China’s new language law to criminalise advocacy of ethnic minority rights - Tibetan Review
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(TibetanReview.net, Mar03’26) – In the name of promoting inter-ethnic harmony, China is to force dozens of ethnic minorities within the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to assimilate into Han-dominated society by enacting a landmark law during the upcoming fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) which opens on Mar 5. The law will […]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/51758910

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In the name of promoting inter-ethnic harmony, China is to force dozens of ethnic minorities within the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to assimilate into Han-dominated society by enacting a landmark law during the upcoming fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) which opens on Mar 5. The law will require ethnic minorities to use Mandarin Chinese as their main language of instruction, overturning decades-old policies that date back to the era of Mao Zedong, noted ft.com Mar 3.

[…]

The sweeping law marks the latest effort in a signature “Sinicization” campaign under Chinese leader Xi Jinping and prescribes legal action against anyone, inside or outside the country, who undermines “national unity” or provokes “separatism”.

The so-called Han majority accounts for more than 90% of the PRC’s population of 1.4 billion and the country’s constitution recognises 55 ethnic minorities, and a dozen languages — some with their own written scripts — and hundreds of dialects.

Under the new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, while minority languages may still be taught as a second language, groups such as Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians will no longer be entitled to use their native tongues for core subjects in schools and universities, the report noted.

[…]

The new law “overturns the multicultural promises upon which China was founded”, moving from “an idea of unity through difference or unity through pluralism, to one of unity through sameness, through the elimination of difference”, Benno Weiner, a historian of modern China, Tibet and Inner Asia at Carnegie Mellon University, has said.

“The conclusion that Xi Jinping and others seem to have come to is that diversity is dangerous.”

[…]

Worryingly, one clause in the new law is cited as saying only the state has the right to promote “a system of symbols of Chinese civilisation”, which can be used “in public facilities and architectural design, scenic area exhibitions, place naming and public activities”. Such policies, if enforced, meant there was “no way” that non-Han people would be able to safely express “any type of discontent without being accused of being essentially separatists or terrorists,” Weiner has said.

[…]

  • randomname@scribe.disroot.orgEnglish
    5·
    2 days ago

    That’s how it should be. That’s already how it works in most (might be all) of Europe.

    This is not how it should be, and it is not how it works in Europe.

    In addition to @dominic.borcea@piefed.social’s comments: There is even a European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and European institution seek to improve teaching of these languages. Just yesterday (3 March), the European Council released a report on minority languages in Hungary (whose current PM is a great admirer of China as we know).

    Europe is certainly not perfect, but it does a lot to protect and promote minority languages, apparently in direct opposition to China.

    • BrikoX@lemmy.zipMEnglish
      22·
      2 days ago

      I’m all for promoting ethnic culture including language as long as it doesn’t come at the cost of the national language. Having minority groups speaking exclusively a foreign language is not a good thing for anyone.

      Like I mentioned below, Europe does strongly promote foreign languages as secondary and EU even mandate it by law and that is great. But them being secondary is an important distinction.

      • piccolo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        In america, they forced the native americans to learn and speak english. Now the vast majority of the native americans culture has been completely lost forever. But atleast they can all speak english in unity… right?

      • randomname@scribe.disroot.orgEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        … as it doesn’t come at the cost of the national language.

        What is a ‘national’ language? Who defines a ‘nation’?

        Can the Chinese Communist Party define that all Uyghurs, Tibetans, Mongolians whose territories are occupied are now Chinese that must be taught only in Mandarin?

        Can Russia rule that Ukrainians in the occupied territories can’t be taught in Ukrainian as this would “come at the cost of the national language”?

        As one scholar from Turkey writes:

        Numerous studies in linguistics, psychology, anthropology, and educational sciences demonstrate that monolingual education deepens linguistic, cognitive, and psychological inequalities among children. It not only places children at an academic disadvantage but also damages their relationship with their cultural identities. This leads to a loss of self-confidence at the individual level and to exclusion and alienation at the societal level. In this way, the education system becomes a mechanism that reproduces inequalities rather than eliminating them …

        Epistemic hierarchies, frequently found in colonial modes of thought, position certain languages as “central” and “universal,” while relegating others to “local” and “secondary” status … Research, however, shows that children learn more rapidly in their mother tongue, that their conceptual development progresses more healthily, and that their cultural identities are strengthened. Mother-tongue education not only increases academic achievement but also enables children to feel equal and valued in the public sphere.

        Lasting social peace is possible not where differences are suppressed, but where they are recognized and institutionally guaranteed. When the education system ceases to function as an instrument of homogenization and standardization and instead becomes a vehicle for pluralism, the principle of equal citizenship will acquire its genuine meaning …

        Emphasis mine.

        • BrikoX@lemmy.zipMEnglish
          11·
          2 days ago

          What is a ‘national’ language? Who defines a ‘nation’?

          Constitutionally defined official country language.

          Can the Chinese Communist Party define that all Uyghurs, Tibetans, Mongolians whose territories are occupied are now Chinese that must be taught only in Mandarin? Can Russia rule that Ukrainians in the occupied territories can’t be taught in Ukrainian as this would “come at the cost of the national language”?

          It’s a loaded question, but I go by UN recongized territory. It’s not ideal metric, but the best framework we have and Chapter IX recognizes non-self-governing territories.