Process Of Urbanization In The City For Ethnic Studies

Ethnic problems are very complex and very important social issues since the emergence of nationalities. Generally, ethnic problems mainly refer to the various kinds of disagreements in the interactions between different ethnic groups in almost all aspects of social life: economy, politics, culture, etc. And the disagreements will run through the stages of the formation, the growth and the disappearance of the nationalities.With 56 nationalities, China is a unified ethnically plural country. Since the reform and opening-up at the end of 1970s, with the rapid progress in urbanization, especially with the Development of the West Regions, many people of ethnic groups leave from the Western regions for East China's coastal regions and economically booming regions. Meanwhile, more and more Han people enter the western regions. As a result, the population shift in western regions is more frequent, and the population of ethnic groups in the cities is becoming larger. This phenomenon brings about more disagreements between ethnic groups, owing to the differences in interest, culture, convention and costum. It is argued in this study that the preliminary stage of socialism is a stage of mutual development and mutual prosperity, it is in no sense a stage of nationality dying out. The difference between nationalities will exist for a long period of time. It is the same for the ethnic problems in China's cities. For a multi-nationality country like China, the problem usually interrelated with many social problems, involving all aspects of the society: politics, economy, culture, education, etc. These problems are closely related to China's sovereignty, integrity of territory, social stability, national defence, economic development and the solidarity of the nationalities.This research is based on the stance, insights and methods of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. It is also done in line with Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thoughts, Deng Xaioping Theory and the theory of the "Three Represents". Methodologically, this research employs such methods as interdisciplinary approach, systemic approach, deduction and conduction, field study and quantitative analysis.The dissertation has seven chapters.In Introduction, the significance and urgency of looking to the problem of urban ethnic groups is briefly discussed. In addition, the reasons for choosing Qingdao and Weihai as objects for case study are presented.Chapter One focuses on the origin of city and urbanization. The conceptssuch as city and urbanization, the process of urbanization in contemporary China and the problems in the process are discussed.Chapter Two concerns China's city and nationalities. It discusses the characteristics of ethnic groups in China's cities and the pluralism of the urban nationality culture.Chapter Three argues that China is still at its preliminary stage of socialism. And China's urbanization is at the same stage. The ethnic problems will ever last during this stage, the ethnic problems in urbanization are but a part of it.Chapter Four is a case study of the ethnic problems in urbanization: the ethnic problems in Qingdao. Since the reform and opening-up, there has been a marked increase in the population of ethnic groups settling in the city. A statistics of 2004 says that the floating population of ethnic groups in Qingdao amounts to 40 thousand. The study shows that the municipal government of Qingdao has done effective work in strengthening the service for and the management of ethnic groups, in fostering and selecting cadres from ethnic groups, in paying due attention to the problems and difficulties that challenged the ethnic groups, and in esteeming the customs and conventions of the ethnic groups.Chapter Five is a case study of the ethnic problems in the city of Weihai. As a booming open city, Weihai also experiences a rapid increase in the number of population of the ethnic groups. Faced with the new situation, Weihai chooses to strengthen the mediation of ethnic relations, to emphasize the improvement of the ethnic groups' li...