Bilingual education among ethnic Koreans in China: ethnic language maintenance and upward social mobility

Abstract

Ethnic minority education is a challenge for developing countries and a matter of international urgency. This paper imputes bilingual policy for ethnic Koreans as an example for exploring the implementation of bilingual education during China's reform period. Drawn from an ethnographic research study at a bilingual Korean school in northeast China, focus is on the dilemmas facing Korean bilingual education. Although there is diversity among China's ethnic minorities, a common thread and a general case for all minorities is a willingness in educational settings to maintain ethnic language and culture and to seek upward social mobility.