China’s Crackdown on the Mongolian Language

How 6 Million Chinese Mongols Are Losing Their Language to State Bureaucracy 👲🏻

Word of the week: 边缘化 (biānyuánhuà)

Meaning: marginalization

在中国内蒙古地区，蒙古语的使用正在被系统性边缘化。In China’s Inner Mongolia region, the use of Mongolian is being systematically marginalized.

China is home to over 6 million ethnic Mongols: about twice the size of Mongolia’s population. Established in 1947, Inner Mongolia is China’s first and largest autonomous region. Over the decades, it has managed to preserve much of Mongolian cultural heritage, including the traditional script. However, since 2020, Chinese policies have become increasingly restrictive toward the Mongolian language in the name of promoting “national unity.”

In 2020, rare public protests erupted in China as Mongols opposed government plans to curb the use of their language. Photo: World Mongol Federation

Let’s read about the Chinese policies and their impact on the Mongol minority of Inner Mongolia.

在中国内蒙古地区，蒙古语的使用正在被系统性边缘化。据多名教师和地方干部透露，从2024年起，当地中小学除了蒙古语课外，所有科目均改为汉语授课。教师若违规使用蒙语讲课，面临调岗或强制培训。

• 系统性 (xìtǒngxìng) — systematic, structured

• 边缘化 (biānyuánhuà) — marginalization, to push to the margins

• 透露 (tòulù) — to reveal, to disclose

• 中小学 (zhōng xiǎoxué) — primary and secondary schools

• 科目 (kēmù) — subject, course (in school, exams, etc.)

• 均 (jūn) — all, without exception, equally

• 授课 (shòukè) — to give lessons, to teach a class

• 违规 (wéiguī) — to violate rules, non-compliant

• 讲课 (jiǎngkè) — to lecture, to teach a class

• 面临 (miànlín) — to face, to be confronted with

• 调岗 (tiáogǎng) — reassignment to another post/job transfer

• 强制 (qiángzhì) — compulsory, mandatory, forced

• 培训 (péixùn) — training

In China’s Inner Mongolia region, the use of Mongolian is being systematically marginalized. According to several teachers and local officials, starting from 2024, all subjects in primary and secondary schools are taught in Chinese, except for Mongolian language classes. Teachers who violate the rule by using Mongolian in their teaching face reassignment or compulsory training.

这一政策的转变不仅限于教育领域。在政府机关内，蒙古族干部也被要求在公开场合一律使用汉语。有人表示，在会议中使用蒙语时曾被批评“口音不准”，甚至遭到公开嘲笑。类似情况正在多地同步出现。

• 政策 (zhèngcè) — policy

• 转变 (zhuǎnbiàn) — shift, transformation

• 不限于 (bú xiànyú) — not limited to

• 政府机关 (zhèngfǔ jīguān) — government offices, institutions

• 干部 (gànbù) — cadre, official

• 一律 (yílǜ) — uniformly, without exception

• 公开场合 (gōngkāi chǎnghé) — public settings/occasions

• 口音 (kǒuyīn) — accent

• 不准 (bù zhǔn) — inaccurate, incorrect (here: “inaccurate accent”)

• 遭到 (zāodào) — to suffer, to encounter (usually negative)

• 嘲笑 (cháoxiào) — to ridicule, to mock

• 同步 (tóngbù) — simultaneously

This policy shift is not limited to the field of education. In government offices, Mongolian cadres are also required to use only Chinese in public settings. Some have reported being criticized for having an “inaccurate accent” when speaking Mongolian during meetings, and even being openly ridiculed. Similar situations are emerging simultaneously in many places.

Ordos City in Inner Mongolia. Photo: Noema Mag

这一语言政策改革最早可追溯到2020年。当年，内蒙古自治区教育厅宣布部分科目改用国家统编教材，以汉语授课，引发学生家长、教师和牧民的大规模抗议。尽管初期有激烈反弹，但在警方介入和日益严格的监控下，异议声音逐渐消失。

• 语言政策 (yǔyán zhèngcè) — language policy

• 改革 (gǎigé) — reform

• 追溯 (zhuīsù) — to trace back, to date back

• 自治区 (zìzhìqū) — autonomous region

• 教育厅 (jiàoyù tīng) — Education Department (provincial/regional)

• 统编教材 (tǒngbiān jiàocái) — nationally unified/standardized textbooks

• 授课 (shòukè) — to teach, to give lessons

• 引发 (yǐnfā) — to trigger, to cause

• 牧民 (mùmín) — herders

• 大规模 (dàguīmó) — large-scale

• 抗议 (kàngyì) — protest

• 激烈 (jīliè) — intense, fierce

• 反弹 (fǎntán) — backlash, rebound

• 介入 (jièrù) — intervention, to step in

• 日益 (rìyì) — increasingly, day by day more

• 监控 (jiānkòng) — surveillance, monitoring

• 异议 (yìyì) — dissent, objection

• 声音 (shēngyīn) — voice, opinion

This language policy reform can be traced back to 2020. That year, the Education Department of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced that certain subjects would switch to using nationally unified textbooks and be taught in Chinese, which triggered large-scale protests by students’ parents, teachers, and herders. Although there was strong backlash at the beginning, with police intervention and increasingly strict surveillance, dissenting voices gradually disappeared.

