ABSTRACT
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), faith in the transformative power of economic development has played a central role in the government's nation-building efforts. Under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), China has generally adhered to a Marxist evolutionist theory that presupposes that all societies progress through stages of development, from primitive to advanced socialist. This concept still informs much of the government's thinking regarding economic development, particularly with regard to treatment of the country's minority nationality populations. In China, in addition to the important role given to economic development in the government's nation-building agenda, economic development also has significant implications for the formation of identity at the local level particularly through the development of ethnic tourism and the entrepreneurial activities of minorities. Ethnic tourism has also been criticised in terms of its capacity to achieve genuine economic development for those ethnic minorities it arguably exploits.
