Prevalence of ethnic intermarriage in Kunming: Social exchange or insignificance of ethnicity?

Abstract

This paper examines the socioeconomic status matching patterns among minority – Han intermarried couples in urban China, using the 1 per cent census data of the 1990 Chinese census and marriage registration data of a multi-ethnic city in southwest China. It considers three main findings. First, ethnic minorities were commonly married out to the majority Han in the city, and ethnicity does not seem to be an important consideration in mate selection. Second, status mismatching is based on gender not ethnicity. That is, there was no exchange between Han ethnic status and minority socioeconomic status, which has often been found in the North American context. Third, given that the majority of children of minority – Han intermarriage identify as ethnic minority, the insignificance of ethnicity in mate selection does not necessarily imply the total openness of ethnic boundaries.