Ethnic Minority Areas Research Articles

Law dissemination and education for ethnic minorities in mountainous areas in Vietnam

The law dissemination and education for ethnic minority people in Vietnam is still facing challenges and suffering from shortcomings; hence, the effectiveness of law popularization is limited. Based on the aforementioned facts, this paper is dedicated to highlighting some important achievements in the law dissemination and education for the ethnic minorities, analyzing the drawbacks with the law dissemination and education for these populations and the causes of these drawbacks, and accordingly suggesting some radical solutions to the dissemination and education of law for ethnic minority people in Vietnam in the coming time. Thereby, the author proposes 4 groups of solutions in the coming time: First, improving professional capacity and skills for the contingent of legal reporters and propagandists who directly do legal education for people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas; Second, renewing the content of legal for these people; Third, innovating legal education methods; Fourth, reforming the form of legal education.

Sustainability self-determination evaluation based on the possibility ranking method: A case study of cities in ethnic minority autonomous areas of China

• Novel evaluation model to determine sustainability in Chinese cities was constructed • Sustainability of cities in ethnic minority areas was inadequate and uneven • Of the 24 cities evaluated, only 17 showed positive growth regarding sustainability • The South performed the best sustainably, and the Southwest was the worst Sustainability is crucial for urban development in ethnic minority autonomous areas to achieve economic, social, and environmental development. This study constructed an 18-indicator system based on three dimensions to evaluate 24 cities in ethnic minority autonomous areas with six national central cities as reference objects. A novel comprehensive evaluation model was proposed, including dynamic weighting method determining indicator weights by the trend of indicator development, aggregation method of indicator data from the perspective of the evaluated objects themselves, and the possibility ranking of the evaluated objects obtained by the Monte Carlo simulation. Based on the model, we analyzed the comprehensive sustainability performance, sustainability change trends, dimensions’ coordination, and key factors. The evaluation results demonstrated that the sustainability performance of cities in ethnic minority autonomous areas was inadequate and trailed the national central cities from 2011 to 2019. Of 24 cities in ethnic minority autonomous areas, 7 cities showed positive sustainability growth, namely Guyuan, Urumqi, Nanning, Guilin, Qinzhou, Laibin, and Lhasa. The South was sustainably the best, and the Southwest performed worst. Additionally, the economic dimension was the key factor hindering the sustainable development of cities. The results provide guidance for policymakers to devise sustainable development initiatives.

Islamic finance in China: Current landscape and future forward

China’s foreign trade has gradually lost its advantage due to continuous rise of RMB exchange rate and the labor costs in recent years. China urgently needs to explore new international trade markets to reinvigorate its foreign trade. With the recent development strategy of “One Belt One Road”, China should seize this opportunity to develop Islamic finance since most countries along the routes are Islamic countries. Islamic finance differs from traditional finance in its principles, development, products, operations, and regulation. The purpose of this article is to examine Chinese views on Islamic finance. The study conducted a survey through questionnaire. The findings show that the most ideal area to develop Islamic finance is in China’s northwest region due to its cultural advantages. The survey records that respondents’ reluctance towards Islamic finance mainly due to the absence of legal system and financial regulations for Islamic finance in China. Moreover, lack of talents in Islamic finance is also a major concern based on the survey. The study believes that the development of Islamic finance is conducive to the sound development of China’s financial system. It strengthens economic and trade cooperation with the Islamic world, enhances the ability to attract investment, and promotes harmonious economic development of ethnic minority areas.

Study on the Integration Development Model of Literature and Tourism in Ethnic Minority Areas Under the Background of Rural Revitalization

Study on the Integration Development Model of Literature and Tourism in Ethnic Minority Areas Under the Background of Rural Revitalization

Dietary diversity is associated with nutrient adequacy, blood biomarkers and anthropometric status among preschool children in poor ethnic minority area of Northwest China.

