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Will China’s new ethnic unity law hasten the erosion of minority cultures?
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The new law puts a legal stamp on Chinese President Xi Jinping's (centre) agenda to assimilate minorities into a national identity.
PHOTO: EPA
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- China passed a law promoting ethnic unity via "interaction, exchange and integration," legally backing policies such as Mandarin education for minorities.
- Analysts say it culminates Xi Jinping's assimilationist agenda, prioritising a unified Chinese identity over distinct ethnic expressions, leading to concerns about cultural erosion.
- Experts debate the law's impact; some fear accelerated cultural decline, others see it as formalising existing practices focused on national unity, not cultural protection.
AI generated
BEIJING – China’s passage of a landmark national law on ethnic minority relations puts a legal stamp on President Xi Jinping’s agenda to assimilate minorities into a national identity that has accelerated in recent years.
It gives legal backing to existing practices, such as a requirement for pre-schoolers to learn Mandarin, and for students to be proficient in the language at the end of nine years of compulsory education, at age 15.
