Autonomous regions of China
An autonomous region is a first-level administrative division of China. Like Chinese provinces, an autonomous region has its own local government, but an autonomous region has more legislative rights. An autonomous region is the highest level of minority autonomous entity in China, which has a comparably higher population of a particular minority ethnic group.
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was established in 1947, Xinjiang was made autonomous in 1955, and Guangxi and Ningxia were made autonomous in 1958. Tibet was conquered by China in the 1950s, and was named a Chinese Autonomous Zone in 1965. The designation of Guangxi and Ningxia as Zhuang and Hui autonomous areas, respectively, was bitterly protested by the local Han Chinese, who made up two-thirds of the population of each region. Although Mongols made up an even smaller percentage of Inner Mongolia than either of these, the ensuing Chinese Civil War gave little opportunity for protest.Statistics
Population
Note: In the "Third Largest Ethnic Group" column is the ethnic group given in brackets, after the names of the autonomous regions and Han people.Literature
