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H-ASIA April 22, 2007 On the usage "laowai"/Chinese ideas of ethnicity ************************************************************************ From: Andrew Field <andrew.field@unsw.edu.au> Linda Dwyer's post carrying the discussion of "laowai" into the terrain of Chinese concepts of race and ethnicity invokes the excellent work of Emily Honig on the case of the Subei people of northern Jiangsu, who experienced all sorts of discrimination in Shanghai during the 20th century (and probably into the present day). Linda's post reminded me of an article by my former teacher, Pamela Crossley, who has worked extensively on issues of ethnicity and race for the case of the Manchus. In a nutshell, Crossley argues that the Manchu identity was invented during the early Qing for ideological and political purposes. I highly recommend her books to readers interested in this subject. She has also written a wonderful article for _Late Imperial China_ on the topic of ethnicity. Here is the citation: Pamela Crossley, "Thinking about Ethnicity in Early Modern China," in _Late Imperial China_ 11:2 [June 1990]:1-36 In graduate school, I wrote a synopsis of this article. I've dredged it out of the files buried deep in my hard disk and posted it on my blog: http://shanghaijournal.squarespace.com/journal/2007/4/23/thinking-about-ethnicity-and-race-in-china.html I am also reminded of former Columbia grad student Thomas Mullaney, whose outstanding dissertation* on PRC government policy towards ethnic nationalities earned him a position at Stanford. Thomas gave an excellent talk at the AAS a few years back, in which he mentioned that during the early 1950s, over 400 representatives of distinct ethnic minorities petitioned for status as nationalities. Only 55 were ultimately chosen. In conclusion, may I suggest that we collectively petition the PRC government to admit a new nationality into the cherished hall of 56 Chinese nationalities? We can call it "laowaizu"! Andrew Field University of NSW *Thomas Mullaney, _Coming to Terms with the Nation: Ethnic Classification and Scientific Statecraft in Modern China, 1928-1954_ (Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 2006) ************************************************************************* To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to: <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu> For holidays or short absences send post to: <listserv@h-net.msu.edu> with message: SET H-ASIA NOMAIL Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/
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