“Of course! Race is something which is socially constructed” This was Chen’s response when I asked him about Race. Him and I started talking about Race and Ethnic Groups in China. He told me that ” there are 56 different ethnic groups and Han Chinese people are the one who are dominated and have majority.” Asking him about other ethnic groups, he said ” Other different ethnic groups are like mongols, Tibetans, Manchu, Miao, Yi, Koreans etc. He also explained that these people are majorly live in the borders and have their own kind of culture.
He told that ” there are only white people like us majorly however some Tibetans may be darker in colors.” Many Chinese people may discriminate Tibetans but not other people. He also told me about throughout the years some people from different ethnic groups abandon their culture and becoming completely absorbed in American Culture. This seems to be an anthropological term ” assimilation”. I also realized that China is a nation state when he said about his distinctive national culture and historical things.
He illustrated that Race in china is very different, in which a person is determined by his/ her heritage in modern society, which is ideologically same as America determines a person. In the last I asked him If he has ever been discriminated of any kind he said ” No” but there might me some. Race there looks similar to few cultures.
Lastly, Race and ethnicity of china was interesting to go through. I was able to learn a lot from this interview and Link up with some of the anthropologicals terms. Race looks like a folk and popular for ethnicity.
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