Abstract

The aim of this work is to deal with the complex theme of the linguistic rights in China, particularly referring to the bilingual education, in which this theme finds its greatest expression. Bilingual education in fact involves the relationship between language and law in China. All the other different components of the linguistic rights are mostly restrained by an ill-concealed government policy of assimilation to the advantage of the dominant ethnicity and of Pǔtōnghuà, the official language of the Nation. Nevertheless this policy involves this investigated field too, which is characterized by an effective but not homogeneous application of the linguistic rights and which is related to the "strategic importance" of minorities in terms of political stability in the country.