The Language Situation in China

Volume 1
Language Policies and
Practices in China

Edited by
Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)

Volume 1
The Language
Situation in China

Volume 1. 2006–2007

Editor-in-Chief: Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)

Associate Editors: Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Guō Xī (郭熙) &
Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)
English Editor: Lǐ Wéi (李嵬)
Editorial Assistant: Xǔ Xiǎoyǐnɡ (许小颖)
Translation Advisors: Yáo Xiǎopínɡ (姚小平),
Edward Barton (武广明) & Brigid O’Connor

The Commercial Press

ISBN 978-1-61451-311-7
e-ISBN 978-1-61451-253-0
ISSN 2195-9838

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A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.

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Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)
Understanding China’s situation through
its language life
Foreword to The Language Situation in China:
English Version Vol. 1 (2006–2007 )
Language (both spoken and written) is the most important system of signs
which mankind uses for communication, thinking, as well as cultural succes-
sion and transmission. It is one of the intrinsic attributes of human beings.
Although other social animals have their own means to exchange information,
their “language” is essentially different from ours. The means of human com-
munication and thinking vary. For example, man may, apart from speaking, use
gestures, facial expressions and pictures to transmit information, and think with
the aid of contexts and images. But language is indeed the most important tool
for communication and thinking. Language is certainly an organic component
of culture, and its most important recorder, disseminator and denoter.
The relationship between language and nation is rather complex: a nation
may use multiple languages, and a language may be used by multiple nations.
In spite of this fact, language is still frequently regarded as the symbol of
a nation since, with its powerful cohesive force, it constitutes a part of “soft
national power”. Furthermore, language keeps spreading outward, playing the
role of a messenger of peace, though sometimes also of a cultural invader.
The above statements about language might not be agreeable to everybody.
But they reveal the extremely important position of language in human life. If
various activities related with language can be called “language life”, the learn-
ing, education and use of language, language research, and application of the
research achievements may be regarded as its contents. The quality of language
life affects and even determines the quality of an individual’s personal life; the
harmony of language life has a bearing on social harmony and even the stability
and development of a country.
One of the most important inventions of mankind in the 20th century is
perhaps the computer network, which expedited the birth of an information era
and created a virtual space connected with human reality. In this virtual reality,
language life is going on too. It is a component of human language life and,
judged by its trend of development, it is becoming more and more important.
The major target of information processing is language and the information it
carries. People begin to realise that language information processing has
become one of the new and high technologies, a favourite of the new and high
vi Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)

economy, and the foundation of national information security. The number of

Chinese netizens has exceeded 100,000,000; reading, publishing, and com-
municating through computer networks are turning into a new habit of most
people. Language life in the virtual space is shaping a new culture, developing
new technologies, and forming new industries.
Attention to language life and knowledge of language conditions are of un-
deniable significance to policy-making in language planning, education, science
and technology, journalism and publication, and so on. In order to understand
the national conditions of the Chinese language, the State Language Commis-
sion of China started in June 2004 building the National Language Resource
Monitoring and Research Centre and its branches with relevant ministries, com-
missions and institutions of higher education, and made sampling analyses of
the language conditions of print, broadcast, and network media, educational
teaching materials and overseas Chinese by means of corpus databases. It began
to consider setting up a research group on The Language Situation in China
(alias China National Conditions of Language), reporting every year the funda-
mental conditions and hot issues of language life in the country. The Language
Situation in China: 2005 (Chinese Version) and The Language Situation in China:
2006 (Chinese Version) reflect some of the major achievements of the group.
The Chinese Version of The Language Situation in China consists of two
volumes per year. Volume I consists of investigation reports concerning several
aspects of language life in China. These reports are the firsts in China and they
are rare in other countries. The research group made repeated revisions to the
framework, held many discussions clarifying the aims of reports, undertook the
most comprehensive searches possible of data through newspapers, magazines,
journals, government bulletins and computer networks, and frequently solicited
opinions and suggestions of specialists and organisations concerned with the
reports. Volume II contains chiefly statistical data of conditions of language use
in the media made by the State Language Resource Monitoring and Research
Centre. There is a high level technicality in corpus selection, verification and
construction and the scale is huge. The benchmarking and precise statistical
standards are technical matters not yet settled satisfactorily either at home or
abroad. And there is a shortage of essential experience in carrying out analysis
of the mass data derived from the huge corpora. The group carried on diligently
in spite of these difficulties and produced meaningful data on the use of Chinese
characters, words, symbols, and punctuation.
Participants in this work are mostly young scholars with strong national
consciousness, creative mind, rigorous scholarship, and spirit of solidarity and
progress. Many specialists took an active part in reading and improving the
 Foreword to The Language Situation in China: English Version Vol. 1 ( 2006–2007 ) vii

manuscripts, and particular appreciation should be given to several advisors

who contributed their scholarly wisdom and put in a lot of hard work. Relevant
state ministries and commissions, and departments, bureaus and offices of the
Ministry of Education supplied important data or proofread relevant materials,
and even undertook writing assignments, and did much to improve the quality
of the reports. The Commercial Press offered personnel, intelligence and materials
for the research, compilation and publication of the current report, and has
done much more than a publisher normally does.
The Language Situation in China is the first annual report of language con-
ditions issued by the State Language Commission for the public and the first
volume of China Language Life Green Paper compiled by the Commission. Its
publication is intended to attract attention to the national conditions of Chinese,
actively lead the language life toward health and harmony, and provide reference
to policy-making and academic research. However, it should be pointed out that
applied linguistics began relatively late in China. There is relatively little in the
research of language life; the knowledge base of qualified personnel needs
improvement; the construction of dynamic corpus database is far from being
complete; and statistical analysis techniques for language are not sophisticated
enough. The present report inevitably has flaws and drawbacks. We expect our
readers to be understanding, which would mean encouragement to us, and
regard this report as foundations for further research. Of course, we expect
comments and suggestions of all kinds, so that we can constantly improve the
mechanisms of our work, broaden the range and depth of our investigation and
research, and make better reports in the future.
It is especially necessary to point out that China, as a major developing
country, enjoys a rich and colourful language life and has its own long historical
features in language planning. So, the efforts of De Gruyter Mouton to publish
the English version of The Language Situation in China for the world to learn
about China’s language life and its management of language are of far-reaching
significance and worthy of appreciation. In the process of translating and publish-
ing the English version, Professor Lǐ Wěi (李嵬) of the University of London
devised plans, coordinated contacts, and carefully proofread the translation.
The editors of the Chinese version took great pains to make their texts suitable
for translation. The translators conducted several thorough revisions to make
their English translation up to the standard. Professor Yáo Xiǎopínɡ (姚小平) was
scrupulous about every detail in his proofreading. Dr. Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)
actively designed and pushed the project and did his utmost from start to finish.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Commercial Press and De
Gruyter Mouton and all those who have contributed to The Language Situation
viii Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)

in China. Meanwhile, we hope that our readers will learn more about China and
its efforts in language planning, and will be kind enough to give us ideas and
advice for improving the writing and translating of The Language Situation in
China.

Translated by Liánɡ Xiǎopénɡ (梁晓鹏)

Qīnɡdǎo University of Science & Technology
[email protected]
 Contents
Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)
Understanding China’s situation through its language life
Foreword to The Language Situation in China: English Version Vol. 1
(2006–2007 ) v

Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)
Introduction: Building a harmonious language life 1

I Language Work

Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Wèi Dān (魏丹) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)
1 Language policies and regulations in China: An overview 11

Wánɡ Huī (王晖) & Yuán Zhōnɡruì (袁钟瑞)

2 The promotion of Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese): An overview 27

Yú Hónɡ (于虹)
3 Evaluation of language management in China’s cities 41

Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华), Chén Mǐn (陈敏),

Wánɡ Cuìyè (王翠叶) & Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生)
4 Language standardization in China 57

Chén Mǐn (陈敏)

5 Language resource monitoring and applied research on language 67

Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波) & Zōu Yùhuá (邹玉华)

6 The status of the language in the press and publishing 75

Sī Hónɡxiá (司红霞) & Lǐ Xiǎohuá (李晓华)

7 Use of language in radio and television broadcasting 85

Liú Qīnɡ (刘青)

8 Standardization of scientific terms in China 97

Dīnɡ Shíqìnɡ (丁石庆), Liú Hónɡyǔ (刘宏宇) & Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

9 Ethnic minority bilingual education in China 109
x Contents

Jiānɡ Dí (江荻) & Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨)

10 The standardization and computerization of minority languages and
writing 123

Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)
11 Cross-provincial cooperation in enhancing the development of the spoken
and written languages of the ethnic minorities in China 133

II Special Research

Guō Lìjūn (郭丽君)

12 Status quo of language use in medical documents and on medicinal
packages 145

Xià Lì (夏历) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

13 The Language status of migrant workers 159

Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生) & Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

14 Efforts of creating a good language environment for Běijīnɡ Olympic
Games: A brief report 171

Sūn Xiǎoxiān (孙晓先), Wánɡ Yíjiā (王颐加), Qiáo Lìhuá (乔丽华) &
Jiǎnɡ Bīnɡbīnɡ (蒋冰冰)
15 A survey of Shànɡhǎi students’ use of Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi
dialect 181

Luó Zìqún (罗自群)

16 Status quo of the Jinuo language 193

Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)

17 A survey of Chinese characters, words and phrases used in news media
(2005–2006) 203

Zhōu Xuéwén (周学文) & Jiānɡ Dí (江荻)

18 Investigation of Tibetan language informationization and software
use 213

Hóu Mǐn (侯敏)

19 An investigation into lettered words 221
 Table of contents xi

III Language Focuses

Lǚ Hé (吕禾) & Zōu Hǎiqīnɡ (邹海清)

20 Dialect craze 237

Wánɡ Hónɡméi (王红梅)

21 Controversy in Chinese language education: Classical or
vernacular? 251

Xú Shìxuán (徐世璇)
22 Language endangerment 261

Jí Chuánbō (汲传波)
23 The craze for English 271

Zhānɡ Lí (张黎) & Zhānɡ Shūyán (张书岩)

24 The use of characters for names 289

Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)

25 Chinese buzzwords (2002–2006) 297

Zhōu Jiàn (周荐)

26 A survey of media neologisms in 2006 305

IV Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan

Wánɡ Huī (王晖)

27 Putonghua in Hong Kong 311

Wong Pui Kwong (王培光 )

28 Language and language policy in Hong Kong 325

Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳) & Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)

29 Language situation and language policy in Macao 333

Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) & Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)

30 The Linguistic situation and language policy in Taiwan 351

Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

31 Internet language use 373
xii Contents

Appendixes

1 Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written
Chinese Language 387

Wèi Dān (魏丹), Dài Hónɡliànɡ (戴红亮) & Zhènɡ Mènɡjuān (郑梦娟)
2 List of Standards for Language and Writing Planning 393

Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生)

3 List of Languages in China 401

4 List of Institutions for Chinese Linguistics and Applied Linguistics 405

5 Directories of Language Journals and Newspapers 409

Guō Xī (郭熙)
6 Distribution of Chinese Population Worldwide 413

Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)

7 A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2005) 417

Yuán Fǎnɡ (袁舫)

8 A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2006) 427

Contents (Chinese version 2005) 435

Contents (Chinese version 2006) 438

Postscript 443

List of authors of the original Chinese text 445

Editorial Teams of the English Edition 451

Index 453
Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)
Introduction: Building a harmonious
language life
In January 2006, the State Language Commission (SLC) proposed that “the goal
of language planning is to build a harmonious language life” (Zhào 2010). This
reflects the key ideas of language work in China in recent years, making lan-
guage policy and planning part of the national effort of building a harmonious
society. It will become China’s new goal for language planning in the new
century.

1 The proposal of “A harmonious language life”

Looking back, on 6 June 1951, the People’s Daily published an article entitled
“Correct use of the state language, striving for the purity and health of lan-
guage” and followed this up with another article “Talking about grammar and
rhetoric” by Lǚ Shūxiānɡ (吕叔湘) and Zhū Déxī (朱德熙). These articles played
an important role in promoting the process of language normalization in the
years that followed. The basic spirit of these articles still has significant implica-
tions for language planning in the new era. Because of the historical evolution
of language, contact between languages, innovations in language and the differ-
ences between language users and the various occasions when the spoken word
is used, it is not easy for language to retain its so-called purity. However,
language should, and can be healthy. But what constitutes a robust language
life is an issue which has been continuously reflected upon since the 1990s.
Two important conferences were convened in October 1955: the National
Conference on Script Reform, and the Symposium on the Standardization of
Modern Chinese. Based on these two conferences, the State Council issued the
“Decision to issue the first scheme for Chinese character simplification” and
“Instructions concerning the promotion of Putonghua”, the influence of which
is still felt today.
On 31 March, 2006, the 50th anniversary for these two documents, a sympo-
sium on language standardization was held in the Great Hall of the People in
Běijīnɡ in order to review language planning over the previous 50 years and to
set a new agenda for future work. Xǔ Jiālù (许嘉璐), vice-chairperson of the
Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, pointed out in his
speech that “one of the important features of the Law of the People’s Republic
2 Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)

of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language is that it focuses
on ‘guidance’, which is consistent with the goal of building a harmonious
society”. He also pointed out, “On one hand we should maintain the direction
of unification, actively promote Putonghua and standardized Chinese characters,
including simplified characters; and on the other hand, we should correctly
understand the diversity and complexity of language life, appropriately handle
the use of minority languages, local dialects and traditional Chinese characters.”
(Ministry of Education 2006a)
The State Councilor Chén Zhìlì (陈至立) also pointed out in her speech:
“Today we stand at a new historic point of departure: to improve the language
and script work and also face new situations and new challenges . . . the social
life of language is becoming more complicated, therefore it’s necessary to
handle the relevant problems appropriately and maintain and promote a satis-
factory development of language . . . strengthen the survey and analysis of the
phenomenon of new language, constantly explore new ways of working in
new situations and the new era. . . . In addition, greater importance should be
attached to the roles that language plays in the preservation, promotion and
creation of national culture and the strengthening of national cohesion. Pro-
tecting endangered languages and minority dialects should be supported”.
(Ministry of Education 2006b)
The chairperson of the SLC, Zhào Qìnpínɡ (赵沁平), delivered a speech
entitled “A focus on social language life and promoting language normaliza-
tion”. He pointed out: “Language life is an important part of social life; a harmo-
nious society requires a harmonious language use. We should efficiently manage
the relationship between various ethnic languages in China, between the com-
mon language and dialects, between mother tongue and foreign languages and
between the domestic and international promotion of Putonghua. We should
be fully aware that a healthy and harmonious language life is a reflection of a
harmonious society, which also plays an important role in promoting social
harmony.” (Ministry of Education 2006c). After the conferences the Guānɡmínɡ
Daily (光明日报) published an editorial on building a harmonious social lan-
guage life. (Guānɡmínɡ Daily 2006)
Later a press conference on The Language Situation in China in 2005 was
held on 22 May, 2006 in Běijīnɡ. This was the very first time that the Ministry of
Education (MOE) and the SLC issued an annual report on language life. This
report outlined the effect of applying corpus and modern technologies to monitor
language use in social life, and showed the intention that the government would
share the data with the people of China. In addition, Zhào Qìnpìnɡ delivered
another speech on the language situation at the press conference, further stating
 Introduction: Building a harmonious language life 3

the issue of a harmonious language life from the perspective of focusing on a

practical language use (Zhào 2006).

