Mongolian language talk of the town for teacher

Liu Hongyan, who has taught the Mongolian language to ethnic Mongolian students at middle schools in Beipiao, Liaoning province, for three decades, said she has witnessed drastic changes in attitudes toward learning the language among young people.

Liu, a deputy to the National People's Congress for six years, said that when she began teaching she had to go to every student's home and patiently persuade them to take the language lessons. Now, however, nearly all students of the ethnic group willingly attend the language classes, beginning at kindergarten.

The 50-year-old ethnic Mongolian attributed the change to people's rising self-confidence in their ethnicity, and national and local governments placing more emphasis on strengthening education for the country's ethnic groups in an effort to help them learn their own cultures and languages.