China's Assimilationist Language Policy

Gulbahar H. Beckett is Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Cincinnati, USA.  Gerard A. Postiglione is Professor and Head, Division of Policy, Administration and Social Sciences, and Director of the Wah Ching Center of Research on Education in China of the University of Hong Kong.

• Part 1: Background and Historical Review 1. China’s Language Policy for Indigenous and Minority Education 2. Historical Review of the PRC’s Minority/Indigenous Language Policy and Practice: Nation-State Building and Identity Construction Part 2: Empirical Research Studies 3. The Development of Minority Education and the Practice of Bilingual Education in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 4. Bilingual Education among the Dongxiangs: Experiment, Practices, and Implications 5. China’s Minorities without Written Scripts: The Case of Education Access among the Dongxiang 6. Bilingual Education in China: The Case of Yunnan 7. Language Hegemony in its Relation to Chinese Marriage Migrants Mothers’ Adaptations to and Educational Involvements in Taiwan 8. The Influence of Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds on the Social and Academic Adjustment of Students at an Ethnic Minority University in China 9. Language Issues in Chinese Higher Education: The Case of Korean and Mongol Minority Groups Part 3: Theoretical, Ideological, and Legal Issues 10. Chinese-English Bilingual Education in PRC: Implications for Language Education for Autochthonous Ethnic Minorities 11. From Neo-Liberal Ideology to Critical Sustainability Theory for Language Policy Studies in the P.R.C. 12. Minority Language Rights and Education in China: The Relevance of Human Rights Law and Substantive Equality

"Beckett and Postiglione’s book is a solid introduction to the changing language policylandscape in China and how these changes affect stability, especially in regard to education and social harmony among the minority population. The book leaves the reader with a clear conclusion that the Chinese government’s language policies work out differently in practice for different minorities and that education for minorities is a major key to achieving and maintaining social harmony... It is highly recommended to everyone interested in language and language education policies in China and to those interested in minority issues in China." - Heidi Cobbey, SIL International, East Asia Group; China Information 2012 26: 383