Ethnic Mongolians Petition Against Beijing’s Language Suppression

Tens of thousands of ethnic Mongolians have signed a petition in protest against Beijing’s new push to promote the country’s official language Mandarin in Inner Mongolia, a move that some have described as “cultural genocide.” Last week, widespread anger began brewing in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia after authorities announced they would introduce Mandarin-only teaching to local schools and replace Mongolian-language textbooks with standardized Chinese versions for core courses that range from history, politics, to literature. Mandarin is the official dialect and language spoken by China’s majority Han ethnicity. The new policy has sparked fear among ethnic Mongols in the region that it would gradually wipe out their culture and endanger their very identity. Over the past week, throngs of students, teachers, and parents have gathered at local school grounds, singing and chanting slogans in their native tongue while refusing to go back to the classroom, videos circulating on the internet show. According to the New York-based advocacy group the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC), in Inner Mongolia’s capital Hohhot alone, around 20,000 have signed a petition against the new education guidelines. Videos released by the group show multiple folders of petition sheets filled with signatures coupled with red fingerprints—a common method of identification in China.