Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Part 1: Overview -- Chapter 1 The social language situation in China -- Chapter 2 Requiring Putonghua as the common language and encouraging ethnolinguistic diversity: The development of language policy in China -- Part 2: Language life -- Chapter 3 The composition of the bilingual population in China -- Chapter 4 Language, ethnicity, and identity in China -- Chapter 5 The language situation of ethnic group in the transborder regions of China -- Chapter 6 An investigation into bilingualism in Dehong Dai -- Chapter 7 Language change and economic and social transition: The case of the Gin in China -- Part 3: Language variation and change -- Chapter 8 Overview of language variation -- Chapter 9 The categories of language variation -- Chapter 10 Variation of kinship terms in Dai -- Chapter 11 Hierarchical structures and social functions of personal names in the Dai ethnic group -- Part 4: Language maintenance -- Chapter 12 Language loss and language maintenance: The example of Tungus -- Part 5: Language policies and practices -- Chapter 13 Language policies and practices for ethnic groups introduced by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China during the National Government period (1927-1949) -- Chapter 14 Ethnic language policies and their implementation during the reform and opening-up period -- Chapter 15 Comparison of language laws in Tibet and Xinjiang -- Chapter 16 Challenges and opportunities for ethnic minority languages in a time of social transformation -- Part 6: Innovation in and reform of writing systems -- Chapter 17 The creation of writing systems and nation-building -- Chapter 18 The creation and trial implementation of the Eastern Guizhou Miao writing system -- Chapter 19 Three major reforms of writing systems in Xinjiang and Mongolia -- Chapter 20 Assessment of the theory and practice of the standardization of the Yi writing system -- Part 7: Bilingual education and motivations for second language acquisition -- Chapter 21 The development and problems of bilingual education in China -- Chapter 22 Types of bilingual education in China -- Chapter 23 A report on transitions between bilingual teaching models in China -- Chapter 24 Three transitions in ethnic minority language teaching models -- Chapter 25 Comparison of the motivations for second language acquisition among ethnic children -- Part 8: Conclusion -- Chapter 26 Constructing a harmonious language life -- References -- Index