‘Elena Barabantseva’s fascinating book changes the way we think about iden- tity and politics in China. By examining how groups at the mar gins – overseas Chinese and ethnic minorities – are invoked in Beijing’ s nation-building and state-building policies, she shows how nationalism and modernization take shape in China. The book is important beyond Chinese studies: by treating nationalism, modernization, overseas Chinese and ethnic minorities as contingent concepts – rather than stable entities – it challenges the view that globalization undermines the nation-state by showing how subnational, national and transnational groups can also support each other in various ways.’ William A. Callahan, Professor of International Politics and China Studies, ‘To anyone who wants to understand just what China is and is not as a nation, I would recommend turning first to Elena Barabantseva’ s Overseas Chinese, Ethnic Minorities and Nationalism . In clear language and with a fine feel for nuance, Barabantseva shows just how complex are the ideology and the poli- cies of Chinese nationalism. Through examining the ways that successive regimes have tried to include the problematic peripheries of Chineseness – Han Chinese living outside China and non-Han living within China – Barabantseva gives us the clearest explanation yet of what the Chinese state would like people to think China is, and of the contradictions inherent in this view of the relationship between state, territory, race, and nation.’ Stevan Harrell, Professor of Anthropology, University of Washington ‘Chinese nationalism became such a potent political force during the last half century that the relative novelty of its construction is lar gely overlooked. The overseas Chinese and the country’s other ethnic groups counter-intuitively play a central role in that process, as Elena Barabantseva demonstrates. A book that will be of interest to all those concerned with the impact of Chinese nationalism, as well as the dynamics of its construction.’ David S. G. Goodman, Professor of Chinese Politics, University of Sydney Overseas Chinese, Ethnic Minorities and Nationalism Elena Barabantseva looks at the close relationship between state-led nationalism and modernisation, with specific reference to discourses on the overseas Chinese and minority nationalities. The interplay between modernisation programmes and nationalist discourses has shaped China’s national project, whose membership criteria have evolved historically. By looking specifically at the ascribed roles of China’s ethnic minor- ities and overseas Chinese in successive state-led modernisation efforts, this book offers new perspectives on the changing boundaries of the Chinese nation. It places domestic nation-building and transnational identity politics in a single analytical framework, and examines how they interact to frame the national proj- ect of the Chinese state. By exploring the processes taking place at the ethnic and territorial margins of the Chinese nation-state, the author provides a new perspec- tive on China’s national modernisation project, clarifying the processes occurring across national boundaries and illustrating how China has negotiated the basis for belonging to its national project under the challenge to modernise amid both domestic and global transformations. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian politics, Chinese politics, nationalism, transnationalism and regionalism. Elena Barabantseva is a Research Fellow and Lecturer in Chinese politics, , UK. Asia’s Transformations Edited by Mark Selden, Cornell University, USA The books in this series explore the political, social, economic and cultural con- sequences of Asia’s transformations in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The series emphasizes the tumultuous interplay of local, national, regional and global forces as Asia bids to become the hub of the world economy. While focus- ing on the contemporary, it also looks back to analyse the antecedents of Asia’s contested rise. This series comprises several strands. Titles marked * are available in paper - back. Asia’s Transformations Titles include: Debating Human Rights* Critical essays from the United States and Asia Edited by Peter Van Ness Hong Kong’s History* State and society under colonial rule Edited by Tak-Wing Ngo Japan’s Comfort Women* Sexual slavery and prostitution during World War II and the US occupation Yuki Tanaka Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy* Carl A. Trocki Chinese Society* Change, conflict and resistance Edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden Mao’s Children in the New China* Voices from the Red Guard generation Yarong Jiang and David Ashley Remaking the Chinese State* Strategies, society and security Edited by Chien-min Chao and Bruce J. Dickson Korean Society* Civil society, democracy and the state Edited by Charles K. Armstrong The Making of Modern Korea* Adrian Buzo The Resurgence of East Asia* 500, 150 and 50 Year perspectives Edited by Giovanni Arrighi, Takeshi Hamashita and Mark Selden Chinese Society, second edition* Change, conflict