Mother tongue education for revitalising a vigorous language? The case of Monguor, a minority language in China

The Monguors are one of China’s fifty-five officially recognised minorities. ¹ They live in eastern Qinghai and in the neighbouring parts of Kansu province. Since the 1980s, there have been efforts among Monguor nationality leaders to provide the Monguor language, a traditionally unwritten language, with a writing system. Another aim has been to introduce Monguor mother tongue education into schools. ²