The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands - Softcover

Shin, Leo K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521189896 ISBN 13: 9780521189897

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2012

Synopsis

Leo Shin traces the roots of China's modern ethnic configurations to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Challenging the traditional view that China's expansion was primarily an exercise of incorporation and assimilation, Shin argues that as the center extended its reach to the wild and inaccessible south, the political interests of the state, the economic needs of the settlers, and the imaginations of the cultural elites all facilitated the demarcation and categorization of these borderland 'non-Chinese' populations. Similarly, modern-day Chinese rulers also find it critical to officially recognize a total of fifty-six 'nationalities'.

About this title

Book Description:

In this pioneering study of the relationships between the state and its borderlands, Leo Shin traces the roots of China's modern ethnic configurations to the Ming dynasty (1368SH1644). Challenging the view that China's expansion was primarily an exercise of assimilation, Shin argues that the political interests of the state and the economic needs of the settlers facilitated the categorization of borderland 'non-Chinese' populations. Shin concludes that modern-day Chinese rulers find it critical to maintain the myth of a unified multi-national state by officially recognising a total of fifty-six 'nationalities'.

About the Author:

Leo K. Shin is Assistant Professor of History and Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0521189896
• ISBN 13: 9780521189897
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 270