In multiple Mongolian ethnic schools in Hohhot and other areas of Inner Mongolia, China, the word “Mongolian” has been removed from the school signs this year. Local teachers and scholars told reporters that changes in school names, educational materials, and ethnic terminology have been observed recently, putting the local ethnic education environment under new administrative pressure. Discussions within the community surrounding these changes are sparking debate on their implications.
A Mongolian language teacher in Hohhot told reporters that many schools originally carrying ethnic identifiers have quietly updated their names. She said, “Many Mongolian ethnic schools here are changing their names to those used by the Han ethnic group. The school names no longer include ‘Mongolian,’ for example, a previously named Mongolian Ethnic Experimental School is now simply an Experimental School. The Mongolian Ethnic High School in a certain district has been changed to First High School or Second High School. The government aims to eliminate the Mongolian ethnic identity.”
She mentioned that there were sporadic changes earlier this year, but they were not as noticeable at the time; however, the recent actions have been more concentrated. “They are slowly making changes so that you don’t notice immediately, but we have recently found that the majority of Mongolian ethnic schools have removed the word ‘Mongolian.’ They claim it is de-Mongolizing, erasing Mongolian traditional culture. Seeing this phenomenon, it is very distressing for us.”
In discussions about the Mongolian ethnic background, local scholars often refer to the historical logic of the grassland ethnic group. Mongolians were active in the Mongolian Plateau and Inner Mongolian grasslands early on, with close interactions with neighboring northern tribes. Their lifestyle centered around pastoralism influenced language and social organization, leaving behind traditions such as horsemanship and shamanism. Descriptions of tribal relationships in “The Secret History of the Mongols” are frequently used to illustrate the continuity of Mongolian social structure. Mongolian language teachers also refer to these cultural contexts when discussing education, recognizing the direct relationship between language, school signage, and ethnic identity.
Anthropologist and Professor Yang Haiying from Inner Mongolia who currently resides in Japan told reporters that changes in school names and adjustments to educational materials in Inner Mongolia have been ongoing for many years. He said, “Authorities are gradually eliminating the influence of Mongolian culture in Inner Mongolia by removing Mongolian ethnic school names, Mongolian text from textbooks, and referring to the Mongolian ethnic group collectively as northern ethnic groups. I believe that aside from Inner Mongolia, this approach is also being adopted in Xinjiang, Tibet, to eliminate minority ethnic cultures, languages, and customs, and shift to using Mandarin.”
In online chat groups within the Mongolian ethnic community, parents are also discussing the changes in school signage. A parent from Inner Mongolia wrote that the school their child attends changed its signboard this semester, with the Mongolian ethnic indicator no longer present. They said, “The signboard at the school entrance has been changed without any official announcement; we only noticed when picking up our child.” Another netizen commented that the name change might make it difficult for students to identify their original ethnic schools in the future.
Some young Inner Mongolians living in Japan are also paying attention to the changes in school names in Hohhot and Xilin Gol League. They posted on social platforms: “I just found out that the name of my alma mater has been changed,” and “Former Mongolian ethnic schools now only have the buildings left, and Mongolian text is no longer displayed on the exterior walls. This year, there is a large-scale renaming of Mongolian schools.”
In these comments, the renaming is seen as a measure that affects not only the appearance of the school but also the opportunities for students to engage with their mother tongue.
Mongolian ethnic schools have been established in Inner Mongolia for nearly a century, with Mongolian language instruction or bilingual teaching being the main focus. Some banners and counties began adjusting language lesson times and educational content in the 2010s. In 2020, some regions implemented new language curriculum arrangements, leading to parents gathering outside campuses to demand the preservation of the existing language teaching model. Local teachers said that the debate at that time involved class hours, textbook versions, and whether students could continue to learn foundational courses in their mother tongue.
At the time, Inner Mongolia officials publicly stated that these adjustments were part of uniform curriculum arrangements. An anonymous scholar in Japan told reporters that after the implementation of the new curriculum, the class hours in the mother tongue were reduced for some grades, the proportion of Mongolian text in textbooks decreased, and the cultural signage of schools also changed accordingly. He said, “Mongolian language teachers were required to accept Mandarin teaching training, and some teachers have been laid off or retired.” In his view, the changes in school names are part of the same series of steps as the earlier adjustments to textbooks and curriculum.
Mr. Ma, a scholar at the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing who has been studying ethnic education systems for a long time, told reporters that the changes in school names reflect an accelerated pace of local Hanization policies. He stated, “The changes in school names, curriculum adjustments, replacement of Mongolian language teachers with Han teachers, and Mandarin replacing Mongolian will make it easier for outsiders to notice the continuous contraction of the current ethnic education landscape. Names are the public identifiers of schools and a way to recognize ethnic education.”
In recent years, changes in Mongolian ethnic education and cultural symbols in Inner Mongolia have been attracting attention. Teachers, parents, and scholars are linking changes in school names, educational materials, and language use to broader issues in ethnic education. Similar situations are emerging in Xinjiang, Tibet, as well as minority-inhabited areas in Qinghai and Gansu. Discussions about language, school names, and cultural indicators are synchronously appearing in multiple regions, making the future direction of ethnic education more complex and attracting more external attention.