cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/53062611
[…]
Starting around March 27, Uyghur Times reviewed multiple videos from Urumqi and Kashgar showing city management workers removing Uyghur-language signs from shops, restaurants, supermarkets, and even private businesses. In many cases, only Chinese-language signage was left behind.
One widely circulated video on the Chinese version of TikTok shows the demolition of Uyghur-style architectural elements at a major transportation hub in Urumqi, known as Uchtash Qatnash Bikiti (also referred to as Sandongbi Transportation Station).
In the footage, a Uyghur man standing in front of the site expresses deep sorrow:
“Today we are witnessing the destruction of one of the most iconic cultural landmarks in Urumqi. It held our memories. For many of us, our journeys began here and ended here. Now, it is gone.”
[…]
Other videos show workers dismantling Uyghur-language signage across urban areas. One sign reads “ئۆي مۈلۈكچىلىك، ئىلىم سېتىم,” meaning “Real estate Sales & Transactions.” Another removed sign identifies a construction materials supplier. In the clip, a bystander can be heard lamenting:
“It is not over. One day, it will come back.”
Observers say the campaign reflects a broader effort to eliminate visible markers of Uyghur cultural and linguistic identity under the framework of the new law.
When the law was passed, experts warned that it would legitimize cultural destruction and forced assimilation. Uyghur activists also condemned the law.
[…]
It’s not bilingual education, it’s Mandarin only:
Article 15: The state is to fully promote the spread of the nation’s common language and script. Citizens’ learning and use of the nation’s common language and script must not be obstructed by any organization or individual.
Schools and other educational institutions are to use the nation’s common language and script as the basic language and script for education and teaching. The state is to promote preschool students’ learning of Mandarin, so that youth who have completed compulsory education have a basic understanding of the nation’s common language and script.
The CRA doesn’t include similar provisions that are being criticized in the new Chinese law.
China is not a democracy, the CPC doesn’t allow any other movements to scream about anything.
They don’t have to, it’s an election tactic used everywhere in the world but the CPC doesn’t really have to worry about elections.
You seem to be under the strange delusion that there’s zero racism, discrimination or xenophobia in China. If you want to believe that, fine, but it also tells me you never actually visited and properly spoke to the locals.
And you clearly have no concept of what actually happens in Chinese politics. There are absolutely factions in the CPC with different opinions on what should be done and why. There were, for a long time, Han Chauvinists and it was a major driving force of CPC domestic and foreign policy. There were debates within the party, factions espousing different positions, and they resolve them through intra-party elections. Those candidates debate publicly and privately. They write their positions down. They share them. The people understand them. There are 100M members of the party, which is more people than turn out for US elections. There is absolutely a culture of debate and discourse that you can tap into.
As for xenophobia in the population, of course there is. But when the CPC applied the one-child policy, do you know who their target was? Han Chinese. That’s right, the dominant culture was the most heavily restricted. Not the other way around. Go read about it.
Yes, the new law states clearly that Mandarin will be implemented everywhere. That’s specifically to establish literacy for the purposes of unity across ethnic lines. The law does NOT have any requirements that schools STOP educating in their ethnic language. There are other laws on the books that establish those programs as protected. This particular law reinforces those other laws by establishing that discrimination against existing ethnic practices is illegal for all levels of government and will be overseen and addressed by the CPC to ensure local governments aren’t discriminating against ethnic practices.
I love how you tell on the West, though. I never said there’s no xenophobia or racism. I said that the government policies and decision making process don’t have these as elements that we can clearly observe. Then you say of course not because China isn’t a democracy, which means you think that Democracy must include some form of xenophobic populism. Then you say that the people of China are also xenophobic and racist.
Connect the dots? 100M party members, mostly Han Chinese, with various factions (and 8 other parties mind you), and a population that has xenophobia and racism throughout BUT… Laws written to constrain the dominant ethnicity, laws written to protect ethnic minorities, multiple centuries of autonomous and peaceful coexistence with large ethnic groups, integration and respect for multiple languages, religions, and cultural practices that vary based on the population…
it’s almost like China has absolutely more people participating in elections, absolutely more political engagement, and has managed to not let the lowest and ugliest forms of popular opinion drive their foreign and domestic policy.
But you’re right. The US is way more democratic. That’s why we protect the right to free speech and free assembly of neo-nazis and the KKK. Because we’re a Democracy goddamnit.
That’s literally the requirement in the law. You have no idea what you’re talking about. There’s no point in discussing the law if you don’t even understand what it says.
Show the place in the law that says that. My reading of the law is the Mandarin is now both required and required to be the primary language, but Tibetan is still taught and still protected and required for government functions. The reason for this is that Mandarin is the primary language for business and commerce. For young Tibetans and those in rural areas, the inability to speak, read, and write in Mandarin acts as a significant barrier to employment, particularly for higher-paying or administrative jobs. Requiring that all schools thoroughly educate children in Mandarin is NOT equivalent to outlawing instruction in their native tongue.