Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people of different races. Specifically, it may be applied to activities such as eating in restaurants, drinking from water fountains, using public toilets, attending schools, going to films, riding buses, renting or purchasing homes or renting hotel rooms.
Racial segregation has generally been outlawed worldwide. Segregation is defined by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance as "the act by which a natural or legal person separates other persons on the basis of one of the enumerated grounds without an objective and reasonable justification, in conformity with the proposed definition of discrimination. As a result, the voluntary act of separating oneself from other people on the basis of one of the enumerated grounds does not constitute segregation".
Wherever multiracial communities have existed, racial segregation has also been practiced. Only areas with extensive interracial marriage , such as Hawaii and Brazil , seem to be exempt from it, despite some social stratification within them. Several laws which enforced racial segregation of foreigners from Chinese were passed by the Han Chinese during the Tang dynasty. Lu enforced separation, banning interracial marriages, and made it illegal for foreigners to own property.
Lu Chun believed his principles were just and upright. The Qing dynasty was founded not by Han Chinese, who form the majority of the Chinese population, but by Manchus , who are today an ethnic minority of China. The Manchus were keenly aware of their minority status, however, it was only later in the dynasty that they banned intermarriage. Han defectors played a massive role in the Qing conquest of China. Han Chinese Generals of the Ming Dynasty who defected to the Manchu were often given women from the Imperial Aisin Gioro family in marriage while the ordinary soldiers who defected were given non-royal Manchu women as wives.
A mass marriage of Han Chinese officers and officials to Manchu women numbering 1, couples was arranged by Prince Yoto and Hongtaiji in to promote harmony between the two ethnic groups. The Qing differentiated between Han Bannermen and ordinary Han civilians. Han Bannermen were made out of Han Chinese who defected to the Qing up to and joined the Eight Banners, giving them social and legal privileges in addition to being acculturated to Manchu culture. It was Han Chinese Bannermen who were responsible for the successful Qing conquest of China, they made up the majority of governors in the early Qing and were the ones who governed and administered China after the conquest, stabilizing Qing rule.
