Finding the Way Out of the Paradox: A Critical Analysis of Preparatory Education to Ethnic Minority (PEEM) in China

China is a multi-ethnic state with 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities alongside the Han majority. To address the historical and regional disparities, the state has developed a range of preferential educational policies for ethnic minorities. Preparatory Education for Ethnic Minorities (PEEM) program is one of the most distinctive. PEEM is a one-year program only for ethnic minority students, providing linguistic, academic, and psychological support to help ethnic minority students adapt to mainstream university life. While the policy promises educational equity, it operates in a gray zone between material redistribution and cultural assimilation.This study focuses on a university in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province. Students fromYi, Tibetan, and Qiang ethnic groups arrive at preparatory bases, receiving standardised training under the unified framework of "forging a strong sense of Chinese national community" (铸牢中华民族共同体意识). Using a mixed-methods, the research combines discourse analysis of policy documents, surveys and in-depth interviews with preparatory program administrators and students, exploring how ethnic minority students experience in PEEM and the tension between their ethnic belonging and the state's vision of a unified Chinese national community.