Han University Volunteers Who Speak Minority Languages Exempted From Civil Service Exam

Wang Lequan, the Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, announced July 25 that university students from outside Xinjiang will be exempt from the civil service examination if they master a minority language during their two-year volunteer service and remain in Xinjiang after completing their tour. Wang made the announcement at a reception for university-level volunteers hailing from the predominantly Han Chinese areas of Guangdong, Gansu, and Shanxi provinces, and Beijing municipality. Since the government launched the program in 2003, a total of 1,379 university students have served two-year volunteer tours in Xinjiang, and 110 of these volunteers opted to remain in Xinjiang permanently, according to a July 26 Xinjiang Daily report.

Party Secretary Wang noted in his remarks the importance of government officials mastering local minority languages, saying that if student volunteers could learn a local language they would become "treasures" in Xinjiang. Exempting volunteers who speak minority languages from the civil service examination is one of few concrete measures that the government has taken to encourage the study of local minority languages. At the same time, central and provincial authorities are reducing Uighur language offerings throughout the school system and favoring Mandarin speakers in employment and school recruitment policies (see here and here for related analysis).

The new exemption policy, however, disproportionately favors Han Chinese, since minorities do not receive similar exemptions after mastering the Chinese language. In Bayinguoleng Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, for example, minorities who take the civil service examination in Mandarin Chinese may add one additional point to their total possible score of 100. Although minorities have the option of taking the Bayinguoleng examination in Mandarin, Uighur, or Mongolian, those who opt for the latter two must pass a separate Mandarin competency test.