![\"\"](\"https:\/\/en.uyghuracademy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Qosh-Til.jpg\" "\\"Qosh")
<\/a>This study explores Chinese language policy and language use in Inner\u00a0Asia, as well as the relation of language policy to the politics of Uyghur\u00a0identity. Language is central to ethnic identity, and official language policies\u00a0are often overlooked as critical factors in conflict over ethnic nationalism.\u00a0In Chinese Inner Asia, any solution to ethnic conflict will include reallinguistic and cultural autonomy for major ethnic groups.<\/p>\nLanguage policy has been at the heart of Chinese nation building.\u00a0Shortly after the inception of the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC),\u00a0language policy in China\u2019s border regions was responsive to local\u00a0conditions and arguably one of the more flexible in the world. In the last\u00a015 years, however, although China\u2019s official language policy has remained\u00a0constant, its covert language policy has become increasingly reactive,\u00a0and tied to geopolitical considerations. This trend has been particularly\u00a0salient in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), where\u00a0multilingualism and cultural pluralism have been progressively curtailed\u00a0in favor of a monolingual, monocultural model, and a concomitant rise of\u00a0an oppositional modern Uyghur identity.<\/p>\n