Chinese minorities under the communist party

I. Introduction

The Web review written by Adeline Dohin and Cassandre Maury in 2003 deals with
Chinese minorities under the communist party.

Its topic is in the context of the simmering business of the Middle Kingdom which is
divided by the spirit of freedom and pluralism carried by students during Tien anmen
events. In addition influenced by spiritual currents, the poison of the falun gong sect,
the will of national minorities to be separate from the Chinese empire and an
international focus on tibetan issues. Infact, Chinese minorities under the communist
party are one of the pivotal matters in Chinese domestic politics and are highly
important in the balance of stabilty in Russian and Indian politics. But it has been a
sinuous road for several centuries. From the Ming dynasty to the Han kingdom, the
History of the Empire was tossed between life pulsions and the conquest for unity,
between death pulsions and the empire’s desintegration. And it has always been hard
to win.

My attention was drawn to this web review because of several aspects : my childhood
and teenage memories of Tintin, Malraux and his « Human condition » . My reading
of Albert Londres, the vestiges of my family fleeing the Lorraine territories after the
Franco-German war in 1870, and travelling as colonial administrators between
indochina and China (Nankin and Shanghai). Also my interest in the practice of
Japanese martial arts, all enrooted in chinese wu shu and finally a former travel in
China in 2002.

II. Complete inventory and critical analysis

Complete inventory of this web review is relatively easy in form and in content
because of its strong coherence.
Its design in black and red is really simple and pretty elegant.
The home page represents a combined china between modernism and tradition. We
see a pagoda sumptuously decorated probably in the « summer palace » in the suburbs
of Beijing, a woman, probably mandchu, in a smart folk costume melted with an
image of modern day Shanghai, taken from the Bund, symbol of the « oriental Paris »
in the early 20th century with a view on the other side of Hangpu Jiang River.This
picture represents a very new and special zone of Pudong, which is a symbol of the
new pride of shanghai which aspires to become one of the first financial places in the world.

It is regcognizable by its two very special skyscrapers, the shanghai Tv with
bubbles and the Jinmao tower with its extremely luxurious Hyatt Hotel unreachable
for the majority of Chinese people.
Perfect choice furthermore, because the Party machinery is strongly under the
influence of people from Shanghai for example: the president Jiang Zemin and
ministers Zhu Rongji, Wu Bangguo, and also Dong Jianhua, the new chief executive
of Hong Kong are from Shanghai.

We can also navigate in a very simple arborescence, by clicking on three links, clearly
visible on the left hand side of the page: Chinese nationalism : between integration
and assimilation ; Chinese nationalism under pressure and finally Chinese
minorities : between pride and profits.

The webreview has a strong coherence and can be appreciated because of the
rigourous presentation of lexicon, summaries, translations and good
acknowledgement of sources for each article.

Content is well balance with three articles in each branch of the arborescence, with a
high diversity of sources and points of view and a big effort to avoid « official
dazibao ». Articles from Amnesty international, from independant newspapers in
Hong kong etc, the job is quite rigourous and well done.
Furthermore, the panel of articles covers a wide political perspective and brush a good
picture of this issue.
For example, by providing articles on the strategy of the central power to improve
tourism in minority regions which are often underdeveloped and therefore masking
national aspirations with economic developement. And on the other hand by
providing articles that analyse the dark side of the moon : systematic repression of
active minorities ( Tibetans budhists, Uyghurs muslims…).

Of course this brillant and quite rigourous webreview sins by its qualities i.e. by
focusing only on political and repressive aspects neglicting one of the most important
ways of domination : the cultural weapon of mass destruction.

For example cinema : one of china’s most famous directors, Jiang Zhimu, known for
his first international succes « Wives and concubines », shot recently a film that
exults national Unity by telling a story of the very first father of the chinese nation in
« Heros ».

We can also notice the absence of an overview of the well-known museum of
Shanghai which presents, in more than half of its exhibits, ethnic musical instruments,
folk costumes etc, thus presenting Chinese minorities as a wealth for the strength of
Chinese unity and without mentioning their aspiration for independence.

They could also have mentionned the way the party machinery stages an exhibition
of ethnic cuisine in the main artery of Beijing allowing small stallholders to sell
regional food as a show case for the variety of chinese cuisine.

For example, you can buy scorpion brochettes grilled in the manner of desert men, or
a large range of snakes but hiding more typical dishes like live monkey brains.

To conclude with a more general remark, I would say ironically that the form and the
content are as austere and rigourous as a notice hung by the chinese communist party.

Nevertheless, this is an excellent webreview which merits to be visited and contains
most of the essential documentation to gain an indepth understanding of this topic.

Completed with a cultural perspective it could be more broad minded and reflect the
topic in its entire complexity.