8 replies to this topic

[stojko]

Hi!

I am going to film a documentary movie about unrecognized ethnic groups in China. While I was researching I got a little confused. I came up to many terms regarding this kind of ethnic groups:

- undetermined
- undefined
- unknown
- unclassified
- undistinguished
- unrecognised
- indeterminate
- other nationalities

Can anybody please help me with this terms, because i really dont know anymore how many subgroups of unrecognized group exist.


Thank you very much in advance,
Miha from Slovenia

[bloodmerchant]

Hi!

I am going to film a documentary movie about unrecognized ethnic groups in China. While I was researching I got a little confused. I came up to many terms regarding this kind of ethnic groups:

- undetermined
- undefined
- unknown
- unclassified
- undistinguished
- unrecognised
- indeterminate
- other nationalities

Can anybody please help me with this terms, because i really dont know anymore how many subgroups of unrecognized group exist.


Thank you very much in advance,
Miha from Slovenia

http://en.wikipedia....groups_in_China
http://zh.wikipedia....未识别民�

[stojko]

http://en.wikipedia....groups_in_China
http://zh.wikipedia....未识别民�

Thanks for that.
I know about unrecognised groups in china. I have found some groups that are named UNKNOWN or UNDEFINED. I am still confused about this terms. Which of this terms are the same and which different?

thanks a lot.

miha

[General_Zhaoyun]

Thanks for that.
I know about unrecognised groups in china. I have found some groups that are named UNKNOWN or UNDEFINED. I am still confused about this terms. Which of this terms are the same and which different?

thanks a lot.

miha

"Unknown" means that many people still do not know that these ethnic groups exist in China. That means to say that these ethnic groups could have lived in complete isolation, without any contact with other people in China.

I've heard that in Hainan island of China, there existed a kind of primitive aborigines, who lived in primitive way (for e.g. without wearing any clothings). In the past, many Chinese did not even know these people exist, because they lived in complete isolation in the deep mountains. These people were 'discovered' by accident. Up to now, these aborigine people still do not wear any clothes. Can you imagine such people still exist in China ?

"Undefined" means that there are still no appropriate names given to describe these ethnic groups. People probably have already 'discovered' these ethnic groups, but do not know what name should be given to them.

[stojko]

"Unknown" means that many people still do not know that these ethnic groups exist in China. That means to say that these ethnic groups could have lived in complete isolation, without any contact with other people in China.

I've heard that in Hainan island of China, there existed a kind of primitive aborigines, who lived in primitive way (for e.g. without wearing any clothings). In the past, many Chinese did not even know these people exist, because they lived in complete isolation in the deep mountains. These people were 'discovered' by accident. Up to now, these aborigine people still do not wear any clothes. Can you imagine such people still exist in China ?

"Undefined" means that there are still no appropriate names given to describe these ethnic groups. People probably have already 'discovered' these ethnic groups, but do not know what name should be given to them.

Thanks a lot for your help.
So if I understand you well this people from Hainan used to be unknown and now they became undefined.

Can you help also with this other terms:

- undetermined
- unclassified
- undistinguished
- unrecognised


I was also trying to get list of other groups, but all I can found is the unrecognised ethnic groups list. Where can I found other lists ?

Do you maybe know the TERM for groups that was placed under the official groups?

It is unbelievable how many different people live in China. In Europe a lot of people still believe that there are only Chinese living in China.


with respect,
Miha

Edited by stojko, 04 March 2010 - 09:31 AM.

[stojko]

Is here really nobody who can help me?

[bloodmerchant]

You really don't need help. They all mean the same thing. Especially if you happen to have an English language thesaurus. (You really can't expect help to understand terms in English if you're a non-native English speaker, because these are actually English words, not words unique to Chinese.)

Edited by bloodmerchant, 08 March 2010 - 03:01 PM.

[General_Zhaoyun]

Thanks a lot for your help.
So if I understand you well this people from Hainan used to be unknown and now they became undefined.

Can you help also with this other terms:

- undetermined
- unclassified
- undistinguished
- unrecognised


I was also trying to get list of other groups, but all I can found is the unrecognised ethnic groups list. Where can I found other lists ?

Do you maybe know the TERM for groups that was placed under the official groups?

It is unbelievable how many different people live in China. In Europe a lot of people still believe that there are only Chinese living in China.


with respect,
Miha

Let me try:

"undetermined" is almost similar to "undefined" as people still do not know or 'decided' (determine) what kind of ethnicity they are or should be

"unclassified" is the same thing as "undetermined", just that people do not know how to group them.

"undistinguished" is the same thing as "not being able to be recognized". People do not know what ethnicity they are.

"unrecognised" is the same thing as 'undistinguished'. People do not know or unable to recognize what ethnicity they are.

[qrasy]

I am guessing, however,
- "unclassified" might be a quite different from "undetermined". People that already have a sense of identity (any non-trivial names, i.e. other than 'locals of XX') but cannot associate it with any of the major ethnic group (while some people want to try to classify them into some other groups but can't agree with each other) will be unclassified.
- "undistinguished" means that it's usually grouped into another. For example "Hui-oa women" is grouped as Han instead of separate ethnicity.
- "unrecognized" refers to that while there's a good classification already, but it's not accepted by the government as an official minority. For example, I believe that there are some Germans in China, but "German 族" is unrecognized unlike "Russia 族" which is recognized.

Edited by qrasy, 09 March 2010 - 04:56 AM.