Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress

The Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress is a legislation in China concerning ethnic minorities. The law was introduced by the National People's Congress's Ethnic Affairs Committee and submitted to the NPC on 8 September 2025. It was adopted by the NPC on 12 March 2026 and signed by President Xi Jinping on the same day. It will come into effect on 1 July 2026.

The law codifies Xi Jinping's policy regarding ethnic affairs and promotes further ethnic integration under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. The law has been criticized by scholars and human rights activists outside of China and its promotion of extraterritorial enforcement has been likened to transnational repression.

The law was introduced by the National People's Congress's Ethnic Affairs Committee and submitted to the NPC on 8 September 2025.^[1] According to the law's introductory document, it "implements General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thinking" on ethnic affairs and promotes "the common prosperity and development of all ethnic groups … along the path of rule of law."^[2] It was passed by the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress on 12 March 2026 and signed by President Xi Jinping on the same day.^[3] It will come into effect on 1 July 2026.^[4]

The law codifies Chinese leader Xi Jinping's policy regarding ethnic affairs. The law calls China "a civilization with a history of over 5,000 years" that has forged "a unified multi-ethnic nation" under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),^[2] which it says is "a community of common destiny bound by intertwined bloodlines, common beliefs, cultural similarities, economic interdependence, and close emotional ties" that has successfully preserved their civilization despite periods of foreign aggression after 1840. It says the CCP as the "vanguard of the Chinese people and the Zhonghua minzu" led all ethnic groups in achieving independence and equality and charted "a correct path with Chinese characteristics for addressing ethnic issues", which evolved into the CCP's "Important Thinking on Improving and Strengthening Ethnic Work" whose "main task" is to forge "a sense of community for the Chinese nation". It concludes by calling on all citizens and institutions, state and private, to fulfill their shared obligations to "forge a sense of community for the Chinese nation" and to develop that community.^[5]

Chapters I and V lay out the organizational structure and overarching principles of ethnic governance. It affirms the Party's "comprehensive leadership" over efforts to advance ethnic unity and progress, and task the United Front Work Department and the National Ethnic Affairs Commission regarding the implementation of ethnic affairs policy. It declares "a sense of community for the Chinese nation" to be "the foundation of ethnic unity" and tasks the whole of government and society to achieve these goals, mandating general obligations on a wide range of public and private actors such as public employees, mass organizations, enterprises, public-service institutions, industry groups, religious institutions, neighborhood committees, and the military.^[5]

Chapter II, titled Building a Shared Spiritual Home. lays out the ideological characteristics of the law, requiring fostering identification with "the great motherland, the Chinese nation, Chinese culture, the Communist Party of China, and socialism with Chinese characteristics" through patriotic education, education in official historical narratives, publicity of “the fine Zhonghua traditional culture,” and promotion of "Chinese cultural symbols and image of the Chinese nation". It also codifies the predominance of Standard Chinese (Putonghua) in public life, codifying the goal of having preschoolers become proficient in Putonghua and requires that Chinese characters be displayed more prominently than minority scripts if both must be used in public. It tasks the Ministry of Education and the National Ethnic Affairs Commission in developing textbooks regarding "the community of the Chinese nation" and requires all schools to integrate that concept into their curricula. It vows to support the standardization, digitization, and preservation of minority texts. It broadly requires media, internet service providers, families, among others, to promote the CCP's ethnic policy and reminds parents of their duty to provide lawful family education, while prohibiting them from "instilling in minors ideas detrimental to ethnic unity and progress".^[5]

Chapter III, titled Facilitating Interactions, Interchanges, and Intermingling, promotes further ethnic integration. It obligates the government to support "inter-embedded community environments" so that ethnic groups can "live, study, build, share, work, and enjoy together". For that goal, it requires local governments to "forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation" and promote integration in all aspects of urban planning and governance. It specifically directs them to implement policies to facilitate cross-regional population movement, employment, student enrollment, and teacher and youth exchanges. It also mandates authorities to support and shape volunteer services, cultural institutions (libraries, museums, etc.), the tourism industry, and modern technologies and online media. It mandates internet service providers to promptly stop the transmission of “information containing ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, or other content that undermines ethnic unity and progress.”^[5]

Chapter IV, titled Promoting Common Prosperity and Development, focuses on integrating border regions and those with significant ethnic minorities to national economic and security priorities, requiring economic and social policies to further advance ethnic integration and improve people's lives and build popular support, as well as help safeguard national unity and fight against separatism. Ethnic areas has a "mission and responsibility" to safeguard the nation's "border security, resource and energy security, food security, and ecological security". Per the law, relevant central and local authorities are to improve infrastructure connectivity, develop appropriate local industries and agriculture, equalize public services, and strengthen environmental protection. It also requires promoting "civic and moral development", mandating "transforming outdated customs and traditions" and "promoting a new culture of civility and progress".^[5] The law encourages marriages between Han Chinese and ethnic minorities.^[6] It bars anyone from blocking marriages on ethnic grounds.^[7]

Chapter V and VI concern the enforcement mechanisms of the law. It permits citizens to report conduct that "undermines ethnic unity and progress" and to lodge complaints against government agencies and employees who fail to discharge their obligations under the Law. Procuratorates may initiate public interest litigation when any such conduct also "undermines national interests or the public interest". It generally leaves penalties to be imposed under other applicable laws. It also asserts jurisdiction over foreign organizations and individuals that "commit acts targeting the PRC that undermine ethnic unity and progress or create ethnic division".^[5] The law empowers the state to pursue those outside of China perceived as undermining notions of ethnic unity.^[8]

Anthropologist Magnus Fiskesjö of Cornell University stated that the "law is consistent with a dramatic recent policy shift, to suppress the ethnic diversity formally recognised since 1949."^[9] According to Neil Thomas of Asia Society, the law expands "the legal basis for restricting religious, cultural and political activities among minority groups."^[10] According to historian Benno Weiner of Carnegie Mellon University, the law if enforced would mean that non-Han people could not express "any type of discontent without being accused of being essentially separatists or terrorists".^[10] Regarding the extraterritorial enforcement dimensions of the law, Yalkun Uluyol of Human Rights Watch stated, "[t]hat is what you call transnational repression."^[8]

• List of ethnic groups in China
• Unrecognized ethnic groups in China
• Ethnic groups in Chinese history
• Minzu (anthropology)
  • Zhonghua minzu