Most western political scientists have tended to neglect the ethnic dimension in China, and have overemphasized the development from large empire to unified nation. This bias is partly due to the difficulty of mastering the Chinese language and even more, the generalized view of the People's Republic of China as a totalitarian communist regime focused on the unified state. Most of the contributors to this study use largely Chinese-language sources; five are social anthropologists, three are political scientists. The range of subjects covered includes religious relationships, language, public policy and culture. The essays in this volume will go some way towards remedying the neglect of the ethnic component of the Chinese polity and society.