Ethnic Mongolians protest against China's move mandating Mandarin language education

Ethnic Mongolians in China’s Inner Mongolia region are protesting against the policy to forcibly push Mandarin language education in inner Mongolia, which is an autonomous region in northern China. The new policy, which is believed to endanger the Mongolian language, has invited a lot of conflicts between China and ethnic Mongolians. The demonstrators believe that the new policy, under which Inner Mongolia students will be taking classes in language, history and politics entirely in the Chinese language, is an attempt to assimilate all ethnic minorities in a united ‘Chinese nation’. 

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had introduced the new policy plan on September 1. The educational policy states that from 2022 onwards, Inner Mongolia students will be taking classes in Mandarin. The policy has worried protesters, who believe that it will lead to fading of Mongolian culture in the region. 

According to reports, the latest move by the CCP is a part of the drive by the state to unify the entire country ethnically and ensure that China has a single language and culture. Although 80 per cent of the population in Inner Mongolia is Han Chinese, Inner Mongolia also contains nearly 4.2 million ethnic Mongols, who account for nearly 70 per cent of the total ethnic Mongol population of China. 

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Protesters fear minority language will fade 

Ever since CCP announced the new policy, thousands of students in inner Mongolia have taken to streets to participate in a rally against Beijing's three-year plan to push Mandarin language education across the whole northern regions and strike out local history, literature and ethnic textbooks in favour of national course books. As per the local media reports, parents living in Inner Mongolia have refused to send their children to school in protest of the new policy. 

The activists say that under the rule of President Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party has decided to promote Mandarin and force the country's ethnic minorities to adopt a uniform Chinese language and identity. The latest move rolled out by the Xi Jinping's government has raised a fear in people's mind that it will lead to the diminishing of Mongolian culture and language in the region.

Meanwhile, China has been repeatedly accused of human rights violation and destroying minorities. Earlier, Joe Biden's campaign issued a statement accusing the Chinese government of practising 'genocide' over Uighurs and other minority ethnic groups in the northwest region. However, China has strongly denied all the allegations of being engaged in human rights abuse. Joe Biden's campaign spokesperson also blamed Donald Trump for condoning the genocide treatment of Uighurs by China. 

(Image: @elbegdorj/Twitter) 

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