History of ethnic working organs
    The establishment of the ethnic affairs organs goes back to the early period of the Communist Party of China (CPC). As the founder of the People’s Republic of China, a unified and multi-ethnic state, the CPC attached great importance to ethnic issues in its early period. It took the solution of the ethnic issues in China as its historical mission and formulated a series of programs and policies for resolving these issues. Mao Zedong clearly pointed out for the first time in his political report “On the New Stage” in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that ethnic work organs should be established. In July 1937 the Committee for Ethnic Minority Work was set up. Later on, the Mongolian Working Committee and the Dingbian Working Committee that had been established when the Red Army first arrived in northern Shaanxi were renamed the Mongolian Working Department and the Hui Working Department respectively. In 1939 the Central Northwest Working Committee was set up. In 1941 the Western Working Committee and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Area Central Bureau were combined to make the Northwest Central Bureau under which the Ethnic Minority Working Committee was established. At the same time the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Area government set up the Ethnic Minority Affairs Commission. In September of the same year, some of the border area’s counties and cities set up ethnic work organs and put personnel in charge of the ethnic work there..
    In order to guarantee the ethnic minorities’ right to be masters of their own affairs, as soon as the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China was established in October 1949, the Central Ethnic Affairs Commission was set up under the government. At its Third Meeting on October 19, 1949, the Central People’s Government Council approved the appointment of Li Weihan as the first Chairman of the Central Ethnic Affairs Commission, the appointment of Ulanhu (Mongolian), Liu Geping(Hui) and Seypidin Azizi (Uygur) as its Vice-Chairmen and the appointment of 22 other members from various ethnic groups. After the Central Ethnic Affairs Commission was established, ethnic affairs organs were successively set up under the northwest, the southwest, the central-south, the northeast and the north China greater administrative regional and some provincial, municipal, prefectural, subprovincial administrative regional and county governments with many ethnic affairs. In multiethnic areas where conditions were not ripe for establishing a government committee for ethnic affairs in accordance with the principle of a national democratic government, transitional ethnic consultative committees were set up for consultations on the major issues concerning ethnic minorities and relations between ethnic groups. In addition to the Central Ethnic Affairs Commission that was in charge of the ethnic affairs nationwide, the Government Administrative Council adopted the Regulations Regarding Ethnic Affairs on February 5, 1951, ordering the commissions, ministries, committees and offices to pay attention to starting business in ethnic affairs. The Government Administrative Council also ordered its Commission of Culture and Education to set up a Committee for Guiding Research in Ethnic Languages to guide and organize research in the languages of ethnic minorities. The committee was designed to help ethnic minorities to create written languages if they didn’t have them and help them to improve their written languages gradually. In accordance with the decision of the Government Administrative Council, the relevant commissions and ministries set up the necessary organs. For example, the Central Trade Ministry set up the Ethnic Trade Department, the Central Education Ministry established the Ethnic Education Department, and the Central Public Health Ministry set up the Ethnic Public Heath Department. In addition, the Government Administrative Council decided in March 1951 to establish the ethnic work conference system. It also decided the conference should consist of Li Weihan, Secretary-General of the Government Administrative Council and 28 other leaders of the relevant commissions and ministries. The conference would be held in every two years to discuss, consult on and handle ethnic affairs. The establishment and the gradual development of the central and local ethnic organs at the various levels constituted important organizational preparations for the ethnic work in the early period of New China.
    Thanks to the spread of the ultra-left ideology in China’s “cultural revolution” from 1966 through 1976, the existence of ethnic issues were fundamentally negated. On the one hand, the ethnic policies for the special conditions of ethnic minorities and ethnic minority areas were annulled. On the other hand, the central and local departments in charge of ethnic work and other relevant organs were paralyzed due to the impact of the “cultural revolution” and actually abolished. All this caused serious damage to the ethnic policy and the ethnic work organs in New China.
