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Uh, yes. For the country as a whole Han Chinese are 91.6%. The workers who go to Kenya are probably from coastal regions, where the ratio will be even higher.

by m3nu 8y ago

Uh, yes. For the country as a whole Han Chinese are 91.6%. The workers who go to Kenya are probably from coastal regions, where the ratio will be even higher. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...

inferiorhuman 8y ago
Uh, no. There are fifty five formally recognized by the PRC including ones they're actively trying to exterminate (e.g. Uyghur). Within the Han community there is still a significant amount of diversity including countless dialects of the Mandarin and Cantonese languages. Your comment is a bit like claiming that with all the white people in Europe, it's not a very diverse place. In contrast the Japanese government recognizes about four indigenous races.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
  Your comment and the parent can be true at the same time. A quick search leads me to this Wikipedia entry that claims exactly that: As of 2010, the combined population of officially recognised minority groups comprised 8.49% of the population of mainland China. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_minorities_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_minorities_in_China
- PakG1 8y ago
  I think you genuinely think you're right and everyone else wrong. I'm not sure how to explain to you the implications of over 90% if you don't understand already. China could have a million ethnic groups and it wouldn't change the specific situation being discussed when you have one group over 90%.
- m3nu 8y ago
  Coastal regions are 98% Han Chinese. They love to tell you about those 50 ethnic groups, but most of them live in the "wild west". Places, like Tibet that China annexed at some point. Normal Chinese don't have much contact with those groups. They don't work in the same office or date. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/8ojye4/percentage_of_han_chinese_in_chinas_provinces/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/8ojye4/percentage_...
- ithkuil 8y ago
  I don't understand why you're taking Japan as a contrasting example. Japan has roughly one tenth of China's population. According to your own numbers they have one tenth of native ethnicities. Thus that metric is not striking me as contrasting. Perhaps a better metric would be the ratio of the dominant ethnic group to the whole population which Japan is perhaps is the country that has the highest one.
- cepth 8y ago
  I don’t think the parent commenter is far off here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_China#Ethnic_groups https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_China#Ethnic.... Granted, Han Chinese in the modern sense is a bit of a constructed identity (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6e312e/is_the_han_identity_a_modern_construction_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6e312e/is_th...), but it’s a construction that has held up in China. With the exception of Guangdong and Hong Kong, you aren’t going to find many TV stations or newspapers that are carrying content in non-Mandarin Chinese. Yes, when I visit older family in the countryside, they may still speak their local dialect, but that is becoming increasingly rare: https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/06/on-saving-chinas-dying-languages/276971/ https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/06/on-saving-.... Unlike in the US where African and French influences produced creole, and American pop culture has strong African and Latin influences, I don’t think minority group culture in China has anywhere near the same pull. Yes, they may trot out ethnic minority performers once a year during the CCTV New Year’s Gala, but you will not find “minority” singers charting on best seller lists, or “minority” actors in leading entertainment roles. A 90%+ majority ethnic group is on par with what we see in Western Europe. Do Europeans see themselves as primarily multi-ethnic states? The self-description of a “melting pot” that is commonly used in the US, Canada, and even Central America don’t seem to be nearly as prevalent in Europe.
  - reversengineer 8y ago
    >With the exception of Guangdong and Hong Kong, you aren’t going to find many TV stations or newspapers that are carrying content in non-Mandarin Chinese. Just a quick clarification: Mandarin is a spoken form of Chinese, and therefore cannot be "printed" in a newspaper. In Guangdong, the newspapers are printed in simplified Chinese characters. In Hong Kong, the newspapers are printed in traditional Chinese characters.
    - messe 8y ago
      Um. No. Mandarin is a language. Cantonese, which in your example is used in Hong Kong, is grammatically distinct from Mandarin. Changing from simplified to traditional characters or vice versa is not sufficient to translate from one to the other.

by m3nu 8y ago

inferiorhuman 8y ago

Uh, no. There are fifty five formally recognized by the PRC including ones they're actively trying to exterminate (e.g. Uyghur). Within the Han community there is still a significant amount of diversity including countless dialects of the Mandarin and Cantonese languages. Your comment is a bit like claiming that with all the white people in Europe, it's not a very diverse place. In contrast the Japanese government recognizes about four indigenous races.

TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
Your comment and the parent can be true at the same time. A quick search leads me to this Wikipedia entry that claims exactly that: As of 2010, the combined population of officially recognised minority groups comprised 8.49% of the population of mainland China. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_minorities_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_minorities_in_China
PakG1 8y ago
I think you genuinely think you're right and everyone else wrong. I'm not sure how to explain to you the implications of over 90% if you don't understand already. China could have a million ethnic groups and it wouldn't change the specific situation being discussed when you have one group over 90%.
m3nu 8y ago
Coastal regions are 98% Han Chinese. They love to tell you about those 50 ethnic groups, but most of them live in the "wild west". Places, like Tibet that China annexed at some point. Normal Chinese don't have much contact with those groups. They don't work in the same office or date. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/8ojye4/percentage_of_han_chinese_in_chinas_provinces/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/8ojye4/percentage_...
ithkuil 8y ago
I don't understand why you're taking Japan as a contrasting example. Japan has roughly one tenth of China's population. According to your own numbers they have one tenth of native ethnicities. Thus that metric is not striking me as contrasting. Perhaps a better metric would be the ratio of the dominant ethnic group to the whole population which Japan is perhaps is the country that has the highest one.
cepth 8y ago
I don’t think the parent commenter is far off here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_China#Ethnic_groups https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_China#Ethnic.... Granted, Han Chinese in the modern sense is a bit of a constructed identity (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6e312e/is_the_han_identity_a_modern_construction_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6e312e/is_th...), but it’s a construction that has held up in China. With the exception of Guangdong and Hong Kong, you aren’t going to find many TV stations or newspapers that are carrying content in non-Mandarin Chinese. Yes, when I visit older family in the countryside, they may still speak their local dialect, but that is becoming increasingly rare: https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/06/on-saving-chinas-dying-languages/276971/ https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/06/on-saving-.... Unlike in the US where African and French influences produced creole, and American pop culture has strong African and Latin influences, I don’t think minority group culture in China has anywhere near the same pull. Yes, they may trot out ethnic minority performers once a year during the CCTV New Year’s Gala, but you will not find “minority” singers charting on best seller lists, or “minority” actors in leading entertainment roles. A 90%+ majority ethnic group is on par with what we see in Western Europe. Do Europeans see themselves as primarily multi-ethnic states? The self-description of a “melting pot” that is commonly used in the US, Canada, and even Central America don’t seem to be nearly as prevalent in Europe.
- reversengineer 8y ago
  >With the exception of Guangdong and Hong Kong, you aren’t going to find many TV stations or newspapers that are carrying content in non-Mandarin Chinese. Just a quick clarification: Mandarin is a spoken form of Chinese, and therefore cannot be "printed" in a newspaper. In Guangdong, the newspapers are printed in simplified Chinese characters. In Hong Kong, the newspapers are printed in traditional Chinese characters.
  - messe 8y ago
    Um. No. Mandarin is a language. Cantonese, which in your example is used in Hong Kong, is grammatically distinct from Mandarin. Changing from simplified to traditional characters or vice versa is not sufficient to translate from one to the other.