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Sinicization drive targets every ethnic minority individual, Tibet’s Ngari cited as success story

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(TibetanReview.net, Jan18’25) –Guangzhou, a city in China of 22 million people, is using big data to track the activities of its ethnic minority residents in a model for Sinicization that is likely to be applied across the People’s Republic of China (PRC), reported the scmp.com Jan 17, citing a new book published in Nov 2024 by the National Ethnic Affairs Commission (NEAC). Western Tibet’s Ngari region is stated to be covered in the book as a case study of success in implementing the linguistic Sinicization policy.

The report cited the latest official publication on China’s ethnic integration policy as saying the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is only the first in the PRC to set up a big data system relating to its 830,000 residents who are members of ethnic minorities.

The book is stated to cover Tibet with a mention of new details on the promotion of “standard spoken and written Chinese”, or Mandarin.

In Ngari prefecture, in western Tibet, “3,478 children from 40 kindergartens were tested by 180 examiners on their Mandarin skills”, the book was cited as saying in one case study cited by it.

All middle and primary school teachers there were stated to have passed the Mandarin proficiency test in this region, which is home to just 120,000 people, with nearly 92% being Tibetan.

The book was cited as saying Tibetan is now used as a medium of instruction only for the Tibetan language and culture course, with all other subjects being taught in Mandarin.

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Published in Nov 2024 by the National Ethnic Affairs Commission (NEAC), the book was cited as saying that in the case of Guangzhou, the monitoring included oversight of halal noodle shops run mainly by Muslim minorities, such as Huis and Uyghurs. The database is stated to bring together more than 4 million records and cover every ethnic minority individual who rents a flat in the city.

This administrative framework is stated to be about to become a model for all Chinese cities because the commission includes it among the 100 “typical cases of practising correct ethnic concepts” – to be studied by ethnic affairs officials across the PRC.

Coming more than a decade after Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the idea of building “a sense of community for the Chinese nation”, the book is stated to provide a fresh look at how local governments are pushing for ethnic integration.

One of the latest methods hailed by authorities is stated to be what is called the “all-round embedding of all ethnic groups” – whereby ethnic minority groups are “encouraged” to mingle with the majority Han.

Among the success stories cited in the book on this issue is stated to be the northwestern Hui autonomous region of Ningxia, where the Yinchuan municipal government had kept track of property agents to prevent them from using what is called “the gimmick of ethnic group clusters and religious beliefs”.

The NEAC book has said the city had also changed the names of 42 schools that were named after only one ethnic group, the says.

Enterprises, schools, villages and residential complexes in Yinchuan had all achieved “ethnic group embedding” with government intervention, the book has added.

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This book of “typical cases” was stated to have been distributed to ethnic affairs commissions across the PRC in June, then revised and published in November. But the NEAC announced the publication only on Monday (Jan 13, 2025), the report said.

Chairing a meeting of ethnic affairs chiefs from across the country in Beijing on Jan 15, NEAC director Pan Yue has said China had made “breakthrough progress” in its work with ethnic minorities in the past year, including “extensive and in-depth publicity and education to strengthen the sense of community for the Chinese nation”.

He has added that another key task of the commission last year was to revise laws and regulations that were inconsistent with integration policies, with the work already done in Inner Mongolia and Ningxia.

Pan has also said a textbook used in compulsory courses at many Chinese universities criticises China’s past ethnic policies, which were modelled on those of the Soviet Union, arguing that all ethnic groups had accepted the concept of Zhonghua, or Chinese culture or civilisation, since ancient times.

The book is stated to cite political divisions and “social cleavages” in the West to justify Beijing’s current policy of ethnic integration.

The report said government academics were also working to reinterpret Chinese history, emphasising that the PRC’s 55 ethnic minority groups have for centuries created the Chinese civilisation together with the Han majority.

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