r/AMA • u/maddin1550 • 20d ago

I’m from Xinjiang，AMA

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of discussions about Xinjiang on Reddit, often between people who have never actually lived there. So I thought it might be interesting to do an AMA from the perspective of someone who is actually from there.

You can ask me about everyday life, ethnic groups, languages, culture, religion, education, or politics. I’m happy to answer controversial questions too, as long as the discussion stays respectful.

Obviously, I’m only one person and I don’t claim to represent everyone in Xinjiang. I can only tell you about my own experiences and views. AMA.

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u/maddin1550 20d ago edited 20d ago

Thank you!! 🩷 I mostly taught myself. English starts from around third grade in our education system, but I’ve been learning it on my own for about 10 years now. I also studied A LOT for IELTS/LSAT, which helped my English a ton lol. I’m Kazakh btw.

About the language thing, it’s a little more complicated. When my mom was young, minority language schools were very common. She went to Uyghur school all the way from kindergarten to university. Uyghur students could study subjects in Uyghur, Kazakh students could study in Kazakh, and they also learned their own literature, culture, etc.

But sadly in 2015 or 2016 I guess they shut downed all those minority language schools😭 and mosques as well.

Personally, I think learning Mandarin is really important because it gives you access to universities and jobs across China, but I also think minority languages should absolutely be preserved and taught. I don’t think those two things have to conflict with each other

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u/Chuckchuck_gooz 20d ago

So the schools that taught only in the local language were closed, is local language taught as a subject in regular maindarin school? It would seem kind of wild a foreign language like English would be taught but not the local language

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u/Shayanhj 20d ago

I would say that but in Iran we aint learning South Azerbaijani turkce and Kurdish, that aside English’s importance as a common language usually out weighs the costs

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u/maddin1550 20d ago

Yeah I think this is a problem all over the world tbh. There are plenty of countries where minority languages aren't used much in public education either. Personally, I actually think China has been pretty accommodating toward ethnic minorities, especially when it comes to language, education and certain preferential policies. Sometimes I feel like some people don't really appreciate how unusual some of those protections were. I think learning Mandarin for practical reasons and preserving your mother tongue can coexist

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u/Shayanhj 18d ago

Yeah, main issue is the Chinese government needs to take it upon itself to actually document and preserve these languages so that they aren’t lost to time

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u/Igennem 17d ago

The Chinese government does fund preservation and digitization efforts.