Qiyun Zheng

the bilingual state

be a translator

When I was little, the Chinese government started to ban kids/teachers in school from speaking their local dialect. This policy was propagandized as a beneficial way to unite everyone across China. They even put it in our history text book the three best things Emperor Qin did: he made the whole country to use the same language, the same transport standard, and the same money. I didn’t realize they were trying to imitate a king… I should knew it better.

They propagandized that China has 56 ethnic groups, we Han need to help the others grow the economy, so we should start speak the same language. What I remembered is that I in Jiangxi province and Shanghai didn’t feel much pressure, because we just stopped speaking dialect, that’s all. I couldn’t remember any punishment to any of my classmates. But now I know what they did to people in XinJiang, Tibet, inner Mongolia people who actually have a different language system. The punishment is making people disappear…

I’m thrilled.

The now Chinese government is indeed colonizing. My friend told me “Xin” “Jiang” doesn’t really mean “a new land” as it sounds to Han people. It actually means “the new colonized land”, that’s why friends from there would not like it when we call their land “XinJiang”.

And plus now I remember government gives this propaganda slogan “XinJiang is a great place”. 新疆是个好地方