Bilingual Models of Minority Education in Yunnan

Abstract

I am returning to where I left off, from my own Yunnan experiment which began in 1995. My impressions of this extraordinary world; its diversity, unique communities, different languages and culture, remain vivid after all these years. There, I met many professors and students proud of their identity. When they introduced themselves, they told me they were Bai, Naxi, Yi, Dai, Lisu, Lahu and so on. Although almost of them were conversant in Putonghua, all spoke in their own languages. This province is the southwestern gate of China, is 95 percent mountainous, and shares borders with Vietnam, Laos and Burma. Of all provinces in China, it is the most multi-ethnic with 25 official minority communities. In fact, about a third of its population of 44.5 million is comprised of ethnic minorities living on both sides of its borders. Yunnan also has “unrecognized” nationalities, such as the Mosuo, who are awaiting official identification, as well as others applying for re-identification (see Table 7.1).