ABSTRACT
The processes of globalisation have already made a significant impact on China, and with increasing acceleration since the country joined the WTO in December 2001. In general, the impact of globalisation on the minorities and the minority areas has been much slighter than on the richer areas of the eastern seaboard. This is because the minority areas are in general less highly developed, less urbanised and less accessible to the forces of globalisation than the Han areas. They attract much less foreign capital and fewer foreign commodities and services than do the main Han regions.
