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BEIJING –"Say no to Mandarin!" thousands chanted in Cantonese in a busy district of Guangzhou, capital of China’s southern Guangdong province, Sunday afternoon.
Residents of southern China have long been known for being vocal about their opinions – from mass protests against a local chemical plant in Fujian province three years ago to a series of strikes by migrant workers calling for higher wages in Guangdong earlier this year.
But Sunday’s protest was unique – Guangzhou citizens were walking in the street to protect their native language:Cantonese.
It was sparked by an announcement earlier this month by the local China People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a political advisory body, encouraging the local government to promote Mandarin language content on Guangzhou’s prime time TV news programs.
With Cantonese serving as the primary language in Guangdong province, as well as Hong Kong and Macao, it’s spoken not just by millions locally, but also by millions of Chinese emigrants around the globe.
Dialect equals identity
Mandarin, China’s official language, is based mainly on northern dialects, primarily, the Beijing dialect. It was not adopted as the country’s national language until the1950s, when the fledgling Communist government took power and began to enforce it as the standard language to be used in education, media and by the government.
But in a country as large and geographically diverse as China, promoting one standard dialect has been no easy task. It’s not uncommon for villagers living just 30 miles away from each other to speak different dialects – particularly in the south where the mountainous terrain helped lead to linguistic differences.
Many people living in southern China have been speaking local dialects for centuries – the only time they even hear Mandarin is when they watch TV or listen to radio (assuming they watch or listen to either). As a result, the central government has gone to great lengths to try to unify what people speak.
"When I was in elementary school 11 years ago, we were not allowed to speak any Cantonese," said a native Guangzhou girl who spoke to NBC News by phone and asked to be identified by her Internet chat room alias, Yinghuochong.
"We were only allowed to speak Mandarin in the school, otherwise your daily achievement score would be deducted by teachers. They say it’s not civilized to speak Cantonese. I don’t understand. Why is it so civilized to speak Mandarin? What about English? Is it more civilized to speak English then?" said Yinghuochong.
Yinghuochong was not the only one angry about the CPPCC’s proposal. She joined thousands of other young people, mostly in their 20s, wearing white tee-shirts that said "I love Guangzhou" as they walked through the city’s streets to show their support for their dialect.
"Support Cantonese!" "Let’s speak Cantonese!" "Say no to Mandarin!" were a few of the slogans shouted out by the crowds.
The march reached a climax when a chorus of protesters sang "Glorious Time," a hit song by the former Hong Kong band Beyond, in Cantonese.
"Among dozens of the TV channels we can receive, only five or six are Cantonese channels. They are for people like my mom, who doesn’t speak Mandarin at all. She doesn’t have many options when she watches TV," said Yinghuochong. "This is just not necessary at all."
Su Zhijia, the deputy mayor of Guangzhou, denied that Guangzhou TV was planning to switch from broadcasting in Cantonese to Mandarin. In an interview with a local media he stressed that "the government has never thought about doing anything to weaken Cantonese."
Su also argued that promoting Mandarin doesn’t necessarily mean Cantonese has to be eliminated. But his promises didn’t seem to calm the doubts and complaints from many Guangzhou citizens.
A form of ‘cultural deprivation’
Michael Anti, an active blogger and analyst, explained why he believes Cantonese is so symbolic in this region, which is one of just two places in China that is still permitted to broadcast television in its own dialect; the other is Shanghai.
"The official promotion of Mandarin is a sort of cultural deprivation," Anti said. "The majority of the protesters are young people, who cannot afford to buy any property in this weak economic environment. They already feel economically disadvantaged and now they are more afraid of losing what they are proud of."
And the outrage over the Mandarin proposal is not limited to the activists marching last weekend. The CPPCC’s web site sponsored an online survey asking respondents if they should add more Mandarin TV programs. The survey received a resounding "No" from 80 percent of respondents. The overwhelmingly negative results quickly became a major point of discussion in the blogosphere and on Internet chat rooms.
"Shame on a city without dialect," said Feng Xincheng, an editor of a magazine based in Guangzhou. "Save Cantonese!" soon turned into the most used slogans on many microblogs.
Despite the outpouring, Yinghuochong is still worried. "The last time when 80 percent of people surveyed voted ‘No’ the CPPCC still said people needed to be guided. We only have one purpose: We don’t want them to crack down on Cantonese."
Leave a Comment:
Kneeruangee, yuf, malekatuon, beegumbopatooey!
Kneeruangee yes, English, baloney!
That comment is not intended to disrespect any language but if the world agreed on a common primary or secondary language, I would be happy to learn it.
Go learn Esperanto, then. It's meant to be a universal language, separate from any one cultural group or tradition.
