Rights Defense Commentary: Zhang Jun: Viewing the Gradual Disappearance of Mongolian Culture Through School Renaming

In the second half of last year，some schools in Inner Mongolia were asked by local governments to change their names，and some school names that originally featured Mongolian cultural characteristics were uniformly changed to more “standardized” Chinese names。Many people may feel that this was merely an ordinary administrative adjustment，but as someone from Inner Mongolia，I find it difficult to view the matter as so simple。

In fact，such changes have continued for many years。As early as around 2020，Inner Mongolia had already faced major controversy over policies concerning Mongolian-language education。At that time，many schools gradually reduced Mongolian-language instruction，and some courses that had originally used Mongolian-language textbooks were changed to Chinese-language textbooks。This policy caused concern among many local parents and students，and many worried that the status of the Mongolian language in schools would grow weaker and weaker，so fierce protest marches broke out in the Xilin Gol League，where Mongolian culture is relatively prevalent，but they were subsequently forcibly suppressed by the local government，and many students and parents were arrested and subjected to the miserable ordeal of illegal detention and long-term surveillance。

Similar changes have never stopped over the years。From changes to the language used in classrooms，to the standardization of textbooks，and then to the continual “officialization” of some traditional cultural activities，even the Mongolian traditional cultural festival，the Naadam Festival，has become a temple fair featuring revolutionary songs，used to promote the Chinese Communist Party’s red culture and praise the so-called great achievements of local governments。Today，the space occupied by Mongolian culture in the public education system is shrinking step by step。Now even the names of schools containing Mongolian cultural elements must be uniformly altered，and this destruction of minority cultures has reached an appalling degree。

Schools are not only places where children learn knowledge，but also important spaces for the transmission of a people’s culture。When the language of a region gradually declines，cultural courses gradually disappear，and even school names no longer retain ethnic characteristics，the so-called “ethnic autonomy” and “cultural protection” appear increasingly hollow。

The disappearance of a culture is often not completed through a single coercive action，but occurs gradually through many seemingly minor changes。The language is reduced a little，the textbooks are changed a little，the names are standardized a little，and over time，the cultural memory of a people is gradually diluted。

The renaming of schools in Inner Mongolia，perhaps viewed by some as merely an ordinary policy adjustment，reflects a deeper problem in the eyes of many local people：when a regime cannot truly respect cultural diversity，so-called ethnic policies ultimately often become tools of cultural assimilation。

If a people’s culture cannot even be normally preserved in schools，then so-called cultural protection may well be reduced to nothing more than a slogan。