The regional development in a multi-cultural background

China is a country with many nationalities. Each of them has formed its own special culture, which is different from the mainstream of majority Han nationality, by adapting to geo-environment during history. Due to different backgrounds, the regional developmental model of minorities in the western China is different from the Han nationality and western countries. Combining a knowledge-based civilization and sustainable development, the minority areas can seek the systematic integration of culture-economy-ecology. Based on this, the paper suggests that the minority areas in western China should take the way of emphasizing developmental quality rather than developmental quantity for a harmonious system of culture-economy-ecology. Some approaches for developing minority areas in western China have been put foreword. Foundation item: Under the auspices of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 49261001). Biography: LU La-chang (1963 —), male, a native of Shaanxi Province, Ph. D., professor. His research interests include urban and regional studies. E-mail: lachanglu@163.net