Live at Pitt: CMU's Benno Weiner on the Evolution of China's Minzu Policy

Sinica Podcast

Kaiser Kuo

Culture, China News, Hangzhou, Chinese, International Relations, Chongqing, Beijing, Sichuan, Currentaffairs, China, Politics, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, China Economy, News, China Politics, Business, Film, Shenzhen

4.8 • 676 Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week on Sinica, in a show recorded at the University of Pittsburgh, I speak with Benno Weiner, Associate Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University, about how China's policy toward its minority nationalities (or minzu) have shifted from their older, Soviet-inspired form to the policies of assimilation we now see.

2:29 – How the so-called second-generation minzu policy evolved, and its shift away from the first-generation policy

17:15 – China’s language policy, comparisons to other historical cases, and the difficulty in striking a balance between language autonomy and the state interest of economic equality

25:26 – Debating the assumption of Uyghur forced labor

28:20 – How the minzu policy shift is driven by economic and political stability concerns

30:07 – The limited ability of minzus to make themselves heard

32:01 – The difficulty of advocacy in the face of accusations of U.S. hypocrisy

37:30 – Han guilt as a galvanizing idea

40:21 – Whether the shift in minzu policy is reversible, and the effect of external pressure

43:46 – Why Xinjiang has received greater global attention than other places

45:50 – How future historians may view minzu policy under Xi Jinping

Paying It Forward: Guldana Salimjan, at the University of Toronto

Recommendations:

Benno: The Red Wind Howls by Tsering Döndrup, translated by Christopher Peacock

Kaiser: The Six: The Untold Story of the Titanic’s Chinese Survivors by Steven Schwankert

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Audible brings your wildest adventures to life, delivering heart-pounding thrills at the touch
0:05.8	of a button.
0:07.0	Take Richard Osmond's The Thursday Murder Club, where four retirees turned amateur sleuths
0:11.8	solve crimes in the most unexpected ways, brilliantly performed by Leslie Manville.
0:17.1	Ready to unleash your adventure aside, from pulse racing suspense to epic quests, from supernatural
0:22.6	chills to far-off romances, every story comes alive through world-class narration.
0:28.5	Explore exclusive audible originals, chart-topping new releases, and unforgettable bestsellers
0:34.4	that transport you from the very first word, because the next great
0:38.2	adventure is just a listener way.
0:40.8	Start your free 30-day trial at audible.com slash Wondery UK.
0:45.7	That's audible.com slash Wondery UK. Welcome to this special live edition of the Cynica podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China.
1:04.8	I'm Kajiguo, and I'm coming to you today from the University of Pittsburgh.
1:08.5	Hello, Pitt!
1:27.9	Thank you. from the University of Pittsburgh. Hello Pitt! All right, that's what I like to hear. Great, great to be here and thanks so much for making me feel so welcome. We had a great turnout for my talk yesterday at Carnegie Mellon,
1:33.2	and I am just, I'm thrilled that so many familiar faces from yesterday are still here. We had great questions then. Hopefully we'll get some great questions today as well. Special thanks
1:37.7	to Jim Cook, James, for this opportunity. It's just been great to see you again after 30, what,
1:42.2	30, whatever years. Don't want to date myself here, 35 years.
1:46.8	In this program, as regular listeners will know, we look at books, ideas, at new research,
1:52.3	intellectual currents, and cultural trends that can help us better understand what's happening
1:56.4	in China's politics, foreign relations, economics, and society.
2:00.5	So join me each week for
2:02.0	in-depth conversations that shed more light and bring less heat to the way we think and talk about
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Kaiser Kuo, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Kaiser Kuo and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.