China’s New Ethnic Unity Law: How Will it Affect Minority Languages?

A language does more than allow people to communicate. It carries history, culture and identity from one generation to the next. But in a multilingual country, there is a practical argument for a common language — particularly in schools, places of work and public life.

China is home to dozens of languages spoken by its 55 officially recognised ethnic minority groups. In July 2026, a new law aimed at promoting ethnic unity came into effect, reinforcing the role of standard Chinese in education. Describing the legislation, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of the People’s Republic of China states: “The new law provides that the state shall promote the standard spoken and written Chinese language. The right to study and use ethnic minority languages shall also be respected and safeguarded, according to the law.”

The law has prompted very different interpretations of what this balance will mean in practice. For linguists, translators and anyone interested in language preservation, however, it raises a broader question: what happens to minority languages when one language becomes central to education?

What does China’s new Ethnic Unity Law say about language?

China’s Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress was passed in March 2026 and came into effect on 1 July. Its scope extends well beyond language, covering areas including education, economic development and cultural exchange, with the legislation intended to “foster a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation”, according to the SPC.

Nevertheless, Article 15 requires the state to promote standard spoken and written Chinese and calls for its use in schools and other educational institutions. In practice, this means Putonghua (普通话), commonly referred to as Mandarin, alongside standardised Chinese characters.

A wider push towards standard Chinese

The Ethnic Unity Law is not an isolated development. In December 2025, China also revised its law on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language, with the changes taking effect on 1 January 2026.

The revised law strengthens requirements for teaching and using standard Chinese in education, while extending its use to areas including digital publications, online platforms and international events held in China.

Together, the two laws reinforce the position of standard Chinese across education and public life. At the same time, the Ethnic Unity Law dictates provisions on minority languages, including the right to study and use them.

And what about minority languages?

The law doesn’t explicitly prohibit minority languages; instead, it states that the right to learn and use them should be “respected and protected”, while also supporting their standardisation, research and preservation.

On paper, the two aims are presented as compatible: promoting a common national language while allowing minority languages to continue alongside it. The difficult question is what that balance looks like in practice — particularly as standard Chinese becomes the primary language in schools. 

Why language in education matters

The distinction between learning a language and learning in a language may sound small, but it can have influential consequences.

A minority language might stay on the school curriculum as a subject, for example, while Mandarin is used to teach mathematics, science, history and other subjects. In that situation, students are still learning their minority language, but much of their academic vocabulary and everyday classroom communication takes place in Mandarin.

Schools and intergenerational transmission

This matters because languages survive through use. Children learn them at home, speak them with friends and family, encounter them at school and later pass them on to another generation.

Linguists call this process ‘intergenerational transmission’, and it is one of the most important indicators of a language’s longevity. When younger generations increasingly use a dominant language in education, work and public life, the contexts in which a minority language is used can gradually narrow.

This does not mean that promoting Mandarin in schools will inevitably cause minority languages to disappear. But education can influence which languages young people become most comfortable using, and which languages they eventually pass on to their own children.

One law, two interpretations

Whether the new legislation represents a reasonable attempt to strengthen communication across China or create a further threat to minority languages depends on who you ask.

The case for a shared national language

From the Chinese government’s perspective, greater use of standard Chinese can reduce communication barriers between people from different linguistic backgrounds, improving access to education, employment, government services and public life.

Chinese authorities therefore reject the suggestion that promoting Mandarin must come at the expense of minority languages. Their stated position is that the two can coexist: standard Chinese provides a common means of communication, while minority groups retain the right to learn and use their own languages.

Concerns about linguistic assimilation

Critics question how easily that balance can be maintained in practice. Human rights organisations and independent observers have raised concerns that strengthening Mandarin’s position in education could accelerate a longer-term shift away from languages including Tibetan, Uyghur and Mongolian. Such concerns do not exist in isolation: human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, have documented extensive state repression of Uyghur and Tibetan communities, including restrictions affecting their cultural, religious and linguistic life.

The concern is not that these languages might stop being taught altogether. As we have seen, a language can remain available as a subject while losing ground as a language of education, work and public life.

This is where the debate over ‘linguistic assimilation’ becomes particularly relevant. The term describes a process in which a community increasingly adopts a dominant language, sometimes over several generations, while using its original language less frequently or in fewer settings.

For China’s minority languages, the question is therefore not only whether people retain the legal right to speak them, but whether future generations will continue to have enough opportunities or reasons to do so.

What can be lost when a language loses ground?

When a language declines, there’s more at stake than an alternative way of communicating. Languages carry oral histories, literature, traditions and culturally specific concepts, all shaped by the communities that use them.

This is something translators encounter regularly. Languages rarely divide the world into perfectly interchangeable words and concepts; an expression that feels natural in one language may require explanation, adaptation or cultural context to convey in another.

Translation can help preserve and share knowledge across linguistic boundaries, but it cannot replace a living language. Stories can be translated, and texts archived, for example, but neither necessarily preserves the everyday conversations and cultural connections through which a language continues to evolve.

For minority languages, preservation therefore depends not only on documenting them, but on ensuring that speakers have opportunities to continue using them.

Can a common language and linguistic diversity coexist?

A common national language and linguistic diversity are not necessarily incompatible. Countries such as Switzerland and Finland demonstrate how multiple languages can retain an official role within the same national education and public institutions, even when one is spoken much more widely than another.

The question for China is how that balance will work in practice. Its 55 officially recognised ethnic minority groups encompass many different languages, communities and circumstances. The new legislation is likely to affect each in different ways. Much will depend on how the new policies are implemented locally: whether minority languages remain languages of instruction, the resources available for teaching them, and whether younger generations continue to use them at home and in their communities. Languages already under pressure may be particularly vulnerable if their role in education and public life diminishes further.

For now, it is too early to know exactly what the new legislation will mean for China’s minority languages. What is clear is that preserving linguistic diversity requires more than documenting or permitting a language. Languages survive when people have meaningful opportunities to learn, speak and pass them on.