Reading China's "Other" through Learning Chinese:The Portrayal of Minorities in Chinese as a Second Language Textbooks

This paper looks at a group of thirteen Chinese language (CSL) textbooks for foreign students. It focuses on analyzing the representation of Chinese ethnic minority groups, revealing that when present in CSL texts, they present the foreign student with a picture of minorities that sing and dance, are rural, and have unique traditional customs and festivals. This paper also reviews much of the discourse regarding stereotypes and changes in ESL/EFL and other language textbooks and relates this to the case of minorities in CSL texts. It concludes that similar to the concern for political correctness in other language texts, the portrayal of minorities in CSL texts is also politically correct, but in a different sense. Currently, attitudes about minorities in China, unlike the compulsive assimilation policies of the Cultural Revolution, emphasizes minority characteristics and celebrates the diversity they add to China and this is seen in the presentation of minorities in CSL texts