Western political scientists have tended to neglect the ethnic dimension in China, and have overemphasized the development from large empire to unified nation. This book brings together a number of case studies on the ethnic and regional dimensions of Chinese politics and society.

This title was first published in 2000: This text aims to provide a clear understanding of the complex relationship that exists between nationalism, national identity, the state, the direction and trend of China's transition and the subsequent prospects for democratization. While describing the rise of Chinese nationalism and the accompanying discourse on Chinese national identity, it focuses on the national identity question and its impact on democratization. The text argues that Chinese nationalism is not monolithic and that popular Chinese nationalism attempts to exclude the role of the party-state in defining national identity. Most importantly, it has the potential to demand democratic reform and push for democratization in China. Nevertheless, the alliance between nationalism and democracy will expedient. Chinese nationalism, whether official or popular, comes into conflict with democracy when it confronts the national identity/boundary problem. They clash with each other where territoriality is involved. The Chinese nationalist solution to the problem is logically and inherently opposed to the contemporary trend towards democracy.

Beijing has faced the challenge of granting autonomy to ethnic minorities but maintaining their loyalty to the Chinese state. This paper tackles complex issues of ethnic identity and nationalism among the most politically sensitive groups in China: the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Mongols, Huis, and Kazaks. Specifically, it draws on original research conducted by the authors, the 2006-2007 Chinese Ethnicity Surveys, to explore the extent to which ethnic minorities are sinicized and the meaning of being Chinese. With an analysis of current arguments about whether national identity in contemporary China is based on a Han-dominant Confucian tradition or a multiethnic society that originated during the Qing empire, Separate but Loyal examines ethnic identity through the lens of ethnic-language learning, religious practices, and interethnic marriage. It also provides an illuminating comparison of perceptions of group identity and national identity in China with those in the United States and Russia. The survey points to some surprising findings, including the fact that ethnic minorities in China showed higher levels of both ethnic identity and national identity than U.S. and Russian respondents. These findings seem to support the argument that national identity is based on the multiethnic Chinese state, and they offer a rare empirical perspective on how the government can maintain the balance needed to preserve its legitimacy.

For China, Taiwan is next in line to be unified with the People's Republic after Hong Kong in 1997. China's claim on Taiwan is of great importance to the politics of Chinese Nationalism, and is central to the dynamics of power in this most volatile of regions. The democratic challenge from Taiwan is very potent and its status and identity within the international community is crucial to its survival. Taiwan and Chinese Nationalism explores how Taiwan's status has come to be a symbol for the legitimacy of the Chinese regime in the evolution of Chinese nationalism. It also demonstrates how this view has been challenged by demands for democratization in Taiwan. The KMT regime is shown to have allowed sovereignty to be practised by the population of the island while maintaining the claim that it is a part of China. The result is a "post-nationalist" identity for the island in an intermediate state between independence and unification with the PRC.

Drawing upon extensive fieldwork in the Xinjiang oasis of Turpan, Rudelson assesses the factors that undermine the creation of a pan-Uyghur identity.

This book explores the revival of Chinese nationalism in the 1990s, and analyses the ways in which the West deals with this phenomenon. Yongnian Zheng discusses the complicated nature of China's new nationalism and presents the reader with a very different picture to that portrayed in Western readings of Chinese nationalism. He argues that China's new nationalism has been a reaction to changes in the country's international circumstances and can be regarded as a 'voice' over the existing unjustified international order. Zheng shows that the present Chinese leadership is pursuing strategies not to isolate China, but to integrate it into the international community. Based on the author's extensive research in China, the book provides a set of provocative arguments against prevailing Western attitudes to and perceptions of China's nationalism.