List of ethnic groups in China in the context of "Flag of China"

Chinese (spoken: simplified Chinese: 汉语; traditional Chinese: 漢語; pinyin: Hànyǔ, written: 中文; Zhōngwén) is an umbrella term for Sinitic languages in the Sino-Tibetan language family, widely recognized as a group of language varieties, spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39 billion people, or 17% of the global population, speak one of the Chinese languages as their first language.

The Chinese languages form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The Chinese government considers the spoken varieties of the Chinese languages dialects of a single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are considered to be separate languages in a family by linguists. Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin with 66%, or around 800 million speakers, followed by Min (75 million, e.g., Southern Min), Wu (74 million, e.g., Shanghainese), and Yue (68 million, e.g., Cantonese). These branches are unintelligible to each other, and many of their subgroups are unintelligible with the other varieties within the same branch (e.g., Southern Min). There are, however, transitional areas where varieties from different branches share enough features for some limited intelligibility, including New Xiang with Southwestern Mandarin, Xuanzhou Wu Chinese with Lower Yangtze Mandarin, Jin with Central Plains Mandarin and certain divergent dialects of Hakka with Gan. All varieties of Chinese are tonal at least to some degree, and are largely analytic.

The Bouyei (also spelled Puyi, Buyei and Buyi; Bouyei: Buxqyaix, [puʔjai] or "Puzhong", "Burao", "Puman"; Chinese: 布依族; pinyin: Bùyīzú; Vietnamese: người Bố Y) are an ethnic group living in Southern Mainland China. Numbering 3.5 million, they are the 10th largest of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. Some 3,000 Bouyei also live in Northern Vietnam, where they are one of that nation's 54 officially recognized ethnic groups.

This is a list of lists of contemporary ethnic groups.

• List of contemporary ethnic groups of Asia
• List of contemporary ethnic groups of Europe
• List of contemporary ethnic groups of North America
• List of contemporary ethnic groups of Oceania
• List of contemporary ethnic groups of South America
• List of Indigenous peoples
• List of diasporas
• List of stateless nations

• African people
  • List of contemporary ethnic groups of Africa
  • Indigenous people of Africa
  • Ethnic groups in Algeria
  • Ethnic groups in Botswana
  • Ethnic groups in Burundi
  • Ethnic groups in Chad
  • List of ethno-linguistic groups in Eritrea
  • List of ethnic groups in Ethiopia
  • List of ethnic groups in Nigeria
    • List of ethnic groups in Rivers State
  • Ethnic groups in Rwanda
  • List of ethnic groups in Tanzania
  • Ethnic groups in Senegal
  • Ethnic groups in Sierra Leone
  • List of ethnic groups in South Sudan
  • List of ethnic groups in Zambia
• Asian people
  • List of contemporary ethnic groups of Asia
  • Ethnic groups in Northern Asia
    • List of ethnic groups in Russia
  • List of ethnic groups in East Asia
    • List of ethnic groups in China
    • List of ethnic groups in Japan
    • List of ethnic groups in North Korea
    • List of ethnic groups in South Korea
    • List of ethnic groups in Taiwan
      • List of indigenous peoples of Taiwan
  • South Asian ethnic groups
    • Ethnic groups in Nepal
    • Ethnic groups in Pakistan
      • Demographics of Sindh
  • Ethnic groups in Southeast Asia
    • Ethnic groups in Indonesia
    • List of ethnic groups in Laos
    • Ethnic groups in Malaysia
    • List of ethnic groups in Myanmar
    • Ethnic groups in the Philippines
    • List of ethnic groups in Vietnam
  • Ethnic groups in the Middle East
• European people
  • List of contemporary ethnic groups of Europe
  • Ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Peoples of the Caucasus
• Indigenous peoples of the Americas
  • List of contemporary ethnic groups of South America
  • Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Oceanian people
  • List of contemporary ethnic groups of Oceania
  • List of Indigenous Australian group names
  • List of Melanesian ethnic groups
    • List of New Guinean ethnic groups
  • List of Micronesian ethnic groups
  • List of Polynesian ethnic groups
• Ethnoreligious group
• Ethnic groups by country

The Hani or Ho people (Hani: Haqniq; Chinese: 哈尼族; pinyin: Hānízú; Vietnamese: Người Hà Nhì / 𠊛何贰) are a Lolo-speaking ethnic group in Southern China, Northern Laos, and Vietnam. They form one of the 56 officially recognized nationalities of the People's Republic of China and one of the 54 officially recognized ethnic groups of Vietnam. In Laos, the Hani are more commonly known as Ho.

Mongols in China, also known as Mongolian Chinese or Chinese Mongols, are ethnic Mongols who live in China. They are one of the 56 ethnic groups recognized by the Chinese government.

As of 2020, there are 6,290,204 Mongols in China, a 0.45% increase from the 2010 national census. Most of them live in Inner Mongolia, Northeast China, Xinjiang and Qinghai. The Mongol population in China is nearly twice as much as that of the sovereign state of Mongolia.

The Qiang people (Qiangic: Rrmea; Chinese: 羌族; pinyin: Qiāngzú) are an ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognised by the People's Republic of China, with a population of approximately 312,981 in 2020. They live mainly in a mountainous region in the northwestern part of Sichuan (Szechwan) on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

Lhoba (English translation: Southerners; Chinese: 珞巴族; pinyin: Luòbāzú; Standard Tibetan: ལྷོ་པ།) is any of a diverse amalgamation of Sino-Tibetan-speaking tribespeople living in and around Pemako, a region in southeastern Tibet including Mainling, Medog and Zayü counties of Nyingchi and Lhünzê County of Shannan, Tibet.

In 1965 the Chinese government officially recognised Lhoba as one of the 56 ethnic groups in China. Lhobas are one of the smallest ethnic minority groups in China. Numbering 4,237 people, they make up about 0.1% of the population of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Zhonghua minzu is a political term in modern Chinese nationalism related to the concepts of nation-building, ethnicity, and race in the Chinese nationality. Collectively, the term refers to the 56 ethnic groups of China, but being a part of the Zhonghua minzu does not mean one must have Chinese nationality (Chinese: 中国国籍; pinyin: Zhōngguó guójí) and thus have an obligation to be loyal to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The Republic of China (ROC) of the Beiyang (1912–1927) period developed the term to describe Han Chinese (hanzu) and four other major ethnic groups (the Manchus, Mongols, Hui, and Tibetans) based on Five Races Under One Union. Conversely, Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang (KMT) envisioned it as a unified composite of Han and non-Han people.

Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous region for the Hui people, one of the 56 officially recognised nationalities of China. Twenty percent of China's Hui population lives in Ningxia.

Ningxia is bounded by Shaanxi to the east, Gansu to the south and west and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to the north and has an area of around 66,400 square kilometres (25,600 sq mi). This sparsely settled, mostly desert region lies partially on the Loess Plateau and in the vast plain of the Yellow River and features the Great Wall of China along its northeastern boundary. Over about 2000 years, an extensive system of canals (with a total length of approximately 1397 kilometers) has been built from Qin dynasty. Extensive land reclamation and irrigation projects have made increased cultivation possible. The arid region of Xihaigu, which covers large parts of the province, suffers from severe water shortage, which the canals were intended to alleviate.