and resistance Edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden Ethnicity in Asia* Edited by Colin Mackerras The Battle for Asia* From decolonization to globalization Mark T. Berger State and Society in 21st Century China* Edited by Peter Hays Gries and Stanley Rosen Japan’s Quiet Transformation* Social change and civil society in the 21st century Jeff Kingston Confronting the Bush Doctrine* Critical views from the Asia-Pacific Edited by Mel Gurtov and Peter Van Ness China in War and Revolution, 1895–1949* Peter Zarrow The Future of US–Korean Relations* The imbalance of power Edited by John Feffer Working in China* Ethnographies of labor and workplace transformations Edited by Ching Kwan Lee Korean Society, second edition* Civil society, democracy and the state Edited by Charles K. Armstrong Singapore* The State and the Culture of Excess Souchou Yao Pan-Asianism in Modern Japanese History* Colonialism, regionalism and borders Edited by Sven Saaler and J. Victor Koschmann The Making of Modern Korea, 2nd Edition* Adrian Buzo Re-writing Culture in Taiwan Edited by Fang-long Shih, Stuart Thompson, and Paul-François Tremlett Reclaiming Chinese Society* The New Social Activism Edited by You-tien Hsing and Ching Kwan Lee Girl Reading Girl in Japan Edited by Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley Chinese Politics* State, society and the market Edited by Peter Hays Gries and Stanley Rosen Chinese Society, third edition* Change, conflict and resistance Edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden Mapping Modernity in Shanghai Space, gender, and visual culture in the Sojourners’ City, 1853–98 Samuel Y. Liang Minorities and Multiculturalism in Japanese Education An interactive perspective Edited by Ryoko Tsuneyoshi, Kaori H. Okano and Sarane Boocock Japan’s Wartime Medical Atrocities Comparative inquiries in science, history, and ethics Edited by Jing-Bao Nie, Nanyan Guo, Mark Selden and Arthur Kleinman State and Society in Modern Rangoon Donald M. Seekins Asia’s Great Cities Each volume aims to capture the heartbeat of the contemporary city from multiple perspectives emblematic of the authors own deep familiarity with the distinctive faces of the city, its history, society, culture, politics and economics, and its evolv- ing position in national, regional and global frameworks. While most volumes emphasize urban developments since the Second World War, some pay close attention to the legacy of the longue durée in shaping the contemporary . Thematic and comparative volumes address such themes as urbanization, economic and financial linkages, architecture and space, wealth and power , gendered relation- ships, planning and anarchy, and ethnographies in national and regional perspec- tive. Titles include: Bangkok* Place, practice and representation Marc Askew Representing Calcutta* Modernity, nationalism and the colonial uncanny Swati Chattopadhyay Singapore* Wealth, power and the culture of control Carl A. Trocki The City in South Asia James Heitzman Global Shanghai, 1850–2010* A history in fragments Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom Hong Kong* Becoming a global city Stephen Chiu and Tai-Lok Lui Asia.com This series focuses on the ways in which new information and communication technologies are influencing politics, society and culture in Asia. Titles include: Japanese Cybercultures* Edited by Mark McLelland and Nanette Gottlieb Asia.com* Asia encounters the Internet Edited by K. C. Ho, Randolph Kluver and Kenneth C. C. Yang The Internet in Indonesia’s New Democracy* David T. Hill and Krishna Sen Chinese Cyberspaces* Technological changes and political effects Edited by Jens Damm and Simona Thomas Mobile Media in the Asia-Pacific Gender and the art of being mobile Larissa Hjorth Literature and Society Literature and Society is a series that seeks to demonstrate the ways in which Asian Literature is influenced by the politics, society and culture in which it is produced. Titles include: The Body in Postwar Japanese Fiction Douglas N. Slaymaker Chinese Women Writers and the Feminist Imagination, 1905–1948* Haiping Yan Routledge Studies in Asia’s Transformations Routledge Studies in Asia’s Transformations is a forum for innovative new research intended for a high-level specialist readership. Titles include: The American Occupation of Japan and Okinawa* Literature and memory Michael Molasky Koreans in Japan* Critical voices from the margin Edited by Sonia Ryang Internationalizing the Pacific The United States, Japan and the Institute of Pacific Relations in war and peace, 1919–1945 Tomoko Akami Imperialism in South East Asia* ‘A fleeting, passing phase’ Nicholas Tarling Chinese Media, Global Contexts* Edited by Chin-Chuan Lee Remaking Citizenship in Hong Kong* Community, nation and the global city Edited by Agnes S. Ku and Ngai Pun Japanese Industrial Governance Protectionism and the licensing state Yul Sohn Developmental Dilemmas* Land reform and institutional change in China Edited by Peter Ho Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan* Edited by Mark McLelland and Romit Dasgupta