Abstract
The theory of “He xie she hui” means the construction of a harmonious Chinese society. It was stated as a formal administrative policy of the Chinese Communist Party in 2004. This paper discusses the problems involved with the harmonization of relations among the various Chinese nationalities that compose an important part of this theory. In terms of the development of the notion of a harmonious Chinese society, government and academic circles insist that there are three bases such as Chinese traditional, Marxism, and Maoism concepts of harmony. However, with the stipulation of harmoniousness as the norm, the subjects in the harmonious society are required to subordinate to ideology. In terms of harmonious relations among the Chinese nationalities, the government insists upon a harmoniousness that is based upon “the diversity in unity of the Chinese nation” that is of historical origin and is also a realistic basis for the construction of harmonious Chinese society. Furthermore, academic circles have been interpreting the realization of harmoniousness among Chinese nationalities as a problem to be solved by the methods of multiculturalism. These methods embrace the culturalization approach and the institutionalization approach. Culturalization implies the depoliticalization of the Chinese nationalities, and institutionalization means the politicalization of the Chinese nationalities. However, in either approach, we can find a tendency toward essentialism with respect to the subjects needed to construct harmonious relations among Chinese nationalities. This could maintain and strengthen the “Zhong hua min zu”（the Chinese nation) “Shao shu min zu”（ethnic minorities) hierarchy that has been regarded as a given. This paper investigates critically such essentialism for having limited the possibility of the harmoniousness.
