2020 Inner Mongolia protests

The 2020 Inner Mongolia protests was a protest caused by a curriculum reform imposed on ethnic schools by China's Inner Mongolia Department of Education. The two-part reform replaces Mongolian with Standard Mandarin as the medium of instruction in three particular subjects and replaces three regional textbooks, printed in Mongolian script, by the nationally-unified textbook series [zh] edited by the Ministry of Education, written in Standard Mandarin.^[1][2][3] On a broader scale, the opposition to the curriculum change reflects racism in China and the decline of regional language education in China [zh].^[4]

The three subjects in concern are Language and Literature (referring Standard Mandarin) from first grade, Morality and Rule of law from first grade (a variant of civic education), and History from seventh grade.^[2][3] The reform was part of the national textbook reform rolled out elsewhere in China from Autumn 2017 to eliminate various provincial textbooks by the nationally unified textbook series,^[1][4] which has been criticized elsewhere in China.^[5][6]

The parents and students of the ethnic schools strongly opposed the curriculum reform. The sentiment spread to other Chinese Mongols not attending those schools, leading to protests. While seen as an attempt to assimilate ethnic minority,^[1][7] observers also note it exemplifies the "second generation's ethnic policy" under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary and President Xi Jinping, who "envisioned the melting pot formula, as the ultimate solution to the ethnic problems".^[7][8]