Editing People's Liberation Army (section)

===Women and ethnic minorities===
{{anchor|Women in the People's Liberation Army}}
{{anchor|Ethnic minorities in the People's Liberation Army}}
[[File:Военная делегация из Китая посетила Военную академию Генерального штаба ВС РФ.png|thumb|Female Colonel of the [[People's Liberation Army Joint Logistics Support Force|Joint Logistics Support Force]].]]
Women participated extensively in [[unconventional warfare]], including in combat positions, in the [[Chinese Red Army]] during the [[Chinese Communist Revolution|revolutionary period]], Chinese Civil War (1927–1949) and the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).<ref name="lixiaolin_1993">{{cite journal |last=Li |first=Xiaolin |title=Chinese Women in the People's Liberation Army: Professionals or Quasi-Professionals? |journal=Armed Forces & Society |volume=20 |issue=1 |date=1993 |pages=69–83 |doi=10.1177/0095327X9302000105 |jstor=45346560 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/45346560 }}</ref><ref name="kania_2016">{{cite journal |url=https://jamestown.org/program/holding-half-sky-part-1-evolution-womens-roles-pla/ |title=Holding Up Half the Sky? (Part 1)—The Evolution of Women's Roles in the PLA |journal=China Brief |volume=16 |issue=15 |date=4 October 2016 |first=Elsa |last=Kania |access-date=1 April 2024 |archive-date=1 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401171605/https://jamestown.org/program/holding-half-sky-part-1-evolution-womens-roles-pla/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, along with the People's Liberation Army (PLA)'s transition toward the conventional military organization, the role of women in the armed forces gradually reduced to support, medical, and logistics roles.<ref name="lixiaolin_1993" /> It was considered a prestigious choice for women to join the military. Serving in the military opens up opportunities for education, training, higher status, and relocation to cities after completing the service. During the Cultural Revolution, military service was regarded as a privilege and a method to avoid [[Down to the Countryside Movement|political campaign and coresion]].<ref name="lixiaolin_1993" />

In the 1980s, the PLA underwent large-scale demobilization amid the [[Chinese economic reform]], and women were discharged back to civilian society for economic development while the exclusion of women in the military expanded.<ref name="lixiaolin_1993" /> In the 1990s, the PLA revived the recruitment of female personnel in regular [[military formation]]s but primarily focused on non-combat roles at specialized positions.<ref name="lixiaolin_1993" /> Most women were trained in areas such as academic/engineering, [[Combat medic|medics]], [[Military communications|communications]], intelligence, cultural work, and administrative work, as these positions conform to the traditional gender roles. Women in the PLA were more likely to be cadets and officers instead of enlisted soldiers because of their specializations.<ref name="lixiaolin_1993" /> The military organization still preserved some female combat units as public exemplars of social equality.<ref name="lixiaolin_1993" /><ref name="kania_2016" />

Both enlisted and cadet women personnel underwent the same [[Military recruit training|basic training]] as their male counterparts in the PLA, but many of them serve in predominantly female [[Military organization|organizations]]. Due to ideological reasons, the regulation governing the segregation of sex in the PLA is prohibited, but a quasi-segregated arrangement for women's organizations is still applied through considerations of convenience.<ref name="lixiaolin_1993" /> Women were likelier to hold commanding positions in female-heavy organizations such as medical, logistic, research, and political work units, but sometimes in combat units during peacetime.<ref name="lixiaolin_1993" /> In PLAAF, women traditionally pilot transport aircraft or serve as crew members.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/CASI/Display/Article/2841996/females-in-the-pla-air-force/#:~:text=Historically%2C%20females%20in%20the%20PLAAF,units%2C%20and%20the%20Airborne%20Corps. |title=Females in the PLA Air Force |website=China Aerospace Studies Institute |date=15 November 2021 |first=Kenneth |last=W. Allen |access-date=1 April 2024 |archive-date=1 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401164601/https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/CASI/Display/Article/2841996/females-in-the-pla-air-force/#:~:text=Historically%2C%20females%20in%20the%20PLAAF,units%2C%20and%20the%20Airborne%20Corps. |url-status=live }}</ref> There had been a small number of high-ranking female officials in the PLA since 1949, but the advancement of position had remained relatively uncommon.<ref name="lixiaolin_1993" /><ref name="kania_2016" /> In the 2010s, women were increasingly serving in combat roles, in mixed-gender organizations alongside their male counterparts, and to the same physical standard.<ref name="kania_2016" />

