Global Times: Primary school principal in Xinjiang sows seeds of ethnic unity via language education
Kurban Niyaz promotes Chinese language education in Xinjiang, fostering unity and cultural integration through learning.
Beijing, China, Oct. 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In the early morning, a slight chill lingers on the playground, but sound of reading already echoes through the school buildings. Children hold books, reciting The Analects of Confucius in unison. On the classroom walls, posters featuring etiquette, poetry, and musical instruments are neatly aligned alongside Chinese characters written on the blackboard. Outside the building, a statue of Confucius stands in quiet contemplation.
This is the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language Primary School in Yimamu township, Wushi county, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region - a rural school that has pursued the mission of "connecting through language, culture, and hearts" since the day it was founded.
"Based on my own experience, I deeply understand that language is an essential tool for enhancing ethnic unity and fostering a strong sense of the Chinese nation as one community," Kurban Niyaz, the principal of the school, told the Global Times.
Guided by this conviction, Kurban has established the school 22 years ago. Over the past years, thousands of students have graduated with outstanding academic performance. Among them is the first student from Wushi county to be admitted into Tsinghua University. Kurban himself has been honored with titles including Reform Pioneer and Models for Ethnic Unity and Progress.
The Volume V of the book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China includes the article "Unite the Chinese Nation as One Community," which states: "Shaped by 5,000 years of time-honored Chinese civilization, our great country and nation have always inspired the most profound and enduring emotional attachment from all the Chinese people."
Xi emphasized: "we should strengthen education on Chinese history and culture among children and young people, popularize standard spoken and written Chinese, and promote the nationwide use of standard text-books, to help our people forge a sense of national identity from an early age."
Kurban often says, "a drop of water can only gain everlasting life when it joins the sea; a nation can only achieve sustainable development when it integrates into the larger family of the motherland. I want to be a promoter of fine traditional Chinese culture and a practitioner of ethnic unity and progress." He has been living out this promise through his concrete actions.
Kurban founded a school
In 2003, the school founded by Kurban began its first day with the sound of children crying.
Inside the classroom, the children were overwhelmed by the unfamiliar environment and teachers speaking a language they did not understand. One child began to cry, then a second, and soon the sound of weeping spread throughout the room. "Some children ran out through the door, while others climbed out the windows. Within five minutes, only four people were left in the school - myself, my younger brother, and two teachers," Kurban recalled in an interview with the Global Times.
Starting the next day, Kurban went door to door, persuading parents and offering a bold promise: "If there's no improvement within two weeks, I'll refund your tuition - and even compensate you out of my own pocket." It was this pledge that convinced some students to return to the classroom.
At the time, Wushi county was a national-level poverty-stricken county, and 99.5 percent of the residents in Yimamu township were Uygurs, most of whom could not speak the standard spoken and written Chinese language.
To overcome this challenge, Kurban and the teachers brought everyday household items into the classroom and used gestures to teach vocabulary word by word. If students wanted water or needed to use the restroom, the teachers would require them to express it in Putonghua.
After just two weeks, the children were already able to say phrases like "Hello, teacher" and "I want to drink water" clearly, and classroom order began to take shape.
In this way, the school, which started from nothing, managed to survive. To teach the first batch of students well, Kurban and the teachers tried every possible method, gradually developing a lively and flexible teaching style that helped the children quickly adapt to learning. As the students progressed, courses such as Chinese classics recitation, etiquette training, and traditional instrumental music were gradually added to the curriculum.
To make the Three Character Classic more engaging, the school distributed a pair of clappers to each student, encouraging them to chant the text in rhythm. The "click click" sound of the clappers became a new melody on campus. The children found it fun and often continued playing at home, naturally memorizing the content by heart.
When the results of the primary-to-secondary school entrance exam for the first graduating class were released, Kurban and the teachers huddled around a computer in the office, too nervous to look at the scores - closing and reopening the webpage repeatedly.
Yet the outcome exceeded all expectations: Even the students who usually performed the worst scored well above the admission threshold. All 32 students received their results, and many were successfully admitted into "Neichuban" - the secondary school classes in inland cities.
This time, the ones in tears were no longer the children - it was Kurban and the teachers.
'I chose the right path'
As a child, Kurban lived near a base of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. He often watched the spirited young members of the Corps, who had come from all over the country, and regarded them as role models. This not only inspired his determination to master the standard spoken and written Chinese language, but also planted in him the seeds of ethnic unity.
