China reaffirms support for both standard Chinese and ethnic languages

China's promotion of standard spoken and written Chinese should not be seen as conflicting with the protection of ethnic languages, a senior legislative official said on Wednesday in Beijing, stressing that both are guaranteed by the Constitution and relevant laws.

Lei Jianbin, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the country's top legislature, the National People's Congress, made the remarks in a news briefing held by the State Council Information Office.

He stated that the Constitution clearly stipulates that all ethnic groups have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written languages. Additionally, the Law on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language and the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law also contain provisions protecting the study, use and development of ethnic languages, Lei said.

"It is important to note that the promotion of the standard spoken and written Chinese language and the right of ethnic groups to study and use their own languages should not be seen as opposing each other," Lei said in response to a media question.

The Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, which will come into force on July 1, was cited by the official as stating that the country respects and protects the study and use of ethnic minority languages, promotes their standardization and development through information technology, and supports the protection, collation, research and use of ancient books in ethnic minority languages.

The law also encouraged different ethnic groups to learn each other's languages, he added.

In his explanation, Lei said the protection of ethnic languages is reflected in the functioning of China's top legislature.

Among nearly 3,000 NPC deputies, 442 are from ethnic minority groups, accounting for 14.85 percent of the total, Lei said. Under the Constitution and the Law on Deputies to the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses, every ethnic minority group, no matter how small its population, must have at least one NPC deputy.

During NPC sessions, deputies who need to use ethnic minority languages are guaranteed the right to perform their duties in those languages, Lei said. Many meeting documents are provided in multiple ethnic minority languages.

For example, when the draft Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law was deliberated at the NPC session, it was translated into seven ethnic minority languages — Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Kazak, Korean, Yi and Zhuang, he said.

In addition, the official said that language is a complex social phenomenon, but from the perspective of communication, a shared language is an important precondition for people to understand one another. Promoting a standard spoken and written language, he said, is a basic task of national development faced by countries around the world.

He cited global figures showing that more than 200 countries and regions are home to more than 2,500 ethnic groups and over 7,000 languages. More than 100 sovereign countries have provisions in their constitutions on a common, official or national language, giving such languages a clear legal status, he said.

In China, the Constitution stipulates that the country promotes Putonghua, the standard spoken and written Chinese language, making its promotion a constitutional responsibility, Lei said.

In the meantime, promoting standard spoken and written Chinese is important for improving the scientific and cultural literacy of people from all ethnic groups, helping them move toward modernization together, and forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, the senior legislative official said.

"The promotion of the standard spoken and written Chinese language and the protection of ethnic groups' right to use their own languages are both provided for by the Constitution and laws, and both have legal guarantees," Lei said. "They should not be completely set against each other."