To a question of historiography of Zhuang Studies in the XX century

The people Republic of China is by its constitution a multinational state with 56 nationalities. Han is the largest nationality in China and Han people take approximately 95 % of PRC's population. Nevertheless the rest 55 nationalities have together around 100 million of people and present great variety of languages, religions and customs. The article describes some issues of Zhuang studies in the 20century. Zhuang people are far the most populous ethnic minority among the 55 ethnic minorities, whichare now officially recognized by the PRC government. The majority of Zhuang population of 16 million of people live in Guangxi-Zhuang Autonomous Region, or GZAR. The region was established in 1958 by the decision of PRC government instead of former Guangxi province. Despite the fact that Zhang people are numerous, there is a relatively small number of scholars doing their research on Zhuang issues. There are a few periods of interest to Zhuang studies and all these periods have special features: for example the nationality of scholars, their goals, attitude towards national minorities etc. First attempts to explore the Southern Asia were made by Western colonial officers. They faced the necessity of understanding the people they dealt with. It promoted the first explorations of southern China ethnic minorities including Zhuang, and their languages, culture, religious beliefs, history etc. The majority of scholars doing research on Zhuang issues were the Westerners. Second period is 1920s. In this period Chinese Republican intellectuals put their attention to national territories on the borders of the Republic of China. Due to the influence of Sun Yat-Sen's concept of nation, Zhuang people were not recognized as a separate ethnic minority. All the minorities except those five specially mentioned by Sun Yat-Sen were treated as "Chinese who speak a non-Chinese language". The third period of Zhuang studies starts in 1950s. After the creation of the People Republic of China one of the first issues new government started to deal with is the issue of ethnic construction and recognition. Zhuang studies were broadened and deepened by large scale. Guangxi Province become Guangxi-Zhuang Autonomous Region in 1958. Since then with a 10 years's break of Cultural Revolution Zhuang studies have been developing rapidly. The article also describes some scholars' view of possible reasons, which made the PRC government to create an Autonomous Region for people, whose ethnic consciousness and will for self-determination was relatively weak.

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