This study aimed to evaluate the status of dietary diversity, nutrient adequacy, blood biomarkers of nutrients, and anthropometric status, as well as to determine the predictors of dietary diversity score (DDS) and mean adequacy ratio (MAR) among preschool children in poor ethnic minority areas of northwest China. A total of 578 healthy preschool children aged 3-6 from 17 kindergartens were selected to assess dietary intake, anthropometric status (height-for-age z-score (HAZ), weight-for-age z-score (WAZ), weight-for-height z-score (WHZ), and blood biomarkers. DDS and nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR) were adopted to assess dietary diversity and micronutrient adequacy, respectively. The mean DDS (ranging from 1 to 9) was relatively low (4.67 ± 1.56). Most participants consumed starchy staples, but few participants consumed organ meat. DDS was associated with serum potassium, serum iron, WAZ, HAZ, all NARs, and MAR (all p < 0.05). Living in urban areas (β = 0.158), higher household wealth (β = 0.116), and more caregivers' nutritional knowledge (β = 0.022) were positively associated with DDS (all p < 0.01), while living in urban areas (β = 0.031), higher education of caregivers (β = 0.0.027), and higher DDS (β = 0.049) were positively associated with MAR (all p < 0.01). In conclusion, dietary diversity was associated with nutrient adequacy and other health outcomes. Nutritional education and poverty alleviation are integral to improving the nutritional status of preschool children.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY STUDY IN ETHNIC MINORITY AREAS AND POLICY SOLUTIONS PROPOSED FOR THE PERIOD OF 2021–2030

Ethnic policy in the field of education and training for ethnic minority and mountainous areas of the Party and State is a comprehensive system of policies that affects the entire national education system in ethnic minority and mountainous areas; in a long period of development process, it has strongly impacted and changed the quality of education and training in ethnic minority and mountainous areas of Vietnam. This article focuses on studying, analyzing, evaluating and synthesizing policies on education and training for ethnic minority and mountainous areas on the basis of a public policy assessment framework, in order to contribute to an overall view of the policy of education and training for ethnic minority and mountainous areas from 2016 to 2020, thereby proposing solutions to education and training policies for the implementation period of the National Target Program for socio-economic development of the ethnic minority and mountainous areas from the period of 2021-2030. Keywords: Ethnic policy; Education and training policy; Ethnic minority and mountainous areas; Public policy; Policy review .

THE SITUATION OF IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY POLICIES IN THE ETHNIC MINORITIES AREA IN THE SOUTHERN REGION

The issue of ensuring social security and taking care of the welfare of the people in general and ethnic minorities in particular, including ethnic minorities in the Southern region is a consistent policy of the Party, the State, the National Assembly and Government, this is the basic solution to reduce poverty sustainably, improve people’s living standards, at the same time contributing to socio-political stability. During the past years, the Party and State have always paid much attention to and invested heavily in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, poor districts, extremely difficult villages, coastal communes and islands; comprehensively implementing support and assistancing policies for ethnic minorities. The system of social security policies for ethnic minorities has been promulgated quite fully and comprehensively, covering the fields of social security, including job creation support, social insurance, social assistance and ensuring minimum access to social services (education, health care, insurance, housing, clean water, information, employment, hunger eradication, poverty reduction,...) which has contributed to improving the material and spiritual life of ethnic minorities. Therefore, in order to ensure a sustainable social security policy for ethnic minorities in the coming years, priority should be given to a number of fields such as investment in essential infrastructure, development of human resources, vocational training associated with job creation, use of ethnic minority cadres, multidimensional approach poverty reduction and sustainable poverty reduction... This is an important basis to contribute to poverty reduction and improvement of the people’s living standards day by day; thereby developing rapidly and sustainably in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. Keywords: Social security policy; Ethnic minority and mountainous areas; Southern Region.

Application value of high-throughput sequencing for the detection of thalassemia in ethnic Li minority areas

To assess the value of high-throughput sequencing for the detection of thalassemia-associated variants in ethnic Li minority areas of Hainan, China. In Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County of Hainan Province, 1842 middle school students were randomly selected as the subjects, which included 1249 ethnic Lis, 454 ethnic Hans, and 139 individuals from other ethnic minorities. With DNA extracted from peripheral blood samples, gap-PCR combined with high-throughput sequencing were carried out to detect potential variants of the globin genes. In total 22 α-thalassemia genotypes, 5β-thalassemia genotypes, and 21 α-composite β-thalassemia genotypes were detected. The carrier rates for ethnic Li, ethnic Han and other ethnic minorities were 78.14%, 24.01%, and 28.06%, respectively. In addition, 22 fusion genes, 8 variants leading to abnormal hemoglobin, and 10 rare mutations were identified. High-throughput sequencing can detect a wide range of genetic variants associated with thalassemia in the ethnic Li minority areas and has played an important role for the identification of fusion genes, variants underlying hemoglobin anomalies and rare mutations.

