Famous anthropologist completes study of 14 unrecognized ethnic groups in China

The research results on the biological data of 14 of China's unrecognized ethnic groups, the first study of its kind, will be published by China Science Publishing & Media Ltd later this year.

The country's top anthropologist, Zheng Lianbin, 72, a professor with the College of Life Science at Tianjin Normal University, led the study and said that the research focuses on rare data from 14 unrecognized ethnic groups, including the Kongge, Bajia and Sherpa.

The study began in 2014 and was completed last year, and the team has now shifted its investigation to focus on other unrecognized ethnic groups.

According to statistics from the country's sixth population censusin 2010 released by the National Bureau of Statistics, China had a population of more than 600,000 who belong to some 20 unrecognized ethnic groups, mostly living in the remote areas of Southwest China.

The term "unrecognized ethnic groups" refers to ethnic groups that are not included among China's conventionally recognized 56 ethnic groups. The Han people are China's largest ethnic group, making up 90 percent of the country's total population of 1.3 billion.