2 Literature Review
2.5 Preferential Policies
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2.5 Preferential Policies
In a book on affirmative action in China, Ann Maxwell Hill and Minglang Zhou state that China uses preferential treatment to “…redress historic inequalities among ethnic groups, [and] to reduce the potential for ethnic conflict.”69 The existing scholarship tends to agree that the PRC has provided significant financial incentives to reward loyalty from ethnic minorities. An essay on China’s hard and soft policies points out that, “Soft measures (including education) are designed to win favor among the Uyghur population and facilitate acculturation into Chinese society.”70
Zhu Zhiyong’s article Higher Education Access and Equality Among Ethnic Minorities in China sheds light on how the PRC is handling current challenges in its
education system. Dr. Zhu, a professor at Beijing Normal University, explains a phenomenon familiar to those who study modern China: economic growth has led to greater inequalities. He argues that ethnic minorities have borne many of these new financial burdens, and that this can be seen in higher education. He points out that
“…the percentage of ethnic minority students enrolled in higher education is still The author believes that this reflects a growing sophistication in China’s policies toward Xinjiang.
It seems that the PRC government has concluded that brute force is not enough to control the Uyghurs. They must mix incentives in as well.
69 Ann Maxwell Hill and Minglang Zhou Affirmative Action in China and the US (Palgrave Macmillen, 2009) p. 1
70 Justin Rudelsen and William Jankowiak, Acculturation and Resistance: Xinjiang in Flux, in Xinjiang, China’s Muslim Borderland (M.E. Sharpe, 2004) p. 301
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below the percentage of minorities in the nation’s population and has even fallen since 1998.”71 He later points out something that many scholars touch upon: from the very beginning of their education, young minorities are at a disadvantage because the central government provides schools in minority regions with less funding.72
Among western scholars there appears to be a healthy skepticism as to whether or not these policies actually reward Uyghurs who take advantage of them (or try to take advantage of them). For example, Timothy Grose states that even with scholarships and preferential admission policies, many Uyghurs are too poor to send their children to school.
The author shows a great deal of faith in the benefits of preferential policies. While acknowledging that China has a controversial and imperfect system, he suggests that affirmative action has helped level the playing field for many ethnic minorities. The author is curious to discover whether or not this is a widely held belief in the PRC government: that preferential policies and higher education can address economic inequalities.
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71 Zhiyong Zhu, Higher Education Access and Equality Among Ethnic Minorities in China (Chinese Education and Society, Volume 43, Number 1, 2010) p. 4
Furthermore, Justin Rudelsen and William Jankowiak argue that with education being so Han-centered, many Uyghur parents are reluctant to send their children to school, for fear that their ethnic identity will be
72 Zhiyong Zhu, 2010. pp. 18-19
73 Timothy Grose, Educating Xinjiang’s Uyghurs: Creating Success or Achieving Unrest (University of Virginia, 2008) p. 9
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The author also found Gerald Postiglione’s comments on preferential policies as a means of national integration very interesting. He says that minorities admitted to universities have a “higher visibility” and serve as a model for younger minorities.
This likely reflects a wider mistrust of the PRC and its intentions.
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For its part, the PRC is always eager to promote the strides made in minority education since 1949. It seems that every official white paper or web site touts rising literacy rates, higher standards of living, and a growing number of universities in Xinjiang. A white paper, released by the PRC in 2009, is a typical example.
Titled Development and Progress in Xinjiang, it points out that before 1949,
“Xinjiang had but one college, nine secondary schools, and 1,355 primary schools.”
This is part of the PRC’s strategy of rewarding loyalty. If a student is loyal to the government, he or she will be rewarded. This will be done in a very visible manner, as a message to other minorities about the advantages of loyalty.
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74 Justin Rudelsen and William Jankowiak, 2004. p. 313
The same paper goes on to point out that nine year education in Xinjiang is now compulsory, and illiteracy has been “eliminated.” Such flowery language and bright reporting is typical of the PRC’s take on ethnic minority education. As will be discussed later, however, significant progress has been made in some areas.
75 Gerald A. Postiglione, 2000. p. 59
76 True Xinjiang, Xinjiang Undergoes Unprecedented Changes in Education,
http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/truexinjiang/basic-facts/2009-09/470284.html accessed February 22nd, 2011
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Our Good Han Mothers speaks of the impact that Han Chinese teachers have had on their Uyghur middle school students. The essay paints an idealized picture, to say the least. In fact, from beginning to end, the language borders on absurdity. It is a clear and unintentionally humorous example of what the PRC would like outsiders to think of its education system in Xinjiang.
The essay opens with Uyghur middle school students returning home after a semester in boarding school with their Han teachers. The young Uyhgurs love their Han teachers so much that they cannot bear to leave them. “The youngsters crowded around the teachers, vying to give their beloved teachers a last hug, their smiling eyes brimming with tears, breasts heaving lightly, clasped hands unwilling to let go.”77
Our Good Han Mothers suggests that the Uyghur children were uncivilized
before they came under the wings of their Han teachers. It argues that the Han teachers saved them and gave them a future. It even quotes one student as saying “I’m happier here than I am at home!”78
The essay also depicts the Han Chinese teachers as loving and nurturing. It states that the teachers sacrificed their time, money, and health to help the students.
They “…willingly gave up their rest days to pair up with and coach the Xinjiang
77 Tao Jiaqing and Yang Xiaohua “Our Good Han Mothers” in Chinese Education and Society (Volume 43, Number 3, May-June 2010) p. 65
78 Tao Jiaqing and Yang Xiaohua, 2010. p. 66
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youngsters.”79 According to the essay, teachers also gave their personal things to the students, and treated the students as though they were their own children. This contrasts with Linda Tsung’s essay (to be discussed below), in which Uyghur students who struggled with Mandarin were called “not very bright” by their Han teachers.80
Predictably, Our Good Han Mothers touts the successes of the teachers. It speaks of overcoming ethnic differences and becoming one under the banner of China.
“Different ethnic groups, different languages, and different souls – all fused together here.”81
This article embellishes so much that it has no academic value whatsoever.
However, it is useful in that it shows us what the PRC government would like readers to think about its education system. It is a piece of modern propaganda, revealing the PRC’s desire to present a magnanimous education system and a united China.
The political message of unity is so blunt that it is impossible to miss.