This chapter considers the relevance of ethnic minorities in discourses on Chinese national identity and explores the representation of Chinese ethnic groups in museums. The Chinese expression used to designate ethnic groups is shaoshu minzu, which literally means ‘minority nationality’ or ‘national minority’. The term shao is a diminutive; it may refer to a small number and/or small size. Minzu also appears in the official denomination of China as a ‘unified, multinational state’, duominzu guojia, literally a ‘country with many nationalities’. The term minzu is laden with political significance. As the historian of China Frank Dikötter (1996, 594) notes, ‘The conflation of “race”, descent and nation has been expressed throughout the twentieth century by the term minzu, signifying both a descent group and a cultural community.’ Moreover, it should not be overlooked that the term ‘ethnic minority’ (minzu) defines a group by means of its relative, subaltern position to another group. Bearing these terminological nuances in mind, the expressions ‘ethnic minorities’, ‘ethnic groups’ and ‘nationalities’ are here used interchangeably for the sake of simplicity and to conform with their use in museum texts in China.

The Official Discourse About Ethnic Minorities

Ethnic groups occupy a central position in the representation of the Chinese nation. The opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, with its emphasis on the performances of the various ethnic groups, provided a powerful illustration of China's ‘unity within diversity’.