THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE PUTONGHUA IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF THE PRC AND PRESERVATION OF THE MULTIETHNIC NATURE OF CHINESE SOCIETY

The article is devoted to the urgent problem of the development and implementation of special educational programs of the government of China on the dissemination of the state language Putonghua. The authors consider the topic through the prism of the multicultural nature of modern China, the diversity of its regional cultures. The problem of the ratio of Putonghua and various dialects of the Chinese language, in particular, the largest number of speakers of the Cantonese dialect, as well as the languages of some of the largest national minorities in the education system, has been critically analysed. A special place in the article is given to the consideration of the approaches of the government represented by the Ministry of Education on the introduction of unified language educational standards at all levels. The authors note that the main task for the central authorities is the search for a compromise between the preservation of the language and the cultural identity of national minorities and the process of standardizing the education system in autonomous regions, aimed at teaching in the state language and for its subsequent general use. Unification of the education system at all levels (preschool, school, university and postgraduate), combined with the aspirations of the central government to block attempts by representatives of national minorities to create special educational institutions where teaching was conducted in minority languages, at least in separate disciplines, would reactivate the search for new approaches to educational policy and the development of new educational standards. According to the results of the study, it is concluded that in the coming decades, China's liberalization in the issue of empowering the regions with political rights seems to be rather unlikely, and the policy of strengthening the unity of the state with the help of the common Putonghua language will also be intensive, leaving dialects with less space for existence in the state system education.