Current Status and Development Strategy in Constructinga Disciplinary System of Chinese National Community

JOURNAL OF ETHNOLOGY， VOL. 15， NO.02， 21-27， 2024 （CN51-1731/C， in Chinese）

DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1674-9391.2024.02.003

Abstract：

Strengthening the construction of a disciplinary system of the Chinese national community is urgently needed for reinforcing and improving the Party，s ethnic work in the new era of China， as well as for promoting the principle of “upholding tradition while embracing innovation” of the Party，s ethnic theory in this new era. This study collected the 2023 doctoral and 2024 master enrollment prospectuses issued by Chinese universities hosting first-tier disciplines in ethnology and extracted the respective majors and directions associated with the Chinese national community and their distribution in the relevant first-level discipline. At the same time， it gathered brief introductions， updates， and other textual resources pertaining to 28 Research Bases for Forging Chinese National Community Consciousness （2023-2025 cycle） as announced by the United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee， the Publicity Department of CPC Central Committee， the Ministry of Education and National Ethnic Affairs Commission， and extracted the discipline fields and related discipline information of the bases. All these are used as a data source to analyze the current situation of the disciplinary system construction concerning the Chinese national community.

In February 2023， the United Front Work Departmentof the CPC Central Committee， the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee， the Ministry of Education， and National Ethnic Affairs Commission jointly issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of the Theoretical Research System for Forging Chinese National Community Consciousness. These guidelines sought to clarify key directions for research on the consciousness of the community for the Chinese nation， including General Secretary Xi Jinping，s thought on strengthening and improving ethnic work in the new era， major fundamental issues concerning the community of the Chinese nation， studies on the history of the Chinese nation， and research into significant practical problems concerning the construction of Community for the Chinese Nation. This research takes this as an analytical framework to investigate the current situation of constructing a discipline system of the Community for the Chinese Nation， and it finds that a lot of the discipline or research directions exhibit comprehensive characteristics， whereas the focus and scope of the research domain remain relatively vague， reflecting that the construction of a disciplinary system of Community for the Chinese Nation is still in its nascent phase. The remaining discipline contents predominantly center around nine key areas： National/ethnic theory with Chinese characteristics， Marxist national community theory and its adaptation to the Chinese context， the concept of the Chinese national community， Chinese and ethnic cultural studies， the history of the communication， interaction， and integration of the Chinese nation， ethnic unity and national identity， visual image and communication strategies of the Chinese nation， social governance and legal protection in ethnic areas， and promotion of all ethnic groups jointly moving toward modernization. The discipline system of the Chinese national community is to be characterized by interdisciplinary features， including law， philosophy， literature， history， education， economics， management， art， ethnology， sociology， political science， and Marxist theory. In conclusion， this article underscores the essentiality of aligning disciplinary orientations with the major strategy of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation， establish mechanisms of interdisciplinary cooperation and mutual reinforcement， and give full play to its educational function so as to strengthen the construction of a disciplinary framework of the Chinese national community.

Key Words：

Chinese National Community; discipline system; discipline construction