© Byambasuren Byamba-Ochir/AFP/Getty ImagesProtesters gather in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of neighbouring Mongolia, against China’s plan to introduce Mandarin-only classes in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia.
Thousands of ethnic Mongolians have protested across northern China in opposition to Beijing plans to replace the Mongolian language with Chinese in some school subjects.
Tuesday marked the first day of a policy revealed in June,
to gradually transition the language of instruction in Inner Mongolian schools from Mongolian to Mandarin Chinese. The change affects three subjects over the next three years in the autonomous region. The education bureau said Mongolian and Korean language classes would remain.
The official explanation for the change to a bilingual education system was to ensure the curriculum and textbooks were of a high standard, and that government documents cited by analysts also referred to president Xi Jinping's push for shared language as part of a common identity.
However mass protests in Inner Mongolia - referred to as Southern Mongolia by ethnic rights and independence groups - have revealed the depth of fear that Mongolian would be relegated to a foreign language as part of government plans to assimilate ethnic minorities into Chinese Han culture.
Parents threatened to keep their children home and circulated petitions, and large crowds gathered outside schools to chant protest slogans and sing. Residents also protested against a lack of transparency by the Chinese central government.
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