...............hum?.........would that be like telling a guy from Biloxi to change his delivery to a Boston accent?
Nope, not at all. Chinese dialects in no way resemble our regional accents. The spoken syllables are totally different. If you learn Mandarin you cannot communicate in Cantonese and vice versa.
Sorry loveChengdu..............I was being facetious.
Why are these guys hating on oranges?
Listening to Cantopop for 30 minutes gives you headaches. Listen to Cantopop for an hour gives you a nervous breakdown
you are wrong..... not even a minute,
No, it's not like asking someone to change his or her accent. Mandarin and Cantonese (and indeed many "dialects" of Chinese) are mutually unintelligible. They should really be considered entirely separate languages.
Each region in China have it's unique dialect, it is necessary for the citizens to be able to speak a common language, Mandarin in this case, to communicate with each other. Promoting Mandarin is functional for ALL citizens, Cantonese and non-Cantonese alike. It would be nice for those traveling to the Guangdong province to be able to understand national news on TV. It shouldn't be this us VS them, Mandarin VS. Cantonese attitude.
The CPPCC says that the Chinese people need to be "guided" when 80% of them want to keep their native dialect. Hmmm, sounds a lot like the Obama Administration with everything they shove down peoples' throats despite wide spread opposition.
The Obama Administration is doing what every single other presidential administration has done in the past. The worst being Bush who LIED about what was going on in order to gain approval, and then continued even when his lies were found out.
...and if you're having a hard time knowing when Obama is telling a lie here's the key!
Is his mouth open? Yep, he's telling a lie.
This shows you how warped these right wing Republicans are, they have to bring up Obama in a discussion on Mandarin! Tea Party wing nuts
Bill B-1347835, it is in no way analogous. You see, contrary to what your god, Glenn Beck, might say, President Obama was elected with 53% of the popular vote. Fifty-three percent is a majority. Furthermore, he was quite clear about his intentions when he was a candidate. So, just because cons, repugs, and tea baggers don't like what he's doing it doesn't mean that the majority doesn't. Behrfacts, please give us some documented evidence showing specific lies that President Obama has told. Also, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Fox Noise DON'T count as sources. They are entertainment programs and comedy routines, but they cannot be taken as legitimate sources for news.
Also, you repugs are still throwing a two year old temper tantrum about having LOST the election of 2008, and thus are LOSERS. Please tell me what President Obama has to do with the dialects spoken in China. You just can't get over it, and you have to drag the fact that you LOST into every discussion. It's really very sad.
Your statement has no relevance to this article. I don't know why a few people waste so much time posting political slams against our president in every news story. Are you getting paid to do this?
I don't think any intelligent voter is influenced by bloggers that spend their hours posting negative things about Obama, so it's a waste of someone's money if you are. It's a waste of your time if your aren't.
What is with the president bashing? Stick to the article, now give us a reply about the whole Mandarin and Cantonese issue.
I like Mandarin and Cantonese...but I prefer my Kung Pao spicy!
Kunp pao chicken or shrimp ?
I too love Mandarin oranges..juicy and sweet (and all the work's been done for me) I will not say no to Mandarin!!!!
When I first saw the headline I assumed it was more brain-dead tea partiers, protesting bilingual skills in public schools. That'll teach me to jump to conclusions.
I doubt that it will.
you are so ridiculously funny
Cantonese is the worst language next to Vitnamnese , can't stand both
Mandarin is a better one
What are you criteria for declaring one language "good" and another "bad." That may be the most inane thing I've read.
Hell no, Mandarin is for simpletons - 4 tones vs. 6 tones
There are so many different dialect all around the country. The only thing that Cantonese has that the other do not is numbers. It is the largest dialect besides Mandarin. Also there are many immigrants that have moved to the Guangdong area for work from other parts of the country, so there is a large population within Guangdong area that do not speak the local language.
If they want to press the local TV stations to use Mandarin, then they should make all the other TV stations around the country only broadcast in Mandarin also and not in their local dialect.
Never really liked the idea of dialects. They are really separate languages. Although some are similar. So maybe if you have two that are 50 miles apart, many of the words will be the same, but many will not. But you get farther apart, and they are completely different.
Luckily the character set is the same everywhere in China. So the same character means "tree" everywhere, but it might just be pronounced completely differently in different dialects. Not just accented differently, but a completely different word.
The Chinese language is a tonal language, no comparison with European languages that uses the Roman alphabet. All Chinese dialects belong to the same language family. Take the Mandarin dialect for example, if you pronounce a word in a slightly incorrect tone, it may sound like another word, and nobody will understand you. Very unlike European dialects, where you can mispronounce a word or speak it with a different accent, most people can understand you. As for Chinese dialects, all of them uses different tones for the same word, of course they may seem to a European ear to be another different language. Chinese dialects are not unique different languages, they are different flavors of the same language, an they all use the same writing script. They may sound different in different dialects, but once you write it down on paper, all dialects understand them perfectly.
