Editing China proper (section)

=== Ethnic perspective ===
[[File:Ethnolinguistic map of China 1983.jpg|thumb|The approximate extent of the Han ethnicity in China and Taiwan as of 1983, denoted in brown.{{NoteTag|Source: United States Central Intelligence Agency, 1983. The map shows the distribution of ethnolinguistic groups according to the majority ethnic group by region in 1983. This map does not represent the current distribution of ethnic groups due to internal migration and assimilation.}} Scattered distribution is denoted by circles.]]
China proper is often associated with the Han people, the majority ethnic group of China and with the extent of the Chinese languages, an important unifying element of the Han ethnicity.

However, Han regions in the present day do not correspond well to the Eighteen Provinces of the Qing dynasty. Much of southwestern China, such as areas in the provinces of [[Yunnan]], [[Guangxi]], and [[Guizhou]], was part of successive dynasties of ethnic Han origin, including the Ming dynasty and the Eighteen Provinces of the Qing dynasty. However, these areas were and continue to be populated by various non-Han minority groups, such as the [[Zhuang people|Zhuang]], the [[Miao people]], and the [[Bouyei people|Bouyei]]. Conversely, Han people form the majority in most of Manchuria, much of Inner Mongolia, many areas in Xinjiang and scattered parts of Tibet today, not least due to the expansion of Han settlement encouraged by the late Qing dynasty, the Republic of China, and the People's Republic of China.

Ethnic Han is not synonymous with speakers of the Chinese language. Many non-Han ethnicities, such as the [[Hui people|Hui]] and Manchu, are essentially monolingual in the Chinese language, but do not identify as ethnic Han. The Chinese language itself is also a complex entity, and should be described as a family of related languages rather than a single language if the criterion of [[mutual intelligibility]] is used to classify its subdivisions.

In polls the majority of the people of Taiwan call themselves "Taiwanese" only with the rest identifying as "Taiwanese and Chinese" or "Chinese" only. Most of the people of Taiwan are descendants of immigrants from mainland China since the 1600s, but the inclusion of Taiwan in the definition of China proper, is still a controversial subject. See [[History of Taiwan]] and [[Political status of Taiwan]] for more information.