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China is a multiethnic country, having 56 ethnic groups. The
Han is the largest group, accounting for over 92 percent of
the national total population, while the remaining 55 ethnic
groups, collectively called ethnic minorities, comprise less
than 8 percent. Of them, the Zhuang is the largest ethnic
minority group, with a population of more than 15 million,
and the Lhoba is the smallest, having a population of 2,000
or so. The Hans are distributed all over China, though
living in compact communities in the Yellow, Yangtze and
Pearl river valleys and in the Songhuajiang-Liaohe Plain.
The ethnic minorities inhabit 50-60 percent of the Chinese
territory, despite their small population. The Han people
have their own spoken and written language, which is also
the national language of China, as well as one of the
universally used languages in the world. Hui and Manchu also
use Han Chinese. The remaining 53 ethnic groups normally use
their own languages, 23 of which have a written form. Over
the ages, the Han people have established extensive
political and economic ties and cultural exchanges with
various ethnic minorities and they have formed an
interdependent relationship for common development.
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