Thousands of students have taken to the streets of cities and towns as protests spread across Chinese-occupied Southern Mongolia, widely known as “Inner Mongolia” in the West as a direct translation of the highly Sino-centric Chinese term “nei meng gu.”

Protesting the Chinese Central Government’s recent decision to replace Mongolian with Chinese as the language of instruction in all Mongolian schools, these students have gathered in front of their schools and demanded their right to receive education in their native language.

“Let us Mongolians strive to defend our Mongolian culture!” several hundred students in school uniforms shouted in unison in front of the main entrance of the Naiman Mongolian Middle School in Tongoliao Municipality.

At the Horchin Mongolian Middle School of Tongliao and the Chavag Mongolian High School of Ar-Horchin Banner, hundreds of Mongolian students broke through the school entrance and police barricades to leave the schools, where they had been confined by the school authorities to receive the new “bilingual education.”

Around 3 AM local time on August 31, several hundred high school students who were locked up in the boarding school dormitories of eastern Southern Mongolia’s Ongniuud Banner broke the lockers where their confiscated cellular phones were kept, contacted their parents, and emptied the school by 5 AM.

Videos show that curfews have been imposed for Lubei City, the capital of the Zaruud Banner in Tongliao Municipality, starting the evening of August 31 local time.

“Look at this, now. The capital city of Zaruud Banner is under curfew. No cars are allowed to leave the city, no cars are allowed in either. The whole city is closed down,” an eyewitness reported in a video clip.

As the first day of the new school year, September 1, approaches, people from all walks of life in Southern Mongolia are showing an unprecedented level of solidarity and coordination to continue the general school-boycott across the region.

In a short video, taxi drivers from the Shiliin-gol League stood outside their taxis and sang the song “My Mongolia – Steppe Mongolia”, after a widely circulated prerecorded poem reading “Borders cannot separate us as long as we have our language, hearth and livestock” was played.

Food delivery workers in Tongliao and Ulaanhad printed “Save Our Mother Tongue” on the delivery boxes on their bicycles and scooters, showing their support of the region-wide language movement.

From many banners (equivalent to counties), People’s Representatives of Mongolian ethnicity, mostly hand-picked by local governments, have sent joint petitions urging the government to reverse the plan, criticizing the new policy as “an act violating the Chinese constitutions, sabotaging ethnic harmony, and creating national division.”

As the tension escalates in Southern Mongolia, citizens and non-governmental organizations of the independent country of Mongolia are taking to the streets in solidarity with their Mongolian brothers and sisters in Southern Mongolia and demanding the government of Mongolia to urge the Chinese Government to stop this new policy through diplomatic means.

Mr. Elbegdorj Tsakhia, former President of Mongolia, sent out a video statement urging the Chinese Government to respect the rights of Southern Mongolians to use their native language. The former President also rallied Mongolians around the world to support the Southern Mongolian struggle to defend their right to mother tongue and culture.

“I strongly support the Southern Mongolians’ movement to save the Mongolian language. No matter where you live, as long as you are a Mongolian, you should join this movement. Without Mongolian language, there is no Mongolian nation we can speak of. Losing your language means losing your head,” the former President said. “Without your language, what is the use of your head? Without your writing, what is the use of your hands?”

Visit here for more protest videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/ovormongolmin/videos

 

"Save out mother tongue"

 

People's Representatives appeal to People's National Congress