Fertility, Family Planning and Population Policy in China* Edited by Dudley L. Poston, Che-Fu Lee, Chiung-Fang Chang, Sherry L. McKibben and Carol S. Walther Japanese Diasporas* Unsung pasts, conflicting presents and uncertain futures Edited by Nobuko Adachi How China Works* Perspectives on the twentieth-century industrial workplace Edited by Jacob Eyferth Remolding and Resistance among Writers of the Chinese Prison Camp Disciplined and published Edited by Philip F. Williams and Yenna Wu Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan* Edited by Matthew Allen and Rumi Sakamoto medi@sia* Global media/tion in and out of context Edited by Todd Joseph Miles Holden and Timothy J. Scrase Vientiane Transformations of a Lao landscape Marc Askew, William S. Logan and Colin Long State Formation and Radical Democracy in India Manali Desai Democracy in Occupied Japan The U.S. occupation and Japanese politics and society Edited by Mark E. Caprio and Yoneyuki Sugita Globalization, Culture and Society in Laos Boike Rehbein Transcultural Japan* At the borderlands of race, gender, and identity Edited by David Blake Willis and Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu Post-Conflict Heritage, Post- Colonial Tourism Culture, politics and development at Angkor Tim Winter Education and Reform in China* Emily Hannum and Albert Park Writing Okinawa: Narrative Acts of Identity and Resistance Davinder L. Bhowmik Maid in China Media, mobility, and a new semiotic of power Wanning Sun Northern Territories, Asia-Pacific Regional Conflicts and the Åland Experience Untying the Kurillian knot Edited by Kimie Hara and Geoffrey Jukes Reconciling Indonesia Grassroots agency for peace Birgit Bräuchler Singapore in the Malay World Building and breaching regional bridges Lily Zubaidah Rahim Pirate Modernity Delhi’s media urbanism Ravi Sundaram The World Bank and the post-Washington Consensus in Vietnam and Indonesia Inheritance of loss Susan Engel China on Video Smaller screen realities Paola Voci Critical Asian Scholarship Critical Asian Scholarship is a series intended to showcase the most important individual contributions to scholarship in Asian Studies. Each of the volumes presents a leading Asian scholar addressing themes that are central to his or her most significant and lasting contribution toAsian studies. The series is committed to the rich variety of research and writing on Asia, and is not restricted to any particular discipline, theoretical approach or geographical expertise. Southeast Asia* A testament George McT. Kahin Women and the Family in Chinese History* Patricia Buckley Ebrey China Unbound* Evolving perspectives on the Chinese past Paul A. Cohen China’s Past, China’s Future* Energy, food, environment Vaclav Smil The Chinese State in Ming Society* Timothy Brook China, East Asia and the Global Economy* Regional and historical perspectives Takeshi Hamashita Edited by Mark Selden and Linda Grove The Global and Regional in China’s Nation-Formation* Prasenjit Duara Overseas Chinese, Ethnic Minorities and Nationalism De-centering China Elena Barabantseva First published 2011 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2011 Elena Barabantseva The right of Elena Barabantseva to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Barabantseva, Elena. Overseas Chinese, ethnic minorities, and nationalism: de-centering China / Elena Barabantseva. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Minorities—China. 2. Nationalism—China. 3. Chinese—Foreign countries—Politics and government. 4. Nation-building—China. 5. China—Ethnic relations—Political aspects. 6. China—Politics and government—2002– 7. Transnationalism—Case studies. I. Title. JQ1506.M5B37 2010 320.540951—dc22 2010006919 ISBN13: 978–0–415–57950–6 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–84546–2 (ebk) This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. ISBN 0-203-84546-3 Master e-book ISBN Contents List of illustrations xv Acknowledgements xvii List of abbreviations xix Introduction 1 1 Overseas Chinese and ethnic minorities in imperial and Republican China 18 2 Overseas Chinese and minority nationalities in socialist nation-building 39 3 Post-socialist modernisation and China’s national outlook 64 4 Ethnic minorities and overseas Chinese in the post-socialist modernisation discourse 88 5 Transnationalising Chineseness: ‘overseas Chinese work’ in the reform period 108 6 The politics of localisation: ethnic minorities in post-socialist modernisation 138 Conclusion 160 Notes 168 Bibliography 181 Index 200 Illustrations Figures 3.1 Yangtze River model 76 3.2 Peace Dove strategy of China’s international modernisation 84 6.1 Regional divisions of the People’s Republic of China 151 Tables 5.1 Overseas Chinese law and documents 112 5.2 Overseas Chinese remittances to the PRC, 1982–99 115 5.3 Overseas Chinese foreign direct investments in China, 1979–2000 116 6.1 Han and minority populations in the western region, 2000 154 6.2 GDP in central and western provinces, 1999 and 2002 156 Acknowledgements This book evolved from the PhD thesis which I started at the University of Manchester