2 The concept of a harmonious language life

The SLC described the idea of building a harmonious language life at its work-
ing conference on the 11th Five-Year Plan for Scientific Research as follows:
Language is the semiotic system, with which human beings communicate
and think. Language is an important part of culture as well as the carrier of
culture. The properties of language determine that it is an important part of
social life. The harmony of language use is a significant reflection of harmony
in society and an important factor in promoting harmony in society as well.
Language workers such as language policy makers, language planners, public
language users (e.g. media personalities), and teachers, shoulder the important
historical responsibility of building a harmonious society.
Currently the overall language life in China is on the whole harmonious.
However, there are some issues which should be considered carefully and dealt
with appropriately. For example:
1. The relationship between Putonghua and dialects.
2. The relationship between various ethnic languages.
3. The relationship between mother tongue education and foreign language
learning.
4. The protection of endangered languages.
5. The relationship between the international promotion of Chinese and domes-
tic language work.
6. The communication issues in language life between Mainland China and
Taiwan.
7. The communication issues among the overseas Chinese communities.
8. The language issues in cyberspace.

In order to look at language life systematically and scientifically and deal

with any problems efficiently, it is necessary to understand the language situa-
tion in China. Language should be monitored and studied by establishing state
language resource monitoring and research centres and by taking other mea-
sures. Special attention should be given to the monitoring and scientific analysis
of the hot issues in language. A practical approach should be advocated and
fieldwork on local languages and investigations in language used in various
social domains should be supported.
4 Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)

We should record the historical achievements of language work in China

and draw on experiences of foreign countries where appropriate. We should
also enhance the propagation of the state’s language policy and language norms
and standards, and emphasise the practical applications of the findings of scien-
tific research. In addition, we should actively provide a high quality language
service to society, help various social domains and the public to solve any lan-
guage problems they face, and endeavour to bring about harmony in language
use (Zhào 2010).

3 The goal and content of language work in the

new era
If the goal of language work in the new era is to build a harmonious language
life, the historical development of language work in China over the past over 50
years can be seen as consisting of three phases.
During the first phase (from October 1949 to 1985), the goal of language
work was to solve any historical language problems of the time. The major task
was to “simplify Chinese characters, promote Putonghua and formulate and
promote the Chinese Pinyin Scheme”, as was pointed out by Premier Zhōu Ēnlái
(周恩来) in the “Current task of script reform” (Zhōu 1995: 556). Much work has
been done to standardise modern Chinese.
The second phase, from 1986 to 2005, was characterized by the following
events: around 1986, the Committee for the Reform of Chinese Written Language
became the SLC; the “Second Scheme for Chinese Character Simplification” was
formally abolished; the first conference on language and script was convened
and the guidelines and policy for the new era were formulated. The major task
in this phase can be summarized as language legislation, normalization, stan-
dardization and informatization. This task was a further development of that
initiated in the first phase, aimed at providing a service for the industrialization
and modernization of China.
The third phase began in 2006. The Law of the People’s Republic of China on
the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language was formally issued at the
start of the 21st century. Several important events occurred, especially in 2006.
The 50th Anniversary forum and symposium were convened to commemorate
the State Council’s promulgating of the Decision to Issue the First Scheme for
Chinese Character Simplification and Instructions Concerning the Promotion of
Putonghua; the election of the SLC was approved by the State Council; the
 Introduction: Building a harmonious language life 5

conference on the 11th Five Year Plan of the Scientific Research of the SLC was
held. These significant historical events allowed the government and scholars to
realize that the goal of language work was to promote harmony in language use
and indicated that language work had entered a new phase.
Building a harmonious language life means what the government manages
is not only language, but a language life. The management of such a language
life should not only solve the social issues concerning language, but also pro-
tect and develop the country’s language resources and guarantee the citizens’
language rights enshrined in the country’s Constitution. A great number of
regulations and policies in China are related to the citizens’ language rights. For
example, the state needs to ensure the language rights of ethnic minorities in the
important political life of the country and in the autonomous regions, Braille and
sign language for the visually impaired are required together with vigorous devel-
opment of the language needed for deaf-mute children and focusing on the lan-
guage life of rural workers and migrants from the Three Gorges region and the
language rights of vulnerable groups. The protection and development of the state
language resources has been concerned with all of these issues in recent years.
The first list of her intangible cultural heritage issued by China involved
the protection of languages. The establishment of National Language Resource
Monitoring and Research Centres reflects the importance with which the govern-
ment views languages as state resources. However, the protection and develop-
ment of language resources remains a serious issue. In order to build a harmo-
nious language life, sound language planning at the national level is of great
importance. Language planning is generally divided into status planning and
corpus planning. Numerous efforts have been made by the state to implement
status planning. The main basis for status planning is as follows:
Article 4 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that
“All nationalities in the People’s Republic of China are equal. . . . All nationalities
have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written languages. . . .”
Article 2 of Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken
and Written Chinese Language specifies that: “For the purposes of this Law, the
standard spoken and written Chinese language means Putonghua (a common
speech with pronunciation based on the Běijīnɡ dialect) and the standardized
Chinese characters.”
The Instructions Concerning the Promotion of Putonghua (Zhōu 1995: 765)
(issued by the State Council on 6 Feb. 1956) states that: “The foundation of the
unification of Chinese has been formed. That is Putonghua. The standard pro-
nunciation of Putonghua is based on the Běijīnɡ dialect, Putonghua is based on
the northern dialects, and the grammar policy is modeled after the vernacular used
in modern Chinese literary classics.”
6 Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)

The above laws and regulations can be summarized in three points:

1. The languages of all nationalities are equal and ethnic minorities have the
freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written languages.
2. Putonghua and standardized Chinese characters are the national standard
spoken and written language.
3. The standard pronunciation of Putonghua is based on the Běijīnɡ dialect;
Putonghua is based on the northern dialects.

In practical language life, Chinese dialects play an important role in the

preservation of local cultures, the exchange of information and individuals’
emotions. Chinese dialects are increasingly focused on and there have been many
discussions on this subject. Foreign languages are of great importance in China’s
language life too. They are used in the press, publications and the public service
industries. Many regulations concerning requirements for foreign language pro-
ficiency with respect to educational qualifications and professional qualifica-
tions have been developed. Language situations should be studied and laws
and regulations should be formulated to establish the status of Chinese dialects
and foreign languages used in China, thus improving status planning.
China has also undertaken a great deal of work in corpus planning. A
number of norms for spoken and written language have been developed and
published. Written systems have been designed for ethnic minority languages;
many scientific terminologies of various disciplines have been regularized, and
high quality language dictionaries have been compiled and published. These
contribute much to the development of a healthy language life. Corpus planning
itself is an ongoing project and we should enlist the assistance of experts and
scholars to help devise it according to the needs of our information age.
We should further devise function planning while improving the status and
corpus planning. Function planning is designed to make languages and their
varieties function in the different levels of communication, and plan which
languages (and variants) can function at what levels of communication. For
example, which language(s) should be adopted as the official state language(s),
which languages (and variants) can be used in education and the mass media,
or which languages (and variants) can be used in public services. Function
planning is intended to enable Putonghua, ethnic minority languages, Chinese
dialects and foreign languages to be employed at appropriate levels of commu-
nication. Function planning is an extension and embodiment of status planning,
whose major task is to enable language to function at various levels of com-
munication or to enable various spoken and written languages and their variants
to play their respective roles at different levels of communication.
 Introduction: Building a harmonious language life 7

The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Standard Spoken and Written
Chinese Language and the regulations on its implementation issued by the
various localities provide some regulations for Chinese dialects, foreign lan-
guages and traditional Chinese characters. There are also some requirements
for the specific use of language in the relevant industries. These laws and regu-
lations have laid a solid foundation for function planning in the new century.
The next step we should take is to formulate systematic and scientific function
planning according to the idea of building a harmonious language life, enabling
languages and their variants to be assigned their appropriate place and role.
In order to build a harmonious language life, we must focus on language
used in various social domains. Language life is not an abstract concept and it
exists in various social domains and industries. The language life of a specific
domain should be included in the following aspects:
1. The language situation.
2. Language problems.
3. Language resources and their development.
4. Language services required.
5. Regulations, norms and standards required.

The SLC has focused on five domains in the past, that is: cities as a focus;
schools as a base; government offices as a priority; radio and television as a
model; and the public service industry as a window for communication. Pre-
cious experience has now been gained. We should continue to focus on these
key areas. In the meantime, we should extend our focus to other social spheres.
Language work should adapt to the specific domains, and the experts and per-
sonnel of the relevant domains should be involved. Domain-focused linguistics
should be gradually established as a discipline.

References
Guānɡmínɡ Daily. 3/31/2006. Building a Harmonious Social Language Life.
Ministry of Education. 2006a. “Communique of the Ministry of Education, the People’s Republic
of China”. Nos. 7 and 8. http://govinfo.nlc.gov.cn/gtfz/zfgb/jyb/200678/201010/
t20101012_457053.html?classid=467.
Ministry of Education. 2006b. “Communique of Ministry of Education, the People’s Republic of
China.” Nos. 7 and 8. http://govinfo.nlc.gov.cn/gtfz/zfgb/jyb/200678/201010/
t20101012_457054.html?classid=467.
Ministry of Education. 2006c. “Ministry of Education Bulletin”. http://www.moe.gov.cn/
publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s3002/201001/76010.html.
8 Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)

Zhào Qìnpínɡ (赵沁平). 2006. China Education News Network. http://www.jyb.cn/jyzl/ldhd/

zqphdbdzj/zyjh/t20060524_18731.htm.
Zhào Qìnpínɡ (赵沁平). 2010. “Strengthening Language Application Research and Building a
Harmonious Language Life.” http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/
s227/201001/77225.html.
Zhōu Ēnlái (周恩来). 1995. Script Reform in Contemporary China. Běijīnɡ: Contemporary China
Press.

Translated by Wánɡ Huī (王辉)

Nínɡxià University
[email protected]
I Language Work
Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Wèi Dān (魏丹) &
Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)
1 Language policies and regulations in
China: An overview
Language policies and regulations consist not only of laws, regulations and
normative documents which specifically focus on language issues but also the
regulations and provisions concerning language use in other legal or govern-
mental documents. All related information cited in this chapter comes from the
websites of Chinese government organizations, which are indicated in the notes.

1 Introduction
Since the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written
Chinese Language (hereinafter referred to as the Language Law) was issued in
2000, local language laws and regulations have been revised by local govern-
ments such as in the Tibet (西藏) Autonomous Region, Hēilónɡjiānɡ (黑龙江)
Province, and the Xīnjiānɡ (新疆) Uygur Autonomous Region. Meanwhile, twenty
four other provinces, autonomous regions and cities have also reissued the laws
and regulations in accordance with the Language Law. These places include four-
teen provinces: Shānxī (山西), Sìchuān (四川), Shāndōnɡ (山东), Húběi (湖北),
Yúnnán (云南), Liáonínɡ (辽宁), Jílín (吉林), Jiānɡsū (江苏), Húnán (湖南),
Fújiàn (福建), Guǎnɡxī (广西), Ānhuī (安徽), Nínɡxià (宁夏), Zhèjiānɡ (浙江);
four municipalities directly under the supervision of central government: Běijīnɡ
(北京), Chónɡqìnɡ (重庆), Tiānjīn (天津), and Shànɡhǎi (上海); and five capital
cities or other cities specifically designated in the State Plan: Tàiyuán (太原),
Dàlián (大连), Xī’ān (西安), Guìyánɡ (贵阳) and Nánchānɡ (南昌). In 2005,
five language regulations and normative documents were published by national
government departments and agencies; they are listed chronologically as follows:

On 16 March, The notification of strengthening the management of subtitles of TV pro-

gramme by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) 1 issued by
SARFT;
On 10 September, SARFT’s notification of forwarding ‘Radio and TV announcers’ public
pledge of self-discipline issued by China Radio and TV Association;2

1 SARFT. http://www.sarft.gov.cn/manage/publishfile/35/2745.html.
2 SARFT. http://www.sarft.gov.cn/manage/publishfile/35/2745.html.
12 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Wèi Dān (魏丹) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

On 8 October, On further reiterating the standard language use in TV series by SARFT; 3

On 28 October, On the implementation of the decision made by Central Committee of the
Communist Party and the State Council to further strengthen the work with ethnic minorities
to speed up the economic development of the national ethnic regions for better national
ethnic education issued by the Ministry of Education (MOE);4
On 4 November, Code of Conduct for Judges (Trial Version) stipulated by the Supreme
People’s Court.5

Two regulations and normative documents concerning standard language use in

both spoken and written forms were issued by administrative departments
under the State Council in 2006. They are: Provisions for drug description and
labels, issued on 15 March by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA),
and the 52nd regulation on Film script (outline) registration and film management
issued on 22 May by State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).
In addition, policies and regulations concerning language usage are also
found among the files of the administrative departments under the State Council
and those of the provincial governments, municipalities and autonomous re-
gions as well. They concern matters such as language use in radio, film and
TV, judicial terms, the use of Chinese characters in public places, Putonghua pro-
ficiency tests and training, and bilingual instruction for ethnic groups. Each will
be discussed below.

