Mongolians protest at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, against China’s plan to introduce Mandarin-only classes at schools in the neighbouring Chinese province of Inner Mongolia.
“Almost every Mongolian in Inner Mongolia is opposed to the revised curriculum,” a 32-year-old herder from the Xilingol League area surnamed Hu told AFP, warning Mongolian children were losing fluency in their mother tongue.Tensions flared across the vast grassland region bordering Mongolia and Russia after the policy was announced by the Inner Mongolia Education Bureau last Wednesday.
“There are at least tens of thousands of people protesting across Inner Mongolia,” said Baatar, a 27-year-old herder in the Hinggan League area who refused to give his name because of security concerns. The area is home to more than four million ethnic Mongolians — around 16% of the region’s population.
It is the only region left in the world that uses the traditional Mongolian script, as neighbouring Mongolia adopted the Cyrillic alphabet under Soviet influence.