SIMONA PICCIAU
ABSTRACT: This article aims to explore the development of the minority nationalities’ policy since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 by Mao Zedong. The minority nationalities’ policy has been strongly influenced by the historical development of the Chinese nation, passing through a moderate period from 1949 to 1957, in which the government has recognized the right to autonomy and put in place an impressive process of recognition and classification of the 55 ethnic groups, a “radical” period corresponding to the decade of the Cultural Revolution, until the mid-1970s, in which the government has put in place strong policies of assimilation to the major group of the Han and a phase that can be defined as “moderate” and lasts until today, corresponding to the economical openness of the country launched by Deng Xiaoping in the post-Mao era.
Keywords: China; Minority Groups; Development; Language; Globalisation.