Abstract: The nation is the foundation for the construction of the state,and the state is the guarantee for the development of the nation.With the national development,the state becomes the historical and political node of the change of ethnic governance.Based on the dual perspectives of historical and comparative analyses,the integration of the state and its inherent provisions for ethnic governance have provided institutional safeguards for the expression of the plurality of ethnic governance.The process of the formation of the Chinese nation's plurality is accompanied by the formation of the nation's geographic,political and identity boundaries.After the formation of the nation-state,as a unified multi-ethnic state,the various ethnic regions of China constitute the governance unit of the state,which also implies a shift towards the governance of unity and plurality.Specifically,the process of ethnic groups moving towards the state as “diversity in the unity” implies a logical interaction between national and ethnic governance as “diversity under the unity”,and the forging of a “sense of community for the Chinese nation” has emphasised the role of the state in the commonality of the nationalities,and has provided systematical guarantee for the differences in ethnic governance.