Market reform, financial decentralization, and economic globalization in recent years have greatly accentuated China's social and regional inequalities. These inequalities stem from many factors, including the rise of an urban middle class, a change in the status of women, a resurgence of ethnic identities, an increase in rural-to-urban migration, disparities between Han Chinese and ethnic minorities, and lingering poverty in remote areas. These phenomena are expected to be addressed by education. Throughout the more than sixty-year history of the People's Republic of China, educational equity has been a controversial theme in policy making and practice. This study explores the development of access to higher education for ethnic minorities in the policy context since the 1950s and analyzes inequality between Han Chinese and ethnic minority groups. (Contains 4 tables and 4 notes.)