Motivational profiles of kindergarten teachers in minority areas of China and their association with outcomes.

Academic discourses regarding teacher motivation have been on-going for decades for those who teach in ethnic minority areas. Yet research findings failed to provide a consistent conclusion regarding if kindergarten teachers' motivation pattern would vary based on a case-to-case scenario. Therefore, further studies are needed to probe the motivation patterns among this population. The study firstly examined kindergarten teachers' motivational profiles based on Expectancy Value Theory (EVT), and then examined how teachers' motivation related to outcome variables (work engagement, workplace wellbeing, and retention intention). Participants included 1,199 kindergarten teachers from ethnic minority areas in China. Latent profile analysis identified three motivation profiles for teachers: low value-high cost (profile 1), moderate all (profile 2), and high value-low cost (profile 3). Teacher with different motivation profiles had significant differences in work engagement, workplace wellbeing, and retention intention. In addition, chain mediation analysis revealed that work engagement and workplace wellbeing mediated the relationship between motivation profiles and retention intention. The implications of the findings for study are discussed.

Sliding Window Detection and Analysis Method of Night-Time Light Remote Sensing Time Series—A Case Study of the Torch Festival in Yunnan Province, China

The spatial distribution of night-time lights (NTL) provides a new perspective for studying the range and influence of human activities. However, most studies employing NTL time series are based on monthly or annual composite data, and time series studies incorporating sliding windows are currently lacking. Therefore, using National Polar-Orbiting Partnership’s visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (NPP-VIIRS) night-time light remote sensing (NTLRS) data, VNP46A2, toponym, and Yunnan census statistical data, this study proposes a sliding-window-based NTLRS time series detection and analysis method. We extracted ethnic minority areas on the PyCharm platform using ethnic minority population proportion data and toponym and excluding data representing interference from urban areas. We used a sliding window approach to analyze NTLRS time series data of each ethnic group and calculated the cosine similarity between the NTL brightness curve of original data and the sliding window analysis result. The cosine similarity was greater than 0.96 from 2018 to 2020; we also conducted a field trip to the 2019 Torch Festival to demonstrate the applicability of the employed method. Finally, the temporal and spatial pattern of the Torch Festival was analyzed using the festival in Yunnan Province as an example. Results showed that the Torch Festival, mostly celebrated by the Yi ethnic group, was usually held on the 24th (and ranged from the 22nd to 26th) day in the sixth month of the lunar calendar (LC) every year. We found that during the Torch Festival, the greater the increase in the percentage of NTL brightness reduction in the main urban area of Kunming, the greater the percentage of ethnic minorities’ NTL brightness. The width of the sliding window can be adjusted appropriately according to the research objective, with these results showing good continuity. Our study presents a new application of the sliding window approach in the field of remote sensing, suitable for research into festivals related to night lights and fire all over the world.

Study on Farmers’ Willingness to Maintain the Sloping Land Conversion Program in Ethnic Minority Areas under the Background of Subsidy Expiration

The sloping land conversion program (SLCP) is one of the most important payment for ecosystem services (PESs) in the world, as direct stakeholders and the final implementers of the SLCP, farmers’ willingness to maintain the achievements is the basis for the consolidation and sustainable operation of the SLCP. Based on a survey of 975 farmers in Hunan Province, Gansu Province, and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, this study used the elastic net model to accurately select the influencing factors of farmers’ willingness to maintain the SLCP and the logit model to measure these factors. Finally, combined with the interpretative structural model (ISM), we further analyzed the hierarchical structure of each significant influencing factor. The main results are as follows. Firstly, off-farm employment, whether the head of the household is a village cadre, labor number, land area, income level, subjective norms from the organization, altruistic rationality, active ability, and policy perception had significant and positive impacts on farmers’ willingness to maintain the SLCP. In contrast, whether the head of the household is an ethnic minority and the expiration of the SLCP subsidy had significant and negative impacts on farmers’ willingness to maintain the SLCP. Secondly, the factors affecting farmers’ willingness to maintain the SLCP are at different levels, being both independent and interrelated. Among them, the deep-rooted factors are whether the head of the household is an ethnic minority, the expiration of the SLCP subsidy, the labor number, and whether the head of the household is a village cadre. Based on the above results, government departments should broaden the income channels of farmers in ethnic minority areas, strengthen the publicity to maintain the SLCP in ethnic minority areas, and improve the SLCP’s follow-up policy to enhance the farmers’ willingness to maintain the SLCP and ensure the program’s sustainability.

