Language attitudes of two contrasting ethnic minority nationalities in China: the "model" Koreans and the "rebellious" Tibetans

Abstract

This study measures directly and indirectly language attitude of Korean-Chinese and TibetanCollege students in China, where language planning has promoted Putonghua (PTH) over ethnic languages and local dialects for over forty years. The direct measurement shows that the Koreans score much higher than the Tibetans on variables regarding PTH learning/using, and that integrative and instrumental orientations, financial Status, and family bilingual Status are associated with PTH achievement. The indirect measurement demonstrates that the Koreans adhere to the linguistic norm wherein PTH is considered the valued form and ethnic languages the nonvaluedform, while the Tibetans do not adhere to this norm. In a crossmeasurement comparison, the Koreans demonstrate consistent overt and covert attitudes toward PTH and PTH Speakers, whereas the Tibetans display positive overt but negative covert attitudes. These attitudes mirror the cultural, political, and socioeconomic disparities between the Koreans and Tibetans in China.

Minority Language Issues in Chinese Higher Education: Policy Reforms and Practice among the Korean and Mongol Ethnic Groups

“…So they generally want to leave their hometown to live and study in a big city (like Beijing and Shanghai), because through higher education they can realize their dream to have a better life in a metropolitan area. (KM31-5) Such a perception is generally more manifest among ethnic Koreans who have long been top educational achievers among all ethnic minority groups in China (Ma, 2003;Zhou, 2000).…”

Ethnicity, achievement and friendship: Korean Chinese students’ construction of peer networks

“…The official discourse that chronicled the success of ethnic Koreans as a model minority in China began to appear as early as 1951. In November 1951, the Minister of Education Ma Xulun singled the Korean out as an outstanding model for minority education 1 (Ma 1953;Lee 1986;Olivier 1993;Zhang and Huang 1996;Choi 2001;Kim 2003;Zhou 2000). The heart of Korean achievements is, it is said, their cultural predispositions, which attach a high priority to the value of education (Lee 1986;Choi 2001).…”

“…Ethnic Koreans in China are considered to have the highest level of college attendance and lowest level of illiteracy rates (Zhou 2000;Ma 2003). According to Ma (2003), the Korean Chinese illiteracy rate is 3.3% of the population, whereas the national average is 9.5%.…”

“…In recent years, the contacts between ethnic Koreans in China and Koreans in the Peninsula involve the existence of the Korean community in north-east China which becomes places for fugitives from North Korea and the potentially political link with the South Korean government or several nationalistic groups in South Korea (Choi 2001;Kim 2003). However, the contacts hardly cause any form of unrest, and ethnic Koreans keep intact their belief in the superiority of the communist party and its socialist system (Lee 1986;Olivier 1993;Mackerras 1994;Zhou 2000). Prior to Korean immigration on a large scale in the nineteenth century, north-eastern China was largely uncultivated land (Piao 1990).…”

“…The Han people were placed "near the 'modern' end of a Marxist historical trajectory upon which China's minorities must journey" (Gladney 1994, 99). Nevertheless, in contrast to other minorities, especially those referred to as "backward", the Korean is labeled as a model minority with cultural predispositions, which contribute to their educational success and economic advancement (Lee 1986;Zhou 2000;Choi 2001). Ethnic Koreans tend to regard China as their fatherland (zuguo), Korea as motherland (muguo) (Choi 2001) and think of themselves as daughters who have left the home of their parents to live in the homes of their husbands' parents.…”