Elliott, Mark2017-10-272015Elliott, Mark. 2015. “The Case of the Missing Indigene: Debate Over a ‘Second-Generation’ Ethnic Policy.” The China Journal 73 (January): 186–213. doi:10.1086/679274.1324-9347http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:34306000The last few years have seen a vigorous public policy debate emerge over a “second generation” ethnic policy (di’erdai minzu zhengce) which, if implemented, would constitute a major revision of ethnic politics in China. Despite the fact that nationalities policy is a notoriously sensitive subject within China, the debate is happening openly in newspapers, academic journals and on the Internet. The prominence accorded to anthropological theory and international comparison is a notable feature of the debate. This article first explores the main positions in the ongoing policy discussion, then goes on to argue that, rather than comparing China’s non-Han peoples to minority immigrant populations in the industrialized democracies, a better comparison is to indigenous peoples. It then considers why this perspective is completely missing from the present debate.en-USJournal Article2014-12-09Mark Elliott2017-10-2710.1086/679274