About

In Sichuan province, one of China’s inland industrial and agricultural centres, a number of ethnic minority groups remain on the edge of China’s modernisation trajectory. These include the Nuosu, a sub-group of ethnic Yi that has been historically marginalised in relation to the Han majority. Chinese-based schooling was introduced among such groups only in the last three decades, and education continues to be shaped by the ideology of ethnicity, wherein ethnic minorities are considered by the state to be at the receiving end of Chinese civilising forces, in need of “looking after” (Yang, 2019).

Against this backdrop, Nuosu youths increasingly regard education as the only “way out” (chulu) in their aspirations for a “good life” (Fischer, 2014), one that is not dependent on manual or agricultural labour (Harrell & Rehamo, 2013). "Chulu" is a Chinese term that refers to a pathway to personal wellbeing or success and is tied to culturally-valued aspects of life, such as financial stability, marriage or property ownership. In the Nuosu context, this might imply leaving familiar spatial, social and cultural surroundings to pursue a better future in a predominantly Han Chinese environment.

As ethnic minority rights are increasingly curbed under Xi Jinping’s assimilationist vision of national unity (Yan & Vickers, 2023), this project considers how the notion of chulu and related ideas of the “good life” have come to be associated with school education amongst one of China’s most neglected minority groups, the Nuosu. Using ethnographic and qualitative visual methods, the research will examine Nuosu youths’ pursuit of chulu, focusing on aspirations, strategies, and cultural practices in the context of their changing views of education. More broadly, this project draws attention to the pressing issue of how ethnic minority youths imagine their future, in the context of China’s economic slowdown and growing youth unemployment.