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Entering a community of urban indigenous people and living with them to penetrate their lifestyle and understand their predicaments, I have come to realize that most of the time the so-called problems of indigenous people actually reflect the problems with Han people. We have always used Han values to judge indigenous people. Forcingly, we call them fellowmen, treat them as if they fell short of our expectations, and impose on them our own values. Presumptuously, we refuse to recognize them as distinctive individuals but stereotype them to the extent that their opportunities for self-realization are limited. To extricate themselves from such trying situations, they suffer even more. A vicious circle like this costs them compulsory change of lifestyle, perversion of values, and collapse of traditional culture. How then could we ignore Han people’s misdeed and blame indigenous people for their own difficulties? As we presume minority preferences and financial aids might help them integrate into the social mainstream, do they really need/want these arrangements or even benefit from them?
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