Chinese

Mandarin

Mandarin is the major dialect of China both in terms of number of speakers (about 70 percent of the total population ) and political importance. The term Mandarin is an English translation of Guān-huà 'official language', i.e., the dialect spoken in Beijing.

Mandarin is the most widely spoken of all Chinese languages. It is used by 867 million people as a first language in a vast area of northern and southwestern mainland China. It is also spoken in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mongolia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, USA, and Viet Nam. The total number of first-language speakers of Mandarin world-wide is estimated to be around 873 million. In addition, it is used as a second language by another 178 million people (Ethnologue).

The Beijing dialect was considered to be the standard language until the 1950s when the standard language became Pǔtōnghuà 'common speech' in the People's Republic of China and Guóyǔ 'national language' in Taiwan. The two differ slightly from each other in grammar and vocabulary, although both are based on the Beijing dialect. One of the four official languages of Singapore, Huáyǔ 'Chinese language', is also based on the Beijing dialect but is somewhat different from both Pǔtōnghuà and Guóyǔ.

Standard Mandarin is the official language of the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of the official languages of Singapore.

Technically, both Pǔtōnghuà and Guóyǔ are based on the Beijing dialect. In reality, however, both versions of "school" Mandarin taught in the two countries are often quite different from the Mandarin that is spoken regionally, and both differ from the Beijing dialect in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.

Mandarin plays the role of a lingua franca in PRC, Taiwan, and Singapore, and is taught in schools to facilitate communication among people who speak a variety of mutually unintelligible languages and dialects. Since some of the other Chinese languages/dialects are not mutually intelligible with Mandarin, many Chinese have to learn it as a second language.

Cantonese

The Yuè dialects, or Cantonese, are spoken by 71 million people in the province of Guǎndōng and the city of Guǎngzhōu (Canton), as well as in Hong Kong, and in expatriate Chinese communities and Chinatowns in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States (Ethnologue). The origins of Cantonese are not known due to absence of reliable historical records, however, it is generally agreed that it had acquired linguistics traits distinguishing it from other Chinese dialects by the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

Cantonese is one of the major languages of China. Standard Cantonese, also known as the Guǎndōng dialect refers to the most prestigious dialect spoken in Guǎngzhōu (Canton), Hong Kong, and Macau.

People's Republic of China (PRC)
In PRC, Cantonese is used alongside Mandarin. The latter is used as the medium of education and government administration. There are also some television and radio programs in Cantonese. Because of PRC's language policies, articulated through the National Language Standardisation Conference (October 1955), most people in China today are proficient in Mandarin. As a consequence, Cantonese-Mandarin bilingualism is increasing in Cantonese-speaking provinces of the country.

Hong Kong and Macau
Cantonese is the official language of Hong Kong alongside English. It is the language of choice for education, business, government, and the media. For instance, Hong Kong's important and popular film industry is in Cantonese. It is too early to predict the effects of unification on the status of Cantonese in Hong Kong.

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