An empirical study of pedagogical content knowledge of middle school English teachers in Yunnan ethnic minority areas

This study investigates the current situation of English teachers&apos; Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in middle schools in the ethnic minority areas of Yunnan Province. A total of 439 English teachers were selected from middle schools in these eight ethnic minority areas of Yunnan Province. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0. The following conclusions have been drawn: the general situation of English teacher&apos;s PCK was good; there was a significant, positive and intermediate relationship between English proficiency and the six PCK factors; the important PCK predictors of teachers&apos; English proficiency were teaching strategy knowledge and organizational content knowledge, and the important PCK predictors of teacher&apos;s teaching ability were knowledge about students and effect feedback knowledge; there were significant differences in English teachers&apos; PCK in terms of school.

Mobile phone use addiction, insomnia, and depressive symptoms in adolescents from ethnic minority areas in China: A latent variable mediation model

Background and aimsAlthough previous studies have discussed the association between mobile phone use addiction (MPUA) and depressive symptoms in adolescents, studies on Chinese adolescents are limited, with no studies being reported on adolescents from ethnic minority areas within Yunnan. This study aimed to explore the mediating mechanism of insomnia in the association between MPUA and depressive symptoms among Yunnan college students. MethodsA sample survey was conducted among 10,121 college students from four colleges in Yunnan province, China, from November to December 2021 via cluster sampling. Insomnia was assessed using the Insomnia Severity Index Scale, MPUA was assessed using the Self-Rating Questionnaire for Adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use, and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 items. A generalized linear model was used to analyze the association between MPUA, insomnia, and depressive symptoms. The structural equation model was used to analyze the mediating effect of insomnia. ResultsThe positive rates of depressive symptoms, MPUA, and insomnia were 39.2 %, 30.8 %, and 22.3 %, respectively. After adjusting for the demographic and confounding variables, MPUA (β = 0.14, 95 % CI: 0.13–0.15, P < 0.01) and insomnia (β = 0.44, 95 % CI: 0.43–0.46, P < 0.01) were associated with depressive symptoms (P < 0.05). The mediating effect of insomnia accounted for 34.7 % of the total effect in the mediating model of MPUA associated with depressive symptoms. ConclusionOur findings suggest that insomnia partially mediates the association between MPUA and depressive symptoms among Yunnan college students.

HO CHI MINH CITY ABOUT SOCIAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE ETHNIC MINORITY AND MOUTAINOUS AREAS

The Communist Party of Vietnam upholds Ho Chi Minh's thought as completely correct in socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. That is consistent with President Ho Chi Minh's great contributions and pure moral example. That work is also consistent with the development of Marxism - Leninism. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh's thought is not only the ideological foundation and guideline for the actions of our Party and the Vietnamese revolution, but also becoming a sustainable value that has been and will be spread more and more widely, deeply in the world. Keywords: Ho Chi Minh’s thought; Socio-economic development; Ethnic minorities and mountainous areas.

Tourism dependence and poverty alleviation thresholds in Chinese ethnic tourism.

Questions persist on the relationship between tourism dependence and economic growth in ethnic tourism areas. This study addresses such gaps by constructing a threshold regression model based on socio-economic data from 2006 to 2019 for nine sites in Enshi Prefecture of central China. ArcGIS and other open-source data were also used to visualize changing tourism resources in the region. Findings suggest that tourism dependence (the ratio of tourism-based GDP to overall GDP) significantly promotes economic growth in ethnic minority areas. However, the positive influence of tourism dependence on economic growth appears dynamic and non-linear — rising at first before falling when tourism dependence exceeded a threshold of 34%, with effects varying by site and year. Methods and findings make crucial theoretical contributions to understanding tourism dependence and poverty alleviation linkages. This paper also highlights the importance of political support and balanced investment in diverse industries to minimize decreasing returns beyond tourism dependence thresholds in destinations worldwide.Electronic supplementary materialSupplementary material (Appendix 1) is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s11629-022-7479-2.

