Rugoz wrote:Is it what you need to establish a modern nation state?
I'm imagining trying to force the French-speaking Swiss to have their classes in history and math in German. It's such an absurd thought to be honest. It would be unthinkable to even propose it.
There was a considerable period of linguistic consolidation in Europe. It's why there's only one principal type of German or Italian, not hundreds of regional variations. It's why Italians don't speak Occitanian.
It's only in the last few decades that any schools in Europe have returned to teaching in minority languages - be it Basque, Welsh, Irish, etc. Well after the period of national identity development that took place following the collapse of the monarchial system in the 1800s.
Should the PRC do the same? Well, The PRC is incredibly anti pluralist, sure, because it fears that foreign powers will use that pluralism to create and magnify ethnic and social divisions in attempt to bring down the state - we see evidence of this being down with organizations such as the WUC or the Tibetan Exile Movement, which receive extensive funding from the CIA and other sources of foreign intelligence. They want to create a cohesive and united society not vulnerable to the "divide and conquer" strategy that led to the Century of Humiliation and the Japanese invasion. They're a traumatized nation with a government subject to some sort of historical PTSD, using proven if draconian Western techniques to build a modern nation state out of the remnants of the last surviving civilization state.