2 Standardized use of Chinese characters,

varieties of Chinese and foreign languages
2.1 The use of Chinese characters
The standardization of Chinese characters concerns five main areas: 1) official
documents and personal names; 2) the names of commercial goods, packaging
and the description of products; 3) architectural buildings, public signs and
advertisements; 4) medical records, prescription, physical examination reports,
medicine instruction and labels; 5) subtitles displayed in movies and TV pro-
grammes.

3 SARFT. http://www.sarft.gov.cn/manage/publishfile/35/2745.html.
4 MOE. http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/info17053.htm.
5 Law Library. http://www.dffy.com/faguixiazai/xf/200511/20051128105537.htm.
 Language policies and regulations in China: An overview 13

Local governments issued certain regulations concerning the use of Chinese

characters in official documents. For example, “Standard Chinese characters
should be used by individuals and organizations in official documents”, states
Article 12 in Húnán Regulations. Jiānɡsū, Fújiàn and Zhèjiānɡ provinces have
provisions about standard Chinese character use in personal names. Article 15
in Jiānɡsū Regulations states that, “Individuals can keep and use variant forms
of Chinese characters for their family name but not for their given name. Stan-
dard Chinese characters should instead be used for given names”. Similarly,
Article 13 in Fújiàn Regulations says, “Standard Chinese characters are preferably
used for personal names”. “It is advocated to use standard and frequently used
Chinese characters for personal names”, states Article 15 in Zhèjiānɡ Regulations.
Concerning Chinese characters used for commercial goods, standard Chinese
characters must be used in the names, packaging, and descriptions of all
products sold in the region, as stated in local regulations including Article 13
in Jiānɡsū Regulations, Article 11 in Húnán Regulations, Article 13 in Fújiàn
Regulations, Article 13 in Guǎnɡxī Regulations, Article 11 in Ānhuī Regulations,
Article 15 in Nínɡxià Regulations, Article 13 in Zhèjiānɡ Regulations and Gānsù
(甘肃) Opinions.
Concerning Chinese characters used in building names, public signs and
advertising, many provincial governments make local regulations. Article 14 in
Fújiàn Regulations says, “Particular rules and regulations made by the govern-
ment must be followed when naming a building. Accordingly, Chinese characters
that are non-standard, vulgar in meaning or unable to convey what they should
mean are not allowed in the names of buildings”. Article 12 in Shànɡhǎi Regula-
tions states that “Signs written in traditional Chinese characters or variant forms
of characters, even those which meet requirements of the Language Law, may
not stand alone but must be displayed along with their standard Chinese counter-
parts”. Article 13 in Zhèjiānɡ Regulations and Article 14 in Húnán Regulations
both write “Written advertisements should use Putonghua and standard Chinese
characters. Traditional Chinese characters, abolished variant forms and non-
authorized simplified characters are strictly restricted in advertisements”. On
further standardizing the use of characters in public places, which was issued
by the government of the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region, announced the
standards of text colors and formats, fonts on address plaques, and allocations
of minority and Chinese language characters in round-shaped seals. As prescribed
in Article 10 in Liáonínɡ Provisions, characters such as 台 (tái, stop), 站 (zhàn,
station), 港 ( ɡǎnɡ, port) and 场 (chǎnɡ, plaza) should be written in standard
forms when used to indicate geographical places, administrative districts, resi-
dential places, and on the public signs of some professions and vocations.
Chinese Pinyin is permitted; however, foreign words are not.
14 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Wèi Dān (魏丹) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

Concerning the use of Chinese characters in medical records, prescriptions,

physical examination reports, drug descriptions and labels, “standardized
Chinese characters should be used” is clearly stated in such local regulations
of different provinces as Article 13 in Jiānɡsū Regulations, Article 11 in Húnán
Regulations, Article 13 in Guǎnɡxī Regulations, Article 11 in Ānhuī Regulations,
Article 15 in Nínɡxià Regulations, Article 13 in Zhèjiānɡ Regulations and Item 8
of Article 13 in Jílín Provisions. This regulation means that a doctor’s scribbles
in medical records and prescriptions are no longer regarded merely as bad
writing habits but violations of local language regulations.
Regulations of character usage in drug descriptions and labels in Manage-
ment regulations on drug descriptions and labels issued by SFDA are as follows:
1) prescriptions, drug descriptions and labels should be conventional, standard-
ized and accurate; 2) descriptions of over-the-counter drugs should be clear
enough for the patients to make their own judgments and choices over the use
of the drug; 3) a written description of the drug and the text format of labels
should be clear and easy to recognize, the logo clearly marked, and labels
must not be faded or missing; 4) only standard Chinese characters which are
announced by SLC can be used in a written descriptions of drugs and labels
and if the description has multilingual versions which differ in meaning, the
Chinese text is the correct one; 5) disease terms, pharmaceutical terms, drug
names, clinical examination names and results should be described in the
terminologies issued or regulated by the national government, and units of
measurement should be in accordance with national regulations as well.
Concerning subtitles in movies and TV programs, Article 15 in Regulations on
the screenplay (outline) record and film management issued by SARFT standardizes
language usage including that in characters and word choices, by stating that
“authorized names of movies, subtitles and other forms of language use should
abide by the Copyright Law as well as the Language Law in China and other
related provisions”. On Strengthening broadcasting management of TV program
subtitles, which was issued by SARFT in March 2005, requires that various TV
broadcast institutions take effective measures and formulate specific standards
to reduce inappropriate character use in TV subtitles, which should be part of
staff evaluation. At the same time, more professional staff is recruited to further
proofread and supervise the TV subtitles, thus making the procedure more
regular and institutionalized. Efforts should be made to define responsibilities,
reward quality work and punish negligence.
 Language policies and regulations in China: An overview 15

2.2 The use of Putonghua, dialects, Internet language and

foreign languages
Concerning Putonghua use in the fields of administration, public service and
education, Item 2 of Article 12 in Jílín Provisions clearly states that “business,
postal service, telecommunications, highway, railway, civil aviation, water trans-
portation, tourism, catering, entertainment, network, medical care, banking, insur-
ance, securities, real estate and other public services” should use Putonghua as
their working language.
Article 17 in Húnán Regulations states that “Putonghua and standard Chinese
characters should be taught to foreigners learning Chinese. In this given admin-
istrative area, schools, research institutions and other agencies in which interna-
tional students majoring in the Chinese language and other related subjects are
enrolled should use primarily Putonghua and standard Chinese characters in
teaching”. Article 7 in Guǎnɡxī Regulations also states that “Teachers teaching
Chinese as a foreign language should use Putonghua and standard Chinese
characters”.
Concerning dialect use in the fields of administration, education, media and
jurisdiction, SARFT issued several notifications. In October 2004, On strengthen-
ing the management of dubbed overseas radio and television programmes was
issued, requiring the suspension of the overseas radio and television pro-
grammes dubbed in local dialects. Neither radio nor television agencies at
any level are allowed to broadcast overseas radio and television programmes
dubbed in a dialect. In October 2005, in view of the increasing dialect use in
TV series, SARFT issued On further reiterating the use of the standard language
in TV series, restating the following three requirements: 1) generally, Putonghua
should be used in the TV series instead of dialects or non-standard Putonghua
(except in local opera films). 2) Putonghua should be used in TV series depicting
great revolutions and historical events, children’s TV series, and educational
TV programmes, etc. 3) national leaders depicted in TV series should speak
Putonghua 6.
Article 12 in Zhèjiānɡ Regulations states that dialects may only be used in
the following cases: 1) when the staff of government offices and state institutions
with administrative powers of public affair enforces official duties in which a
dialect is the only means of communication; 2) when necessary in local drama,
folk art, movies and other art performances; 3) where needed in the fields of
publishing, education and research. If it is absolutely necessary to use a dialect
as the working language in radio or television, the approval of the state or

6 SARFT. http://www.sarft.gov.cn/manage/publishfile/35/3329.html.
16 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Wèi Dān (魏丹) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

province radio and television administrative management department is required

in accordance with the related law, and the programme is only allowed to be
broadcast or shown as scheduled; TV programmes broadcast in dialects should
also be equipped with subtitles in standard Chinese characters. Article 6 in
Guǎnɡxī Regulations specifies, “When executing official business, government
officers and staff members can adopt the local minority language or dialect
when necessary”; as specified in Article 7, “Bilingual experimental schools or
classes teaching both Putonghua and the Zhuànɡ language should use standard
Chinese characters and Zhuànɡ characters in teaching”. Article 14 states “When
using foreign or minority languages in Chinese language publications, explana-
tory notes in standard Chinese characters are required”.
Article 9 in Fújiàn Regulations stipulates, “Dialects are allowed when deal-
ing with economic and cultural exchanges and other communication activities
with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the Macao Special
Administrative Region and Taiwan (台湾) if necessary.” Article 9 in Húnán
Regulations specifies, “Dialects can also be used in operas, films, TV programs
and other art forms when necessary. When dialects must be used in a broadcast-
ing announcement, the approval from the provincial radio and television depart-
ment is required”.
Gānsù (甘肃) Opinions states, “When standardizing the use of Chinese char-
acters and language in public places, appropriate measures should be taken to
stop excessive use of dialects and provide guidance unless the law permits the
use of a dialect”.
Article 13 in Code of Conduct for Judges (Trial Version) issued by the
Supreme People’s Court states, “Parties can use dialects or minority languages
in the following cases: 1) when one party can only speak certain dialect; the
judge or a court clerk should translate the words into Putonghua in case the
other party does not understand the dialect; 2) when one party can only speak
a minority language, an interpreter should be present to offer help in case the
other party does not understand it”.
Cyber words may not be used in government documents or textbooks. Article
14 in Shànɡhǎi Regulations and Article 15 in Guǎnɡxī Regulations specify, “Cyber
words that do not meet with the standards of modern Chinese vocabulary and
grammar are not to be used in all government documents and textbooks. Fur-
thermore, inappropriate and ungrammatical cyber words are not permitted in
news reports unless it is really necessary”. This is the first time China has had a
local regulation which standardizes cyber words. Article 8 in Nínɡxià Regula-
tions states, “It is the schools’ responsibility to make students aware of cyber
words and their proper usage”.
 Language policies and regulations in China: An overview 17

Advertisements should not tamper with the original meaning of Chinese

idiomatic expressions. Expressions such as 好色之‘涂’ (hào sè zhī ‘tú’, “color
lover”) are often found, advertising for paint (It uses a homophonic word ‘tú’ to
change its original meaning of 徒 ‘a person’ into that of 涂 (tú) ‘painting’, to
associate the phrase meaning ‘amorist’ with ‘good quality paint’ in both pronun-
ciation and spelling). Another example is an Internet café’s name 一‘网’情深
(yī ‘wǎnɡ’ qínɡshēn, “one net of deep love”). Again it uses homophonic words
网 and 往 (wǎnɡ) by changing the idiomatic phrase “一往情深” (yīwǎnɡ-
qínɡshēn, passionate love) into the meaning of ‘one net of deep love’.
Article 9 in Liáonínɡ Provisions specifies, “Advertising language which
tampers with the original meaning of idioms by making use of homophonic
words and homonyms are prohibited”. Article 16 in Zhèjiānɡ Regulations and
Article 14 in Húnán Regulations prescribe that “Confusing homophonic words
must not be used in advertising”.
There are cases in which Chinese explanations are added in order to stan-
dardize the use of foreign languages. Article 15 in Shànɡhǎi Regulations, Article
10 in Húnán Regulations, Article 18 in Zhèjiānɡ Regulations and Article 14 in
Guǎnɡxī Regulations state “When using foreign languages in Chinese language
publications, explanatory notes with standard spoken and written Chinese are
required.”
Article 15 in Shànɡhǎi Regulations announces that Chinese characters be
the primary vocabulary in the public arena. Furthermore, standard Chinese
characters should be added to foreign language posters, notices, and signs. As
prescribed in Article 11, “Words in packaging, descriptions and plaques of com-
modities sold in Shànɡhǎi should be written in standard Chinese characters”. As
specified in Article 18 in Zhèjiānɡ Regulations, “By law, names of oversea-funded
enterprises written in foreign writings should be used together with standard
Chinese characters. Foreign texts in public places, buildings and other facilities
should be, when necessary, presented with standard Chinese characters and
Pinyin as well. Article 15 in Nínɡxià Regulations stipulates that “Neither foreign
words alone nor terms of mixed language shall be used in advertising except
for in state-recognized international common names and signs. Foreign texts in
billboards, signs, packaging, and descriptions of commodities should be pre-
sented with standard Chinese characters”. Similar provisions are made in Article
15 in Húnán Regulations, Article 14 in Jiānɡsū Regulations, Article 16 in Fújiàn
Regulations, Article 12 in Ānhuī Regulations and both Article 6 and 10 in Liáonínɡ
Provisions respectively.
18 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Wèi Dān (魏丹) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

