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The spread and rapid rise in status of English language in education and society across China in recent years has been widely discussed and debated by scholars as well as policy makers. More recently, the phenomena described as "English and Chinese bilingual education" has been promoted and gained currency in educational establishments in economically developed costal regions and urban centres in the country, with the ostensible aim of achieving both language proficiency and subject learning simultaneously. The term "bilingual education" has become part of the everyday vocabulary for parents, educators and policy makers alike. This article focuses on the impact of this change on the already multilingual but economically less developed linguistic minority regions, using a case study of Uyghurs in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Based on the empirical research, the article tries to demonstrate that foreign language, in particular English language, provision in education and society had had an empowering impact on some Uyghur students who found that they could be very successful in learning a foreign language, even without the high proficiency level in the second language, which is a prerequisite for succeeding in other areas.

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The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. forms an essential part of ethnic identity, while Chinese-which is promoted for national unity-offers opportunities for educational, economic and social advancement. English provides international connectivities that enhance and complexify notions of identity. The 2 chapter explores language in education policies in Xinjiang to reveal official attitudes and practices, and the attitudes and practices of Uyghurs regarding their self-identity.