In reality there are 10 million Manchus in China ("Genomic Insight Into the Population Admixture History of Tungusic-Speaking Manchu People in Northeast China), and form the fifth largest ethnic group in China. Manchus are Tungusic people and so closer to Mongolian, and they have a writing system of their own which is an adaptation of Mongolian. They are most certainly NOT Han even though those who had migrated to Han areas absorbed many cultural features of the Hans.(What are the differences and similarities between Manchu and Mongol people?)
In my nearly forty years of college teaching in the US, I have had boats load of Chinese students, many of them Manchus. Whenever I ask them their ethnicity they arlways say Chinese first, and when prodded say Han. But whenever my office door happened to be closed and asked for their ethnicity, they are more honest and admit Manchu as if it would be a crime to confess it in public. Then they breakdown and tell me about how the Hans have destroyed their identity, culture, language, and everything that make them Manchu. They are not allowed to study the Manchu language is schools and universities that today there are only 20 or so Manchu language native speakers left (Saving the Manchu language: 9 critically endangered languages from around the world). There are a few thousands who can speak it as a second language many of whom are probably linguistics scholars. Manchu is an endangered language (Saving the Manchu language: 9 critically endangered languages from around the world), and is being Killed, very sadly.
When there are no fundamental rights one’s ethnic heritage is always a sure casualty. Instead of celebrating ethnic diversity and enabling openness and free speech, tragically we have a situation where it is not safe to even admit one’s ethnicity.
No comments:
Post a Comment