2.3 Putonghua proficiency test and training

On the scale and evaluation of the Putonghua proficiency test, as prescribed in
the Notice of Putonghua proficiency test and training among civil servants issued
by Department of Personnel, Department of Education and Language Affairs
Committee of Zhèjiānɡ Province, “in principle, Putonghua proficiency of civil
servants born after 1 January, 1960 should be Grade A of Third Class Level or
above after training. Grade B of Third Class Level is acceptable to those working
in mountainous regions, islands and rural towns, etc. with dialects as the work-
ing language for long-term use. The workplace and the local government are
responsible for organizing Putonghua training for anyone failing to meet these
standards. The training and testing will last from the second half of 2005 to the
end of 2008”. Jílín Provisions requires that “clerks in government offices should
have Grade B of Second Class Level or above in the Putonghua proficiency test
(seen Item 3 in Article 18); people in the public service industry such as com-
mentators, telephone operators, translators, interpreters and tour guides, and
students in vocational schools, colleges and universities are required to take
the test for an acceptable score, i.e. Grade A of Second Class Level (seen in
Item 4 in Article 18) and Grade A of First Class Level (seen in Item 5 in Article
18) respectively”.
On Putonghua training for migrant workers and teachers in ethnic minority
regions, as specified in Article 4 in Zhèjiānɡ Regulations, “Governments at all
levels and the related departments should start the Putonghua training program
and popularize the use of standard Chinese characters among farmers (includ-
ing migrant workers) as planned”. Article 9 in Nínɡxià Regulations stipulates
that, “The administrative departments of education should provide support to
help primary and secondary school teachers improve their Putonghua pro-
ficiency in rural Huí (回) areas and remote mountainous regions”. The Notice on
Putonghua training among migrant workers issued in Guǎnɡxī Province empha-
sizes the importance of Putonghua training and speaking skills among the migrant
workers employed in housekeeping, health care, marketing, community service,
catering and tourist industries and other areas closely reliant on spoken language.
As specified in Article 4 in Gānsù Opinions, “Work on language regulation should
be extended to the countryside. Language regulation in rural areas and those in-
habited by the minority nationalities where most difficulties have been found
should be the focus of future work in spite of these difficult challenges. Mean-
while, training methods should be explored to help migrant workers overcome
communication barriers in employment and daily life”.
 Language policies and regulations in China: An overview 19

2.4 Bilingual and trilingual education for ethnic minorities

On Implementation of ‘the decision of Central Committee of the Communist Party
and the State Council on further strengthening the work with ethnic minorities to
speed up the economic development of the regions inhabited by ethnic minorities’
to better education of ethnic minorities issued by the MOE requires that adminis-
trative departments of education at all levels take effective measures to improve
bilingual education by means of teaching and research to establish and perfect
the provincial institutions of the Chinese proficiency test for minorities (MHK), to
publicize and promote the use of Putonghua, to continue developing teaching
material in minority languages (seen in Article 5), and to build a team of ethnic
minority teachers, especially of bilingual teachers, who are able to work “in
difficult situations, willingly and efficiently” (seen in Article 6).
A set of new trilingual teaching initiatives for minority primary and secondary
schools are proposed in Opinions of Liáonínɡ provincial government on deepening
the reform to speed up the development of national minority education issued by
Liáonínɡ Provincial Government. They are:
Item 7. Primary schools of Mongolian and Korean ethnic groups which
simultaneously teach in a minority language, Chinese and a foreign language
(hereinafter referred to as trilingual education) may have a seven-year teaching
program instead of the six-year one required for regular schools. Furthermore,
the additional year is included in the state compulsory education plan, and the
students chiefly study their native language, i.e. minority language in the first
school year.
Item 12. Minority primary schools should make efforts to offer foreign lan-
guage courses starting from Grade Three and to implement information technology
education as in standard primary and secondary schools; hopefully this goal of
offering foreign language courses could be reached 100%. Primary schools in
financially well-off areas can offer language and information technology courses
prior to Grade Three. In order to encourage minority students to learn their
native language, those who have taken all the courses taught in a minority lan-
guage and completed the exam papers written in this language will enjoy extra
10 points on their College Entrance Examination score when they apply for
colleges and secondary vocational schools; other minority students in the
autonomous county will have an extra 5 points.
Item 14. Trilingual education should be incorporated into the education
development plan, and funds used to develop minority language teaching mater-
ials are included in education budgets; funding should be provided to trans-
late, censure and publishing teaching materials in minority languages; teaching
materials in minority languages should be provided free of charge to minority
20 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Wèi Dān (魏丹) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

primary and secondary schools. Provincial financial departments should offer

special funds as subsidies to make up for the financial costs of publishing teach-
ing materials in minority languages 7.

2.5 Regulatory measures

Shànɡhǎi Regulations allowed the establishment of the City Urban Administra-
tive and Law Enforcement Bureau to take on language standardization. Shānxī
Province set up a language inspecting and guiding team whose responsibilities
include: 1) inspecting the languages of their administrative region and providing
constructive suggestions on improvement; 2) supervising and guiding each step
of the work on the Putonghua proficiency test; 3) guiding and participating in
the Putonghua proficiency test as well as in related researches. Specifically the
members of this team have following responsibilities: 1) supervising and inspect-
ing the standard spoken and written Chinese used in the administrative areas in
accordance with national and provincial laws, regulations, norms, standards
and policies; 2) recording and verifying usage which does not meet national
standards; 3) criticizing and giving suggestions to those whose language has vio-
lated the general law of usage; 4) submitting supervision and inspection reports
to the offices of Language Committee and other relevant departments8.

2.6 Language use in the “Eleventh five-year plan”

Five tasks and measures to be accomplished and taken during the period of the
National “Eleventh five-year plan” are proposed in the Shànɡhǎi Program: 1) fur-
ther strengthen the management of language use with law; 2) build a language
education system which meets the needs of society; 3) effectively promote social
research of language use and language management; 4) actively explore the
language service mechanism in order to meet the demands of the World Expo;
5) promote the international education of Chinese language and culture.
Jiānɡsū Program proposes Great Eight Tasks in the “Eleventh five-year plan”
as follows: 1) improve the language proficiency to a large extent for the whole
society; 2) make significant progress in supervising the language use with law
and regulations; 3) take measures to build a network among government offices;
4) advocate for a change of both language working and language testing teams;

7 Liáoníng Province. http://www.ln.gov.cn/communique/govfiles/govfiles/37_38983.htm.

8 Seen in The notification of setting up a language supervising team in Shānxī Province.
 Language policies and regulations in China: An overview 21

5) create a new atmosphere of public opinions on language work; 6) make

breakthroughs in Putonghua training and testing; 7) begin a new stage of our
goals and create new ones; 8) implement new ideas in research.
The Seven Great Measures mentioned in the Húběi Program in the “Eleventh
five-year plan” are: 1) to further publicize and carry out the Language Law and
Implementation of the Language Law in Húběi Province; 2) to continue the urban
language use assessment; 3) to strengthen the language education in schools; 4)
to pay special attention to the language used in key professions and industries;
5) to further advance language work in rural areas; 6) to reinforce language
testing and management; 7) to continue the work to promote language standard-
ization in education and research.

3 Problems and suggestions

Problems with language policies and regulations include the lack of coordina-
tion, cohesion and consistency among related laws and regulations, the poor
English translation of public signs, and inefficient law enforcement. These prob-
lems and their possible solutions are detailed below.

3.1 Problems
There are problems of coordination and cohesion among related laws and regu-
lations. In 2005, two different versions of the same street began to appear in
many cities across the country. Names on street signs are written in Chinese
Pinyin while traffic signs are written in Pinyin mixed with English or only in
English. Examples can be seen in Table 1.
Two spellings of the same sign confused the visitors who could not read
Chinese characters; they wondered if the same names belonged to two different
streets or one street. Such a messy situation was caused by inconsistency and
differences between certain laws, regulations and provisions in China.
Article 18 in the Language Law and Article 8 in Regulations on the manage-
ment of place names issued by the State Council both stipulate that place names
spelled according to the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Plan are the writing norms of
Latin letters in China. In 2003, On further regulating the use of Chinese Pinyin in
spelling place names issued by the Héběi (河北) Province Government and later
forwarded by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs clearly regulates the use of place
names in traffic signs and bus stop signs; place names should be written in the
Chinese phonetic alphabet rather than in English or other foreign languages.
22 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Wèi Dān (魏丹) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

Street Road Signs Traffic Signs

(Chinese characters) (Chinese Pinyin) (Pinyin + English/English only)

建国门外大街 JIANGUOMENWAI DAJIE JIANGUOMEN Outer St.

(Pinyin + English)
东三环 DONGSANHUAN E.3rd Ring Rd.
(English only)
建华南路 JIANHUA NANLU JIANHUA South Rd.
(Pinyin + English)
日坛路 RITAN LU Temple of Sun Rd.
(English only)
西单北大街 XIDAN BEIDAJIE XIDAN North St.
(Pinyin + English)

Table 1: Two versions of street names in Běijīnɡ: Examples

Source: Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Jiànwài (建外) Street: Problems with street names in two
spelling versions, Chinese Social News, 27 August, 2005.

In 1999, the national standard GB 5768-1999 On road traffic signs and road
markings issued by the State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision states
“road traffic signs may be marked in both Chinese characters and other lan-
guages if necessary, but place names should be written in Chinese Pinyin, while
proper nouns in English”9. In the appendix, an example is provided : “XX 街道
( Jiēdào, street) ” should be written as “XX Street” in English10.
The inconsistency between the above two regulations issued by two different
management departments is the main reason for the large scale chaos caused by
unnatural and confusing spelling of road and street names in cities. Our sugges-
tion is to involve related departments, National People’s Congress (NPC) repre-
sentatives or members of the National Committee of Chinese People’s Political
Consultative Conference who are specialized in relevant fields in coordinating
and solving the problem.
Article 2 in On advancing Putonghua training among civil servants11 jointly
issued by the Personnel Department, the MOE, the NLC on 12 May, 1999 provides
that “The Putonghua proficiency level of civil servants born after 1 January, 1954
should reach Grade A of Third Class Level or above. No rigid requirements are
made for those born before 1 January, 1954; however, they are encouraged to

9 On road traffic signs and road markings: 1. Běijīnɡ: Standards Press of China (1999).
10 On road traffic signs and road markings: 154. Běijīnɡ: Standards Press of China (1999).
11 China Language. http://www.china-language.gov.cn.
 Language policies and regulations in China: An overview 23

improve their Putonghua proficiency”. The notice requires that all departments
across the country make long-term plans to provide Putonghua training for
public servants based on actual performance, and that they make Putonghua
proficiency part of the evaluation as well. Yet the term “Putonghua” never
appeared in the Civil Servant Law of the People’s Republic of China (CSPRC)12
issued in 2005, not to mention the requirements of Putonghua proficiency,
Putonghua test and training for civil servants. Therefore, we suggest that articles
concerning Putonghua training supplement the Civil Servant Law when revising
the CSPRC in the future.
We suggest that certain laws and regulations concerning language use be
improved, particularly in the international arena of Chinese language education
and the standardization of the English translation of public signs.
Although there is a comprehensive set of effective policies and regulations
which have been systematically established to promote the use of Putonghua in
China, much work must still be done to spread the Chinese language to the
world. For example, the made-in-China products which are exported to other
countries rarely have brand names or manuals written in Chinese characters,
which is a missed opportunity to spread the language overseas. Therefore, in
this paper we suggest that the government intervene with laws and regulations
to prevent such losses.
Public sign language refers to the texts and graphics used in all public notices,
instructions, tips and warning signs. More and more bilingual (Chinese-English)
signs are appearing alongside rapidly growing international metropolises. Yet
now, many errors in the translation of public signs may lead to confusion,
misinterpretation and misunderstanding for English speakers, which was already
a serious problem. Some of examples are as follows:

民族园 (Mínzú Yuán) ‘Racist Park’ (Ethnicities Park): this English translation conveys
wrong meaning and it should be changed into “Ethnicities Park”.
小心坠河 (xiǎoxīn zhuìhé) ‘Carefully Fall Down to the River’ (Look out!): the error should
be changed simply into “Look Out”.
警务工作站 ( Jǐnɡwù Gōnɡzuòzhàn) ‘Police Affairs Station’ (Police Station): “affairs” should
be deleted as it confuses English speakers.
宾客止步 (Bīnkè zhǐ bù) ‘Guest go no further’ (Staffs Only): the word-by-word translation
does not make sense.

Erroneous English translations of public signs affect on the international

image of a metropolis. However, the problem has been a blind spot of language

12 Law Library. http://www.dffy.com/faguixiazai/xf/200504/20050428150743.htm.

24 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生), Wèi Dān (魏丹) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

standardization. Up to now, no regulations, laws or even documents focusing on

the problem exist. Hereby, some questions remain unanswered: Which depart-
ment or agency is responsible for solving the problem? What is the basic rule
to follow? No sufficient attention has yet been given to the issue. Therefore, the
governmental departments in charge of language standardization and related
agencies should make joint efforts to solve the problem.
Language law enforcement is an important issue. The Language Law has
regulated the language usage in the fields of administration and justice, educa-
tion, press and publishing, radio, film and television, service industry and even
in public facilities signs, with various state administrative agencies at all levels
in these fields and their staff as subjects for the enforcement of the Language
Law; unfortunately, some government staff know little about the Language
Law, an issue which creates situations where even management by humans is
superior to management by law.
The regulations according to the Language Law in regard to civil service,
mass media and public language are mandatory and must be insisted upon;
however, flexibility should also be considered while regulating personal lan-
guage use, emphasizing guidance rather than enforcement.

