International Law and Language and Cultural Heritage Policies in China

Minority languages are considered both a method of communication of ethnic minority peoples and intangible cultural heritage in China. The language rights system and the cultural heritage protection system concurrently lead to the protection of minority languages. The seminar presentation will discuss the developments and differences in perceptions between these approaches, the interaction of policies and laws between promoting the national common language, Mandarin (Putonghua), and protecting minority languages, and the entitlement to cultural diversity in international law. It is followed by a discussant’s reflection on parallels and inconsistencies between recent shifts in PRC language policy and PRC cultural heritage policy.

Presenter

Guangyu Ding is a PhD candidate in the Law School, Renmin University of China, and a visiting scholar in UTS Law Faculty (2023–2024). He is the academic assistant of the UNESCO Chair on Cultural Heritage Law (Renmin) and the associate of the UNESCO Chair in International Law and Cultural Heritage (UTS). His research interest include legal and human right issues in the field of cultural heritage, domestically and internationally, cultural heritage politics, and the legal history of China. He has published a book and several journal articles in the field of cultural heritage law and Chinese legal history. His recent publications include 'Cultural Heritage Rights and Rights Related to Cultural Heritage: A Review on Cultural Heritage Rights System' (2023) Santander Art and Culture Law Review, issue 2; and 'The Theory and Practice of Public Participation in Public Interest Litigation of Cultural Heritage' (in Chinese) (2023) China Cultural Heritage, issue 4.

Discussant

Dr Alexandra Grey is a Chancellor’s Research Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney. She researches governance in linguistically diverse societies and of linguistic culture, with projects on minority language rights in China; choice of language as freedom of expression; the right to health in relation to public communications in languages other than English; and the role of the state in self-determined Indigenous language renewal. She is author of prize winning Language Rights in a Changing China (De Gruyter 2021). She teaches constitutional law.

Moderator will be Ana Filipa Vrdoljak, UNESCO Chair of International Law and Cultural Heritage and Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney.

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