Once the parlance of the capital's elite, Manchu dialect seems to be going the way of Latin.

But an eclectic group of students is breathing new life into this dying tongue.

Free classes are being held in a cozy basement near Beijing's drum tower. Old and young students practice the ancient language and study its history.

"They are having exams today," class leader Dekjin says, as she watches three students hunched over a long desk, copying the Manchu characters written on the blackboard.

"Otherwise, there would be more students. The class is named 'Solonju', a Manchu word meaning 'to go against the current'. We felt the name would motivate and inspire learners to work harder."

Dekjin is an ethnic Manchu, who began studying the language in 2007 and volunteered to teach Solonju.

She says few Manchu people are fluent in the dialect, which was introduced to Beijing when the ethnic group conquered China from the northeast and established the country's last dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911).

To prevent the language from vanishing, a group of ethnic Manchu from Beijing - most in their 20s and 30s - started the class in 2006 in a room offered by the Dongzhen Academy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection of Manchu culture, in Xicheng district's Dashiqiao Hutong.

Classes run from 9 am until 6 pm every Sunday and cover the Manchu language, calligraphy and customs. Dekjin says an average of 10 students attend every class.

Solonju has used social media, such as QQ, Sina Weibo and Douban to attract more than 1,000 students. The learners are ages 13 to 73, and include ethnic Manchu and Han.

One 63-year-old Han woman started the classes because her husband is Manchu, and she later brought her nephew and niece, Dekjin says.

Among the students scribbling notes on Sunday was Xilingioro Hefan, a Manchu born in the 1930s. He said his grandfather often peppered his Mandarin with Manchu words more than 70 years ago.

Xilingioro tells stories about the history of the Manchu and speaks the language to his 9-year-old grandson. But he won't suggest the boy systematically study the language."It would put too much pressure on him," Xilingioro says.

"He already has to study Chinese and English, which are useful for exams."

Shao Xijun, who sits beside Xilingioro in class, says she began learning Manchu three months ago because she had been fascinated by Qing Dynasty Emperor Kangxi (1662-1722) since middle school.

"It's fun and a way to relax," the 19-year-old says.

"I make a lot of friends here without age boundaries."

Lidan, an ethnic Manchu and head of Dongzhen Academy, says he provides Solonju's free classroom to fill a vacuum in the dialect's instruction.

But the future looks bleak, the 33-year-old says. Even experts like the dean of Heilongjiang University's Manchu study center Zhao Aping believe the language will "disappear in 10 years".

The Beijing-based Manchu Language Academy was closed seven years ago. The academy was founded in the 1980s for professionals studying Manchu. "We had 40 students a class 20 years ago," says 43-year-old Guan Junmin, who studied at the academy in 1987.

Dekjin and her young peers say they don't feel driven by an obligation to preserve Manchu culture.

"I haven't experienced the (Manchu dialect's) age of glory and splendor, so I have no sense of loss," she says. "I just think the language is beautiful."

China Daily

(China Daily 08/27/2011 page11)