in the early 2000s. Throughout its lifetime, this research project has benefited from many people who I met in Manchester and beyond. My first word of gratitude goes to Peter Lawler who agreed to supervise my PhD project and assisted with funding applications. Peter showed great interest in the subject, which is not his area of specialty , and expressed a comforting confi- dence in the project. I am also grateful to my co-supervisor Susanne Brandstädter for her attentive supervision and words of encouragement. This book would not have materialised from the PhD thesis without the involvement of two people. I am grateful to my mentor at Manchester , William A. Callahan, for breaking the institutional barriers and existing hierarchies, and becoming a good friend. His advice and support were indispensable for bringing this book project to fruition. I cannot thank Mark Selden enough for his generos- ity and passion for scholarship, as well as for his attention to detail and meticu- lous editing. I am deeply indebted to David Goodman, Frank Pieke, Pál Nyíri, Jim Seymour , Outi Luova, Gunter Schubert, and Shogo Suzuki who all, at dif ferent stages, expressed interest in my research and spent their time reading parts of the manu- script. Their insightful comments and criticisms have been extremely useful.Tom Fenton and Tom Wells, two editors who I happened to work with during this project, contributed greatly to making the manuscript read better . My thanks also go to the funding bodies without whose financial support this project could neither have been started, nor accomplished. I am thankful to the Faculty of Social Science and the Overseas Scholarship Scheme of the University of Manchester for paying the tuition fees, and to the Hulme Hall Trust, which not only gave me an opportunity to find a shelter in the friendly environment of Hulme Hall for three years but also supported me on my two trips to China. I am grateful to the Vice-Chancellors Fund of the for their . generous support on my first trip to China. I would also like to thank the follow- ing organizations and funding bodies for sponsoring my contributions to different conferences at national and international levels: the China Universities’ Committee in London, the British International Studies Association, the Chester Fund, the British Association of Chinese Studies, the Economic and Social Research xviii Acknowledgements Council, and the Universities’ Service Centre for China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I would like to thank those who helped me or ganise and carry out my fieldwork in China, especially my fellow PhD student at Manchester , Wu Guofu, for helping me to make contacts in China and for giving the most useful guidance on doing fieldwork there. I would like to thank Wang Jianmin and Zhang Haiyang of the Central University of Nationalities, and Li Anshan of Beijing University for help- ing me to arrange interviews. The circle of my friends worldwide abounds. They all provided me with great support through their friendship. Even when we have not been in touch for months or even years, there is always a strong sense of their support present. The list is far too long to be included here, but I hope you all know who you are. My deepest debt of gratitude is reserved for my family in Belarus, Canada, and Spain. They were first forced to engage in the PhD process and then manuscript writing – despite their geographical distance – and stoically provided their emo- tional support throughout. Parts of the book have been published as journal articles. I thank the journals for giving their permission to reproduce earlier ar guments in this book. Parts of Chapter 3 appeared in ‘From the Language of Class to the Rhetoric of Development: Discourse of “Nationality” and “Ethnicity” in China’, Journal of Contemporary China 17(56): 565–589. Chapter 5 is a revised and updated ver - sion of ‘Trans-nationalising Chineseness: Overseas Chinese Policies of the PRC’ s Central Government’, ASIEN 96 (July 2005): 7–28. The argument presented in Chapter 6 is revised from ‘Development as Localization: Ethnic Minorities in China’s Official Discourse on the Western Development Project’, Critical Asian Studies 41(2), 2009: 225–254. Most of all I would like to thank Eduardo and Sofia for entering my life at the speed of light, and making it so much more fulfilling and complete. Abbreviations ACFROC All-China’s Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese CCP Chinese Communist Party CCTV China Central Television CPPCC Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference FBIS Foreign Broadcast Information Service FDI Foreign direct investments GMD Guomindang LRNA Law on Regional and National Autonomy NAC Nationalities Affairs Commission NPC National People’s Congress NPCOCC Overseas Chinese Commission of the National People’s Congress OCAC Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission OCAO Overseas Chinese Affairs Office PLA People’s Liberation Army PRC People’s Republic of China SC State Council UFWD United Front Work Department WDP Western Development Project