Ethnic Identity, Cultural Variation, and Processes of Change

Abstract

Watson’s view that culture held late imperial China together appears to be problematic with regard to standardization and insightful with regard to social theory. Ethnographic evidence about the assimilation of non-Han minority peoples to Han identity shows that orthopraxy led to many nonstandard cultural practices and beliefs. Theoretical implications include reassessment of the canonical interpretive assumption that cultural ideas are the primary motivations for human actions. Additionally, the concept of a culturally unified China appears to be an ideology that benefits the Chinese state.