Chandra Ehm

China prepares landmark law curtailing minority language rights - @FT One of many developments at the Two Sessions in Beijing that will get overshadowed by the Middle East Story quotes a report I co-authored, saying the law "will expand the legal basis for restricting religious, cultural and political activities among minority groups" From the story by @leahyjoseph : "China is set to enact a landmark law requiring ethnic minorities to use Mandarin Chinese as their main language of instruction, overturning decades-old policies that date back to the era of Mao Zedong. The new law, which analysts expect to be passed at the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp parliament this week, is aimed at 'forging a sense of community in the Chinese nation', according to a draft of the legislation. It also threatens legal action against anyone, inside or outside China, who undermines 'national unity' or provokes 'separatism'. The sweeping law marks the latest effort in a 'Sinicisation' campaign under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which critics say aims to force the country’s dozens of ethnic minorities to assimilate into Han-dominated society in the name of promoting inter-ethnic harmony. China’s Han majority accounts for about 90 per cent of its population of 1.4bn, but the country recognises 56 official minorities, a dozen languages — some with their own written scripts — and hundreds of dialects. Under the new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, while minority languages may still be taught as a second language, groups such as Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians will no longer be entitled to use their native tongues for core subjects in schools and universities."