For years, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pushed ethnic minority groups like Tibetans and Uyghurs to adopt an identity rooted in Chinese nationality and allegiance to the ruling Communist Party.

Now, that push has been codified into a sweeping new law that reaches into classrooms, neighborhoods and homes – and gives Beijing the right to target people outside of its borders that it believes violate its rules.

The statute, officially known as the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, came into effect on July 1. It bans acts that “undermine ethnic unity or create ethnic division” among China’s 56 officially recognized ethnicities, which include a Han Chinese majority that makes up over 90% of the country’s 1.4 billion people.

  • marxismtomorrow@lemmy.todayEnglish
    925·
    2 days ago

    Unlike what happened with your grandfather, China isn’t getting rid of local languages. They are requiring both in schools, the local regional language (down to microregions, so not everyone in Xinjiang has to learn Uyghur for example which would destroy more than a dozen cultures). This change simply requires mandarin to be taught alongside the local culture and language, so that Uyghurs aren’t trapped in Xinjiang and can actually find work in Beijing without having to take years of Mandarin lessons.