The military actively promotes opportunities for women in the military, such as celebrating [[International Women's Day]] for the members of the armed forces, publicizing the number of firsts for female officers and enlisted personnel, including deployments with peacekeeping forces or serving on PLA Navy's first aircraft carrier, announcing female military achievements in state media, and promoting female special forces through news reports or popular media.<ref name="kania_2016" /> PLA does not publish detailed gender composition of its armed forces, but the [[Jamestown Foundation]] estimated approximately 5% of the active military force in China is female.<ref name="kaniaallen_2016">{{cite journal |url=https://jamestown.org/program/holding-half-sky-part-2-evolution-womens-roles-pla/ |title=Holding Up Half the Sky? (Part 2)—The Evolution of Women's Roles in the PLA |journal=China Brief |volume=16 |issue=16 |date=26 October 2016 |first1=Elsa |last1=Kania |first2=Kenneth |last2=Allen |access-date=1 April 2024 |archive-date=1 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401171607/https://jamestown.org/program/holding-half-sky-part-2-evolution-womens-roles-pla/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

National unity and territorial integrity are central themes of the Chinese Communist Revolution. The Chinese Red Army and the succeeding PLA actively recruited [[Ethnic minorities in China|ethnic minorities]]. During the Chinese Civil War, Mongol cavalry units were formed. During the Korean War, as many as 50,000 ethnic Koreans in China volunteered to join the PLA. PLA's recruitment of minorities generally correlates to state policies. During the early years, minorities were given preferential treatment, with special attention given to recruitment and training. In the 1950s, ethnic Mongols accounted for 52% of all officers in [[Inner Mongolia]] military region. During the [[Great Leap Forward]] and Cultural Revolution, armed forces emphasized "socialist culture", assimilation policies, and the construction of common identities between soldiers of different ethnicities.<ref name="Heaton_1977">{{cite journal |first=Heaton |last=William R. |title=The Minorities and the Military in China |journal=Armed Forces & Society |volume=3 |issue=2 |date=1977 |pages=325–342 |doi=10.1177/0095327X7700300211 |jstor=45346013 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/45346013. }}</ref>

For ethnic minority cadets and officials, overall development follows national policies. Typically, minority officers hold officer positions in their home regions. Examples included over 34% of the battalion and regimental cadres in [[Yi people|Yi]] autonomous region militia were of the Yi ethnicity, and 45% of the militia cadres in Tibetan local militia were of Tibetan ethnicity. Ethnical minorities achieved high-ranking positions in the PLA, and the percentage of appointments appears to follow the ratio of the Chinese population composition.<ref name="Heaton_1977" /> Prominent figures included ethnic Mongol general [[Ulanhu]], who served in high-ranking roles in the Inner Mongolian region and as vice president of China, and ethnic [[Uyghurs|Uyghur]] [[Saifuddin Azizi]], a [[Lieutenant General]] who served in the [[CCP Central Committee]].<ref name="Heaton_1977" /> There were a few instances of ethnic distrust within the PLA, with one prominent example being the defection of [[Margub Iskhakov]], an ethnic [[Muslim]] [[Tatars|Tatar]] PLA general, to the [[Soviet Union]] in the 1960s. However, his defection largely contributed to his disillusion with the failed Great Leap Forward policies, instead of his ethnic background.<ref name="ziyang_2017">{{cite web |url=https://asiatimes.com/2017/09/racism-always-determine-pla-promotions/ |title=Ethnicity factors strongly in PLA promotions |website=Asia Times |date=9 September 2017 |first=Zi |last=Yang |access-date=1 April 2024 |archive-date=1 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401164602/https://asiatimes.com/2017/09/racism-always-determine-pla-promotions/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In modern times, ethnic representation is most visible among junior-ranking officers. Only a few minorities reach the highest-ranking positions.<ref name="ziyang_2017" />