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submitted 1 week 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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[-] KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 week ago

Its only discrimination if someone other than the state discriminates. When the state discriminates, its called "campaigning for unity".

[-] cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

The prohibitions against discrimination in this law literally apply to the state. It includes reporting mechanism that would allow citizens to file complaints against public officials who engage in discrimination. The whole point is to stop any forms of discrimination and prejudice which inflame ethnic tensions and create disunity and conflict.

[-] KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 week ago

No, its to eliminate discrimination by homogenizing the populace regardless of cultural or linguistic background.

The whole point is to strip individuals of the things that the state could discriminate against. There can be no discrimination between culturally and ethnically identical drones, and that's the end game. The state is dictating which language (and culture) should be taught in an effort to cultivate obedience and conformity among unique and distinct cultures. Its a quiet genocide.

As a native American man comfortably past residential schooling and the other atrocities committed against my people, i will still bear a French last name on all of my official documents for the rest of my life. I am very aware of cultural erasure. That's what this is.

[-] cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

I mean this sincerely, what the fuck are you talking about? The law says nothing about homogenizing the populace. You’re pulling that out of your ass. It’s no different that McCarthy era fear mongering about collectivism. Don’t project the horrific history of western imperialism onto a country that literally suffered the consequences of imperialist and ethno-nationalist violence.

Like, let’s take a second and think about what Canada and the US did. They committed unspeakable atrocities and explicitly outlawed native cultural practices and language. China has done none of that. China has the rights of minorities to practice their culture and language embedded in their constitution and in many other laws including the one we’re discussing. In regions of China with majority minority populations, minority languages are often a mandatory part of primary education. Many minority cultural institutions and events are funded by the state. How the fuck is that “genocide” and “cultural erasure”?

Seriously, you’ve taken the whole intent and purpose of this law and flipped it on its head. The sky is blue and you’re out here claiming that it’s red. Why? Because a British media outlet told you so? Do you not see the irony? You’re trusting the state media of the country who basically invented modern colonialism.

[-] KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago

There isnt any irony to recognizing the first steps in cultural erasure. It starts with language. Maybe China doesn't go as hard as colonial NA, but they dont have to. All they have to do is mandate all students learn mandarin.

In a few years, they start phasing out the availability of teaching materials in languages other than mandarin. This is the start of "standardization"

In a few more years, they mandate all tests must be taken in mandarin, because its the only language every student is required to learn.

Next thing you know, all official documents are only recognized as valid if they happen to be in mandarin. A decade or three of quietly suffocating the "other" languages will have drastic and lasting effects on the next generation of people's those languages represent. And that's the whole point. Associating education and intelligence with certain languages has gone very well for English speaking nations before. Why not mandarin as well? It'll only cost the minorities.

[-] Riverside@reddthat.com 1 points 1 week ago

In a few years, they start

Oh, I get it, the slippery slope argument. "Everyone must be as evil as the western imperialists so I can predict communist China's policy in advance by privilege of my previous history of discrimination on the capitalist west".

[-] WoodScientist@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago

China IS an imperialist country. For fuck's sake, it was ruled by a literal emperor for millennia. How do you think all those ethnic minorities ended up in China's borders?

[-] Riverside@reddthat.com 2 points 1 week ago

For fuck's sake, it was ruled by a literal emperor for millennia

...and then it became a communist country. I wish my homeland (Spain) had become communist instead of fascist in the 20th century

this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2026
97 points (97.1% liked)

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