Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Language Policy and Education in Greater China

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Language Policy and Political Issues in Education

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Language and Education ((ELE))

Abstract

Globalization and nation-state building are two major factors that have conditioned language education policies in Greater China for over a century. The geopolitics of Greater China (Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau) is the result of the global expansion of Western capitalism and colonialism. Conceived in the ideology of one nation, one state, and one language, language education was then among China’s fundamental responses to the West. To this end, the collapsing Qing Dynasty (1616–1911) managed to pass the Resolution on Methods of National Language Standardization (Tongyi guoyu banfa an) in its final year. Since then, language education has always been an important dimension of China’s nation-state building. The Republic of China (1912–present) started with a model of a republic of five ethnic groups (wuzu gonghe) in the 1910s, evolved to that of an inclusive Chinese nation (zhonghua minzu) in the 1940s, and now entertains the latter with more diversity in Taiwan. The People’s Republic of China (1949–present) first followed the Soviet model of multinational state building in the 1950s–1990s and has adopted a Chinese model of one nation with diversity (zhonghua minzu duoyuan yiti) since the late 1990s. These evolving models of nation-state building have essentially shaped language education policies in Greater China. Meanwhile, the impact of that old cycle of globalization is still felt as the politics of language education unfolds in decolonized Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau in the twenty-first century, but the new cycle of globalization of information and mobility sees Chinese as a rising global language.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 449.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anaytulla, G. (2008). Present state and prospects of bilingual education in Xinjiang. Chinese Education and Society, 41(6), 37–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beckett, G. H., & Postiglione, G. A. (2010). China’s assimilationist language policy: The impact on indigenous/minority literacy and social harmony. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, T. P., & Li, H.-Y. (2010). China learns from the Soviet Union, 1949-present. Lanham: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bray, M., & Koo, R. (2005). Language and education. In M. Bray & R. Koo (Eds.), Education and society in Hong Kong and Macao: Comparative perspectives on continuity and change (pp. 141–158). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, P. (1999). Modern Chinese: History and sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • China. (1996). Guojia yuyan wenzi zhengce fagui huibian, 1949–1995 (Collection of state language and script laws and regulations, 1949–1995). Beijing: Yuwen Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeFrancis, J. (1972). Nationalism and language reform in China. New York: Octagon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreyer, J. T. (2003). The evolution of language policies and national identity in Taiwan. In M. E. Brown & S. Ganguly (Eds.), Fighting words (pp. 385–409). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, S. (2011). Long march to biliteracy and trilingualism: Language policy in Hong Kong education since the handover. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 33, 302–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fei, X. T. (1999). Zhonghua minzu duoyuan yiti geju (The pattern of diversity in unity of the Chinese nation). Beijing: Minzu University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartig, F. (2012). Confucius Institutes and the rise of China. Journal of Chinese Political Science, 17, 53–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hong Kong. (2011). Population aged 5 and over by duration of residence in Hong Kong, ethnicity and usual language, 2011. http://www.census2011.gov.hk/en/main-table/A124.html. Accessed 15 Apr 2015.

  • Huang, S. (2000). Language, identity, and conflict: A Taiwanese study. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 143, 139–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, W. S. (2008). Taiwan yuwen jiaoyu shi de yanjin: Yi muyu jiaoxue wei zhuzhou zhi kaocha (History of Taiwan language education: A review of mother tongue education). In W. S. Huang (Ed.), Youer muyu jiaoyu lilun yu shiwu (Theory and practice for mother tongue education for children) (pp. 11–44). Taipei: Xiuwei Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inner Mongolia. (1995). Neimenggu jiaoyu shizhi ziliao (Historical data on education in Inner Mongolia) (2 Vols.). Hohhot: Inner Mongolian University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lai, M. L. (2013). Impact of medium of instruction on language attitudes: A case study of Hong Kong. Asian-Pacific Education Research, 22(1), 61–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Y. M. (2005). Zhongguo yuyan guihua lun (On language planning in China). Changchun: Northeastern China Normal University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lo Bianco, J. (2007). Emergent China and Chinese: Language planning categories. Language Policy, 6, 3–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macau. (2012). Results of 2011 population census. Macau: DSEC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macau. (2014). Bendi xuezhi zhenggui jiaoyu kecheng kuangjia (Curricular framework for formal education in Macau). http://images.io.gov.mo/bo/i/2014/26/rega-15-2014.pdf. Accessed 17Apr 2015.

  • Mackerras, C. (1994). China’s minorities: Integration and modernization in the twentieth century. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann, C., & Wong, G. (1999). Issues in language planning and language education: Survey from Macao on its return to Chinese sovereignty. Language Problems and Language Planning, 23(1), 17–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shambaugh, D. (2008). China’s Communist Party: Atrophy and adaption. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shan, W. J., & Ieong, S. L. (2008). Post-colonial reflections on education development in Macau. Comparative Education Bulletin, 11, 36–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Song, E. R., & Zhang W. (2005). Zhonghua minguo jiaoyu fagui xuanbian (Selection of education laws of the ROC). Nanjiang: Jiangsu Educational Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun, H. K., Hu, Z. Y., & Huang, X. (2007). Zhongguo de yuyan (Languages of China). Beijing: Shangwu Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsao, F. F. (1999). The language planning situation in Taiwan. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 20(4-5), 328–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tse, J. K. P. (2000). Language and a rising new identity in Taiwan. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 143, 151–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsui, A. B. M. (2003). Medium of instruction in Hong Kong: One country, two systems, whose language? In J. W. Tollefson & A. B. M. Tsui (Eds.), Medium of instruction policy: Which agenda? Whose agenda? (pp. 97–116). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsung, L. (2009). Minority languages, education and communities in China. New York: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, M. H. (2011). Language planning and policy in Taiwan: Past, present, and future. Language Problems & Language Planning, 35(1), 15–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, B. N., & Yang, R. R. (2004). Putonghua education and language policy in postcolonial Hong Kong. In M. Zhou & H. K. Sun (Eds.), Language policy in the People’s Republic of China: Theory and practice since 1949 (pp. 143–162). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, S. H. (2004). A nation-state by construction: Dynamics of modern Chinese nationalism. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, M. (2003). Multilingualism in China: The politics of writing reforms for minority languages, 1949–2002. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, M. (2010). The fate of the Soviet model of multinational-state building in the People’s Republic of China. In T. P. Bernstein & H. Y. Li (Eds.), China learns from the Soviet Union, 1949-present (pp. 477–504). Lanham: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, M. (2011). Globalization and language order: Teaching Chinese as a foreign language in the United States. In L. Tsung & K. Cruickshank (Eds.), Teaching and learning Chinese in global contexts (pp. 131–150). London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, H. M., & Shi, Z. F. (2011). Wo guo yuanzhu minzu jiaoyu zhi huigu yu zhanwan (Review and prospects of education for indigenous communities in Taiwan). In National Academy for Educational Research (Ed.), Wo guo bainian jiaoyu zhi huigu yu zhanwan (Review and prospects of 100 years of education in the ROC). Taipei: National Academy of Educational Research.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland, College Park, 2106C, Jimenez Hall, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Minglang Zhou

Authors
  1. Minglang Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Minglang Zhou .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Teresa L. McCarty

  2. Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Stephen May

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Zhou, M. (2017). Language Policy and Education in Greater China. In: McCarty, T., May, S. (eds) Language Policy and Political Issues in Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02344-1_34

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation