Regional discrimination in China

Regional discrimination in China or regionalism is overt prejudice against people based on their places of origin, ethnicity, sub-ethnicity, language, dialect, or their current provincial zones. China's sheer size and population renders much demographic understanding tied to locality, and there is often little life movement outside of a citizen's province of birth. Historically, internal migration has been tightly controlled, and many barriers to free movement exist today. Treatment of ethnic minorities and Han Chinese regional groups can hinge on preferential assumptions based on places of upbringing, and is often most pronounced towards those born external to urban zones.

When Chinese migrant settle in a new region, local residents can develop social attitudes and prejudgments based on the newcomer's place of birth. If a large volume of new residents relocate from a particular area, regionalism can manifest as sub-ethnic bias and provoke social tension.[1]

Currently, the CCP defines regionalism as adverse action or negative attitudes against another based on their home province. The Chinese state acknowledges this as a detrimental yet pervasive prejudice.[2]

Regional discrimination there can also be discrimination against person or a group of people who speak a particular language dialect.

The hukou household registry is a system that has been criticized as an entrenchment of social strata, especially as between rural and urban residency status, and is regarded by some as a form of caste system.

History

Regionalism has long been part of society in China. Generally, southern China is thought to be more regionalist than northern China. The Hakka people, despite being considered Han Chinese. This is thought to have led to various conflict such as the Taiping Rebellion and Hakka-Punti Wars.

In Mainland China

In university admittance

A university usually sets a fixed admission quota for each province, with a higher number of students coming from its home province. As the number and the quality of universities vary greatly across China, it is argued that students face discrimination during the admission process based on their region. For example, compared to Beijing, Henan Province has fewer universities per capita. Therefore, an applicant in Henan needs a significantly-higher score than a Beijing counterpart to attend the same university. That is similar to regional universities in other countries that receive subsidies from regional governments in addition to or in place of the national government's funding.[3]

In recent years, varied admission standards have led some families to relocate for the sole purpose of advancing their children's chances of entering university.[4]

In recruitment

In China's early days, the application of civil servant was offered mainly to the local Hukou (household registration). The residence registration normally appears on personal identification documents and has led many employers and local governments to discriminate based on the permanent residence of applicants. For example, the Beijing government had a hiring policy that restricted non-residents of the city to work in only 12 out of 204 types of jobs.[5]

In urban and rural areas

After the Communist Party took power of Mainland China, the Chinese government began using the family register system to control the movement of people between urban and rural areas. Individuals were broadly categorised as "rural" or "urban" workers. Urban dwellers enjoyed a range of social, economic and cultural benefits, and China's 800 million rural residents were treated as second-class citizens.[6]

The millions of people who have left village life remain stuck at the margins of urban society and have been blamed for issues of rising crime and unemployment. Under pressure from their cities' citizens, regional governments continue to impose discriminatory rules. For example, the children of "Nong Min Gong" (rural workers) are not allowed to enter city schools. They must live with their grandparents or uncles to go to their local hometown schools. They are called home-staying children by Chinese governments. In 2005, Chinese researchers reported that there are about 130 million home-staying children living away from their parents.[7]

Against specific areas

As a result of unbalanced economic development, unfair discrimination usually follows the specific regional stereotyping held by a society.

Henan

Many rural farmers and migrant workers from Henan suffer abusive consequences from the privileged state system and media portrayal. The reasons for discrimination include having the largest farmer population in China, the huge number of rural workers migrating to cities, and the continuous emigration of refugees and victims from natural calamities and political tragedies in the 20th century.[8]

Beijing

Because Beijing residents enjoy the privileges powered by central authorities, anti-discrimination advocates consider them as vested beneficiaries. Therefore, they suffer from hostilities and disdain by people from other regions in China.[9] The more flaunt and politically connected Beijingers also look down on and discriminate against migrants.

Shanghai

As migrants, most from southeastern or central China, flow increasingly into Shanghai, they are often blamed for the rising crime and unemployment. They are often attracted by the Shanghai hukou for its convenience and social benefits. Consequently, sometimes Shanghai residents are also despised and discriminated against by people from rural regions.[10][11]

Guangdong

People from the provinces and autonomous zones outside Guangdong Province, who are predominantly Mandarin-speaking and have no knowledge of indigenous languages such as Cantonese, Teochew, or Hakka, are called "北佬" or "北姑" (literally, "Northern guys" or "Northern sluts"). In particular, in the early 1980s, Guangdong saw a massive influx of out-of-province workers who did not have the habit of taking showers on a regular basis, who were especially socially distanced. Also, they were seen as not really Cantonese people or punti, as many of them considered it unnecessary to learn Cantonese and so did not bother. Differences on issues related to Hong Kong and Guangdong has also triggered ethnic tensions.[12]

There is also discrimination against the native dialects/languages of Guangdong with one example of a school in Guangzhou introducing a Cantonese textbook in to classes only to be accused of "promoting separatism" by some northerners. The project was shut down by local authorities because of the controversy [13]. The suppression of the Cantonese language as well as the mass migration of non-Cantonese speaking people in to the area, have caused some Cantonese enthusiasts to accuse the local authorities of wanting to commit "cultural genocide" of the Cantonese language.

Besides that, there is also discriminatory laws that require southern provinces in general to have to pay fines at higher rates(in relation to local income levels) for going against China's family planning policies, than their northern counterparts [14]

In Hong Kong and Macau

In both special administrative regions of China, (Hong Kong and Macau) some people discriminate against the Mainland Chinese by calling call them "dai luk lou,", as they are from the mainland.[15] Some mainlanders discriminate back and call Hong Kongers "British dogs"

See also

References

  1. ↑ "今日话题：中国的地域歧视为何连绵不绝难消除_新闻中心_文化_新浪网". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "和谐社会不能容忍地域歧视--理论--人民网". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "高考录取分数线存地域差别 是否存在地域歧视？". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "Migrating college candidates could be left out in cold - Studying in GD - Culture & Education - Newsgd". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "DEALING WITH DISCRIMINATION IN MAINLAND CHINA".
  6. ↑ "BBC NEWS - Asia-Pacific - China rethinks peasant 'apartheid'". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "从1000万到1.3亿:农村留守儿童到底有多少". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Henan People Fight Discrimination … Against Them -- china.org.cn". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  9. ↑ ""不得歧视外地人"还应写在哪里？". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "上海户口审批评分制，歧视外来人！-搜狐新闻". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  11. ↑ chinanews. "学者:《潜伏》涉嫌丑化上海人 中国该立法反歧视——中新网". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "加國華裔之差異：廣東人香港人大陸人". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "vicehkblog-is Cantonese dying in Canton?". Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  14. ↑ "One child policy fines in relation to income levels in China" (PDF). Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  15. ↑ "加国华裔之差异：广东人香港人大陆人_网易出国频道". Retrieved 6 March 2015.
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