3.2 Suggestions
A thorough survey of how the Language Law has been implemented in China
should be conducted. We suggest that a joint inspection group be set up with
Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of National People’s
Congress and related administrative departments and agencies for the purpose
of examining language law implementation in provinces, autonomous regions
and municipalities where local language regulations have been issued, providing
supervision and guidance to the regions without local language regulations and
building a better system of language laws and regulations. Then the Language
Law enforcement should be organized by the NPC Standing Committee at the
national level to ensure a better mechanism of language law enforcement.
Language standardization should be emphasized in different professions,
vocations and fields. In its new term, the State Language Commission will play
a more important role in coordinating with related organizations, agencies and
governmental departments and will put forward new language requirements for
national civil servants and tourist guides. For instance, civil servants, Chinese
tour guides and interpreters should take the Putonghua proficiency test and
meet all requirements of Putonghua proficiency before being hired.
 Language policies and regulations in China: An overview 25

In order to avoid the conflicts between different language regulations and

standards made by different professions, agencies or governmental departments,
the communication between decision makers should be improved. In addition,
these policy makers should be further educated on language standardization so
that their relevant knowledge, awareness and skills may be enhanced.

Translated by Zhàn Jú (战菊)

Jílín University, China
[email protected]

Translated by Dǒnɡ Xiǎoyǔ (董晓宇)

Jílín University, China
[email protected]
Wánɡ Huī (王晖) & Yuán Zhōnɡruì (袁钟瑞)
2 The promotion of Putonghua
(Mandarin Chinese): An overview
The promotion of the national standard language – Putonghua (Mandarin
Chinese) – is the principal task of the state in its work on language and script
in the new era. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China stipulates
that “the state promotes the nationwide use of Putonghua”. The Law of the
People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese (National
Law of Standard Spoken and Written Language) specifies that Putonghua is the
national standard language and it contains clear statements regarding the use of
Putonghua in government offices, schools, press and publication, radio, film,
television, and the public service industry. It guarantees the citizens’ right to
learn and use Putonghua. This fully demonstrates the significance of the promo-
tion of Putonghua in the state’s social life. Below is an elaboration of the main
components of the promotion of Putonghua.

1 Basic Situation
In recent years the Chinese government has made significant changes and ex-
plored new ideas in connection with the guidelines, goals and basic measures
for Putonghua promotion. The State Language Commission (SLC) altered the
guidelines of Putonghua promotion from “vigorously advocate, preferentially
implement and gradually popularize” in the 1950s to “vigorously implement,
actively popularize and gradually enhance” in 1992.
The National Working Conference on Spoken and Written Language, which
was held in 1997, set a goal for Putonghua promotion in the new century, which
encompassed two objectives: the first objective incorporating the removal of
dialect barriers in communication and initiation of Putonghua’s nationwide
popularization should be achieved by 2010; the second objective including com-
plete nationwide popularization for Putonghua and removal of dialect barriers in
communication should be achieved by the middle of the 21st century.
Currently the basic idea for Putonghua promotion is as follows: cities as
focus, schools as a base, government offices as a priority, radio and television
as a model, and the public service industry as a window for communication.
This would hereby mobilize the whole of society to participate in the promotion
of Putonghua. The planning, measures and division of responsibility for Putonghua
promotion should be in accordance with this basic idea.
28 Wánɡ Huī (王晖) & Yuán Zhōnɡruì (袁钟瑞)

The SLC has closely focused on the theme of Putonghua promotion, adopt-
ing three basic strategies: goal management and quantified evaluation, the
Putonghua Proficiency Test and the National Publicity Week for Putonghua
Promotion, thus making remarkable progress in Putonghua promotion in recent
years.
The year 2005 saw the local people’s congresses and governments attach
a great deal of importance to the local legislation of language and script. The
relevant departments of both central and local governments thereafter issued
official documents concerning Putonghua promotion. For the promotion of the
commonly used national language in ethnic minority regions, they provided
the legal guarantee that ethnic minorities would preserve their right to learn
and use Putonghua and standardized Chinese characters. At the same time, in
accordance with the principle of the equality of all the languages, ethnic minor-
ities were guaranteed the freedom to use and develop their own languages.
Currently, with the gradually improved laws and regulations, specific guidelines
and goals, clear ideas and supporting measures, Putonghua promotion has been
institutionalized and normalized, following a legal and scientific path.

2 Management and Evaluation

The Ministry of Education (MOE) and SLC implemented goal management and
quantified evaluation in Putonghua promotion. MOE began inspections amongst
teacher training universities in the 1990s. The inspection results showed that
teacher training universities have made significant progress and reached the
goal of adopting Putonghua as the medium for teaching. Many schools have
realized the goal of using Putonghua as the school language, making remarkable
achievements in the institutionalization, standardization and scientization of
Putonghua promotion, and in the process gaining rich experience. The MOE
and SLC later successively issued the “Guidance Standard of Evaluation for
Putonghua Promotion” for the teacher of teacher training universities and city,
town and vocational schools, having already established the Putonghua promo-
tion evaluation indicators for the schools. The goal management and quantita-
tive evaluation, which has proved to be an effective approach for supervision
and management, has been applied and expanded from one school to the four
areas of the city: schools, government offices, press and media, and the public
service industry. The content of the evaluation has also been expanded from
the single aspect of Putonghua popularization to multiple aspects of Putonghua
popularization and the normalization of the use of characters in society.
 The promotion of Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese): An overview 29

The MOE and SLC jointly issued a notice in September 2002 to launch lan-
guage evaluation in the cities, thereby vigorously giving impetus to the language
and script work in the four areas of the city. The evaluation facilitated the realiza-
tion of two goals, i.e. Putonghua popularization and normalization of the use of
characters in society. The year 2005 witnessed the rapid development of language
evaluation work in the cities: 11 primary cities and 14 secondary cities passed the
evaluation, thus meeting the higher government standard. Of the 18 provinces
that arranged for the evaluation work, 11 have already begun the work.

3 Putonghua Proficiency Test

The SLC proposed the Putonghua Proficiency Test in 1986, with Putonghua pro-
ficiency divided into three levels. The SLC together with the State Education
Commission and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT)
issued the Decision to implement the Putonghua Proficiency Test (SLC [1994],
No. 43) in October, 1994, which officially initiated the Putonghua Proficiency
Test. In 2000, the Putonghua Proficiency Test was included in the National Law
of Standard Spoken and Written Language, thus enabling this work to be
enshrined in law.
At present, with regard to the Putonghua Proficiency Test, the official docu-
ments have been prepared and the necessary regulations set, which provides a
solid foundation for the healthier promotion of Putonghua. As one of the basic
strategies for national Putonghua promotion, the Putonghua Proficiency Test
has continued its development over the past 11 years.

3.1 The stable progress of the Putonghua Proficiency Test

By 2005, in accordance with the state government requirement, the 31 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government
and the Xīnjiānɡ (新疆) Production and Construction Army Corps had imple-
mented the Putonghua Proficiency Test. The national network of test agencies
has been properly developed with a total of 111 personnel, 74 full-time and 55
supernumerary personnel. 998 test stations have been established nationwide,
incorporating 369 in cities, 577 in colleges, with the remaining 52 reserved for
the other industries. There are more than 45,000 national and provincial Putong-
hua examiners, 3,916 of whom are national examiners. At present, there are 501
test inspectors in total. The aggregate of test participants has reached 17,740,165,
30 Wánɡ Huī (王晖) & Yuán Zhōnɡruì (袁钟瑞)

consisting of 496,291 civil servants, 9,360,105 teachers, 7,384,030 students, 37,346

broadcasters and anchorpersons of radio and 462,393 other personnel.
As can be seen from the numbers, teachers and students constitute the
majority of candidates. The number of student participants has been increasing
each year, which has been mainly due to the local legislation expanding the test
scale to middle schools and colleges. This demonstrates the clarity with which
one of the basic tenets for Putonghua Promotion (that is, “schools as a base”)
has been developed. In recent years, many localities have undertaken Putong-
hua proficiency testing for civil servants and consequently the number of partici-
pants has increased. The second tenet of the strategy for the promotion of
Putonghua, “government offices as a priority”, has hence had a noticeable effect.
Most provincial and national media broadcasters and anchorpersons have gained
Putonghua proficiency certificates, which is an eligibility requirement for their
position. This leads to the third tenet of the strategy for the promotion of Putong-
hua, “radio and television as a model”. Other test candidates have mainly in-
cluded personnel from the railway, postal services, finance, tourism and com-
merce industries. The number of test participants grew most rapidly in the year
2005. The fourth tenet for the promotion of Putonghua, “the public service indus-
try as a window for communication”, has also been successfully implemented.

3.2 The widespread recognition of the Putonghua Proficiency

Test in Hong Kong and Macao
The Centre for Putonghua Proficiency Testing and Training of the SLC and the
City University of Hong Kong signed an agreement in 2005 for Putonghua train-
ing. So far, with the help of the SLC, 8 college Putonghua Proficiency Test and
Training Centres have been established, with 85 examiners. Test participants
mainly include civil servants, teachers and other personnel. In 2005 alone, there
were more than 7,000 candidates, with the total number reaching an astonishing
30,000. The Putonghua Proficiency Test has played a special part in promoting
Putonghua in Hong Kong and Macao and has thus contributed to enhancing
the relationship between mainland China and Hong Kong and Macao.

3.3 New achievements as a result of scientific research and

management of the Putonghua Proficiency Test
The 10th Five Year language research programme’s key project of national lan-
guage use, i.e. An Application of the Intelligent Speech Technology in Putonghua
Learning was authorized by the Office of the SLC and awarded to iFlytek (讯飞)
 The promotion of Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese): An overview 31

Information Technology Co. Ltd. of the University of Science and Technology of

China. It has gained the approval of experts. Computer-aided testing technology
has made great progress and is a good contender for the application of the test
nationwide. The Shànɡhǎi (上海) City Putonghua Proficiency Test Centre enacted
Regulations on the Preservation and confidentiality of the Test Paper. This
contained a statement on the printing, transportation and confidentiality of the
test paper. This is an additional improvement of the Putonghua Proficiency Test
Regulations.

4 The National Publicity Week for Putonghua

Promotion
The 134th Premier office meeting on 6 January, 1997 resolved that the third week
of September each year would be used as the National Publicity Week for
Putonghua Promotion. The purpose of this week includes: wide propagation of
the necessity and urgency of Putonghua promotion to Chinese society for its
modernization; further spread of the awareness of language normalization to
the citizens and to enable their participation in Putonghua promotion, thereby
creating a favorable atmosphere for the advancement of Putonghua.
The National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion was initiated by the
State Council and has lasted 9 years. The organizers have expanded the number
of commissions and ministries from the initial four to the current eight. The
organizing committee includes the MOE, the Propaganda Department of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Ministry of Personnel,
the Ministry of Culture, SARFT, SLC, the General Political Department of the
PLA, and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. The host
commissions and departments of various provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities directly under the Central Government have also correspondingly
increased. National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion has become a
fundamental strategy for Putonghua promotion.
The 8th National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion was hosted from
11 to 17 September, 2005. The theme of the event is “facilitating smooth com-
munication and building a harmonious society”. The focus of the event centred
on three cities: Chǔxiónɡ (楚雄) in Yúnnán (云南) Province (location for the
opening ceremony, the first time that such an event was held in an ethnic minority
region), Nínɡbō (宁波) in Zhèjiānɡ (浙江) province (the location for the closing
ceremony) and Méizhōu (梅州) in Guǎnɡdōnɡ (广东) province.
32 Wánɡ Huī (王晖) & Yuán Zhōnɡruì (袁钟瑞)

The 9th National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion will be held from
10 to 16 September 2006, the theme of which is “Putonghua: Promotion over 50
years and Popularization in the New Century”. This event will be concentrated
on three cities: Tàiyuán (太原) in Shānxī (山西) province (location of the open-
ing ceremony), Zūnyì (遵义) in Guìzhōu (贵州) province and Zhàoqìnɡ (肇庆) in
Guǎnɡdōnɡ province (location for the closing ceremony). With the concentrated
efforts of the language workers, the National Publicity Week for Putonghua Pro-
motion has become an important language festival which has been enthusiasti-
cally accepted by the general public.
The features of National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion are as
follows:

4.1 The governments of the various levels attached a great

deal of importance to the event and local officials became
the first to set an example
Putonghua as the language of official business has thereby become deeply
rooted in the hearts of the people. For instance, a large scale Putonghua com-
petition for civil servants was held in Běijīnɡ (北京) and Jiānɡsū (江苏) province,
in which a number of departmental-level officials took the lead in joining in.
Ordos City in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region held Putonghua training
classes for civil servants. The deputy mayor of Nánpínɡ (南平) City in Fújiàn
(福建) province delivered a speech on television, requiring the civil servants to
take the lead and participate in the Putonghua training and test, making Putong-
hua promotion part of their daily work. Chǔxióng in Yúnnán province held the
language promotion achievements exhibition for the citizens in its downtown
area, encouraging and mobilizing the government offices towards further pro-
motion of Putonghua.

4.2 The National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion

gradually expanded to small towns, villages and ethnic
minority regions
In Yí (彝族) Autonomous Prefecture in Yúnnán province, Chǔxiǒnɡ hosted the
opening ceremony for the 8th National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion,
creating a vibrant atmosphere for Putonghua promotion. The language working
group has been established in 19 towns and the group leading language reform
has been established in 225 village committees. These committees have been
 The promotion of Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese): An overview 33

mainly for enhancing Putonghua training for the village leaders and villagers
who migrated from their villages for work. Quite a few village committees put
forward the goal of “speaking Putonghua, using standard Chinese characters,
being civilized people and building civilized villages”. In addition, provinces
like Guǎnɡxī (广西), Húběi (湖北), Shāndōnɡ (山东), Yúnnán and Hēilónɡjiānɡ
(黑龙江) actively adopted various measures to provide language communica-
tion services for the local villagers and ethnic minorities.

