China’s annual political meetings feature minority delegates in tribal finery with a message

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BEIJING (AP) — Every year in early March, China’s rubber-stamp legislature and its advisory body gather to hear speeches and hold discussions in the capital, Beijing.

In contrast to the long and monotonous sessions, a bustling scene unfolds outside the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing, where ethnic minority delegations from far-flung provinces pose for photographs donning their finest traditional costumes.

Jangly silver headdresses and elaborate embroidery work, felt hats and long, layered skirts in a kaleidoscope of colors draw attention in stark contrast to the drab business suits, routinely dark grey with conservative ties or bows.

It’s a visual display of one of the purported ruling concepts of the Chinese Communist Party, that all 56 ethnic groups in the nation are equal. Yet, the majority Han group has dominated politics and the economy going back thousands of years and continues to do so, making up about 92% of the population.

The vast majority of minority delegates come from mountainous and border areas, such as Yunnan, Guangxi, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Tibet. While some names may be familiar, such as Uyghurs and Tibetans, most are from smaller or less known groups, some with just a few thousand members.

Many have become virtually assimilated with the Han, including the Manchus who, despite their relatively small numbers, swept down from the Great Wall of China and ruled the country for around 300 years before being overthrown by its first republic.

After taking power in 1949, Mao Zedong declared all were members of a single Chinese nation, regardless of ethnicity, and began a steady campaign to impose a single Chinese language on Han and minority peoples alike, accompanied by rigid political orthodoxy and campaigns against Tibetan Buddhism and Islam as practiced by Uyghurs and other groups in the far northwest.