Hmmm, no, most Chinese I know speak very good Engrish.
Let them continue with their native dialect. It is so sad when outside pressure to conform eliminates or drastically reduces the number of speakers of a native dialect. As one person interviewed for the article mentioned, their mother did not speak Mandarin at all and so could not watch the Mandarin TV stations because she could not understand them. That's like changing all the local broadcast news stations to Spanish and expecting that those who do not know it will learn it. There are many countries (China and Japan especially) where there are numerous dialects, and they should all be protected.
講廣東話！
sampah, the problem is that what you posted is simply Chinese (in US, people call it Mandarin). The fact is, Cantonese is not a language, it doesn't have a written form. It is just a dialect. When you write, you ARE writing the same Chinese language, why don't you just pronounce it the right way.
Your analysis is wrong. Go back to school and keep quiet.
reeeder, Cantonese does have its own written forms: 寻日唔知边个鬼佬周街呵料。This is just one of the examples which Mandarin speakers aren't able to figure. Being very tolerant, people from the south including HongKong gradually changed their writing habit so even the Mandarin speakers can now understand their newspaper and TV subtitle, they have been indeed very generous to make that sacrifice.
講廣東話！
sampah, the problem is that what you posted is simply Chinese (in US, people call it Mandarin). The fact is, Cantonese is not a language, it doesn't have a written form. It is just a dialect. When you write, you ARE writing the same Chinese language, why don't you just pronounce it the right way.
uhhhhh there are characters that only exist in cantonese...................................................
Cantonese and Mandarin are akin to comparing internet english to dictionary english. Using the same characters one language is very flavored and complex compared to the other (and no, I have nothing against internet english as long as spelling, capitalization or miscellaneous characters are not abused). Most Cantonese people I run into can speak Mandarin reasonably well, but I've observed it is harder for people who speak Mandarin to pick up Cantonese. Mandarin's also easier to learn...
I think overt interference in trying to crush a language is totally out of the question, but that's just the Western respect for cultural diversity at play. :/
i cant believe what losers you people are for getting emotional over a language issue in a country that has nothing to do with yours. Grow the @!$%# up @!$%#s
A lot of languages, if they are not the common from the 6 (or is it 7) major world powers will get brushed under the rug due to lack of use as people become more aquainted with the modern world and thus, modern languages. Although, forcing people to choose their language is just silly, but the Chinese Government does like to control everything.
This is a modernization of sorts, you have to understand, we care over little things like this. Why? Because we have internet and we all have opinions to share. Your's pertains nothing to this story but to semi rage about our concerns of a country not of our own.
Answer to reeeder. Mandarin is the language of the invading Barbarians from Manchuria. Let Mandarin be taught at school as a second native language. Cantonese is the foundation of songs, theather plays etc...in the south.
i am cantonese and i HATE mandarin..... it's so irritating. most of the movies i watch are from hong kong and when a movie is mandarin dubbed i don't watch it at all... saying "儿" after like every other word is annoying as hell. “一点儿“"聊天儿“...so stupid... please stop that noise
http://bit.ly/bNMUxS
The description of this book is still accurate and it is written in 1887.
"An impression appears to have got aboard that Mandarin is the language of China, and that Cantonese and the other languages spoken in China are but dialects of it. The impression is an erroneous one. "
"In fact, the Cantonese language is more nearly akin to the ancient language of China. It is more ancient than itself than the other so-called dialects of China"
"These are not dialects of one language. They are cognate languages, bearing to each other a relation similar to that which subsists between...English, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish..etc"
Cantonese have grammatical differences with Mandarin. For example, if you want to say "I am eating":
in Cantonese, "ngo (1) sik (eat) gan (the aspect marker for present continuous tense) je (thing).
in Mandarin, "wo(I) zheng zai (now) chi(eat) dong xi(thing).
The formal writing is the same because Cantonese people have to write in Mandarin grammar.
Totally agree with you Panky, yes nowadays all newspaper in the southern cities such as Guangzhou and Hong Kong are writing in Mandarin grammar, and to read that writing back in Cantonese becomes awkward. I still remember about 18 years ago the Hong Kong newspaper wrote in Cantonese grammar but gradually changed.
Cantonese, Mandarin, Minnan, Hainanese, Fujienese, Shanghainese, Hakka, and many others are all Chinese dialects, depending on the geographically isolated region the people live in, in the old days before good modern transportation and communications.
