Chinese authorities in Tibet are organizing Mandarin speech competitions in what analysts told Radio Free Asia is another ploy by Beijing to erase Tibetan language and culture. On Nov. 9 and 10, some 33 Tibetans competed the National Common Language Speech Contest in the regional capital of Lhasa
Though there are many dialects of Chinese spoken in the country, as well as many other languages, including Tibetan and Uyghur, Mandarin is the official language and Beijing wants all citizens to use it, with little or no attention paid to preserving other languages. Mandarin speech competitions are now frequently held in monasteries and schools across Tibet, two sources from the region told RFA Tibetan.