TIP # 1 China and Its people.
Submitted by Pierre Sirois
1. Teaching opportunities:
I teach a tenth grade world cultures class that examines the various regions and
cultural regions of the world. I plan to use this lesion to expand on the student’s
knowledge about China and hopefully change their preconceived notions of what it
means to be Chinese. These lessons will be taught in relation to East Grand Rapids Public
Schools 10th grade Social Studies Standards.
Introduction
When Students are asked to imagine China and what a Chinese person looks like
they will usually envision a Han Chinese person. This lesson will broaden students
understanding of ethnic make up of the county.
Student Objectives, by the end of the lesson they should:
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Realize that China’s population is more than the Han.
Locate where the 11 main ethnic groups live in China and plot them on a
map
Understand how geography and location affects the way of life of a
people. (Nomadic/ farmer)
Understand China’s official policy towards minorities and the pressures
minorities face in China today.
Timeframe: This lesson will take 2-3 days to complete.
Teacher back ground reading.
In the 1980s the Chinese government recognized fifty-six nationalities in China, the
majority Han grouping and fifty-five minority nationalities.
These fifty-six nationalities are extremely diverse. Some of the minorities, including the
Hui and the Zhuang, are very similar to the Han; others are very different, for instance,
the Turkic peoples of the west such as the Uygurs or Kazakhs, or the Iranian Tajiks. The
Minority nationalities occupy about 60 per cent of China's territory, including, above all,
the vast western areas.
Chinese policy officially opposes forced assimilation and allows autonomy to the
minority nationalities, so that they can retain their own characteristics. Under this policy,
the government has set up numerous autonomous areas throughout China. The policy's
real effect, however, can best be described as integration.
China’s Policy on Secession
Both policy and reality are fiercely opposed to outright secession, which the government
has suppressed brutally on several occasions. Such occasions occurred in the years of
1959, 1987, and 1989. Most of the minorities have succeeded in integrating reasonably
well with the Han, but independence or secessionist and wishes have remained strong
among a few, particularly the Tibetans. Ethnic dissent among some nationalities could
easily develop as an issue in the coming years.
Procedure
Start up: Ask students to imagine what a Chinese person looks like. Put their remarks
on the board. Share with the information about the ethnic diversity of China.
Hand out blank outline map of china.
List the 11 major ethnic groups on the board. Have students comment on what they think
about the variety of peoples that occupy china. Ask them to think how they will look
different according to where they live and what life style they have.
Using the blank outline map of China, have the students look at a slide of the physical
regions of china and plot key physical features on their map. (See power point)
Then have them plot which regions the different groups of people live. (See power
point) Make them suppose how the geography of the region will affect the people that
live there.
Then show them the Slides of each group and make them draw conclusions about how
they live from what they see in the photos and where they live in the country.
Han Chinese 91.9%,
Zhuang,
Uygur,
Hui,
Yi,
Tibetan,
Miao,
Manchu,
Mongol,
Buyi, Korean,
and other nationalities 8.1%
Lead a class discussion on what we can learn from these photos about minorities in
China.
Next have them become an expert on one of the minorities in China. They must make a
presentation that will explain that minorities’ culture and problems it is facing in the
country today. (This information can be found easily on the internet)
After students made their presentation lead a class discussion looking for similarities and
differences that minorities’ share in China.
Lead a discussion on what is china’s official policy, what its policy on succession is and
how it actually treats minorities in China. (Share policy from teacher notes)
Debate Activity: Have students debate the following question: Does China’s official
policy towards minorities match the actually treatment of minorities in China?
Conclusion activity: Restate the student objectives in the form of questions. Make sure
the students are able to answer and explain the questions.
References:
Attached Power point slide show.
http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Minorities/index.html