ABSTRACT
As I mention in Chapter 1, the more an ethnic minority identifies itself with the Chinese nation, the less it probably needs to distinguish the Han from itself. I have also suggested that the Chinese consciousness of a minority is stronger if its members feel less need to make a distinction from the Han. There are two situations where Chinese consciousness may be strong in an ethnic neighborhood. The first is that this particular minority has weak ethnic consciousness. A case in point is perhaps the Tujia and Miao minorities in the Western Hunan Autonomous Prefecture, described in Chapter 5. The present chapter will deal with the second situation, in which a minority have such a clear ethnic identity that there is no way that their Chinese consciousness will threaten it. Identity politics for a minority is always hard to conceptualize. 1 Strong ethnic identity does not always lead to a sense of security. It often reflects a sense of crisis or lack of security. The Koreans, the Tibetans, the Taiwanese aboriginals, and so on are cases that come to mind. In contrast, the Man and the Muslim identities are very secure. These differ from each other, however. In the case of the Muslims, the Chinese identity and the Muslim identity run parallel. The Muslim people identify with the Chinese nation and with Islam at different times, in different places, and on different issues.
