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Oct 24, 2021 · TAIPEI — After experiments aimed at assimilating ethnic minorities in Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, the Chinese government now is moving to apply its cultural assimilation policy for...
- The Language Preservation Project
- Surveying Language
- Preventing Language Loss
In 2015, China’s State Language Commission and the Ministry of Education launched the Language Preservation Project (often referred to as yu-bao). The first phase of the project spanned five years. Between 2015 and 2019, several hundred languages and dialects were surveyed across the country, with a total of 1,712 survey points, including more than...
The surveys focus on language structure and discourse. Language structure relates to the sound systemand grammar of a language. Some 2,000 lexical (that is, relating to words or the vocabulary of a language) features are used to examine the sound system and the lexicon, including a 1,200-word basic vocabulary to ensure a good description of the sou...
Research on the preservation of language resources has achieved remarkable results over the past 20 years, but language endangerment and loss has not stopped. As the government and society develop a deeper understanding of the need to protect endangered languages and other language resources, work on language preservation will enter a new phase. Ch...
Jan 28, 2021 · Xi’s regressive language policy reflects the deepening repression in minority areas. It also contravenes China’s obligations under international human rights treaties, such as the Convention on...
Sep 29, 2021 · Ethnic minority languages in China: policy and practice (in Language policies and practices in China, Vol. 5, edited by Li Wei) by Qingsheng Zhou, Boston/Berlin, De Gruyter Mouton and Social Sciences Academic Press (China), 2020, xxvii+441 pp., 129.95 € (hardback), ISBN 9781501515026
- Shanhua He
- 2021
Jul 31, 2020 · Across China, Beijing apparently intends to replace the languages of all ethnic minorities with Mandarin, to bring in uniformity of language and enhance people’s identity as Chinese. It is believed that the languages of minorities could fade away gradually and, in time, Mandarin would become the only language in use.
Jan 2, 2021 · Zhou notes the “tortuous development” of this policy alongside a policy of “diversity” that includes the “conservation and development of ethnic minority languages”. The PRC currently recognizes fifty-six ethnic groups, accounting for just over 8% of the population occupying 65% of Chinese territory, mainly in border areas.
Apr 5, 2022 · Under this framework, authorities have promoted a policy of “bilingual education,” which largely replaces instruction in ethnic minority languages with instruction in Mandarin Chinese. Authorities have also sought to dismantle frameworks of regional and local autonomy and replace them with policies aimed at eroding ethnic minorities ...
