The law states that children should be taught Mandarin before kindergarten, until the end of high school.

China has approved a sweeping new law which claims to help promote “ethnic unity” - but critics say it will further erode the rights of minority groups.

On paper, it aims to promote integration among the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, dominated by the Han Chinese, through education and housing. But critics say it cuts people off from their language and culture.

It mandates that all children should be taught Mandarin before kindergarten and up until the end of high school. Previously students could study most of the curriculum in their native language such as Tibetan, Uyghur or Mongolian.

  • Fushuan [he/him]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    124·
    3 months ago

    I’m Basque, we are “forced” to learn Spanish too since it’s a co-official language in out autonomous region of Spain.

    This post might sound alarming to monolingual people, but for any multilingual that had to learn both official languages AND english, watching people complain about schools requiring extra languages is embarrassing.

    Unless I’m misunderstanding the post, it doesn’t imply that most lectures need to be in Mandarin, only that the kids need to be taught the language, right?

    Edit: I read the post. The language thing doesn’t matter, what’s alarming is actually this:

    The law also provides a legal basis to prosecute parents or guardians who may instil what it described as “detrimental” views in children which would affect ethnic harmony and it calls for “mutually embedded community environments”.

    If it were actually about language and communication, that bit wouldn’t be there.

    • Undvik@fedia.io
      14·
      3 months ago

      Catalan here, always funny to see monolinguals be shocked when China does it but turn around and see nothing wrong with Spain imposing Spanish to all its regions in the same way

    • Alcoholicorn@mander.xyzEnglish
      9·
      3 months ago

      I think it varies in parts of Xinjiang, but in at least part of it, along with most of the rest of China, most school instruction is in Mandarin.

      Everyone still speaks their native languages, but they speak mando to chinese from other places. The kids know a few english phrases too for some reason.

    • whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      6·
      3 months ago

      It’s rarely about the actual letter of the law and more about the vague wording and standards that allow it to be enforced in a bigoted way.

    • PapaStevesy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 months ago

      Except they literally won’t allow non-Mandarin families to teach their own cultures’ languages or histories. That’s not something I read second hand either, that’s from talking one-on-one with a Uyghur linguist that was given special recognition by an international linguistics organization for his efforts to save the language.

      • Fushuan [he/him]@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        You didn’t read past my first paragraph man. You completely misunderstood the point I was making in the first half of the comment. I’m clearly making a similarity to then expand by saying that I don’t feel like it’s a problem for the official language to ALSO be learnt, and that for any multilingual person such a thing being complained about sounds silly.

    • ammonium@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      Unless I’m misunderstanding the post, it doesn’t imply that most lectures need to be in Mandarin, only that the kids need to be taught the language, right?

      You are misunderstand it (and the BBC article is also very unclear about it). Learning Mandarin was already mandatory, it’s now about making Mandarin the default.