    In order to restore the ethnic policy and the paralyzed ethnic work that suffered during the ten-year turmoil, it was decided at the First Session of the Fifth NPC in 1978 to restore the State Ethnic Affairs Commission of the People’s Republic of China. The appointment of Yang Jingren (Hui) as the commission’s chairman was approved. It was decided at the Second Session of the Fifth NPC in 1979 to restore the Ethnic Committee of the NPC with Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Vice-Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, as the committee’s chairman. On March 15, 1995, the Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs under the CPPCC National Committee was established as the working organ of the 8th and 9th CPPCC National Committee by combining the former committees for ethnic and religious affairs. Zhao Puchu was the new committee’s chairman. Thereafter, the ethnic affairs committees at other levels and other ethnic work organs in various areas were successively restored.
    Current conditions of ethnic working organs
    The current ethnic work organs in China are basically in the same pattern that has been there since 1978. At the national level, the ethnic work organs are the Ethnic Committee under the NPC of the People’s Republic of China, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission under the State Council, and the Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs under the National Committee of the CPPCC. Although these three organs under different state authorities are in charge of ethnic work, they have their own priorities in their functions and work content. The Ethnic Committee under the NPC is responsible mainly for the legislation of ethnic minorities. The State Ethnic Affairs Commission is a department of the State Council that is in charge of state ethnic affairs. Its main responsibilities are to administer the affairs of ethnic minorities and promote the development of ethnic minorities and the economic and social development of ethnic minority areas; to promote the development of democracy and safeguard the equal rights of ethnic minorities and their right to regional ethnic autonomy; to safeguard state unity, strengthen ethnic solidarity and develop the socialist ethnic relations of equality, solidarity and mutual assistance; and to bring about the common prosperity of all ethnic groups during the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. The main tasks of the Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs under the National Committee of the CPPCC are to study and propagate the state’s ethnic policy and religious policy; to keep in close touch with CPPCC committee members from the ethnic minorities and religious circles and other representative figures, and listen to and report their comments and suggestions; to organize its members to find out the implementation of the state’s ethnic and religious policies, conduct investigations and study of major ethnic and religious issues and offer their comments and suggestions about them; to increase their contact with the ethnic and religious authorities of the state; and to exploit the role of the religious personages in the motherland’s reunification and in world peace.
    The ministries and commissions of the State Council establish departments in charge of the affairs of ethnic minorities. These departments include, for example, the Ethnic Education Department of the Ministry of Education, the Public Undertakings Section of the Investment Department of the State Development and Planning Commission, the Public Spending Department of the Ministry of Finance, the Ethnic Culture Section of the Department of Social and Cultural Libraries of the Ministry of Culture, the Department of Planning and Finance of the Ministry of Health, the No. 2 Section of the Medical Policy Department of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Social Sport Section of the State General Administration of Sport, the Social Sciences Section of the Books Publication Management Department and the Periodicals Section of the State Press and Publication Administration, and the Department of Policies and Regulations of the State Family Planning Commission. Generally speaking, there is a horizontal ethnic work network among the ministries and commissions of the State Council.
    In addition, the local people’s congresses, governments and CPPCC committees at the various levels establish corresponding departments in charge of ethnic work. Take the governments at various levels under the State Council for example. In addition to the State Ethnic Affairs Commission under the State Council, local governments establish ethnic affairs committees or ethnic and religious affairs bureaus of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, ethnic work departments of (autonomous) prefectures, and ethnic work sections of banners and counties. Local ethnic work organs at various levels are under the direct leadership of local governments at various levels. Ethnic work organs at lower levels must accept the guidance for work from the ethnic work organs at higher levels. This gives rise to a vertical ethnic work network of governments at different levels. It is these crisscrossing networks of organs that provide an effective organizational guarantee for the ethnic work in China.
About the author:
Hu Jingping
    Han, with a bachelor’s degree of philosophy, has worked from 1990 till now in the Policy Research Office and Policy of State Ethnic Affairs Commission, specializing in studying economic and social development strategy in minority-inhabited regions, international comparison of ethnic policies and Chinese ethnic culture. Hu published several monographs and essays.