By Kelly Yue
Is Inner Mongolia part of China? What is its history?
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China established in 1947, bordering the country of Mongolia.
In the 1940s, Mongol leaders allied with Mao Zedong’s Communist Party as they were convinced that the communist system would give them true autonomy. Soon, large numbers of Han Chinese settlers moved into the region, rapidly outnumbering the Mongols. During the Cultural Revolution, Han Chinese officials accused Mongols of separatism — and more than 20,000 Mongols were ultimately killed, according to official numbers, in a purge against a “secret party” that the Chinese government later acknowledged did not exist. Nowadays, the Mongols only make up 17% of the Inner Mongolian population.
Nevertheless, Mongols, more so than Uighurs or Tibetans, have embraced integration into Chinese society and willingly sent their children to Chinese-language schools, making them the “model minority” in China.
What is the new language policy?
This summer, the Inner Mongolian Educational Department announced changes to the education system. Beginning on 1 September 2020, schools should gradually use Chinese state-compiled textbooks and Mandarin Chinese to teach three classes: “language and literature,” “morality and law,” and “history.” Previously, in many schools, all of these subjects were taught in Mongolian through high school.
How have Mongols reacted to this new policy?
Soon after the announcement of the policy in July, thousands of petitions were circulated in Inner Mongolia against the policy change. In one petition shared on social media, 85 teachers from a Mongolian Ethnic Primary School signed their names in the famous pre-revolutionary “circles” as a symbol of unity, such that no one could not be singled out for punishment. Many other schools have followed suit.
Mongol teachers signing their names in a circle in a petition
Anonymous leaflets have also actively circulated, calling for demonstrations to take place in major administrative centers of Inner Mongolia. They also advocated a student-and-teacher strike with the first day of school on 1 September. There have been reports of boarding schools prohibiting Mongol students from leaving, causing parents to surround the schools and demand that their children be withdrawn. In a clash with local police, one student committed suicide by leaping from a fourth-floor window, making her one of many victims who have taken their own lives in protest of the new language policy.
Mongol student holding a calligraphy “Foreign language is a tool, mother tongue is the soul”
How have the authorities responded?
At first, social media discussion of the topic was not blocked after the initial announcement of the policy. But soon Chimeddorji, head of the Mongolian Study Center of Inner Mongolian University, was removed from his position on 7 August for making a nine-minute viral video criticizing the new proposal. On 23 August, discussions of the new language policy were censored in WeChat and other Chinese social media sites. Numerous Mongols report receiving phone calls from police officers warning them against participating in upcoming demonstrations or strikes.
While the student-and-teacher strike was joined by many, they were soon largely suppressed. More than 90% of students who had boycotted school were soon back in class. Local authorities announced via WeChat that high schoolers who did not attend classes would be expelled and blocked from taking the college entrance exam. In addition, parents who did not abide by government rules would be placed on an “untrustworthy persons list,” and would face restrictions on jobs, cross-border travels, home reconstruction and other actions requiring good social credit standing. Local authorities announced in mid September that they had successfully brought all 3,469 students in the area’s Mongolian-language schools back to class.
Protests in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in support of Mongols in Inner Mongolia
