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Ethnicities of China on a Map

Given a map, can you guess the dominant ethnic groups that inhabit various regions of China?
While this covers most major ethnic groups, some very minor ones are either too small to show up on the map or have been combined with other groups
Source, with supplemental information from Wikipedia
If you like this, check out this quiz from iluvbread123!
Quiz by JWatson24
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Last updated: August 19, 2021
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First submittedAugust 19, 2021
Times taken3,337
Average score33.3%
Rating4.96
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Population
Ethnicity
1.32 b
Han
18 m
Zhuang
12.8 m
Uighur
10.6 m
Hui
10.4 m
Manchu
9.4 m
Miao
9 m
Yi
8.4 m
Tujia
8 m
Dai
6.3 m
Tibetan
6.2 m
Mongol
Population
Ethnicity
3.0 m
Dong
2.9 m
Buyei
2.6 m
Yao
2.5 m
Korean
1.9 m
Bai
1.8 m
Kazakh
1.5 m
Li
1.4 m
Hani
1.2 m
Jingpo
1.2 m
Lisu
720 k
Lahu
Population
Ethnicity
710 k
She
626 k
Dongxiang
430 k
Sui
400 k
Wa
300 k
Naxi
300 k
Qiang
203 k
Kyrgyz
131 k
Salar
50 k
Tajik/Pamiri
27 k
Nu
15 k
Yugur
18 Comments
+2
Level 77
Aug 19, 2021
Nice map, and thanks for the shoutout

But shouldn't Han also have borders

+1
Level 77
Aug 19, 2021
Oh and also, Tujia is spelt incorrectly
+1
Level 71
Aug 19, 2021
Thanks! At first I thought it looked better without borders on the Han Chinese, but on second thought I actually do like it better with the border, so I changed it. Thanks for the suggestion!

As for Tujia, I fixed the spelling (for some reason the source I was using had the wrong spelling as well :P)

+1
Level 56
Apr 20, 2022
Best quiz! Absolutely love it.
+1
Level 71
Apr 20, 2022
Thanks!
+1
Level 39
Aug 19, 2021
I love how China has ethnicities like she, yi, wa, nu, li and miao
+2
Level 71
Aug 19, 2021
From the perspective of an American (and a Turkish person too since I guess that's where you're from) those names do seem kinda strange, but I think in East Asian (specifically Sino-Tibetan) languages, words/names like that are pretty common.
+1
Level 39
Aug 20, 2021
Yeah
+2
Level 66
Aug 23, 2021
Wow, this is an incredible quiz! I got 13, I haven't even heard of most of these. We usually just think of Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongols as minorities in China, but we don't think of these groups larger than them, possibly because of their longer history with China?

i wonder how that mongol exclave got into tibet

+1
Level 71
Aug 23, 2021
Thanks! I'm not sure why those groups are less well known, but I have two ideas:

1. Based on a bit of research, the Zhuang have borrowed many cultural elements from the Han, while the Hui are closely related to the Han and speak Mandarin (the main difference is that they are Muslims). I think groups like the Uighurs and Tibetans get more attention because they are very different from the Han Chinese and haven't assimilated.

2. Politics. Uighurs and Tibetans have been in the news a lot because they have faced discrimination from the Chinese government. I don't think the other groups face as much discrimination, probably because they've already assimilated. The Manchus and Mongols are well known because they ruled China historically.

One final point: even if you don't know about the Miao, you might know the Hmong. It turns out the Hmong are actually subgroup of the larger Miao ethnicity!

+2
Level 71
Aug 23, 2021
As for that Mongol exclave you see? I think this explains it. The Mongols invaded Tibet multiple times, even after the main Mongol Empire collapsed, and I guess some of them stayed there and adopted some local Tibetan customs.

As you can tell, China is very complex in terms of ethnicity and culture, which is one of the things that makes it so cool :)

+1
Level 66
Aug 23, 2021
Thanks for the info :) Also, a suggestion, maybe you could do the ethnic groups of the Indian subcontinent?
+1
Level 71
Aug 24, 2021
I'd love to do one of those. I'm not sure I'll get around to it anytime soon--I'm in college and my semester just started, so I don't think I'll be able to dedicate time to big, complex projects like that until I have some time off. Still, I'll keep that in mind!
+3
Level 55
May 18, 2022
Really cool quiz and idea! It would be cool if you did a more challenging version with all 56 official ethnicities.
+1
Level 71
May 19, 2022
I'm not sure yet if I could find a good source for that. I mean, even this map is from Reddit, which may not be the most reliable source. Still, I might look into it. Thanks for the comment and suggestion!
+1
Level 56
Oct 22, 2022
Cantonese?
+3
Level 71
Oct 22, 2022
They're a subgroup of the Han Chinese, they just speak a different language.
+1
Level 32
Feb 10, 2023
cantonese also speak Han Chinese, the same language, just a different dialect from mandarin.