Understanding the educational disparities between Han and Muslim Chinese: The roles of gender, ethnic salience, and residential concentration

This study, using a 10% sample from China’s 1% inter-census population surveys for 2015, examines patterns of educational disparities between Han and Muslim Chinese. I use enrollment rates among children aged 6–15 and completion of junior high school among children aged 16–19 to capture access to education, and completed years of schooling and completion of tertiary education among adults aged 25–55 to measure educational attainment. To reflect the interplays between individual and contextual factors in shaping ethnic variations in education, I explore the moderation effects of gender, Islamic heritage, and residential concentration. Findings show that Muslim girls are not necessarily subject to double disadvantages in education. The only negative interactions between gender and ethnicity are among inland Muslims in inland northwestern China. Islamic heritage and region also lead to varied patterns. Compared to the Han majority, Muslims have unfavorable educational outcomes in northwestern China and comparable educational outcomes in non-northwestern China. This study highlights the importance of understanding China’s educational stratification mechanisms drawing on the interplays between socioeconomic and ideational contexts.