China has been a unified multi-ethnic country since ancient times. After the founding of New China, a total of 56 ethnic groups were identified by the central government. Since the Han nationality (汉族) has the largest population in China and the other 55 ethnic groups have a smaller population, the latter is customarily referred as the ethnic minorities (少数民族). According to China's sixth census in 2010, the Han population account for 91.51%; the population of various ethnic minorities stands at 8.49%. Compared with the fifth national census in 2000, the Han population increased by 5.74%; the population of various ethnic minorities increased by 6.92%. China's ethnic minorities are mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Guangxi, Tibet, Yunnan, Guizhou, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Liaoning, Jilin, Hunan, Hubei, Hainan and other provinces and autonomous regions. The province with the most ethnic group in China is Yunnan Province (云南省). Among the 56 ethnic groups spread across China, 52 could be found in Yunnan, among which there are 26 ethnic groups with a population of 5,000 or more.
The book has 13 chapters in the following order:
Chapter 1: Overview of the Chinese Nationalities (第一章：中国民族概况)
Chapter 2: Names and populations of 55 Ethnic Minorities (第二章：中国55个少数民族的名字和人口)
Chapter 3: China's Autonomous Regions (第三章：中国的自治区)
Chapter 4: Han Nationality (第四章：汉族)
Chapter 5: Zhuang Nationality (第五章：壮族)
Chapter 6: The Huis (第六章：回族)
Chapter 7: Manchus (第七章：满族)
Chapter 8: Uighurs (第八章：维吾尔族)
Chapter 9: Differences between Uighurs and Huis (第九章：维吾尔族和回族之间的区别)
Chapter 10: The Miao (第十章：苗族)
Chapter 11: Yi People (第十一章：彝族)
Chapter 12: Tujia People (第十二章：土家族)
Chapter 13: The Tibetans (第十三章：藏族)
The current book volume, Chinese Ethnic Groups (中国少数民族), is a Chinese reading practice book. It would introduce you to the very important features of China's minority groups (such as their names, population, clothes, marriage, caste system, customs, autonomous regions, etc.). The 5th volume in the Introduction to Chinese Geography Series (中国地理百科全知道) includes both the Chinese text (simplified characters) and pinyin Romanization. With about over 1000 unique Chinese characters, the volume would be suitable for the beginners, lower intermediate and advanced level Chinese language learners (HSK 1-6). Overall, the reading series offers you a variety of elementary level books (Level 1/2/3/4/5/6) to understand China as well as practice Chinese reading fast. <br>
