list of ethnic groups in China

Officially recognized ethnic groups receive or have received certain benefits over Han Chinese under the regional ethnic autonomy system, including affirmative action, exemptions from the one-child policy, designated seats in political organs and government support to preserve their culture. Ethnic minority autonomous areas receive additional state subsidies.{{Cite web |last=Jarmuth |first=Anna |date=2020-09-22 |title=Ethnic Minorities and the Fight against Poverty in China: The Case of Yunnan |url=https://isdp.eu/ethnic-minorities-and-the-fight-against-poverty-in-china-the-case-of-yunnan/ |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=Institute for Security and Development Policy |language=en |archive-date=2023-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129182648/https://isdp.eu/ethnic-minorities-and-the-fight-against-poverty-in-china-the-case-of-yunnan/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Lai |first=Hongyi |title=China's Ethnic Policies and Challenges |url=https://research.nus.edu.sg/eai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/11/Vol1No3_LaiHongyi.pdf |access-date=2023-10-19 |archive-date=2023-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121145235/https://research.nus.edu.sg/eai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/11/Vol1No3_LaiHongyi.pdf |url-status=live }} Languages of officially recognized minorities are used in official government documents.{{Cite web |title=White Paper 1999: Ethnic Minorities Policy in China |url=http://un.china-mission.gov.cn/eng/gyzg/xizang/199909/t19990901_8410838.htm |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=un.china-mission.gov.cn}}{{Non-primary source needed|date=December 2024}}

Soon after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, 39 ethnic groups were recognized by the first national census in 1954. This further increased to 54 by the second national census in 1964, with the Lhoba people added in 1965. The last change was the addition of the Jino people in 1979, bringing the number of recognized ethnic groups to the current 56. The following are the 56 ethnic groups (listed by population) officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.{{cite journal |author1=胡鸿保 |author2=张丽梅 |script-title=zh:民族识别原则的变化与民族人口 |language=zh |trans-title=Changes in Ethnic Identification Principles and Ethnic Population |journal=Southwest University for Nationalities University Press |year=2009 |issue=4 }}

{{Notelist}}

{{More citations needed section|date=March 2024}}

{{Main|Unrecognized ethnic groups in China}}

The following ethnic groups living in China are not recognized by the Chinese government:

• Äynu people – classified as Uyghurs
• Altai people – classified as Mongols{{cite encyclopedia |surname=Olson |given=James S. |author-link=James S. Olson |title=Altai |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IOM8qF34s4YC&pg=PA9 |encyclopedia=An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China |pages=9–11 |place=Westport, Conn |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-313-28853-4}}
• Fuyu Kyrgyz people – classified as Kyrgyz
• Gejia people – classified as Miao
• Bajia ({{zhi|c=八甲人|p=Bājiǎrén}})
• Deng people
• Hu people – classified as Bulang
• Khmu people – classified as Bulang
• Kucong
• Mảng people
• Ili Turk people – classified as Uzbek
• Sherpa people – classified as Tibetan
• Tanka people, including Fuzhou Tanka
• Tebbu people
• Tuvans – classified as Mongols{{cite journal |surname=Mongush |given=M. V. |title=Tuvans of Mongolia and China |journal=International Journal of Central Asian Studies |pages=225–243 |date=1996 |number=1}}
• Waxiang people
• Jewish people
• Macanese people, mixed race Catholic Portuguese speakers who lived in Macau since 16th century of various ethnic origins
• Utsuls – classified as Hui
• Yamato people and Ryukyuan people, primarily Japanese settlers that remained in China after the Second Sino-Japanese War, which mostly were women and orphaned children{{Cite web |url=http://japanfocus.org/-Rowena-Ward/2374/article.html |title=Left Behind: Japan's Wartime Defeat and the Stranded Women of Manchukuo |access-date=2015-05-22 |archive-date=2016-01-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112110754/http://japanfocus.org/-Rowena-Ward/2374/article.html |url-status=dead }}

During the Fifth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China held in 2000, 734,438 people on the mainland were recorded as belonging to "undistinguished ethnic groups"—of these, 97% resided in Guizhou.[http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/renkoupucha/2000pucha/html/t0106.htm 第五次人口普查数据(2000年). 表1—6. 省、自治区、直辖市分性别、民族的人口] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826143557/http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/renkoupucha/2000pucha/html/t0106.htm |date=2018-08-26 }} ( Fifth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (2000). Table 1-6: Population of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities by ethnicity). {{in lang|zh}}{{Update inline|date=December 2024}}

{{see also|Demographics of Hong Kong|Demographics of Macau}}

Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions within China. The governments of Hong Kong and Macau do not use the official PRC ethnic classification system, nor does the PRC's official classification system take ethnic groups in Hong Kong and Macau into account. Minority groups such as Western Europeans (mainly English and Portuguese), and Southern or Southeastern Asians (mainly Filipinos, Indians, Indonesians, Nepalese, and Pakistanis) live in Hong Kong.{{cite book|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326753759|title=Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Hong Kong |pages=59–274|publisher=Routledge|chapter=Ethnic Minorities and Ethnicity in Hong Kong|author=Paul O'Connor|isbn= 9780367580605|year=2018}} Macau's main ethnic groups are of Chinese and Portuguese descent, but other ethnicities also live in the territory.{{cite web|url=https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/20020/1036|title=THE 'ETHNIC' COMPOSITION OF MACAO|author=João de Pina Cabral|publisher=Cultural Bureau of Macau|language=en|accessdate=2023-11-29|archive-date=2024-03-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302085426/https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/20020/1036|url-status=live}}

File:Ethnic Zhuang Costumes Guangnan Yunnan China.jpg|Zhuang

File:A Manchu young man dressed in traditional clothes.jpg|Manchu

File:Hui man.jpg|Hui

File:Miao zu-Miao minority young man.jpg|Miao

File:Khotan-melikawat-chicas-d03.jpg|Uyghur

File:Tujia women.jpg|Tujia

File:Yi woman in traditional dressing.jpg|Yi

File:Morin Khuur, South Mongolian Style.jpg|Mongol

{{Portal|China}}

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• 56 Flowers
• Affirmative action in China
• Demographics of China
• Demographics of Taiwan
• Local ethnic nationalism
• Taiwanese people
• Ethnic minorities in China
• Han Chinese subgroups
• Hua–Yi distinction
• Languages of China
• List of endangered languages in China
• Kra–Dai ethnic groups in China
• Taiwanese indigenous peoples
• Unrecognized ethnic groups in China
• Minzu (anthropology)
• Zhonghua minzu

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{{Reflist}}

• {{cite encyclopedia |surname=Olson |given=James S. |author-link=James S. Olson |title=An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China |url={{Google books|IOM8qF34s4YC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |place=Westport, Conn |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-313-28853-4}}
• {{cite book |surname=Schwars |given=Henry G. |title=The Minorities of Northern China: A Survey |year=1984}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Ethnic groups in China}}

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Ethnic

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