Between Nation And Nationality: Ethinc Identity Among Urban Miaozu

The study focuses on the urban Miaozu because their experience and identity as being ethnic and being urban can be contradicting.These identities have emerged as part of national policies to assimilate ethnic minorities into Han society and these identities are creating a new intersection for ethnic identity not based just on culture,tradition,and religion,but also with state policy.The creation of identities was necessary for China's transition from empire to modern nation-state.As such identity creation,invention,and preservation was necessary to mold and develop,so that assimilation into a larger identity can be realized through state policies,which then can lead society to progress to a new kind of social order.I argue that ethnic minorities,despite the current studies regarding ethnic polarization or ethnic politicization,are already assimilated through the years of state policies and policies moving forward are to further assimilate and transition societal progress into a new kind or type of social order where cultural differences play less of a role in policy development.This is a more theoretical assessment and more research is needed to assess whether this is true or not.