The 1981 Inner Mongolia student protest, which took place in Inner Mongolia from 22 August to 15 November 1981, opposed a package of new policies that would worsen

steppe degradation Grassland degradation, also called vegetation or steppe degradation, is a biotic material, biotic Disturbance (ecology), disturbance in which grass struggles to grow or can no longer exist on a piece of land due to causes such as overgrazing, bur ...

in the Inner Mongolia steppe and worsen the

political representation Political representation is the activity of making citizens "present" in public policy-making processes when political actors act in the best interest of citizens. This definition of political representation is consistent with a wide variety of vi ...

of Chinese Mongols. The new policies included "we shall have 100 million cattle within the next decade", "the influx of from neighboring provinces shall be settled rather than be blocked" and "placing Mongol officials in place in Mongol-majority settlements and Han officials in place in Han-majority settlements". The protest were mostly organized by the students of

Inner Mongolia University Inner Mongolia University is a university in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, under the authority of the Inner Mongolia regional government. It is a member of the Chinese state Double First Class University Plan and former Project 211, and identified as ...

. The policies were proposed by then Inner Mongolia Chief party secretary

Zhou Hui Zhou Hui (; 1918 – November 18, 2004) was a People's Republic of China politician. He was born in Guannan County, Jiangsu Province. His birth name was Hui Jue (). He was the younger brother of Hui Yuyu, two-time governor of Jiangsu Province. ...

and sanctioned by the

Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is a body serving the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and its Standing Committee. The secretariat is ...

at its meeting on 16 July 1981, chaired by then top party secretary

Hu Yaobang Hu Yaobang (; 20 November 1915 – 15 April 1989) was a high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He held the top office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1981 to 1987, first as Chairman from 1981 to 1982, then as Genera ...

. Hu, known for his restraint approach towards students, ordered

to not arrest any students. As promised, the students were left unscathed, but many bureaucrats, school headmasters and teachers were demoted.

References

1981 in China History of Hohhot Language policy in Inner Mongolia {{China-hist-stub

See also

References