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Three decades of interethnic marriage in China: Ethnic boundaries, educational sorting, and status exchange
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DOI：10.1016/j.ssresearch.2026.103352.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Interethnic marriage serves as a critical lens for understanding cultural integration and status hierarchies in multiethnic societies. Using data from China's Censuses (1982–2010), we examine how these dynamics unfold where ethnic disparities intersect with state-led preferential policies. Although uncommon, intermarriage with the Han majority gradually increased, occurring most frequently among the Manchu, Mongolian, and Southern minorities, and least frequently among the Kazakh and Uyghur. After controlling for ethnic composition, most groups' boundaries weakened over time, with the notable exception of the Manchu. Our analysis uncovers two distinct mechanisms for boundary crossing: educational assortative mating among relatively assimilated groups (e.g., Hui, Manchu, Mongolian), and status exchange for less assimilated ones. Among the latter, we find both classic and reversed patterns: Korean minorities leveraged higher education to marry Han partners, whereas Tibetan and Southern minorities, who benefit most from preferential policies, tended to marry Han spouses with higher education than expected in endogamous marriages—a "reversed" exchange in which minority status itself functions as a valued asset. These findings reveal that marriage choices reflect complex negotiations between cultural preservation, status sorting, and state-structured incentives, providing insights into the persistence and malleability of ethnic boundaries in contemporary societies.
Keywords:
interethnic marriage
ethnic boundaries
educational sorting
status exchange
China
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