Table of Contents

List of Illustrations List of Tables Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Identity Crisis in Postimperial China 2. Ethnicity as Language 3. Plausible Communities 4. The Consent of the Categorized 5. Counting to Fifty-Six Conclusion: A History of the Future Appendix A: Ethnotaxonomy of Yunnan, 1951, According to the Yunnan Nationalities Affairs Commission Appendix B: Ethnotaxonomy of Yunnan, 1953, According to the Yunnan Nationalities Affairs Commission Appendix C: Minzu Entries, 1953--1954 Census, by Population Appendix D: Classification Squads, Phases One and Two Appendix E: Population Sizes of Groups Researched during Phase One and Phase Two Notes Character Glossary Bibliography Index

About the Author

Thomas S. Mullaney is Assistant Professor of History at Stanford University.

Reviews

"This rich, nuanced and erudite book is a great accomplishment." -- Elena Barabantseva University of Manchester The China Journal "A very important contribution to our understanding of the birth of the modern Chinese nation." -- Jeff Kyong-McClain Journal Of World History "An exemplary piece of scholarship... Tackles broad historiographical questions with a manageable and concrete set of new data." -- Howard Chiang, Princeton University British Jrnl For The History Of Science "Brief but elegantly argued... Mullaney makes brilliant sense of mountains of data." -- Ruth Rogaski, Vanderbilt University Hist Stds In The Natural Sciences