Ethnic linguistics in China has made remarkable progress in the fields of language status survey, language relations, language application and language policy since 1949. On the basis of field investigations, Chinese researchers of ethnic linguistics have been attaching great importance to the social concern and discipline construction. The new academic growth points include the accumulation and application of corpus, the theoretical study of micro-study and case analysis, and the emerging discipline parameters. In the future progress, more research attention should be given to humane care, especially to the major concerns of minority languages and cultures in the new era. Secondly, the academic debates should be supported to avoid some misunderstandings on ethnic linguistics. Thirdly, the research on identities should be strengthened.Fourthly, research on languages on the Belt and Road Initiative routes should be suitable to the actual circumstances. Fifthly, deep research cooperation between different languages and subdisciplines should be accelerated.Lasting it is important to balance the research of different languages and branch disciplines for discipline construction.

Chinese ethnic linguistics; language survey; language application; academic growth points