This thesis attempts to examine the Manchu identity reconstruction movement since the 1980s by diagnosing the ethnic empowerment fueled in the changing context of China....[ Read more ]

This thesis attempts to examine the Manchu identity reconstruction movement since the 1980s by diagnosing the ethnic empowerment fueled in the changing context of China.

To investigate the ongoing identity negotiation between the Manchu agency and the state, this research is expected to reveal how the Manchu group strives for gaining more representation sphere, as well as the dynamic interplay between the Manchus and others ethnic minority groups in China, because the Manchu identity reconstruction movement stemmed not only from their rekindled ethnic consciousness, but also the intra-ethnic mimic of representation and competition in the post-Mao context. In addition, with reference to the trans-national Manchus, the comparison will be conducted between the Manchus in the peripheral Xinbin Manchu nationality autonomous county, and centralized Beijin. This aims at drawing attention to this under-examined field and shed new light on the research of the Manchus ethnic social movement and the identity politics of the PRC.

To give an overall picture of the Manchu collective movement, the central exploration in this thesis is to advocate a process-oriented understanding towards the "positioning" negotiation of the Manchus in the hierarchical array of the ethnic groups in this multi-ethnic national state.