A Case Study of Zhuang and Zhuang Language (壮壮)

Rendez-vous: CIW: 20150217Minority Protection;

Minority Modernisation

China Encyclopedia, 2008 >

Languages in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

中中中中中中中 2012

壮 壮壮

壮壮 壮壮， traditionally thrown as an invitation to courtship by Bouyei, Yi, Zhuang, Hmong: now used as a key symbol of Zhuang culture.

Detail from “Description of Wild Tribes in China”, painted on mulberry paper, probably pre-1797.

Cities and Generations

^ www.chinatoday.com “Family Pictures of China's 56 Nations: Zhuang Nation”

Museum Zhuang

Public Institutions & Zhuang

^ www.ibtimes.com “The Richest People In China Are (Unsurprisingly) Also The Country's Top Lawmakers”

Public Written Zhuang (Cuengh)

New Media & Zhuang

Putonghua, English, Zhuang

Legal Measures

^ www.content.time.com “Protesters Stand Firm on Cantonese Rights”

^ On the phone: China Encyclopaedia 2008

壮壮 壮壮壮壮壮壮壮壮壮壮壮壮壮：（ 1978）； found in Menzies Library, thanks CIW!

Social class formation and language?

Discussion• Principle of “minority solidarity”; administrative minzu classification system, self-governing jurisdictions; constitutional language ‘freedoms’.

• Language rights (these many institutional forms) versus minzu modernisation? – Lock minority people and language into a homogenous and historical version?

– Founded on a prediction that once minority people are fluent in Putonghua they won’t need minority other languages?

– Any traction today or just relics? – Could these institutions carry minority languages (and people) more equally into the future (or would it have been worse without them)?

Spoken Zhuang• News clip 2014/03/31 http://m.ku6.com/show/EG3UePkQXoo4ecBpW4akcw...html