A recent push for Chinese language textbooks in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has sparked protests among ethnic Mongolians, and according to South Korean media, some Chinese elementary and middle schools for ethnic Koreans have switched to using Chinese language textbooks without commentary on the Korean phonetic script (Pinyin) starting in the new school year, also sparking concern among ethnic Koreans.
According to Chosun Ilbo, China is following the lead of Inner Mongolia in narrowing down education in the Korean national language. Recently, the Education Bureau of China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced an increase in Chinese language education, which was met with protests from the Mongolian minority. At the same time, Chinese schools for ethnic Koreans have begun to use Chinese standardized textbooks instead of Chinese language textbooks this semester, causing uproar in the Korean community. There are concerns that Korean language education may be shrinking as the Chinese government emphasizes “education for national unity. Beginning in September, some Korean elementary and junior high schools in northeastern China, including Liaoning Province, will be using the Language textbook produced by the Chinese People’s Education Press instead of the Chinese Language textbook produced by the Yanbian Education Press. Previously, minority schools in China had been producing textbooks in minority languages.
Chosun Ilbo quoted a source as saying, “Some Korean schools are replacing Korean textbooks in other subjects with Chinese textbooks used by the Han Chinese,” and “although there are no clear government-level guidelines like in Inner Mongolia, they are also trying to strengthen Chinese education.”
Previously, the Inner Mongolia Education Department announced on August 26 that starting this fall semester, the first grade of elementary school and the first grade of junior high school in the region’s ethnic language instruction schools will use the People’s Education Publishing House’s “Language” textbook. In addition, starting in 2021, “morality and rule of law”, and starting in 2022, “history” will also be taught using the standardized textbooks and the national common language script. In response, Mongolian parents and students staged protests and demonstrations and even went on strike.
Fears of a “collapse of Korean education” have also emerged in Korean society. Although some Korean parents have sent their children to Han schools before, the change in the textbooks this time around has resulted in the collapse of Korean education. However, with this change in teaching materials, the Korean language test in the college entrance exam may be eliminated in the long run. In China, under the policy of preferential treatment for ethnic minorities, students who attend minority schools are allowed to take the college entrance exam in their own language. However, if the same standard textbooks as the Han are used from elementary school onward, the college entrance exams will be unified as well, eventually leading to a significant shrinkage of Korean education at the elementary and high school levels.
According to Chosun Ilbo, the number of ethnic Koreans in China is estimated at 1.83 million (based on 2010), but the number of candidates for this year’s college entrance exam in Korean schools in the three northeastern provinces where the ethnic Koreans are concentrated is about 2,000. According to the Liaoning Chosun newspaper, the number of students taking the college entrance exam in Liaoning province’s Korean schools was 1,026 in 2010, but was reduced to 514 this year, halving the number in 10 years. Starting in 2023, the extra points (currently five points) for ethnic minority candidates, such as Koreans, will be eliminated.
The report cites an analysis that suggests the change of textbooks in Korean and Mongolian schools is a continuation of China’s central government’s policy of emphasizing “education for national unity.
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