In China’s Dongxiang ethnic community, the language barrier stands out as the most fundamental problem in education. The majority of preschool-age children in concentrated Dongxiang communities can only speak Dongxiang and cannot understand Mandarin Chinese at all. This phenomenon presents several challenges to providing basic education for these children. In order to address this problem, Dongxiang experts Ma Guozhong and Chen Yuanlong recommend bilingual education and are implementing a bilingual education project themselves.
