Nationality and Ethnic Identification: Recognition as a Minority

The 1982 population census showed that the nationality identity of 800,000 persons (1.2 percent of all minority members) had not yet been definitively classified. ¹ Although this figure seems relatively small, it does bring up the question of how the term "nationality" is actually defined in China and why, after four decades of the People's Republic, 800,000 persons still have no official nationality.