The Chinese language is a tonal language, no comparison with European languages that uses the Roman alphabet. All Chinese dialects belong to the same language family. Take the Mandarin dialect for example, if you pronounce a word in a slightly incorrect tone, it may sound like another word, and nobody will understand you. Very unlike European dialects, where you can mispronounce a word or speak it with a different accent, most people can understand you. As for Chinese dialects, all of them uses different tones for the same word, of course they may seem to a European ear to be another different language. Chinese dialects are not unique different languages, they are different flavors of the same language, and they all use the same writing script. They may sound different in different dialects, but once you write it down on paper, all dialects understand them perfectly.
To help better communication across the vast country, Mandarin dialect was chosen as the official national language of China since the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in 1912. Today it is the official language of the PRC and The Republic of China (aka Taiwan).
Canntonese, Mandarin, Minnan, Hainanese, Fujienese, Shanghainese, Hakka, and many others are all Chinese languages.
"they all use the same writing script. They may sound different in different dialects, but once you write it down on paper, all dialects understand them perfectly."
Mongolian use cyrillic script and Japanese use Chinese script. However, they aren't belong to indo-european and sino-tibetan respectively. Vietnamese used to write with Chinese script and now they use latin script, does that mean Vietnamese belongs to indo-european now???
Of course people understand each other perfectly with writing because they can only write with Mandarin grammar and write with Mandarin vocabulary.
It seems many people in here were brainwashed by these CPC slogans...
1. "I am Chinese children. I love to speak Mandarin".
20100805-88g4n7tg3d4fsbhmtj85kq37ks.jpg
2. "Speak Mandarin Properly. Use Standard Words Properly". "Standard words" mean Mandarin vocabulary.
http://img.skitch.com/20100805-c2wcnp26qi51yq97feqn17y2u.jpg
3. "Mandarin be with me" (In the tone of religious preaching!)
20100805-erxxb9xi23pkey4wc98fw95b1q.jpg
4. "Speak Mandarin. To be a civilized person"
20100805-bswue6g2wenwp4f9eh988152at.jpg20100805-bswue6g2wenwp4f9eh988152at.jpg
Hi Panky-2144807 you said "...but once you write it down on paper, all dialects understand them perfectly." In fact a Mandarin speaker who doesn't know Cantonese will never understand the following sentence in Kanji (Hanzi): 寻日唔知边个鬼佬周街呵料。And the Shanghainese? They wouldn't have a clue neither if they don't know how to speak Cantonese. Yes the writing script(Kanji or Hanzi) is always there but each dialect chooses their own blocks of characters to make up to the sounds which are unique.
I should have read your whole paragraph Panky, your "Of course people understand each other perfectly with writing because they can only write with Mandarin grammar and write with Mandarin vocabulary." is a perfect explanation of what I wrote above. I had missed that and I apologize to you.
CPC Mandarin Promotion Propaganda:
1. "I am Chinese child. I love to speak Mandarin
http://img.skitch.com/20100805-88g4n7tg3d4fsbhmtj85kq37ks.jpg
2. "Speak Mandarin. To be a CIVILIZED person"
http://img.skitch.com/20100805-fsbmewfrna1mbswiebppeb8xdg.jpg
3, "Speak Mandarin. Speak CIVILIZED language"
http://img.skitch.com/20100805-fcscucfie9htagdjnpb43bpgs4.jpg
4."Speak Mandarin. To be a Chinese kid"
http://img.skitch.com/20100805-sxcbf17xqgr9fg6pm3ug5ty1k.jpg
5."Mandarin is always with Quality"
http://img.skitch.com/20100805-rm82rar8294bce9uuhmhs6p9k1.jpg
The CPC government brainwash children with belief like "in order to be a chinese, you've to speak Mandarin" and "you've to speak Mandarin in order to a civilized person". What a terrible propaganda !
Panky are you American? Are you an ABC? Don't judge Chinese language with European lenses. They are different as apples from oranges. I'm Cantonese person, and I'm a Han Chinese. Who are you bluffing. I also speak Mandarin.
Panky are you American? Are you an ABC? Don't judge Chinese language with European lenses. They are different as apples from oranges. I'm Cantonese person, and I'm a Han Chinese. Who are you bluffing. I also speak Mandarin.
Panky are you American? Are you an ABC?
Don't judge Chinese language with European lenses. They are different as apples from oranges.
I'm Cantonese person, and I'm a Han Chinese. Who are you bluffing. I also speak Mandarin.
Panky are you American? Are you an ABC?
Don't judge Chinese language with European lenses. They are different as apples from oranges.
I'm Cantonese person, and I'm a Han Chinese. Who are you bluffing. I also speak Mandarin.