POLICY ON HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN ETHNIC MINORITY AND MOUNTAINOUS AREAS IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION

Education in our country’s ethnic minority and mountainous areas has achieved very encouraging results in recent years, which significantly contributes to the improvement of ethnic minorities’ educational level; rapidly increases the amount of ethnic minorities with college, university and post-graduate degrees. This achievement is largely due to the fact that over the years, we have effectively implemented the Party and State's human resource development policies in the field of education. These policies have created opportunities for students who are children of ethnic minorities to access and benefit from educational policies and be given favorable conditions for comprehensive development of the mind and body. The article deeply analyzes the actual situation of implementing policies on human resource development in the field of education in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in recent years, discussing a system of solutions to improve the quality of human resources, effective implementation of this group of policies. The achievements of this group of policies have been and will make an important contribution to the sustainable socio-economic development and security and defense in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, in the context of international integration today.

Policies for Promoting the Digital Transformation in Education in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas

Digital transformation is an important condition to enhance opportunities for expanding and improving the quality of education in ethnic minority areas. The essence of digital transformation in education is the transformation of content, curricula, and education management based on technology for high socio-economic efficiency at low cost. Digital transformation in education opens up opportunities and contributes to social development in ethnic minority areas. However, this process faces many challenges due to the typically difficult natural and socio-economic conditions of the ethnic minority areas. Therefore, an adequate understanding of digital transformation, as well as accurate assessments of the context in order to achieve sound digital transformation policies of improving the quality and effectiveness of education, are critical for the development of ethnic minority areas.&#x0D; Keywords: policies, digital transformation, education, ethnic minorities

Core belief challenge moderated the relationship between posttraumatic growth and adolescent academic burnout in Wenchuan area during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study investigates the characteristics of posttraumatic growth (PTG) and academic burnout among adolescents in an ethnic minority area in China during the COVID-19 pandemic, and examines the moderating role of core belief challenge on the association between PTG and academic burnout. This study surveyed 941 secondary school students in Wenchuan using the posttraumatic growth inventory, adolescent academic burnout inventory, core beliefs inventory, and a self-designed demographic questionnaire. The results showed that: (1) Five months after the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the level of PTG among adolescents in the Wenchuan area was high and its prevalence was 32.3%. Among them, the dimension of perceived changes in self was the highest, and the PTG level of junior high school students was higher than that of high school students. The academic burnout level of adolescents, particularly emotional exhaustion, was also high. The academic burnout level of the high school students was higher than that of junior high school students. (2) There was a significant negative correlation between PTG and academic burnout among adolescents. (3) Core belief challenge moderated the relationship between PTG and academic burnout. PTG had a significant negative predictive effect on adolescents’ academic burnout only when the core belief challenge was above a moderate level. These results showed the uniqueness of PTG and psychological behavioral problems of adolescents in ethnic minority areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also emphasized the key role of core belief challenge in the process of PTG in reducing adolescents’ academic burnout. Based on these results, recommendations are provided to alleviate academic burnout among adolescents in Wenchuan against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic. While providing full play to ethnic minority cultural characteristics to promote posttraumatic growth, guiding adolescents’ value reflection and cognitive reconstruction should be focused on.

Exploration of the dilemma and path of social cooperative education in family schools in ethnic minority areas

The introduction of the Family Education Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China further strengthens the construction of the legal mechanism of social cooperative education in family school, and provides a deeper theoretical basis for the systematization of the collaborative education mechanism.At present, family-school and social cooperative education requires parents to step into the ranks of lifelong learning, and teachers are required to have the dual ability of both "school education" and "family education".The introduction of "double reduction" and "five management" policies has returned education to rationality and respected the growth law of minors.In the exploration of collaborative education mechanism, it is necessary to sort out the problems and difficulties in the home school society, establish the collaborative education goal of "moral education"; balance the boundaries of social responsibility; establish the linkage platform of family education; and establish the mechanism of collaborative education.

Exploration of the dilemma and path of social cooperative education in family schools in ethnic minority areas

The introduction of the Family Education Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China further strengthens the construction of the legal mechanism of social cooperative education in family school, and provides a deeper theoretical basis for the systematization of the collaborative education mechanism.At present, family-school and social cooperative education requires parents to step into the ranks of lifelong learning, and teachers are required to have the dual ability of both "school education" and "family education".The introduction of "double reduction" and "five management" policies has returned education to rationality and respected the growth law of minors.In the exploration of collaborative education mechanism, it is necessary to sort out the problems and difficulties in the home school society, establish the collaborative education goal of "moral education"; balance the boundaries of social responsibility; establish the linkage platform of family education; and establish the mechanism of collaborative education.