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Language protests disseminate from
Qinghai to Beijing
AP, BEIJING
Demonstrations have spread among Tibetan students angered by reports that
Beijing plans to make Chinese the only language of instruction in schools, an
activist group said yesterday.
The protest marches, which began earlier this week in the town of Tongren, have
spread to nearby areas in the western province of Qinghai, which is home to
numerous minority ethnic groups, including Tibetans and Mongolians, who retain
their own languages.
The London-based group Free Tibet said hundreds, possibly thousands, of students
joined the demonstrations. No arrests or violence were reported. There were also
unconfirmed reports of a similar protest on the campus of a Beijing university.
Qiang Wei (±j½Ã), Qinghai Province¡¦s Chinese Communist Party chief, was quoted
last month by the party newspaper as praising the use of a ¡§common language¡¨ in
schools. Students fear that means that the current bilingual system will be
scrapped in favor of the use of Chinese alone, except in language classes.
A report on Qinghai¡¦s plans for educational reform over the next decade was even
more explicit, saying ¡§the nation¡¦s common language must become the language of
instruction.¡¨
The use of the Tibetan language is tied up with the region¡¦s political
struggles. Many Tibetans argue they have traditionally been self-governing and
that Chinese policies are wrecking their traditional Buddhist culture.
School officials, including the university¡¦s chancellor, met with the students
and asked them to submit their concerns on paper, which they then promised to
forward to higher authorities, a Tibetan graduate student said, who declined to
give his name for fear of retaliation by authorities.
He said the rally broke up peacefully after about two hours. Word of the rally
was also sent out by Tibetan activists overseas and posted to Web sites.
Calls to university administration offices rang unanswered yesterday afternoon.
On Tuesday, students went from school to school in Tong-ren carrying signs and
chanting slogans calling for equality among ethnic groups and the right to learn
in Tibetan.
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