Culture of China Series: China’s Ethnic Minorities
by Xing Li, Liao Pin, Yu Bingqing, and Lan Peijin (Text)
Published by Foreign Languages Press, 2003
Language: English
ISBN 7119031848 9787119031842
Hardcover, illustrated, dimension 190mm x 170mm, 119 pages

The homelands of the minority peoples are mostly border areas of China, and therefore these regions serve as a link between China and other countries. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, inhabited by more than 20 nationalities at present, was called the Western Regions in ancient times, and was a bridge facilitating communication between the eastern and western civilizations. The "Silk Road" from Xi'an in Shaanxi Province at the eastern end to Central Asia, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and as far as Rome at the farthest western end, ran through the Gansu Corridor along two roads lying to the south and north, respectively, of the Tarim Basin, south of the Tianshan Moutanins, and then cut across Congling Ridge. In fact, there was a much older "Silk Road" running from Sichuan Province to Myanmar and India via Yunnan Province, largely inhabited by ethnic minorities. In ancient times, this ancient road was not only one linking southern China with other parts of the world, but also a corridor for ethnic groups to travel south or north. These two channels allowed scientific knowledge, music, art, western Christianity, Islam from Western Asia and Buddhism from India to gradually spread into the Central Plains. At the same time, China's traditional culture and science and technology, and even some handicrafts such as silk, porcelain, tea and jade ware, were carried to countries in Southeast Asia and the West.

China’s Ethnic Minorities is an album with beautiful pictures and explanatory text, introducing 55 of ethnic minorities: the Mongolians, the Hui, the Tibetans, the Uygur, the Miao, the Yi, the Zhuang, the Koreans, the Bouyei, the Manchu, the Dong, the Yao, the Bai, the Tujia, the Hani, the Kazak, the Li, the Dai, the Lisu, the Va, the She, the Gaoshan, the Lahu, the Shui, the Dongxiang, the Naxi, the Jingpo, the Kirgiz, the Daur, the Tu, the Mulam, the Qiang, the Blang, the Salar, the Maonan, the Xibe, the Gelao, the Primi, the Achang, the Tajik, the Nu, the Uzbek, the Ewenki, the Russians, the Bonan, the De'ang, the Yugur, the Jing, the Tatar, the Drung, the Oroqen, the Hezhen, the Moinba, the Lhoba, the Jino.

The "Culture of China" Series:
The “Culture of China?Series introduces various aspects of Chinese art and culture. All titles in the series have nice text with color photos and chronologies. All books are well-designed, formatted, and printed on high quality glossy paper, both beautiful and educational.
All titles in the series: Traditional Painting ; Land of Silk ; Ancient Sculpture ; Fascinating Stage Arts ; Folk Genre Paintings ; Pottery and Porcelain ; Rare Wild Animals ; Taoism ; Traditional Chinese Residences ; Ancient Chinese Architecture ; Art of Chinese Pavilions ; Chinese Archeology ; Famous Mountains and Rivers ; Folk Handicrafts ; Southwestern Silk Road ; Traditional Chinese Costumes ; West China Panorama ; World Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites ; China's Ethnic Minorities ; Best Tourist Attractions Classical Chinese Gardens ; Museums: Treasure Houses of History...