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China is set to enact a landmark law requiring ethnic minorities to use Mandarin as their primary language of instruction, overturning decades of policy dating back to the Mao Zedong era. The legislation, expected to pass at this week's annual parliamentary meeting, aims to "forge a sense of community" but threatens legal action against anyone who undermines "national unity" or "provokes separatism." This sweeping move is the latest step in a "Sinicization" campaign under Xi Jinping, which critics argue forces the country’s 56 recognized minorities to assimilate into a society where the Han majority makes up 90 percent of the 1.4 billion population. Under the new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, native tongues like Tibetan, Uyghur, and Mongolian will no longer be permitted for core subjects in schools and universities, though they may remain as second languages. Analysts warn the law "overturns the multicultural promises upon which China was founded," shifting from a model of pluralism to one of "unity through sameness" and the elimination of cultural difference. Beijing has expressed increasing alarm over international interference; the draft explicitly states that ethnic unity must not be interfered with by "external forces" under the guise of human rights or religion. Activists fear the law will institutionalize the practice of pursuing individuals overseas for activities Beijing deems seditious, expanding the legal basis for restricting cultural and political expression. The bill has received unusually high-level visibility, with state media reporting that Xi Jinping personally presided over a Politburo meeting last year to call for its swift passage. While China once espoused a limited notion of pluralism, that space has narrowed significantly following unrest in Tibet and the mass internment of an estimated 1 million Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Language restrictions are already appearing; last year, the Tibetan language was excluded as a core subject from the national college entrance exam, the gaokao, and protests broke out in Inner Mongolia in 2020 over similar mandates. Proponents of the law, such as researchers at the China Academy of Social Sciences, argue it is necessary for border security and that minority languages simply cannot compete with the economic advantages of Mandarin. Beyond education, the law dictates that only the state can promote "symbols of Chinese civilization" in public architecture, exhibitions, and place naming, further marginalizing distinct minority identities. The physical effects of this drive are already visible; in Xi’an, centuries-old mosques have had their domes replaced with traditional Chinese roofs to eliminate "foreign influence," a move that residents say has caused widespread unhappiness. https://t.co/mkokXitbvc