Introduction to China - Minority Peoples of Mainland China

In addition to the references noted above, there are some specialized bibliographies or encyclopedic volumes on China's minority peoples, although the English language literature is limited. Ethnie Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia (LeBar et. al. 1964), notwithstanding its title, is a rich source of references on many of China's southerly ethnic groups. Minorities of Southwest China (Dessaint 1980) is a bibliography which focuses on the Yi and related southwestern minorities, and provides both Western-language and Chinese sources. Other useful general books with bibliographies include China and Its National Minorities (Heberer 1989), China's Forty Millions (Dreyer 1976), and The Minorities of Northern China: A Survey (Schwarz 1984). A collection of recent papers by Chinese and Western scholars provides material and references on some of the minority nationalities (Chiao and Tapp 1989). Two recent English-language publications from China also may be of use, though they contain no bibliographie references. These are China's Minority Nationalities (Ma 1989) and Questions and Answers About China's Minority Nationalities (National Minorities Questions Editorial Board 1985). Ma Yin's volume is a condensed and edited version of a larger encyclopedic volume in Chinese, Zhongguo Shaoshu Minzu (National Minorities Commission 1981).

Readers of Chinese are also referred to the journals issued by the Central Minorities Institute and provincial or regional minorities institutes, and provincial academies of social science, particularly the Xinan Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao, Yunnan Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao, Zhongnan Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao , Zhongyang Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao, Guizhou Minzu Yanjiu, Guizhou Shehui Kexue, and Yunnan Shehui Kexue. The China Ethnological Research Society periodically publishes a journal, Minzuxue Yanjiu. Articles collated from a wide range of scholarly and government publications are republished monthly and available under one cover in the minorities studies volumes, available through Peoples University in Beijing (Zhongguo Renmin Daxue Fuyin Baoli Ziliao series). All of these can be found in major Asian library collections in the United States.