From vice to virtue: changing portrayals of minorities in China's official media

This study considers the official media's portrayal of minority groups in the People's Republic of China. Based on a content analysis of minority-centered articles appearing in the People's Daily newspaper between the years 1950 and 2001, it is found that minorities are most frequently depicted as representatives of primitive cultures. How the government presents this image of primitive minorities, however, has been subject to significant refinement over the years. The government has stepped away from its earlier practice of characterizing ‘primitive’ minority cultures as pathologies detrimental to the political and economic development of the state in favor of a more recent emphasis on the virtues associated with minority lives. The authors suggest that this transformation in government rhetoric is attributable to changes in both Chinese politics and society.