In recent days, Mongolian residents in Inner Mongolia have been discussing on social media platforms such as WeChat about a Han teacher in Ordos injuring a Mongolian elementary student, expressing strong discontent and serious doubts about the authorities’ enforced policy of teaching in Mandarin.
On November 20th, at the Ushenqi Experimental Primary School in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, formerly known as Ushenqi Mongolian Experimental Primary School, a second-grade Chinese teacher named Liang Yuxia physically assaulted a 9-year-old Mongolian student named Hairaa for not completing homework on time, causing severe injuries by ripping her earlobe.
After the incident, the teacher used glue to close the wound, took the child, who was vomiting blood from being beaten, to her home, and threatened the girl not to inform her family about the incident. The girl’s family has since taken her to a hospital in Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, for treatment and wound stitches.
According to Voice of America, a parent of a classmate of the victim confirmed the incident: “Yes, the girl who was beaten is named Hairaa, she is a classmate of my son. The teacher who assaulted her is Liang Yuxia, who is Han Chinese. The reason for the assault was that this poor girl did not complete her homework on time.”
Information circulating on WeChat groups revealed that although Liang Yuxia had recently been hired by the school, she had previously physically punished students in her class multiple times and often warned the children not to discuss what happened at school with their families.
One internet user disclosed that parents and relevant teachers have been warned by superiors not to discuss or spread the details of the incident.
The incident, once viral on social media, has sparked strong dissatisfaction among the Mongolian parents and educators, who also expressed serious doubts about the enforced Mandarin teaching policy starting from kindergarten and elementary school, prohibiting the use of Mongolian language.
Mongolian residents from neighboring counties and various parts of Inner Mongolia have also widely followed the incident, expressing strong anger and concerns. Following the incident, several WeChat groups with 500 members quickly surfaced online, discussing the background of the incident, potential impacts, and how to hold the teachers involved legally accountable.
A female education worker, A.S., from Xilingol League in Inner Mongolia, commented in a WeChat group, “Similar incidents have occurred in Xilingol, but were quickly silenced. Mongolian preschool Han teachers rudely treat children speaking Mongolian, scaring them away from preschool. Isn’t bilingual education promoted? What’s wrong with young children learning Mandarin and speaking a few sentences in their mother tongue? Can children grow up healthily in such an environment with their minds and bodies being abused from a young age? How can we tolerate the emotional and physical torment of children?”
Reportedly, on another WeChat group with 500 members, the majority being netizens from Ordos, many believed that such incidents are not surprising and may occur more frequently in the future, urging parents to be mentally prepared.
Rumors circulating online suggested that the parties involved were considering settling the aforementioned incident by compensating 360,000 RMB. However, many internet users indicated that such teachers must face severe punishment, rejecting lenient measures like financial compensation or job transfers. They also stressed the importance of carefully evaluating the social impact of such incidents and their handling.
Many Mongolian netizens speculated that the authorities would likely use financial compensation to settle the matter and coerce parents by downplaying the incident’s significance, insisting it is an isolated case not related to the language policy. They would also warn netizens against discussing or spreading related information, fearing exploitation by external forces.
One group member mentioned that this incident had been reported abroad. The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center released an English statement on November 22, detailing the incident.
In the summer of 2020, the authorities announced an education policy requiring Mandarin to gradually replace Mongolian as the language of instruction for the three major subjects in primary and secondary schools in Inner Mongolia.
For many Mongolian people, their language is seen as the last vestige of their unique cultural identity. The authorities’ policy has triggered ongoing large-scale protests among local Mongolian residents.
The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center pointed out that Mongolian people generally perceive the implementation of this policy by the Chinese authorities as sentencing their Mongolian ethnic group to death culturally, not allowing them to exist with a culture distinct from the Han people, eventually leading to extinction in extreme suffering. The current situation in Inner Mongolian has drawn extensive international attention, with any human rights-related incidents immediately reaching the global stage, leading to unanimous condemnation from civilized societies worldwide.
“For Southern Mongolians, the Mongolian language has long been seen as the last stronghold of their national identity. Despite decades of policies continuously weakening Mongolian culture, the language has survived through numerous oppressions. However, many fear that the current measure by the Chinese government to replace Mongolian with Mandarin is a final attempt at cultural eradication – a threat to completely erase Mongolian language, culture, and identity, representing a ‘cultural genocide,'” the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center stated.