On December 15, over 100 experts and researchers from Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing and Guizhou attended the “Tujia Minority Confirmation 55th Anniversary Symposium & the Unveiling Ceremony of College for Nationalities of China Three Gorges University (CTGU)”, which featured the Tujia Minority costumes and dialects.
During the ceremony, many cadres from Hubei Provincial Committee of CPPCC, Department of Central Propaganda of Jiusan Society, State Ethnic Affairs Commission, Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission of Hubei Province and Yichang Municipal Committee of CPPCC were present and they inaugurated for College for Nationalities of CTGU and the Yichang Minority Nationality Cadres Training Base.
The Tujia minority has a population of over 8 million, which ranks 7th among all the nationalities in China, and its population are mainly distributed in Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Wuling Mountain Area adjacent to Guizhou, covering 2 autonomous prefectures and 24 autonomous counties. It has been 55 years since Tujia was confirmed by the central government as an ethnic minority in 1957.
According to He Weijun, President of CTGU, CTGU has adopted policies as reducing 80 points towards minority students from Hubei, especially from Wuling Mountain Area of Hubei to cultivate their own high-quality talents since as early as 2004. College for Nationalities of CTGU was also established in August, which enrolled over 800 minority students this year. Over the years, CTGU has employed a group of experts and scholars in the field of minority culture and has carried out smoothly many national and provincial-level research projects by setting up Wuling Mountain Institute of Ethnic Studies and Tujia Minority Research Center. Up to now, preparatory education of ethnic minorities and studies of southern ethnic minority have been widely recognized as two characteristics of the institute, not to mention its own features of ethnic studies on Wuling Mountain Area.
A Symposium of such research was also held by CTGU at the same time.