reference systems in the
east, one is the former USSR and the other is the thousands-years-old Chinese
tradition. These four systems of reference can also be borrowed from in the analysis
and understanding of the current issues on the ethnic groups in China.
China Reading Weekly: In this sub-forum, ―Zu Qun‖ (ethic group) rather than ―Min
Zu‖ (nation) is used. What‘s the difference between the two concepts?
Ma Rong: ―Min Zu‖ [meaning ―Nation‖] is one of the most commonly used Chinese
terms. According to the textual research of some scholars, it first appeared in a book
called ―History of South Qi Kingdom‖ (about the 8th century), referring to the People
of Han living on the Central Plains, to distinguish them from those called ―Yi Di‖ (i.e.
the ethnic minorities around the Central Plains in China). It was not a general
designation of all those groups. Later this term could rarely be found in historical
documents until the end of the 19th century. In the documents of modern times, ―Min
Zu‖ is widely used, probably as a translated word from Japanese. The concept
originated in Europe and was translated into Japanese and then borrowed by the
Chinese. The other term ―Zu Qun‖ [meaning ―ethnic group‖ or ―ethnicity‖] as a
Chinese word only appeared in academic field in recent years. ―Min Zu‖ in English
should be a concept meaning ―Nation‖ and ―Zu Qun‖ in English means ―Ethnic group
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