Minzu (anthropology)

From the 1930s to 1945, the Japanese imperialists proclaimed the idea of "national liberation" (民族自決, minzu jiefang) and "national self-determination" (民族解放, minzu zijue) to encourage the separation of Northeast China and North China from the rest of the country. This is also related to local ethnic nationalism; minzu may mean "nation" but may also mean "ethnic group".

In postwar Japan, liberal nationalists like Masao Maruyama emphasized "国民主義" (kokumin shugi, lit. "state-based nationalism" or "civic nationalism") while left-wing nationalists who supported Marxism and anti-imperialism emphasized "民族主義" (minzoku shugi, lit. "ethnic nationalism").

Today, in South Korea, left-liberals tend to value minjok (the Korean race) over the North–South ideological and political divide. In a broader sense, left-liberals embrace "ethnic nationalism" (民族主義, Korean: 민족주의); the notion that sharing the same bloodline is superior to temporary national partition. Conservatives on the other hand support "regime-based nationalism" (國民主義 or 國家主義, Korean: 국민주의 or 국가주의), which puts emphasis on being South Korean and stresses the differences in social and political values between the two Koreas. In 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un officially declared that North Korea was abandoning reunification as a goal. In January 2024, he said that "independence, peace, and solidarity on the basis of minjok [must] henceforth be erased from the [North Korean] constitution", adding that "the very concepts of unification, reconciliation, and a shared [Korean] minjok must be eliminated". According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, minjok-based nationalism has been decreasing among younger generations of South Koreans, who have taken more in pride from the country's democratic system, technological innovation, and cultural soft power.

Hong Kong nationalists reject the concept of "Chinese minzu" (中華民族) and define themselves as "Hong Konger minzu" (香港民族). "Hong Kong [ethnic] nationalism" (民族主義 or 香港民族主義) is often opposed to Chinese state nationalism (國家主義 or 中國國家主義), because many Chinese state nationalists support reducing Hong Kong's autonomy. During Taiwan's KMT one-party dictatorship, the Kuomintang (KMT) defended Chinese state nationalism, in opposition to which liberal/progressives, including the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), defended Taiwanese-based "liberal [ethnic] nationalism" (自由民族主義); moderate Taiwanese [ethnic] nationalism has an impact on Taiwanese politics even after democratization.

When modern Vietnamese nationalism was emerging during the French Indochina period, "nation" was defined as both (民族) and (國民). Dân tộc was commonly used across all political strands, including among far-left circles such as the Indochinese Communist Party and the Trotskyists. Quốc dân was also employed in nationalist discourses, from centre-left to right-wing, such as Việt-Nam Quốc-dân Đảng, Tự-lực Văn-đoàn, and Đại-Việt Quốc-dân Đảng, signifying the civic role and participation of the populace in nation-building. Since the 1930s, another term, (國家), also gained popularity, as seen in names like , , and .

In the early years of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), the term quốc dân was also used to appeal to a broader audience. Subsequently, the national communists (the DRV, the Viet Minh, and the Viet Cong) settled on the term dân tộc, while the anticommunist nationalists (the attentistes, the State of Vietnam and, later, the Republic of Vietnam) aligned themselves with the term quốc gia. The term thus came to refer exclusively to anticommunist nationalism. Additionally, in matters concerning ethnic minorities, North Vietnam adopted the same term dân tộc (民族), whereas South Vietnam preferred sắc tộc (色族) to denote ethnicity.

Some Northeast Asia's nationalists value the 'blood purity' when defining 民族, showing racial nationalism. Yamato nationalism during Empire of Japan, and today's North Korea's Juche are linked to racial nationalism.

• Ethnonational group
• List of ethnic groups in China
• Minzu (disambiguation)
• Multinational state
• National mysticism
• People (人民)
• Romantic nationalism
• Separatism
• Tribe (部族)
• Volk