V. Equal Rights and Special Protection for Ethnic Minorities
In China, like citizens of the Han ethnic group, citizens of ethnic
minorities equally enjoy all the rights accorded to Chinese citizens by the
Constitution and laws. But they also enjoy some special rights accorded to
ethnic minorities by law.
By electing deputies to the NPC from their own ethnic groups, all ethnic
minorities exercise the right to participate in the administration of state
affairs. Starting from the First NPC, the proportions of deputies of ethnic
minorities among the total number of deputies in every NPC have been higher than
the proportions of their populations in the nation's total population in the
corresponding periods. The Tenth NPC has 415 ethnic-minority deputies,
accounting for 13.91 percent of the total and 5.5 percentage points higher than
the proportion of their total population in the nation's total population. Every
ethnic group has its NPC deputy or deputies. Ethnic groups each with a
population of more than one million have member(s) on the NPC Standing
Committee. People of all ethnic groups in ethnic autonomous areas are entitled
to vote and stand for election, as provided for in the Constitution and other
laws. By electing deputies to the local people's congresses and establishing
local organs of self-government, they exercise their democratic rights to manage
the internal affairs of their own ethnic groups in their autonomous areas. Among
the chairmen or vice-chairmen of the standing committees of the people's
congresses of all 155 ethnic autonomous areas in China there are citizens of the
ethnic group or groups exercising regional autonomy in the area concerned. The
heads of all autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties
are all citizens of the ethnic groups exercising regional autonomy in the areas
concerned.
Increased financial input from the state has brought
about rapid economic and social development in ethnic-minority areas and
continuously improved the living standard of ethnic minority peoples. To
accelerate the development of China's western regions and ethnic autonomous
areas, the Chinese government launched a grand strategy for the development of
western China in 2000, which covers five autonomous regions, 27 autonomous
prefectures and 83 of the 120 autonomous counties (banners). In addition, three
other autonomous prefectures are allowed to enjoy the preferential policies the
state has adopted for the western regions. During the five years since the
kickoff of the strategy for the development of the western part of the country,
the construction of 60 key projects has begun, involving a total investment of
850 billion yuan. In 2004, the state started ten major projects to develop
western China, with a total investment of 80 billion yuan and covering the
fields of transportation, energy, education and public health. According to
statistics, in 2004, the GDP of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was 271.2, 332, 21, 46 and 220 billion
yuan, respectively, representing increases of 19.4, 11.8, 12.4, 11, and 11.1
percent respectively over the previous year. The state continues its efforts to
invigorate the border areas and help people in those areas become wealthy. In
addition to the areas where pilot projects had been launched, in 2004, the state
designated another 37 counties for special support. From 2000 to 2004, a total
of 264 million yuan from the central treasury was allocated to invigorate border
areas and make their residents better off. Funds from other sources across the
country totaled more than 15 billion yuan, and they were used for the
construction of more than 20,000 projects.
Education in ethnic-minority areas has advanced with great strides. The
ethnic autonomous areas are key targets for the state's plans to basically make
nine-year compulsory education universal and basically eliminate illiteracy
among the young and middle-aged population. Special educational funds allocated
by the state and key educational projects undertaken by the state are steered to
the ethnic minority areas. The "Compulsory Education Project for Impoverished
Areas" launched by the state is also geared to the ethnic minority areas in the
western part of the country. During the period of the Tenth Five-Year Plan
(2001-2005), the state has set aside 5 billion yuan for the continuous
implementation of the second phase of the "Compulsory Education Project for
Impoverished Areas." More than 80 percent of the funds has been or will be used
in western China and other areas where ethnic minorities live in compact
communities. So far, 4 billion yuan has already been used to repair or rebuild
dilapidated buildings of primary and middle schools in the countryside, of which
57 percent has been used in western China and other areas where ethnic
minorities live in compact communities. Eighty-three percent of the school-age
children in Xinjiang, Tibet, Ningxia and Qinghai get free textbooks. In the
agricultural and pastoral areas of Tibet, school-age children not only are
exempted from school fees but also are provided with free meals and
accommodation. Students in 56 counties in Xinjiang get free textbooks and
notebooks, and are exempted from paying school fees. In Yunnan Province,
students who are exempted from paying for their textbooks, notebooks and school
fees totaled 409,000 in 2004, an increase of 92,000 compared with the previous
year. China now has 13 ethnic institutions of higher learning, which enroll
mainly students of ethnic-minority origin. In order to train people of ability
for Tibet and Xinjiang, these colleges and universities have made special
efforts to run preparatory classes for minority peoples, classes for minority
peoples, and classes for students from Xinjiang. In 2004, the Dachang Advanced
Experimental Middle School in Hebei Province set up classes for students from
the western part of China, which enrolled 108 senior high school students of
ethnic minority origin from Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hubei and Ningxia. These
students will study there until they complete their senior high school program.
When enrolling new students, institutions of higher learning and secondary
specialized schools usually lower the admission criteria for ethnic-minority
applicants, and give preferential treatment to students from ethnic groups with
extremely small populations.
The state provides support to organs of self-government of autonomous areas
to independently develop cultural undertakings in ethnic languages and with
ethnic characteristics, including literature, art, news, publishing,
broadcasting, movies and television programs. It organizes and provides support
for the collecting, editing, translating and publishing of historical and
cultural books of ethnic minorities. It protects scenic spots and historical
sites, valuable cultural relics, and other important items of the local cultural
heritage, and inherits and carries forward the traditional culture of the ethnic
groups. The state has established a national ethnic-minority ancient books
publishing planning team to sort out ancient books of ethnic minorities. Now,
institutions for the editing of and research in ancient books of ethnic
minorities have been established in 25 provinces (autonomous regions and
municipalities directly under the central government), 130 autonomous
prefectures and leagues across the country. They have collected 120,000 titles
of ancient books of ethnic minorities and published over 5,000 of them. By the
end of 2004, China had 30 world heritage sites including cultural, natural sites
and the mixed. Two of the cultural heritage sites, namely, the Potala Palace in
Lhasa and the Old Town of Lijiang, and three of the natural heritage sites,
namely, Jiuzhaigou Scenic & Historic Interest Area, Huanglong Scenic &
Historic Interest Area and the Three Parallel Rivers scenic spot, are located in
ethnic autonomous areas. In addition, the Dongba classical documents of the Naxi
ethnic group are included in the World Memory Heritage List. A National
Traditional Ethnic Minority Sports Meet is held every four years. The
development of the traditional medicine of the ethnic groups is thriving. At
present, Tibet produces 293 kinds of Tibetan medicine, with an annual output of
over 1,500 tons. Tibetan ready-made medicine has found its way to the national
public medicare market. The total annual output value of Tibetan medicine
producers is more than 450 million yuan.
The state attaches great importance to ecological construction and
environmental protection in ethnic autonomous areas. All the four key areas and
four key projects listed in the "National Ecological Environment Construction
Plan" of the Chinese government are in ethnic minority areas. The "Natural
Forest Protection Project" and the projects for converting farming land back to
forestry and pasture are mostly in ethnic minority areas. Nearly half of the 226
national nature reserves are located in those areas. In addition, the central
government has launched the "Project for Comprehensive Improvement of the
Environment of the Tarim Basin" in Xinjiang and the "Project for Protection of
the Source of the Three Rivers" in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in
Qinghai, and attaches great importance to the ecological improvement of the
karst areas in southern China.
