Creating a Multicultural Curriculum in Han-Dominant Schools: The Policy and Practice of Ethnic Solidarity Education in China

In response to the recent heightened interethnic conflicts that were regarded as threatening national unity and stability, the Chinese government issued "ethnic solidarity education" as a top-down, centrally administered mandate to be implemented "correctly" and in a standardised way by schools throughout China. This paper examines the policy and practice of ethnic solidarity education against the broader, historical context of ethnic relations in China. Based on empirical data obtained through extensive fieldwork in selective Beijing public schools, this study concludes that ethnic solidarity education bears resemblance to multicultural education in the western educational discourse, yet retains special characteristics as an indigenous form of education in the unique Chinese context. Although various teaching and extracurricular activities involving ethnic elements are added to the school curriculum and applauded by the Chinese educators and policymakers as important signs of ethnic integration and cultural pluralism, they tend to focus on static cultural artefacts without touching upon the deeper levels of understandings on ethnicity and the majority-minority relations, and therefore cannot create a truly multicultural learning environment.