Affirmative Inaction: Education, Language Proficiency, and Socioeconomic Attainment Among China's Uyghur Minority

Abstract:

This study finds that the Mandarin proficiency is partially responsible for the gap in socioeconomic inequality between the Han majority and the Uyghur Muslim minority. Multiple sources of evidence show that Uyghur Muslims share equal educational attainment as the Han majority, but are noticeably less fluent in Mandarin than the Han majority. Using data from the 2012 China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), we find that Mandarin proficiency can significantly improve occupational attainment and income. In other words, holding other factors equal, if ethnic minorities speak better Mandarin, they would have better chances to improve their socioeconomic status.

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Erratum

About the Authors

Wenfang Tang is Chair and Stanley Hua Hsia Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Iowa. His current research focuses on public opinion and political change in contemporary China, as well as comparative political behavior. He has authored and coauthored several books published by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Stanford University Press, and many articles in academic journals including American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Journal of Public Policy, China Quarterly, Journal of Contemporary China, among others.

Yue Hu is a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the University of Iowa. He received a BLL in International Politics from Nankai University in 2009, an MA in Political Science from the University of Regina in Canada in 2011 with the thesis “Culture and Cultural Diplomacy: A Comparative Study of a Canadian and Chinese Case,” as well as an MA in Political Science from University of South Carolina in 2013 with the thesis “Connecting Nationalism and Political Transition: A Study of Nationalist Influence on Political Transition Based on the Chinese Case.” His main research areas include comparative politics and international relations. In comparative politics, his current research interests include public opinion, nationalism, political transition in nondemocratic states (esp. China), and noncorporeal elements (culture, social norms, historical factors, etc.) and their influences in various political processes. In international relations, he is interested in unconventional security (e.g., national ontological security), cultural diplomacy, international cultural relations, and Chinese foreign policy.

Shuai Jin is a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the University of Iowa. She earned her BA in International Relations from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and received her MA in Social Science from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She received her Master of Philosophy in Political Science from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include economic inequality, Chinese politics, and political methodology. She published an article in 2013 in Constitutional Political Economy.

Notes

See, for example, the 2012 China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey (http://css.sysu.edu.cn/, retrieved February 20, 2016), the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey (http://www.chinagss.org/index.php?r=index/index&hl=en, retrieved February 23, 2016), and the 2006–07 Chinese Ethnicity Survey (Tang and He 2010).

See http://wenku.baidu.com/link?url=53s4ua9yye7BMTzN65ZSlgwXC-RS5HIaeqttr8EdTYFAuthEtE89N0W_RDlXqL92xPw3IV7DRhQnp5ulEZAXJ7yRp5bYt7T--fINhIQsJVm (retrieved May 28, 2016).

See, for example, the website of Human Rights House Network's pro-Tibetan independence argument (http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/18853.html, retrieved May 28, 2016), and the pro-Uyghur independence organization the World Uyghur Congress’ webpage at http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=488 (retrieved May 28, 2016).

Only Hainan, Tibet, Macau, and Hong Kong are not included in the sample.

See China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey 2012 Sampling Design at http://css.sysu.edu.cn/Data/List?type=%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%8A%B3%E5%8A%A8%E5%8A%9B%E5%8A%A8%E6%80%81%E8%B0%83%E6%9F%A5 (retrieved November 14, 2015).

The sample is adjusted (weighted) according to the 2010 population census data. The weight variable is constructed by calculating the probabilities of sampling at the levels of county/city, village/residential council, household, and family average labor force. The weighted sample represents China's national labor force. For more information about the survey weight, see Liang and Hao (2013).

The 2010 Sixth Population Census of China contains information about education for both the Hans and the Uyghurs. For each ethnic group, we have information about the number of people in each level of education, including illiterate, elementary, middle school, high school, junior college, college, and post graduate. We converted these levels into years by assigning 0 year to illiteracy, 6 years to elementary school, 9 years to middle school, 12 years to high school, 14 years to junior college, 16 years to college, and 18 years to post-graduate education. We then calculated the average educational years for each group. For the Han group, the population aged 6 and above was 1,140,804,980, in which 53,726,722 were illiterate, 317,175,239 had elementary education, 482,244,975 had middle school education, 176,525,992 had high school education, 64,353,701 had junior college education, 42,822,692 had college education, and 3,955,659 had post-graduate educations. The average years of education for the 6 and older Han population was then $$\frac{53726722\ast 0+317175239\ast 6+482244975\ast 9+176525992\ast 12+64353701\ast 14+42822692\ast 16+3955659\ast 18}{1140804980}\approx 8.782$$ years. Similarly, the average years of education for the Uyghur people were $$\frac{312376\ast 0+3705107\ast 6+3741470\ast 9+586636\ast 12+382935\ast 14+178129\ast 16+4566\ast 18}{8911219}\approx 7.994$$ years. See Tables 2–2, Tabulation of the 2010 Population Census of People's Republican of China, http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/pcsj/rkpc/6rp/indexch.htm (retrieved June 5, 2016).