4.3 New mechanisms for publicising Putonghua promotion

were discovered. The Putonghua promotion program has
had a strong influence on Chinese society
Innovative events of various kinds were held. For instance, the city of Nínɡbō
hosted a fashion show for Putonghua promotion with the theme of “All people
are friends”; Yúnnán province conducted a tour of poem recitations for the public;
Shànɡhǎi hosted an international forum on the formation of the language envi-
ronment for the World Expo; Jiānɡsū province provided a free Putonghua Profi-
ciency Test; Shānxī province held a Putonghua learning competition for primary
school students; Fújiàn province hosted essay-writing competitions on the nor-
malization of cyber Chinese; Jiānɡxī (江西) province conducted an exhibition
competition for special documentary television programs; Huái’ān (淮安) in
Ānhuī (安徽) province combined Putonghua promotion with a local food festival
and horticultural exhibition; Qīnɡdǎo (青岛) in Shāndōnɡ province conducted
an online competition testing language and Olympic knowledge with the pur-
pose of “welcoming the Olympics, speaking Putonghua and building up a
civilized city”. All these events received a lot of praise from the general public.
The national youth Putonghua speech competition, a national language knowl-
edge competition for the students of teachers’ colleges, a national competition
of language reform knowledge and the national trial for an ambassador of
Putonghua promotion all attracted the attention of the people of China.

4.4 Schools played a major part in Putonghua promotion,

encouraging families and society to join in
Primary and middle schools promoted Putonghua using the flag-raising ceremony,
class meetings, meetings for League members, plays and blackboard competi-
tions. College students promoted Putonghua by means of recitation, speeches
and debates. Students also promoted Putonghua off-campus by means of “small
hand in big hand” family Putonghua competitions; investigation of the use of
standard Chinese characters in society; mobile teams of Youth Pioneers for
34 Wánɡ Huī (王晖) & Yuán Zhōnɡruì (袁钟瑞)

Putonghua promotion, and school play performances. This enabled the exten-
sion of Putonghua promotion to the students’ families and communities, thereby
mobilizing the whole society to participate in Putonghua promotion. Some
colleges established students’ language associations, recruiting volunteers for
Putonghua promotion. The members of the bicycle club in Jiānɡnán (江南) Uni-
versity rode bicycles into nearby villages to spread Putonghua knowledge to
villagers, launching the program of “Putonghua promotion in rural areas”.

4.5 Interest in Putonghua promotion growing and of

increasing concern to society
The Central People’s Broadcasting Station, China Central Television, China Educa-
tion Television, and local broadcasting and television stations have all produced
and broadcast programs for Putonghua promotion. They have also made public
service announcements about Putonghua promotion. The Internet has also played
an increasingly important role. The website of the MOE hosted online interviews
for the National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion, offered language
consultancy for netizens and discussed hot language topics, thus extending the
scale of the popularity of Putonghua promotion.
The National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion has increasingly
attracted the attention of enterprises, institutions and the public. The design
and printing of posters, publicity photographs for the National Publicity Week
for Putonghua Promotion, public service announcements, and the organizing of
large-scale campaigns were all sponsored and supported by enterprises and
institutions. Some institutions donated more than 8,000 sets of tapes of standard
sample readings of ancient poetry for primary and middle school students in the
poorer regions of western China through the office of the group leading the
National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion. In addition, some institu-
tions organized a Putonghua promotion car convoy “national tour” in Shāndōnɡ
province.

5 Putonghua promotion in the rural areas and the

west of China
5.1 Vigorous promotion of Putonghua in towns and rural areas
Currently, at least 190,000,000 people from the countryside have left their villages
to live and work in towns or cities. With the flow of the labor force towards towns
and cities, Putonghua promotion for villagers left behind has been put on the
 The promotion of Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese): An overview 35

agenda. It is an important task for those promoting Putonghua to redirect their

focus towards the rural areas, thereby enhancing the Putonghua proficiency of
rural and ethnic minority school teachers, and strengthening the inspection of
Putonghua promotion in rural schools. This would in turn facilitate the raising of
the villagers’ level of culture and an acceleration in the process of urbanization.
The Working Conference on Spoken and Written Language held in 2005
pointed out that the work sphere should be extended and Putonghua should be
vigorously promoted in the west and in ethnic minority regions so as to meet
the demand of Chinese society. According to this work requirement, Putonghua
promotion must develop in new directions, making efforts to extend to towns,
rural areas and ethnic minority regions, while maintaining its original strategy.
The National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion of 2005 made particular
arrangements for this plan, while allowing special measures for particular local-
ities. For instance, the Guǎnɡxī Zhuànɡ (壮) Autonomous Region implemented
the “rural labor forces transfer project”, providing free short-term Putonghua
training for rural workers; Húběi province organized language volunteers to
train the village teachers to speak Putonghua and also trained over 1,000 teachers
who were assigned to teach in rural areas under the rural teachers sponsorship
action plan; Shāndōnɡ province conducted “Putonghua and Me” essay-writing
for all provincial rural teachers and students. In addition, each year Kūnmínɡ
(昆明) city selected a key county for Putonghua promotion from 2005 onwards;
Jīxī (鸡西) city in Hēilónɡjiānɡ province mobilized teachers and students from
town and village primary schools to distribute publicity materials to various
towns and villages, thus making cities, counties, towns and villages more uni-
fied; Wànrónɡ (万荣) county of Yùnchénɡ (运城) city, Shānxī province, which
had been a model for Putonghua promotion in the 1950s, became a model dis-
trict once more in the new era and the county hosted a working conference on
“Speaking Putonghua and writing standard characters” and spread its experience.
It hosted the opening ceremony for the event and ten thousand people signed
after the conference.

5.2 Enhancing Putonghua promotion in ethnic minority

regions
For raising Putonghua proficiency of the ethnic minority Chinese teachers and
accelerating the popularization of Putonghua in ethnic minority regions and
enhancing the local teaching quality, the Division of Language Application
Management of the MOE entrusted the Education Department of Tibet (西藏)
and Xīnjiānɡ to conduct Putonghua training classes for ethnic minority Chinese
teachers. Almost 300 people joined the program from various ethnic minorities,
36 Wánɡ Huī (王晖) & Yuán Zhōnɡruì (袁钟瑞)

namely the Nàxī (纳西族), Yí, Lìsù (傈僳族), Tibetan (藏族), Bái (白族), Pǔmǐ
(普米族), Kazak (哈萨克族), Uygur (维吾尔族) and Mongolian (蒙古族). The
training program was practical, had an immense effect and drew much attention.
Karamay (克拉玛依) city in Xīnjiānɡ established the Putonghua Proficiency Test
leading group led by the deputy mayor and Aksu (阿克苏) city carried out
Putonghua training and testing, which greatly improved Putonghua promotion
in the two cities.

6 Problems and suggestions

6.1 The relationship between Putonghua promotion and
dialects
The relationship between Putonghua promotion and dialects was not only a
fresh concern highlighted in China’s language life in 2005 but also an important
issue that has to be considered in the long term. On the one hand, we have to
enable the masses to have a clear awareness that Putonghua promotion is a
basic and long-term language policy of China, and dialects and language barriers
are the major twofold factors affecting China’s language. According to the Survey
of China’s Language Use issued in 2004, only 53.06% of the population can
communicate in Putonghua. Therefore, it’s still a formidable task to realize the
goal of complete nationwide popularization of Putonghua and removal of dialect
barriers in communication by the middle of the 21st century. On the other hand,
we have to also be aware that the issues of the relationship between Putonghua
and dialects markedly exhibited in 2005 were not repetition clichés or the
subjective opinions of some people, but actually did reflect the conflict which
occurred with the diversification of language life and the material and cultural
needs of the people. Therefore, the deep roots of this phenomenon must be care-
fully analyzed in an endeavor to seek favorable factors so that timely and proper
policy guidance can be given to improve the harmonious and healthy develop-
ment of both a unified and diversified language life. At the same time, the state
language policy should be actively and steadily implemented.

6.2 The sound and harmonious development of Putonghua

promotion
The three strategies of goal management and quantified evaluation, the Putong-
hua Proficiency Test, and the National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion
played a significant role in accelerating the process of Putonghua promotion.
 The promotion of Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese): An overview 37

However, problems still exist in certain areas. For example, in order to meet the
required standard in the first strategy of goal management a hasty “mug up”
took place. Although the Putonghua Proficiency Test developed very fast, im-
provement in the management of the infrastructure and more research are
needed. More emphasis was placed on form than content for the National Pub-
licity Week for Putonghua Promotion in some areas. These three strategies
should be mutually interdependent and supported as a whole and not be
subjected to the imbalance that in fact took place.
The first two, because the government was obliged to act on them, were
given a great deal of attention. The special role played by the third strategy was
neglected. In future these issues need a great deal of attention for they influence
the quality of Putonghua promotion. It is an issue worth exploring for us to
improve and guarantee a sustainable working mechanism with a long-term
effect.

6.3 Putonghua teaching and training

“Improve training through testing and guarantee testing through training” is a
basic principle for the Putonghua Proficiency Test. The facts have proved that
systematic Putonghua teaching and training is a premise for the quality of test-
ing and work efficiency. It helps to strengthen people’s awareness of language
normalization and to improve their Putonghua proficiency. However, we should
also notice that there have been some problems: in some regions the test
was given much more emphasis than the training; teaching and training were
reduced to sudden, intensive sessions before the test, instead of taking a
sustained, systematic approach; teaching and training mostly employed tradi-
tional methods, which were unable to meet the needs of modern society; most
teaching materials were only based on the Outline Plan for the Putonghua Pro-
ficiency Test, were singular in both form and content, and neither innovative
nor closely combined with the practical needs of the relevant departments and
industries. A review of the history may show that Putonghua phonetics training
programs of various kinds by both the central and local authorities greatly facili-
tated Putonghua training for key teachers. The whole historical experience needs
further thought. The national and local Putonghua proficiency test organizations
and colleges should play a more active role in Putonghua teaching and training.
A lot more work should be done to compile the teaching materials, develop
diversified learning materials and conduct long-distance teaching and training.
Great effort should be made to closely combine Putonghua teaching and training
with the practical needs of the relevant departments and industries.
38 Wánɡ Huī (王晖) & Yuán Zhōnɡruì (袁钟瑞)

Appendix I
The time, key cities and themes of all previous events during the National Pub-
licity Week for Putonghua Promotion

1st year: 13–19 September, 1998, Běijīnɡ. The state promotes the nationwide use
of Putonghua.

2nd year: 12–18 September, 1999, Běijīnɡ. Promote Putonghua, welcome the new
century.

3rd year: 10–16 September, 2000, Běijīnɡ. Promote Putonghua towards the new
century.

4th year: 9–15 September, 2001, Chónɡqìnɡ, Shànɡhǎi, Guǎnɡzhōu (广州).

Propagate and implement the National Law of Standard Spoken and Written
Language, vigorously promote Putonghua, and improve language normalization.

5th year: 15–21 September, 2002, Chénɡdū (成都), Nánjīnɡ (南京), Fóshān
(佛山). Propagate the National Law of Standard Spoken and Written Language;
vigorously promote Putonghua; improve language normalization and welcome
the Sixteenth National Party Congress.

6th year: 14–20 September, 2003, Lánzhōu (兰州), Nánnínɡ (南宁), Wǔhàn (武汉),
Shàntóu (汕头). Vigorously promote Putonghua and work together to become
more prosperous.

7th year: 12–18 September, 2004, Chánɡshā (长沙), Héféi (合肥), Màomínɡ
(茂名), Hohhot (呼和浩特). Putonghua-bridging the gap between sentiment
and communication.

8th year: 11–17 September, 2005, Chǔxiónɡ, Nínɡbō, Méizhōu (梅州). Realiza-
tion of smooth communication and building a harmonious society.

9th year: 10–16 September, 2006, Tàiyuán, Zūnyì, Zhàoqìnɡ. Putonghua Promo-
tion of 50 years language work and popularization in the new century.

