A Prelude to Ethnic Genocide : Chinese Cultural Revolution in Inner Mongolia(<Special Theme>Indigenous Peoples and the History of the Nation)

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Other Title
  • ジェノサイドへの序曲 : 内モンゴルと中国文化大革命(<特集>先住民と<国民の歴史>)
  • A prelude to ethnic genocide: Chinese cultural revolution in inner Mongolia
  • ジェノサイドへの序曲--内モンゴルと中国文化大革命
  • ジェノサイド エノ ジョキョク ウチモンゴル ト チュウゴク ブンカ ダイカクメイ

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Abstract

<p>This paper focuses on the "ethnic genocide against the Inner Mongols" that broke out in Inner Mongolia during the Great Chinese Cultural Revolution that took place between the autumn of 1968 and the early spring of 1970. An analysis is made from the perspective of ethnic genocide. The world experienced a large number of genocides in the 20th century, including the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany. In the aftermath of World War II, a resolution was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on Dec. 9, 1948, entitled the "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide." This important development demonstrates a strong resolution shared in the international community that such atrocities should never be repeated in human history. The Convention defines "genocide" as follows: Genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. Despite that convention, subsequent decades witnessed the outbreak of many acts of genocide in various places across the world, rather than its elimination. This paper tries to elucidate how closely genocide relates itself to the fundamental nature of the modem state, particularly the tension between the state (which insists on political unity) and ethnic minorities (which demand self-determination and autonomy). The analysis is based on the theory of "nation-state genocide," which has been maintained by quite a few experts. In November 1911, the Mongolian independence movement began in Outer Mongolia. Most of the Inner Mongolian banners (qoshighu) also supported pan-Mongolism, which sought the building of a nation-state. Independence from Qing was interpreted as national "split-ism" (minzu fenlie zhuyi) by Communist China, which labeled it as an "original sin," and which used it as an excuse to carry out massacres. For both Communist China and the Mongols, there were high aspirations for the establishment of a unified nation-state. Strong opposition was launched by Communist China, but the Mongols attempted to construct another nation-state of their own. That made the Mongols the victims of genocide committed by China. Communist China recognizes 55 national minorities (shaoshu minzu) as official ethnic groups. Those Chinese anthropologists favored and patronized by the establishment have peppered Chinese history with self-pride and self-commendations. They claim that "China has been a unified multi-ethnic nation state since ancient times, the centerpiece of which has been the Han (Chinese)." Propaganda has taught that the ethnic minorities in China have been taken good care of by "the Han (Chinese), the big brother," and have been living happy lives as members of the "giant socialist multi-ethnic family bonded together by the spirit of unity." This sort of self-commendation has obscured the historical realities of genocide perpetrated against various ethnic minorities in China. Historically speaking, the leading doctrine of socialism interpreted ethnic relations in terms of ethnocide: any ethnic differences should be resolved once class distinctions are overcome. China is no exception. A tragedy for the Mongols, and for other ethnic minorities in China, was that, due to the escalated internal struggles within the headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the resolution of ethnic problems was repeatedly carried out as literally violent genocides. The Chinese</p><p>(View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)</p>

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