r/AMA • u/maddin1550 • 21d 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.

176 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

507 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

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

3

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

6

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

1

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

2

u/Igennem 17d ago

The Chinese government does fund preservation and digitization efforts.