New plan to bolster Chinese language, preserve culture

China has released a national plan to systematically promote the country's linguistic and cultural heritage, setting clear targets for 2030 and 2035 to enhance national language capabilities and foster a stronger sense of community among Chinese nationals.

According to a guideline issued on Monday by the Ministry of Education and six other departments, a well-structured system for inheriting and developing China's outstanding language and culture should be basically established by 2030, with coordinated progress achieved across scientific research, educational outreach, resource development, digital empowerment, talent cultivation, promotion, and international exchange.

By 2035, the inheritance of Chinese language culture and the language literacy of all citizens will be comprehensively elevated, providing strong support for China's goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects, the guideline said.

The plan emphasizes expanding the use of standard spoken and written Chinese nationwide while preserving ethnic minority languages. It calls for the innovative transformation and development of China's linguistic and cultural heritage, integrating it into the school education system, lifelong learning and socioeconomic development, and continuously improving public language literacy, particularly among young people.

The guideline outlines a series of measures to advance the national language and culture strategy, focusing on education, resource protection, digitalization, talent development and international communication.

China will conduct in-depth research into the cultural essence of its language and writing system, highlighting the role they play in shaping Chinese identity, national spirit and civilizational wisdom. It will also promote language popularization, underscoring how a shared language enhances mutual understanding and social cohesion.

By strengthening education in Chinese language and culture, the plan aims to reinforce cultural identity, support the theoretical framework of the Chinese national community and help build a shared spiritual homeland for all ethnic groups.

In education, reforms will integrate language culture across the entire national education system, from primary schools to universities, and incorporate it into moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor education. Planned activities include tracing the evolution of scripts such as oracle bone and seal scripts, heightening the use of cultural relics, and promoting calligraphy.

Universities will be encouraged to offer public courses in subjects including Chinese calligraphy, digital Chinese and large language model technologies.

Efforts will also be enhanced to survey, preserve and archive language resources, with particular attention to ancient scripts such as oracle bone inscriptions. Digital empowerment is a key priority, involving large-scale digitization of language resources and the development of specialized corpora for ancient scripts and modern Chinese.

A talent development strategy will strengthen discipline building to ensure the continuity of specialized studies, including oracle bone research. Incentive mechanisms will be introduced to cultivate leading scholars and innovation teams.

The guideline also calls for expanded language and cultural exchanges with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Internationally, China will strengthen global Chinese education through flagship programs such as Chinese Bridge and International Chinese Language Day.

The plan stresses the need to strengthen the Communist Party of China's leadership throughout the process. Multiple departments, including the Ministry of Education, the National Language Commission and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, will work jointly to ensure effective implementation. Local governments, schools and institutions are encouraged to incorporate language and cultural development into regional planning, campus activities and urban management.