by Xinhua writers Zhao Ying and Li Huaiyan
KUNMING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Wang Zhifen, a 39-year-old woman of the Yi ethnic minority, does not speak her mother tongue any more. She stopped using it when she left her village in southwest China's Yunnan Province to be educated more than 20 years ago.
"I have no regrets. Mandarin and English are becoming popular in a rapidly changing society and it's natural for people from ethnic minorities to use suitable languages to communicate better," said Wang, a professor at the Wumayao Anthropological Museum in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, home to 25 ethnic groups.
Only a few natives of Wang's hometown of Mile County in Honghe Hani and the Yi Autonomous Prefecture still speak their mother tongue. The exotic Yi dialect and the gorgeous handmade dresses of its women are now only heard and seen during festival activities or religious ceremonies, said Wang, who returned to work in June after receiving her doctor's degree at Beijing-based Minzu University of China, formerly known as the Central University of Nationalities (CUN).
Wang's village has frustrated the Chinese government, which, along with experts, have taken various means to preserve endangered languages, believing that they are an indispensable part of China's diversified ethnic culture.
PERSEVERING EFFORTS, FRUSTRATING RESULTS
There are approximately 130 different languages of 55 ethnic minority groups in China, but more than 100 are dying out - and 60 are on the verge of extinction, according to statistics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Across the world, more than 6,000 languages are disappearing at a rapid rate, and 3,000 of these are in an extremely critical state.
"Language is an important transmitter of myths, poems, operas and many other forms of art. It disseminates valuable knowledge and life experiences accumulated over the centuries," said Li Ziran, a professor with Ningxia University in northwest China.
To help preserve the viability and vitality of these languages, the Chinese government has moved to finance academia's efforts to compile books about their linguistics and to collect traditional masterpieces that disappeared from sight shortly after China started economic reforms in the late 1970s.
Contemporary China has benefited in many ways from this indigenous culture, including the discovery and application of ancient medical prescriptions, Li said.
"We have found or reproduced more than 30,000 ancient books of various ethnic minorities in Yunnan over 20 years, only one third of the registered masterpieces," said Pu Xuewang, director with the publishing and planning office of ethnic ancient books in Yunnan.
"The local government has also spent 80 million yuan (11.7 million U.S. dollars) in editing and translating classics of the Dai, Yi and Naxi ethnic people," he said.
Innovative bilingual courses for children of ethnic background are also having a beneficial effect.
As of May 2007, more than 6 million students have participated in bilingual courses in 10,000 schools across China, learning approximately 30 different ethnic languages as well as Putonghua (standardised Mandarin), according to statistics from the State Working Committee of Languages and Characters.
During the same time, more than 2,500 classes teaching only ethnic minority languages have trained more than 1 million students.
The authorities have also managed to help ethnic groups to retrieve and better understand their native tongues, especially the ones indigenous people could only speak but not write; and those made up of only symbols.
For instance, the Dongba language native to Yunnan is experiencing growing interest. Experts have invented 2,000 new Dongba characters based on 1,000 retrieved ancient characters while local students are also learning the dying language, said He Shiyong, an official with the Lijiang Ancient City Protection Administration. Lijiang is now a popular tourist destination as well.
"But many efforts turned out to be irrelevant for people's daily communication needs. A head of a Manchu county in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region even asked me once to check the spelling of Manchu language on his name card," said Pan Shouyong, a Minzu University professor.
"We have acted like firefighters these years to rescue endangered languages, but the people themselves actually don't care about it. They are more closely linked to a modern way of life and are gradually abandoning traditional methods of communication," he said.
"It's unrealistic for ethnic groups, who only number several hundred or less, to speak and write in Mandarin outside but resort to their own languages back in the villages," Pan said. "We haven't yet found an effective way to revive dying languages."
ARCHIVING A REASONABLE CHOICE?
"We should archive the languages and let people make their own choices," said Georg Pfeffer, professor with Freie University of Berlin.
The opinion that the death of a language indicates the extinction of an ethnic culture could be too exaggerated, and the social elite should not force ordinary people to share their views about resurrecting antique languages, said Pfeffer.
Language is basically, and most importantly, a tool of communication for common people, and its survival or death has been natural selection of the environment. "We should not blame people for not carrying on with a language that becomes less useful," said Latami Dashi, an ethnologist with a research center in Ninglang, Yunnan.
Indigenous people should not have to shoulder the responsibility of preserving a language just because they are members of an ethnic group, and no one should interfere in their decision-making, Pan said.
"Rescuing a language requires enormous funding and research efforts. Although Chinese law guarantees ethnic people's cultural rights and the government has enacted preferential policies to do so, is it wise and worthwhile trying to turn an unstoppable natural trend around?" Pan asked.
Wang Zhifen said natives of her hometown have a favorite language form -- singing. Through this medium, many songs in the Yi language were passed down from generation to generation and people also created new ones, as did many other ethic clusters.
"The development of such popular art forms - which will be more effective - should be encouraged," she said.
