Although Mao Zedong (1893-1976), the long-time leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was the main creator of Mao Zedong Thought, he was not the only one, so references to Mao Zedong Thought may involve works other than those written by Mao. One of the many significant issues in Mao Zedong Thought is minzu, usually rendered into English as "nationality" or "nation." The term has two different meanings. One is the collectivity of ethnic groups that make up a nation-state, specifically China. The other is the individual ethnic groups, or "minority nationalities" (shaoshu minzu) within the larger nation-state. This paper will analyse how these meanings interrelate and the complexities of how the concept of "nation" operates within the Chinese state in the context of Mao Zedong Thought. The Chinese state recognizes fifty-five minority nationalities or ethnic minorities, with the process of identification being all but complete by the time Mao Zedong died in 1976. Mao Zedong was sympathetic to the notion of ethnic self-determination and respect for the cultures and languages of ethnic minorities, but only with the proviso that it did not lead to ethnic separatism. There has been a revival of ethnic identity in China since the reform period began in 1978, which accords generally with concepts found in Mao Zedong Thought. The great majority of members of ethnic minorities are happy to belong to the Chinese nation-state. There are potential and in a few cases actual contradictions between the notion of a multinational unitary nation-state and ethnically driven identities. Nevertheless, the paper's central argument is that these contradictions are not now, and need not become, so acute as to threaten the survival of a united China. Mao Zedong Thought has mostly been entirely consistent with harmonious ethnic integration.