Appendix II
The slogans for National Publicity Week for Putonghua Promotion
– The state promotes the nationwide use of Putonghua
– The state promotes Putonghua and standardized Chinese characters
– Correctly use the national language, vigorously promote Putonghua
 The promotion of Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese): An overview 39

– The guidelines for Putonghua promotion is “vigorously implement, actively

popularize and gradually enhance”
– Awareness of the concept of normalization to enhance the nation’s cultural
quality
– Vigorously promote Putonghua, strengthen the nation’s cohesion
– Love the national flag, sing the national anthem and speak Putonghua
– Promote Putonghua to create a sound language environment for moderniza-
tion
– The development of a socialist market economy requires the promotion of
Putonghua
– Promote Putonghua towards modernization
– Civil servants should take the lead in Putonghua promotion
– Putonghua is the language of schools
– Putonghua is the language for teachers
– Young people should be activists for Putonghua promotion
– Promote Putonghua from an early age
– Make your child speak Putonghua from an early age
– The press and media should set an example for Putonghua promotion
– Speak Putonghua and welcome friends from every quarter; use polite
language and give love to people
– Speak Putonghua, start from me
– Speak good Putonghua, convenience to others

Translated by Wánɡ Huī (王辉)

Nínɡxià University
[email protected]
Yú Hónɡ (于虹)
3 Evaluation of language management in
China’s cities
In September 2001, the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the State Language
Commission (SLC) initiated a series of evaluation projects on language manage-
ment in all the cities across China so as to promote the use of standard spoken
and written Chinese. The evaluation aims to assess the effectiveness of language
management, the improvement of the related legal systems, management struc-
tures and mechanisms and the promotion of the standard national language
especially in institutions such as government departments, schools, mass media
and public services, and the compliance to laws and regulations such as The
law of the People’s Republic of China on the standard spoken and written Chinese
language (The PRC Language Law hereafter), and to produce guidance on how to
improve language management in cities and institutions. The evaluation system
expects the institutions to first improve their use of the standard national lan-
guage under the supervision of the local language management offices before
they get graded. Then higher level language management offices will precede
formal language inspections in the cities either at random or at the designated
institutions to assess whether Putonghua has been promoted effectively across
the city and whether the use of Chinese characters in public is standardized.
According to the decision of the MOE and the SLC, all the cities in China will
be classified into three categories according to the levels of administrative
division: the 36 primary cities are the municipalities directly under the Central
Government, cities of special status in the State Economic Plan and the capitals
of all the provinces and autonomous regions; more than 300 secondary cities
are the prefecture-level cities and suburban districts or satellite counties of the
primary cities; the tertiary cities cover more than 3,000 county-level towns and
suburban districts of the primary or secondary cities. The MOE and SLC jointly
set the evaluation standard, design the working principles and operating pro-
cess for the primary cities and implement the assessment of the municipalities
directly. Observation groups are sent to the other primary cities in the assessment
administered by the provincial language affairs office, checking the procedures
and data before the cities are graded according to the evaluation standard. The
design and the implementation of the evaluation for the secondary and tertiary
cities are completed by the provincial language offices.
42 Yú Hónɡ (于虹)

1 Progress in language evaluation

By the end of the year 2004, 13 primary cities had reached the eligible standard
of the language evaluation, including Harbin (哈尔滨) (2001), Běijīnɡ (北京)
(2002), Urumqi (乌鲁木齐), Nánjīnɡ (南京), Héféi (合肥), Shíjiāzhuānɡ (石家庄),
Chánɡshā (长沙) (2003), Shànɡhǎi (上海), Shěnyánɡ (沈阳), Kūnmínɡ (昆明),
Fúzhōu (福州), Wǔhàn (武汉), and Tiānjīn (天津) (2004). The 13 cities, together
with 23 secondary cities or districts in Běijīnɡ, Shànɡhǎi, Hēilónɡjiānɡ (黑龙江)
province, Jiānɡsū (江苏) province and 3 tertiary cities in Hēilónɡjiānɡ, passed
the initial stage of the evaluation assessment in China, achieving the working
goals for language management.
2005 saw the fastest progress in the language evaluation projects for the
primary cities. Altogether 11 cities including Qīnɡdǎo (青岛), Nánnínɡ (南宁),
Tàiyuán (太原), Yínchuān (银川), Chénɡdū (成都), Lánzhōu (兰州), Hohhot
(呼和浩特), Chónɡqìnɡ (重庆), Hánɡzhōu (杭州), Nínɡbō (宁波) and Nánchānɡ
(南昌) reached the evaluation standard. This number equals the total in the
previous two years, which means that two thirds of the primary cities in China
have attained their goals in the use of the standard national language. As regu-
lated by the MOE and SLC, the evaluation delegation needs to receive reports
by the local institutions, check the data, investigate language use at designated
institutions or at random and process the data quantitatively before they grade
the use of standard spoken and written language. The inspection is compulsory
for government agencies, provincial or municipal administration of education,
and departments in charge of mass media such as broadcasting, television and
the press. In random inspections, the evaluation panel will select each of the
following institutions as a sample: a provincial or municipal government agency,
a kindergarten, a primary school, a non-normal vocational school, a teacher
training school, a non-normal university, a normal university, a newspaper, an
airport, a railway station or bus stop, a bank, a post office or hospital, a theatre,
a stadium, a museum, a public park or a large shopping centre. Language use in
the signs for roads, buses and community facilities is also open for random
inspection. For detailed items under inspection in each city, see Table 1.
During the inspection, the evaluation panel check the data on language use
in the above-mentioned organizations, hold interviews with some of their staff
members and survey the knowledge and competence in using the standard
national language among students, editors, journalists, proofreaders, caption
machine operators and employees in the advertising industry. There are also
random inspections on the working language of government agencies, schools,
mass media and public services and on the use of written Chinese characters in
 Evaluation of language management in China’s cities 43

Locations Interviews Discussions Files Survey/

City (n) (n) (n) (n) questionnaire (n)

Chóngqìng 25 43 23 500+ 230

Yínchuān 20 21 20 562 225
Tàiyuán 18 19 20 1100+ 150
Qīngdǎo 23 18 15 400+ 90
Níngbō 19 19 22 350 204
Nánníng 18 19 21 519 220
Nánchāng 19 19 19 332 210
Lánzhōu 23 22 22 210 230
Hohhot 20 21 21 197 202
Hángzhōu 20 21 40 500+ 222
Chéngdū 22 19 19 198 250

Table 1: Items for inspection in language management in primary cities in 2005

government documents, official stamps, handouts, examination papers, news-

papers and journals, blackboard writing, students’ homework, TV programs,
street signs and posters. The inspection on the spoken and written language
use helps to present an overall view of the language management in a city,
including the building of both the language management institutions and the
related legal systems, training and tests on the use of Putonghua and Standard
Chinese writing, Putonghua promotion at places of work, campaigns like Putong-
hua Promotion Week, the use of writing in the related organizations, and
improvement in the language management system of industries which are
closely related to language use. The evaluation panel will make a judgment
whether the language management in the city conforms to The PRC Language
Law and meets the standard of the evaluation system.
Other cities have also made great progress in language management, with
regards to three aspects. Firstly, primary cities like Dàlián (大连), Chánɡchūn
(长春), Xiàmén (厦门), Guǎnɡzhōu (广州), Shēnzhèn (深圳), Guìyánɡ (贵阳)
and Xī’ān (西安) push themselves actively in the self-evaluation. Guìzhōu
(贵州) province organized a preliminary assessment for its capital Guìyánɡ. In
Xiàmén, the municipal government and the party committee held target hitting
conferences and established a special steering group for it. They demanded an
overhaul of public writings and the steering group started a mock assessment.
In Xī’ān, the educational bureaus in all the districts and counties of Xī’ān City
44 Yú Hónɡ (于虹)

launched dragnet investigations of the misused written characters and mis-

leading expressions in shop names and public signs and corrected the serious
language mistakes. Secondly, another fourteen secondary cities passed the
language evaluation, including Hēihé (黑河) and Jīxī (鸡西) in Hēilónɡjiānɡ
province, Yánɡzhōu (扬州), Chánɡzhōu (常州), Sūzhōu (苏州) and Yánchénɡ
(盐城 ) in Jiānɡsū, Mǎ’ānshān (马鞍山) in Ānhuī (安徽), Shíyàn (十堰) and
Èzhōu (鄂州) in Húběi (湖北), Guìlín (桂林) in Guǎnɡxī (广西), Chǔxiónɡ (楚雄)
and Qǔjìnɡ (曲靖) in Yúnnán (云南) and Aksu (阿克苏) and Karamay (克拉玛依)
in Xīnjiānɡ (新疆). Thus the secondary cities which passed the language evalua-
tion reached 37 in 2005. Thirdly, provincial or municipal government depart-
ments got actively involved in the preparation for the language evaluation. In
Shānxī (山西) and Jiānɡxī (江西) provinces, the general office of the provincial
government, the education department and provincial language commission
issued advisory notes and work schedules for the relevant organizations and
industries. In Héběi (河北) province, conferences were held to organize schedules
and make adjustments for some of the secondary cities undergoing language
evaluation, in which the deputy provincial governor-in-charge, the vice secretary-
general, some of the deputy mayors-in-charge and the vice directors of the educa-
tion bureau were present. In the Inner Mongolian (内蒙古) Autonomous Region,
a joint circular was released by the People’s Congress, the Chinese language
committee, the human resources and education departments so as to get all the
secondary cities fully prepared for the language evaluation. In Fújiàn (福建)
province a similar joint circular was issued by the department of education and
the provincial language committee. In Guǎnɡxī province, the local language
committee released the evaluation standard for the secondary cities. The lan-
guage commission of Wǔhàn City developed an implementation scheme and
work manuals for their language evaluation and the language commission of
Hēilónɡjiānɡ province organized an implementation scheme for its own tertiary
cities. In Qīnɡdǎo, the municipal language commission, the departments for
human resources, industry and commerce, education and construction and
other government agencies issued joint circulars and an evaluation standard
for secondary and tertiary cities. The language commission of Hēilónɡjiānɡ
province went even further to work out the implementation scheme and work
manuals for the language evaluation in its tertiary cities.

2 Major achievements
The language evaluation has helped to build not only a better coordinated insti-
tutional system but also a more refined legal system in language management.
The assessment has created greater publicity of the standard national language
 Evaluation of language management in China’s cities 45

and writing, aroused extensive enthusiasm in taking training and tests of the
standard spoken and written language and helped set up proper monitoring
and control in the use of standard writing.

2.1 Institutional system building

Most of the cities that reached the evaluation standard in 2005 had their
municipal language management offices established in the 1980s or 1990s.
When preparing for the evaluation, they had the institutional system adjusted
and strengthened. Deputy mayors-in-charge also work as directors of the
municipal language committees in these cities and leaders in the other munici-
pal government agencies as the committee members. In some of the cities, the
districts (satellite towns or counties in some cases), sub-districts and some other
organizations also have established similar institutions. In a word, a strong
and efficient institutional system in language management has been built up
through the language assessment. See Table 2.

2.2 Construction of the legal system

In the twentieth century, regulations and guidance on language management
were issued only in some of the cities. The legal system supporting language
management was greatly refined after the release of The PRC Language Law,
especially in the work for the language evaluation. Of all the cities which
reached the evaluation standard in 2005, some had localized regulations passed
by the provincial congress to help implement The PRC Language Law, such as
Chónɡqìnɡ, the municipality directly under the central government, Qīnɡdǎo
in Shāndōnɡ (山东) and Tàiyuán in Shānxī. Other cities like Chénɡdū and
Chǔxiónɡ had the local regulations issued by their provincial governments in
Sìchuān (四川) and Yúnnán respectively. Also some cities had such regulations
issued by the municipal agencies. The municipal congress of Hohhot passed the
Regulations on the bilingual use of Mongolian and Chinese characters in public
spaces in Hohhot, while Tàiyuán issued Regulations on the use of characters in
public space in Tàiyuán. In June, 2005 Xī’ān issued the Regulations on the use
of the standard spoken and written Chinese language in Xī’ān; in November
Nánchānɡ issued the Regulations on the use of characters in public spaces in
Nánchānɡ; In December Guìyánɡ passed the Regulations on the implementation
of the law of the People’s Republic of China on the standard spoken and written
Chinese language in Guìyánɡ. Being active in the preparation for language eval-
uation, these cities took the lead in the construction of legal systems regarding
language management in the provinces.
46 Yú Hónɡ (于虹)

Member offices District-level (towns,

of the language counties) Language
City committees (n) committees (n) Other Organization

Qīnɡdǎo 7 urban districts and 45 sub-districts had their leading

5 counties groups established. The district and
municipal language committees had
their coordinators and contacts in all
industries and the districts.
Nánnínɡ 30 5 urban districts Leading groups were established in
most of the government agencies,
sub-districts, schools, mass media
and the public services.
Tàiyuán 47 10 counties (districts) Language management offices were
established in the government
agencies, directors and office
members appointed.
Yínchuān 3 urban districts Language committees or leading
groups were established in the
governmental agencies or sub-
districts, with the first director taking
the lead.
Chénɡdū 24 6 urban districts Language committees or leading
groups were established in municipal
government agencies, sub-districts
and some of the colleges.
Lánzhōu 8 counties (districts) Language committees or leading
groups were established in govern-
ment departments, industries or other
institutions under assessment.
Hohhot 42 4 districts 5 banners Leading groups were established in
(counties) the member organizations of the
municipal language committee, the
sub-districts, communities and
the schools under assessment.
Altogether 48 coordinators or
contacts contributed to language
affairs in these organizations.

Table 2: Summary of the institutional development through the language assessment in some
cities in 2005
 Evaluation of language management in China’s cities 47

Member offices District-level (towns,

of the language counties) Language
City committees (n) committees (n) Other Organization

Chónɡqìnɡ 35 40 districts Language committees or leading

(towns, counties) groups were established in colleges,
the municipal organizations, and the
leading bodies and subordinating
organizations of industries concerned
with assessment.
Hánɡzhōu 31 8 districts Language committees or leading
groups were set up in the related
organizations, all districts and sub-
districts (townships) and media
companies.
Nínɡbō 37 All the counties Leading groups were established in
(towns, districts) all the member organizations of
language committees and educational
institutions.
Nánchānɡ 14 7 districts Leading groups were set up in all the
(administrative member organizations of language
commission) committees and educational
institutions, media companies and
most public services.
Chǔxiónɡ 19 townships Language committees or leading
(towns) groups were established in 287
organizations, departments or
industries. Altogether 306 language
committees were established in
Chǔxióng.
Sūzhōu 30 All districts Leading groups were established in
all the industries and organizations
involved.

