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submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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.

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[-] Tangent5280@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Only works in tiny countries with a monoculture. In which case it becomes irrelevant.

I can honestly say with some confidence that I can narrow down the set of countries that you might be from, just from this one comment of yours. No one who has lived in any kind of diverse-culture environment could espouse a brain dead take like this.

Also, when your government mandates something like this, you can be sure its not going to be your language that is being forced on you.

EDIT: Ah, nevermind - I just read through your comment a few more times and I think you have a valid position to defend - I think even the most diverse countries have like one or two official languages and a host of other languages.

EDIT 2: Problem with having an official language for schooling is that it immediately disadvantages every other language simply because children spend 8 hours in school with this "official" language. Considering there is little hope of full fluency in a foreign language after formal education, it will slowly push out any cultural languages.

[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

Why not have a session so that kids can learn each other's language. I would have loved to have a buddy in school to help me learn Spanish and I could help them with English. (In US)

this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2026
445 points (100.0% liked)

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