UGOD Seminar | Breaking ethnic boundaries: The evolution of interethnic marriages in China, 1982–2010

In multiethnic societies, interethnic marriage serves as a critical lens for understanding cultural integration and status hierarchies. Using data from China’s Censuses (1982–2010), we examine how these dynamics unfold in a context 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 compositions, most groups exhibited increasing boundary permeability over time, with the notable exception of the Manchu. Our analysis of educational patterns reveals two distinct mechanisms for boundary crossing: educational assortative mating among relatively assimilated groups (e.g., Hui, Manchu, Mongolian), and status exchange for less assimilated groups. Notably, Tibetan and Southern minorities, who benefit most from preferential state policies, tended to marry Han spouses with higher education than those they would marry in endogamous marriages, suggesting a “reversed” pattern of exchange. 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.