How Putonghua Is Used in Mainland China

Mandarin Chinese is known by many names. In the United Nations, it is known simply as Chinese. In Taiwan, it is called Ã¥Å"‹è ªÅ¾ / å› ½Ã¨ ¯ ­ (guà ³ yÇ”), which means national language. In Singapore, it is known as è  ¯Ã¨ ªÅ¾ / Ã¥ Å½Ã¨ ¯ ­ (huà ¡ yÇ”), which means Chinese language. And in China, it is called æ™ ®Ã©â‚¬Å¡Ã¨ © ± / æ™ ®Ã©â‚¬Å¡Ã¨ ¯  (pÇ” tÃ… ng huà  ), which translates to common language.   Different Names Over Time Historically, Mandarin Chinese was called Ã¥ ®ËœÃ¨ © ±/Ã¥ ®ËœÃ¨ ¯  (guÄ n huà  ), meaning speech of officials, by the Chinese people. The English word mandarin meaning bureaucrat, is derived from Portuguese. The Portuguese word for bureaucratic official was mandarim, so they referred to Ã¥ ®ËœÃ¨ © ±/Ã¥ ®ËœÃ¨ ¯  (guÄ n huà  ) as the language of the mandarims, or mandarim for short. The final m was converted to an n in the English version of this name. Under the Qing Dynasty (æ ¸â€¦Ã¦Å"  - QÄ «ng Chà ¡o), Mandarin was the official language of the Imperial Court and was known as Ã¥Å"‹è ªÅ¾ / å› ½Ã¨ ¯ ­ (guà ³ yÇ”). Since Beijing was the capital of the Qing Dynasty, Mandarin pronunciations are based on the Beijing dialect. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, the new Peoples Republic of China (Mainland China) became more strict about having a standardized common language to improve communication and literacy across rural and urban areas. Thus, the name of Chinas official language was rebranded. Instead of calling it national language, Mandarin was now called common language, or æ™ ®Ã©â‚¬Å¡Ã¨ © ± / æ™ ®Ã©â‚¬Å¡Ã¨ ¯  (pÇ” tÃ… ng huà  ), starting in 1955. Putonghua as Common Speech PÇ” tÃ… ng huà   is the official language of The Peoples Republic of China (Mainland China). But pÇ” tÃ… ng huà   is not the only language spoken in China. There are five major language families with a total of up to 250 distinct languages or dialects. This wide divergence intensifies the need for a unifying language that is understood by all Chinese people. Historically, the written language was the unifying source of many of the Chinese languages, since Chinese characters have the same meaning wherever they are used, even though they may be pronounced differently in different regions. The use of a commonly spoken language has been promoted since the rise of the Peoples Republic of China, which established pÇ” tÃ… ng huà   as the language of education throughout the Chinese territory. Putonghua in Hong Kong Macau Cantonese is the official language of both Hong Kong and Macau and is the language spoken by the majority of the population. Since the ceding of these territories (Hong Kong from Britain and Macau from Portugal) to the Peoples Republic of China, pÇ” tÃ… ng huà   has been used as the language of communication between the territories and the PRC. The PRC is promoting greater use of pÇ”tÃ… nghuà   in Hong Kong and Macau by training teachers and other officials. Putonghua in Taiwan The outcome of the Chinese Civil War (1927-1950) saw the Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) retreat from Mainland China to the nearby island of Taiwan. Mainland China, under the Maos Peoples Republic of China, saw changes in language policy. Such changes included the introduction of simplified Chinese characters and the official use of the name pÇ” tÃ… ng huà  . Meanwhile, the KMT in Taiwan retained the use of traditional Chinese characters, and the name guà ³ yÇ” continued to be used for the official language. Both practices continue up to the present time. Traditional Chinese characters are also used in Hong Kong, Macau, and many overseas Chinese communities. Putonghua Features PÇ”tÃ… nghuà   has four distinct tones which are used to differentiate homophones. For example, the syllable ma can have four distinct meanings depending on the tone. The grammar of pÇ” tÃ… ng huà   is relatively simple when compared with many European languages. There are no tenses or verb agreements, and the basic sentence structure is subject-verb-object. The use of untranslated particles for clarification and a temporal location is one of the features that make pÇ” tÃ… ng huà   challenging for second-language learners.