Ethnic registration plan stopped

By Chen Qian | January 5, 2009, Monday |

Online Edition

A SMALL county in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has stopped a plan for Qiang ethnicity registration because it contravenes state regulations.

Fengxian County decided in December last year to allow families who lived locally for three generations, or who had Qiang blood, to be eligible to register as Qiang people, Chinese Business View reported today.

Under State policy, preferential treatment in areas from education to employment is available to all ethnic minority groups.

The new county policy not only encouraged thousands of Fengxian residents to apply but also aroused controversy, the report said.

Residents feared the county was trying to become an ethnic minority autonomous area to get financial support from the central government. Many people were concerned other areas would follow Fengxian's practice.

Shaanxi government said the new policy violated state regulations and asked the county to stop it. So far no resident has been registered as part of a Qiang minority.

The Qiang ethnic minority population is 306,072, most of which live in the mountainous Sichuan Province.

Provincial law says any Qiang autonomous county should consist of at least 30 percent of residents from the minority group. Fengxian County's population of 120,000 people has only about 300 Qiang.

Fengxian was once home of the ancient Qiang culture that the county promotes to tourists.

Nation

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Ethnic registration plan stopped

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