Trilingual Education and Mongolian Ethnicity

Abstract

Anxieties about Chinese-Mongolian-English trilingual program in Inner Mongolia reflect three linguistic ideologies, that is, the instrumental and the essentialist among Mongolian elites and the assimilationist among Han elites. Mongolian ethnicity is on trial in front of an upsurge of Chinese nationalism. Both pro and con trilingual education elites agree that the Mongolian language should be maintained, but they differ over the ways it is taught. In China, the nationwide drive to go back to "basics" has also encouraged national minorities to keep their traditional culture alive. Such surviving efforts demand a great measure of artful negotiating skills, necessary compromise, and strategic thinking. The trilingual education program in Inner Mongolia serves as a platform on which contending linguistic ideologies confront each other.

Linguistic purism as resistance to colonization

“…With full support from the central government, two main types of bilingual schools were established: schools where all subjects were taught with Mongolian as a medium, and where a Chinese language course was added later as a separate subject (henceforth: Mongolianmedium schools/Mongolian schools); schools where all subjects were taught with Chinese as a medium and Mongolian language was offered as an optional subject (for other varieties see Wurlig, 1994). Apart from experiencing a massive hiatus during the Cultural Revolution (1966)(1967)(1968)(1969)(1970)(1971)(1972)(1973)(1974)(1975)(1976), Mongolianmedium education continued to develop in Inner Mongolia in the past four decades mostly thanks to the state's adoption of a laissez-faire stance towards Mongolian cultural expression (for details see Bilik & Erdene, 2016). However, this does not mean Mongolian education, one of the most important bases of Mongolian language maintenance and identity development, progressed without any impediments.…”