ABSTRACT
China has become noticeably more nationalist since the early 1990s. This trend is both reactive and proactive. The reactive process has developed in response to outside pressures, especially from the United States. From the point of view of ethnic minorities, the most important source of this nationalism is the constant criticism over China’s human rights record, notably that over Tibet and other minority areas. However, the growth in nationalism results also from internal factors like the continuing growth in the Chinese economy, its resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong in mid-1997 and Macau at the end of 1999, and its strategic power in the world.
