On Sunday, July 25th, more than a thousand Pro-Cantonese protesters gathered in Guangzhou. Despite being denied the permission to demonstrate, the event had in turn sparked two more parallel marches in Hong Kong and Guangzhou in the following week, bringing a local language policy issue to the attention of the Cantonese speaking masses worldwide. [1]
Language policy is a country's discouragement or favoring the use of a particular language. [2] The protests came about as a reaction to a recent proposal by local politicians in Guangzhou who were pushing to replace some of the Cantonese prime time shows with Mandarin programs on Guangzhou TV. Although Su Zhijia, deputy party secretary of Guangzhou, announces that “the city government has never had such a plan to abandon or weaken Cantonese,” [3] protesters felt the need to protect their language and its culture that was being eroded in China.
Cantonese is the second most widely spoken dialect in China and the native tongue of many in Guangzhou, but Mandarin is the fastest growing language in the world, and the national language of China. The move for more Mandarin on TV seemed at first glance to be an effort to accommodate visitors and athletes who do not understand Cantonese for the upcoming Asian Games being held in November. Yet, with the history of the government's efforts to bring China under one language, protesters feared a hidden political agenda.
The language conflict has historically been part of the political struggle in China. National political power is concentrated in the north, where the capital Beijing is located. Cantonese, however, was nearly adopted as the country's official language in 1912 when the Republic of China was founded by Sun Yat-sen, “Father of the Nation”. The Nationalist movement's leader was from Guangdong, a prosperous southern province made rich by its status as the only region open to trade with the West at the time. “Historically, Cantonese speakers from the south have been revolutionaries.” says Chip Tsoi, a current affairs commentator and radio show host of Hong Kong's RTHK.
Mandarin became China's national language after the communist revolution and is the country's most widely spoken dialect. “Speak Putonghua, write standard Chinese, use civilized language, be a civilized person.” [4] In Guangzhou's schools, students are taught that mastering Mandarin is important for competing for jobs and university slots. In fact, they were discouraged and penalized for speaking Cantonese at school and at home. Protesters in Guangzhou fear that the proposal to change the language of the television media is a more severe attack on Cantonese, by isolating older generations who did not ever learn Mandarin and hindering the younger generation from learning it.
Cantonese is widely spoken in Hong Kong, Guangdong Province (whose capital, Guangzhou, was once known by the name Canton), and its neighboring areas in southern China.[5] While Guangzhou and Hong Kong are two of southern China's most prosperous cities, they are separated by political boundaries. Guangzhou is part of the stricter mainland China where the official language in Mandarin, while Hong Kong, along with Macau, are the two special administrative regions, and home to the world leading international financial centers.
After hearing news of the protest, 200 Pro-Cantonese activists marched in protest for their fellow Cantonese speakers in Guangzhou, since it is freer to protest in Hong Kong than it is in mainland China. Their fears of Cantonese being eroded in their fellow city are not unfounded. Already fewer than half of the 12 million people in Guangzhou speak Cantonese.
The decline of Cantonese is also evident in America. Generations of Cantonese-speaking immigrants from southern China built America's first Chinatowns but have been swept aside by the new wave of Mandarin speakers and Chinese-American parents who press their children to learn Mandarin for its advantages as China's influence grows in the world stage.[6]
The protests were not in vain. Guangzhou TV stated that it refuses to change its current set-up of a mix of Cantonese and Mandarin programs. These demonstrations have brought to light the plight of Cantonese and questions of China's government's plan for the language.
[1] M., J. “The medium is the message.” 27th July, 2010. The Economist. 22 August 2010.
[2] Spolsky, Bernard. “Language Policy.” 2004. Cambridge University Press. 22 August 2010.
[3] Ng, Carmen. “Cross Border Protests Aim to Save Cantonese.” 2 August, 2010. The Washington Post. 22 August 2010.
[4] Kuo, Lily. “In China, protests underscore a rift over dialects.” 8 august, 2010. The La Times. 22 August 2010.
[5] Wong, Edward. “Move to Limit Cantonese on Chinese TV is Assailed.” 26th July, 2010. The New York Times. 22 August 2010.
[6] Semple, Kirk. “In Chinatown, sound of the Future is Mandarin.” 21 October, 2009. The New York Times. 22 August 2010.
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