The right to minority language instruction in schools: Negotiating competing claims in multinational China

Although the right to minority language instruction is widely recognized as a linguistic human right, it has not simultaneously been recognized and implemented in China. This article aims to analyze a Chinese dilemma: how to maintain economic growth while protecting minority rights in general and linguistic rights in particular. By examining the evolution of bilingualism as national language policy, the article shows that China’s policy orientation has actually derailed from its original track and, to some extent, breached the constitutional principle of equal protection. Further, it scrutinizes and compares the claims upheld by different stakeholders and asserts that the government’s GDP-driven attitude and interventionist approach to language policy is detrimental to minorities’ linguistic rights and to national solidarity. It concludes that linguistic pluralism and cultural diversity should be cherished and promoted in policy and law making in multinational China.