Governing linguistic unity and diversity: ideological legitimation and philosophical repertoires in Chinese language planning

Abstract

Language governance in multilingual societies often involves negotiating tensions between linguistic unity and diversity. In the Chinese context, language planning has long drawn on multiple intellectual traditions that provide justificatory resources through which such tensions are understood and legitimised in policy discourse. This article examines how Chinese language planning is articulated through the selective synthesis of Confucian, Legalist, Daoist, and Marxist repertoires across different historical periods. Drawing on Q. Zhou’s (Citation2013, Citation2017) framework of ‘subjectivity with diversity’, the study adopts an interpretive approach to analyse policy discourse and policy texts through which philosophical repertoires function as ideological resources in the legitimation of language governance. The analysis shows that shifts in policy orientation are best understood as processes of ideological layering, through which inherited philosophical rationales are selectively reinterpreted to sustain the governance of linguistic ‘unity-with-diversity’ under changing political projects. The findings highlight how these repertoires are mobilised to legitimise governance strategies for managing linguistic diversity within a multilingual polity. By conceptualising philosophical repertoires as discursive resources for policy legitimation, the article contributes to research on multilingual governance and language policy by showing how layered ideological synthesis provides justificatory resources for the management of linguistic unity and diversity in China.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2026 · DOI ↗