Etnia e Nazionalità: l’unità pluralistica della nazione cinese

Both in China and in Western countries the controversial origin of national consciousness and national identity still prevents from drawing any exact defi nition of the concept of nation. From the Late-Qing period, following the growth of the political and cultural exchange between China and the West, the Chinese elites tried to shape an idea of Chinese nation, through the sharing of a new understanding of imperial history and of the relationships that different ethnic groups had preserved with the imperial house throughout the centuries. The contemporary concept of “minzu” is the result of China’s political struggle to become a modern nation; just like the nation, it involves both political and ethnic meanings. Moreover, it has both foreign and local roots. During the last decades, some Chinese scholars have tried to abstract the concept of “minzu” from its colonialist roots, in search of some “Chinese characteristics”, grounded on ideological, cultural and historical background.