Frontmatter -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of tables -- Abbreviations and names of minorities in China -- Map 1. Distribution of Minority Nationalities and Languages in China -- Map 2 China: Autonomous regions and prefectures -- Chapter 1. Minorities and minority languages in China -- Chapter 2. The politics of minority language policy, 1949-2002 -- Chapter 3. The politics of the status of writing systems: Official, experimental, or unofficial -- Chapter 4. Choices of scripts and theories of writing systems: East vs. West -- Chapter 5. The politics of vernacular writing systems -- Chapter 6. The politics of traditional and reformed writing systems -- Chapter 7. Modernization: The politics and sociolinguistics of Chinese loanwords and minority language orthography -- Chapter 8. Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Subject index -- Index of (officially recognized) minority nationalities and minority languages in China -- Index of names of influential persons