In 1982, Kurban became the first university student from Yimamu township. He studied Chinese language and literature at Xinjiang University. After graduation, he worked as a teacher. During the wave of entrepreneurship in the 1990s, he went into business and traveled to many parts of China.
In 2003, he returned to his hometown, determined to invest all his savings into founding a primary school. "As someone who personally benefited from learning the standard spoken and written Chinese language, I hope children in southern Xinjiang can also learn it and gain access to the richness of traditional Chinese culture, so they can see a broader world and live fulfilling lives. That was the original intention behind founding this school," Kurban said.
Kurban admitted that in the past, southern Xinjiang was relatively closed and underdeveloped. Especially in the early years of the school, social instability, the undercurrents of extremism, and sporadic violent terrorist incidents created an extremely challenging environment. "Many people couldn't accept or understand what I was doing. Some cursed at me, some physically attacked me. People even set fire to our school and tore down its walls," he recalled, still shaken by the thorny path he once walked.
But time has proven that he made the right choice. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to language education, issuing a series of key instructions on promoting the standard spoken and written Chinese language and carrying forward traditional Chinese linguistic culture. These efforts have charted the course for the high-quality development of language education in the new era.
Kurban's students have become the vanguard of mastering the standard spoken and written Chinese language, and the most direct beneficiaries of this educational model.
Among the first graduating class was the first-ever student from Wushi county admitted to Tsinghua University. Since then, over a thousand students have graduated from the school, with most being accepted into "Neichuban." Many of these children are now shining in places across Aksu Prefecture and throughout the country. Some have become civil servants, while some others, like Kurban himself, have entered the education sector.
Kurban's school has continued to grow and develop, gradually becoming a model within the education system of Xinjiang. It has now moved into a new campus, equipped with rooms for classical studies, musical instruments, and reading. Children can sing Peking Opera, play the guzheng and erhu, and paint in the traditional Chinese style - all while integrating traditional culture into their daily curriculum. "Even those who used to curse at me now want to send their own children to my school," Kurban said with a smile.
Across Xinjiang, as the standard spoken and written Chinese language becomes more widely taught, ethnic minority children are now speaking Putonghua as fluently as their peers in major cities. Many have even become "little interpreters and language tutors" for their parents. "I often come across short videos online of children from Xinjiang confidently and fluently expressing themselves in Putonghua, proudly introducing their hometowns - and I feel incredibly proud," Kurban said.
'Let everyone speak out loud'
President Xi, who led a central delegation to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region for activities marking the autonomous region's 70th founding anniversary, listened to work reports from the Communist Party of China (CPC) Xinjiang regional committee and the regional government on September 24, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Xi emphasized the full, faithful and comprehensive implementation of the Party's guidelines for governing Xinjiang in the new era. Focusing on the overarching goal of ensuring social stability and enduring prosperity, Xinjiang should uphold the principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability in its work and attach the same importance to development and security. The region should foster a strong sense of the Chinese nation as one community and promote the building of the community.
Over the years, Kurban has received numerous honors. He said these honors are not just a form of recognition, but also a weighty responsibility.
As a deputy to the National People's Congress, Kurban has actively offered proposals on promoting the standard spoken and written Chinese language and integrating fine traditional Chinese culture into campus education. Several of his suggestions have been adopted and implemented.
He intends to continue fulfilling his duties in this field and hopes to expand the reach of language education, enabling more people to learn and master the national language.
Lately, Kurban has been exploring new frontiers. He has extended his experience into adult education, advocating for the concept of "speaking it out loud." He has developed a reading and writing workbook titled Introduction to the "800 Most Common Chinese Characters," which features QR codes that allow users to follow along with recordings. This tool aims to help young and middle-aged workers, as well as herders and farmers, acquire basic language skills in a short time, turning language proficiency into employability and social integration.
Looking back on his journey, Kurban believes that in the effort to promote the standard spoken and written Chinese language in Xinjiang, he has been a participant, a witness, and above all, a practitioner. "I've always believed that what I'm doing is right," he said. "If a person can get one thing right in their lifetime, then that's a life well lived."
Source: Global Times:
Company: Global Times
Contact Person: Anna Li
Email: editor@globaltimes.com.cn
Website: https://globaltimes.cn
City: Beijing
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