Why minority languages are disappearing from some classrooms in Xinjiang but not Tibet

Ethnic minorities expert Barry Sautman gives his take on education, the next Dalai Lama, Beijing’s treatment of Uygurs, and Han chauvinism.

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What drew you to ethnic minority issues in China? From that I got interested in ethnic minority policies more generally because there was a debate in China about them. Some said preferential policies and ethnic policies were not broad enough and they weren’t directed sufficiently to closing the socioeconomic gaps that existed between Han people and minority people. The other side was people who said that basically ethnic regional autonomy had created a vested interest on the part of minority officials particularly.

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