China’s Applied Research Center for Ethnic Languages was established in July 2016 as a research platform jointly developed by the Department of Education, Science and Technology of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission and Beijing Language and Culture University, with the approval of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission. The center consistently focuses on the central task of ethnic work—forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation—and conducts long-term research on ethnic language policies and the application of languages in ethnic regions. It provides high-quality advisory services for government decision-making and aims to build a first-class national think tank for the strategic development of language and writing initiatives.
The China Ethnic Languages Application Research Center currently has 7 research staff, including 3 research fellows, 2 associate research fellows, and 2 assistant research fellows. Since its establishment, the center has undertaken 4 National Social Science Fund projects and 15 provincial and ministerial-level projects. It has published 9 monographs, nearly 70 papers in domestic and international academic journals, and 25 advisory reports that have been adopted. The center now has 3 doctoral supervisors and 4 master's supervisors, training master's and doctoral students in fields such as Chinese Ethnic Minority Language and Literature, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, and Chinese Philology.
In recent years, the China National Language Application Research Center has dedicated its efforts to research in areas such as language contact and integration, the formation and development of the Chinese national community, border languages and national security, and the promotion and popularization of the national common language and script in ethnic regions. Projects such as "Research on the 'Confucian Education' of the Western Xia Dynasty Centered on Mongolian Literature," "Empirical Research on the Integration of Chinese Ethnic Languages and Scripts and Resource Exploration," "Research on the Genetic Relationships of Altaic Languages Based on a Unified Platform," "Compilation and Research of the Yuan Dynasty Bilingual Mongolian-Chinese 'Classic of Filial Piety' and the Yuan-Ming Vernacular 'Direct Interpretation of the Classic of Filial Piety,'" and "Translation and Compilation of Bilingual Stele Inscriptions in Ethnic Languages and Chinese from the Liao, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties in the Beijing Area, and Research on the Spirit of the Multi-Ethnic Community in Beijing," along with numerous papers and publications, have laid a solid foundation for innovating and developing linguistic pathways to strengthen the sense of the Chinese national community. Projects such as "Research on the Construction of a Northern Cross-Border Language Resource Database from a National Security Perspective," "Research on the Documentation of Cross-Border Zaiwa Language," "Research on the Relationship Between Ethnic Languages and National Security," and "Research on the Current Status and Standardization of Minority Language Place Name Translation in Xinjiang Border Areas," along with related research outcomes, have provided strong academic support for national strategic security. The think tank construction has been highly effective, with numerous advisory reports receiving affirmative feedback from national leaders or being adopted by relevant government agencies, contributing wisdom to the development of China's language and script endeavors.