现在，政策进一步推进，许多学校压缩蒙古语课时，一些幼儿园也停止使用蒙古语教学内容，包括童谣和歌曲。语言切换不仅影响教学质量，也影响学生表现。据报道，鄂尔多斯市一所小学的教师娜仁高娃举例说，她一位亲戚的孩子在语言转换后，数学成绩骤降。

• 进一步推进 (jìnyíbù tuījìn) — to push forward further, to advance

• 压缩 (yāsuō) — to reduce, to compress

• 课时 (kèshí) — class hours, lesson periods

• 幼儿园 (yòu’éryuán) — kindergarten

• 童谣 (tóngyáo) — nursery rhyme

• 切换 (qiēhuàn) — to switch, to change (here: language switch)

• 教学质量 (jiàoxué zhìliàng) — quality of teaching

• 鄂尔多斯市 (È’ěrduōsī Shì) — Ordos City (Inner Mongolia)

• 举例 (jǔlì) — to give an example

• 亲戚 (qīnqi) — relative

• 数学成绩 (shùxué chéngjì) — math grades / performance

• 骤降 (zhòujiàng) — to drop suddenly, to plummet

Now, the policy is being pushed forward further: many schools are reducing Mongolian class hours, and some kindergartens have also stopped using Mongolian teaching content, including nursery rhymes and songs. The language switch not only affects the quality of teaching, but also impacts students’ performance. According to reports, a teacher named Naranguvaa at a primary school in Ordos gave an example: a relative’s child of hers saw their math scores drop sharply after the language change.

蒙古语使用的空间也在行政体系中缩小。一位基层干部表示，以前民族干部在内部会议中常用蒙语交流，但现在即便在内部场域，也被要求使用汉语。“我们如果讲得不流利，就可能被当众笑话。” 中共推动的这一政策，其目的被认为是将蒙古语从主流教育体系中逐步剔除，只在象征层面保留。

• 行政体系 (xíngzhèng tǐxì) — administrative system

• 基层干部 (jīcéng gànbù) — grassroots cadre, local-level official

• 民族干部 (mínzú gànbù) — ethnic minority cadre/official

• 场域 (chǎngyù) — field, domain, setting

• 当众 (dāngzhòng) — in public, before others

• 剔除 (tīchú) — to remove, to weed out

• 主流教育体系 (zhǔliú jiàoyù tǐxì) — mainstream education system

• 象征层面 (xiàngzhēng céngmiàn) — symbolic level, symbolic aspect

The space for using Mongolian is also shrinking within the administrative system. A grassroots cadre said that in the past, ethnic minority officials often used Mongolian to communicate during internal meetings, but now, even in internal settings, they are required to use Chinese. “If we don’t speak fluently, we might be ridiculed in public.” This policy promoted by the Chinese Communist Party is believed to aim at gradually removing Mongolian from the mainstream education system, leaving it only at a symbolic level.

中国政府则表示，这一语言政策符合推广“国家通用语言”的方向，有助于少数民族“融入现代社会”。但国际人权组织如人权观察则多次警告，这种做法削弱了少数民族的语言权利与文化身份，对其民族自我认同造成长远冲击。

• 符合 (fúhé) — to conform to, to be in line with

• 推广 (tuīguǎng) — to promote, to popularize

• 国家通用语言 (guójiā tōngyòng yǔyán) — national common language (i.e., Mandarin Chinese)

• 有助于 (yǒu zhù yú) — to help, to be conducive to

• 少数民族 (shǎoshù mínzú) — ethnic minorities

• 融入 (róngrù) — to integrate into, to merge into

• 国际人权组织 (guójì rénquán zǔzhī) — international human rights organizations

• 人权观察 (Rénquán Guānchá) — Human Rights Watch (HRW)

• 多次 (duōcì) — many times, repeatedly

• 削弱 (xuēruò) — to weaken, to undermine

• 民族自我认同 (mínzú zìwǒ rèntóng) — ethnic self-identity

• 长远 (chángyuǎn) — long-term, far-reaching

• 冲击 (chōngjī) — impact, shock

The Chinese government, on the other hand, states that this language policy is in line with promoting the “national common language” and helps ethnic minorities “integrate into modern society.” However, international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch have repeatedly warned that this practice weakens the language rights and cultural identity of ethnic minorities, causing long-term impacts on their sense of national self-identity.

What do you think? Do you think the need of a national language justifies eliminating local or minority languages?

Antoine & Dorota

Referenced author(s): China Aid