Table 2: Continued

2.3 Publicity and promotion

All the cities achieving the evaluation standard placed great emphasis on the
promotion of the standard national language. Many activities can be used in
the promotion of the standard spoken and written language, such as radio and
TV programs, contests, competitions, training courses, booklets, posters. What is
more, there are various interesting activities in the Putonghua Promotion Week
every year. As the key cities, Nánnínɡ, Chénɡdū, Lánzhōu, Hohhot, Chónɡqìnɡ,
48 Yú Hónɡ (于虹)

Nínɡbō and Chǔxiónɡ hosted opening or closing ceremonies for the nationwide
Putonghua Promotion Week. Below is a brief summary of the Putonghua promo-
tion in some of the cities:
Nánnínɡ: More than 1,800 poster boards were distributed to the organiza-
tions involved and 3,000 Putonghua-promotion postcards were given to the
citizens. The work manuals for language assessment and The PRC Language
Law were distributed to all the district language commissions, their member
offices, the sub-district offices and educational institutions.
Chénɡdū: Broadcasts, consulting services, contests and public interest activ-
ities on the use of a standard spoken language and writing were integrated in an
effort to build up culturally advanced learning communities and presented in
activities like “Reading Festival”, and “Learning Day”. Free Putonghua train-
ing programs were offered to the farmers who had lost their land and migrant
workers from rural areas.
Chónɡqìnɡ: In the fourth Putonghua Promotion Week, 40 districts (counties,
towns), 22 municipal government departments, 23 colleges and all the primary
and secondary schools and vocational schools took an active part. About
400,000 people signed their names to show their interest in using Putonghua.
Teachers and students from 13 colleges carried out a large-scale investigation
on the use of the writing system in public spaces in 9 urban districts and 2
downtown areas in Fúlínɡ (涪陵) District and Wànzhōu (万州) District. More
than 150 essays on standard language promotion were printed in the local news-
paper within five years. Over 500 pieces of news and reportage were transmitted
on air or on TV and over 2,000 programs on the topic of Putonghua and standard
Chinese writing were produced.
Nánchānɡ: The Municipal Language Commission printed 20,000 copies of
“five-word songs” to promote the use of Putonghua in lyrics, and distributed
6,000 poster boards to the municipal and district government departments and
schools; the bureau of industry and commerce sent 12,000 pamphlets of The
PRC Language Law to the individual business owners; propagation posters
were posted in the buses and taxis; since 2002, a column named “Expressions
and Writings” appeared in Jiānɡnán (江南) City News, commenting on the non-
standard language use in public spaces. More than 100 training courses on
standard language use have been held, which had more than 6,000 attendants.

2.4 Training and tests on the standard spoken language and

written language
Generally, in the above mentioned cities which reached the evaluation standard,
training and tests on the use of Putonghua, have been widely carried out. Teachers,
broadcasters and anchorpersons of radio and TV stations can hold a job of that
 Evaluation of language management in China’s cities 49

type only when they have passed the Putonghua tests with a qualifying score.
The test is also widely applied to office workers in government agencies,
employees in public services, college students and vocational school students
expected to take jobs concerned with language. In some of the cities, training
sessions and tests on knowledge and use of standard spoken language and
writing were conducted for people in particular jobs. The following cities can
serve as examples.
Qīnɡdǎo: More than 68,000 teachers and 17,600 vocational school students
attended the Putonghua tests, the attainment rate being 90%; more than 4,000
office workers in government offices took Putonghua training programs. Over
7,800 government office workers, i.e. 90% of all those who are expected to take
the test, actually sat it and 95% of them passed. In the telecommunication
industry, all the employees having direct contact with customers took the test
and performed well. In the tourist industry, 2,370 tourist guides attended the
tests. In addition, over 600 common citizens voluntarily took it. By the end of
2004, more than 100,000 people in Qīnɡdǎo had taken the Putonghua test.
Yínchuān: Over 6,000 primary and secondary school teachers took the test,
the attainment rate being 93.3%. More than 2,600 civil servants attended the
Putonghua training programs, over 2,500 of them took the test and 95.8% of
them passed. All the graduates from colleges and vocational schools were
tested. In the public transportation system, altogether 8,895 employees did the
training and test and about 95% of them hit their goal. Over 1,000 traffic police
officers and more than 100 workers offering any kind of language service in
commerce took the test. As to the advertising industry, more than 2,800 em-
ployees attended training on the use of standard writing.
Chénɡdū: About 87.2% of the teachers expected to take the test took it and
84.3% of them passed. Over 39,000 civil servants took the training and 31,000, i.e.
80.4%, passed. The test was also widely given to employees in the grain trade,
health service, landscape gardening, public transportation and telecommunication.
Lánzhōu: More than 8,000 teachers did the test with 90% of them passing.
Over 1,500 office workers in the municipal government organizations and 6,500
in the district government departments took the test, the attainment rate being
97.7% and 94.5% respectively. In the museums, all the working staff members
under fifty years of age passed the test with a score above C-1.

2.5 Supervision and regulation in the use of standard writing

in public spaces
Overseeing writing in public spaces has long been an area of particular difficulty
being a matter of great complicity which can involve a great many practical
problems. The cities that attained their goals in language assessment put great
50 Yú Hónɡ (于虹)

effort into bringing about considerable improvement in the writing used in

public spaces and effectively promoted the use of a standard writing system.
The common practice is to integrate language management in public into major
urban construction projects, such as making the city in question a culturally
advanced, clean and healthy city, etc. And activities like the important business
fairs, exhibitions, or interchange activities can be used as critical opportunities
to promote a standard use of writing in the city. It is also helpful to take some
schools, streets and organizations which perform well in language use and
management as models. Based on the related laws and regulations, the supervi-
sion and administration of language use was greatly strengthened in these cities
so that they successfully achieved the working goals of language management.
Qīnɡdǎo: Two large-scale self-evaluation campaigns were launched here, in
which 4 urban districts, 48 organizations and public venues and 69 primary and
secondary schools received re-examination for language evaluation. Language
law enforcement officers carried out more than 5,000 inspections on the use of
standard writing by enterprises and private businesses, in which 1,479 poster
boards were replaced because of language misuse. After the language inspec-
tion, the use of standard characters in placards, shop windows and advertise-
ments rose to 95%. Altogether 4,081 street name boards in both the standard
Chinese characters and pinyin, the Chinese phonetic transcription, were put into
use. The municipal administration bureau started a campaign to set up model
streets of standard language use; Táidōnɡ (台东) Sān (三) Road was awarded
the title of “model street” after 81 poster boards bearing wrong characters were
replaced in this street.
Yínchuān: 28 government agencies launched a self-check on the language
use in 1,200 name boards, electronic screens, posters and placards. The municipal
buearu of construction made a random check on the bus stops of 9 lines. The
bureau of commerce made a thorough examination of 1,000 name boards in
the major department stores and corrected 53 mistakes in language use. The
civil affairs bureau checked 34,500 street signs used and to be used for the city
roads. Three districts in Yínchuān finished the investigation in the writings in
public space and corrected more than 98% of the misused writings.
Chónɡqìnɡ: Eight departments including education and municipal adminis-
tration launched a large-scale campaign in order to be better prepared for the
coming Asia Pacific Cities summit. Forty districts and counties had their public
language use comprehensively improved and 3,529 place name signs were
replaced so as to standardize the characters on the signs. More than 500 traffic
signs with wrong or nonstandard characters were replaced and 790 police
stations had their name signs bearing nonstandard characters changed. The
 Evaluation of language management in China’s cities 51

municipal assessment panel administrated evaluation on language management

in 9 urban districts and that of 21 municipal government departments and
industries, 22 colleges and 10 schools directly subordinate to the education
committee.
Nánchānɡ: The municipal administration bureau took the replacement of
nonstandard public characters as one of the goals to attain in a movement
for comprehensive improvement of the business environment. Altogether over
1,100 cases of misused characters were found and corrected. For instance, in
Shènglì (胜利) Walking Street, the administrative committee made three inspec-
tions on the use of characters in the shops along the street, offered advice to 90
shops in which misused characters were found and finally urged the shop-
keepers to make corrections. In 2005, 53 organizations received language evalu-
ation at the municipal level.

3 Features
As the language evaluation programme has been widely promoted, the overall
language environment in the cities has been significantly improved. The prin-
ciple of language evaluation, i.e. “to be constructive, progressive and effective”,
has been firmly implemented. Local governments at all levels have strengthened
their leading role and offered strong support to language management institu-
tions. With practical help from the local governments, great progress can be
seen in the building of language management institutions, the improvement of
the legal system and Putonghua training and tests. Language management has
gone further in promoting the development of both the cities themselves and
the local industries.

3.1 Good preparations and steady jobs

Most cities planned quite early for the evaluation. In 2001, Chónɡqìnɡ started
trial language evaluation. In 2002 Qīnɡdǎo, Nánnínɡ, Chénɡdū, Lánzhōu, Hohhot,
Hánɡzhōu and Nínɡbō started to plan for the evaluation. As for cities like
Guǎnɡzhōu, Guìyánɡ and Xī’ān, they also spent more than two years in the
self-evaluation process. It takes even longer to do the fundamental jobs such
as Putonghua training and tests with supervision and regulation in use of
characters in public.
52 Yú Hónɡ (于虹)

3.2 Integration with other central tasks

The effort to build model cities can significantly promote the language environ-
ment. Most of the cities which reached the language assessment standard inte-
grating the standard use of spoken and written Chinese have brought about a
more civilized city. Some even include it as a basic requirement for a civilized
organization or community. For instance, Nínɡbō started to make corrections
of nonstandard characters in public when it was competing for the title of
“Civilized Model City”. Most cities included the standard language use into their
education administration. In Yínchuān it is even included as a primary indicator
in education management by objectives. In Chónɡqìnɡ improvement of the
language environment was integrated into the preparation for the Asia Pacific
Cities Summit.

3.3 Strengthened leading role of the provincial governments

In Nínɡxià (宁夏) Zhuànɡ (壮) Autonomous Region, the provincial government
leaders were present at the release of the language evaluation results. In Gānsù
(甘肃) province, the provincial government issued a special circular to Lánzhōu
city to propose concrete actions for the work concerning language evaluation. In
Shānxī and Jiānɡxī, the provincial government distributed circulars concerning
the evaluation. In cities like Nánnínɡ, Yínchuān, Chénɡdū, Lánzhōu, Hohhot,
Chónɡqìnɡ, Hánɡzhōu and Nánchānɡ, the municipal government issued circulars
on the evaluation. In Chónɡqìnɡ and Nánchānɡ, special language conferences
were held to work out plans and procedures for the evaluation. In Chénɡdū,
Chóngqìng, Lánzhōu and Chǔxiónɡ, the government included the success in
reaching the language evaluation standard in their annual municipal manage-
ment by objectives in 2005.

3.4 A breakthrough in language management

With the boost from the language evaluation, all the cities attaining the standard
had the language management institutions adjusted and improved. In some
cities, the administrative offices of the language committees were enhanced. In
2005, the language committees in Lánzhōu and Hohhot increased the number
of authorized positions and the personnel department in Nánchānɡ authorized
the establishment of administrative offices of the language commission sub-
ordinate to the department of education. The personnel department of these
cities addressed circulars to the working staff in government offices on Putonghua
 Evaluation of language management in China’s cities 53

training sessions and tests. Training and tests spread quickly after that. In
Qīnɡdǎo, Yínchuān, Chénɡdū, Hohhot and Nínɡbō, a great number of govern-
ment office workers entered for the Putonghua tests. The tests are also commonly
given to employees in the service industries. Under the instructions of the
language committees, organizations directly subordinate to the provincial gov-
ernment departments and colleges directly subordinate to the MOE or the
provincial education department pioneered self-assessment and corrections. In
cities like Nánnínɡ, Yínchuān, Chénɡdū, Lánzhōu, Hohhot, Chónɡqìng, Hánɡ-
zhōu and Nánchānɡ such organizations and colleges will receive the language
assessment on behalf of the cities they are located in. Colleges directly affiliated
to the MOE, including Sìchuān (四川) University, Chónɡqìnɡ University and
Lánzhōu University have made great progress in language work and have been
taking the lead among the local colleges.

4 Problems and drawbacks

Institutional development and the promotion process of the language evaluation
in many cities revealed practical problems in language management. In many
cities, language management institutions have been developed only recently. In
some cities, there are no full-time language management staff members, which
is an indicator of weak language management. In order to attain the evaluation
standard within the shortest time, the evaluation was sometimes rushed to cover
only some model organizations or locations. There is still much to do to attract
the interest and enthusiasm of the organizations and industries previously un-
inspected. And the temporary measures taken for the evaluation need to be
maintained. Work based purely on a one-time evaluation can barely go any
further. Although language evaluation provides a critical opportunity to greatly
enhance language management, it cannot solve the key problems in institu-
tional development, which will impact on the long-term outcome of the lan-
guage evaluation. Besides, a few primary cities have not yet had an evaluation
and there are still too many secondary cities waiting for the launch of the
language evaluation.
Language evaluation promotes the use of standard Chinese characters. The
result of self-evaluation and assessment show that the standard spoken and
written Chinese is of much more significance in the organizations, industries
and locations that have gone through the process of the language evaluation
than in their counterparts which have not been included and where language
management is not on the agenda at all. Putonghua is not in active use in such
 54 Yú Hónɡ (于虹)

Figure 1: Cities mentioned in the article

 Evaluation of language management in China’s cities 55

locations and the misuse and abuse of written characters can be found quite
often.
The more difficult task is how to achieve a balance between the promotion
of standard spoken Chinese and simplified characters and the allowance of
appropriate use of dialects, traditional complex and variant forms of Chinese
characters. Recently, dialect programmes have been on the increase on radio
and television and have posed new challenges in language management. In
Hánɡzhōu, some dialect programmes enthusiastically received by the local
audience are retained while others are cancelled under the guiding principle of
“limiting the total amount and implementing scientific administration”. In
Nánchānɡ, two dialect programmes are cancelled. But problems are still to be
solved on how to communicate with the audience and provide correct and effec-
tive media guidance. In the language evaluation, effective measures for these
problems have not yet been developed. The long-term effective mechanism has
not been established for checking, guiding and controlling the use of Chinese
characters in their traditional complex or variant forms, especially in the hand-
written posters and in registered trademarks. Furthermore foreign languages,
especially English, have found an increasing wide use in various fields. How-
ever, nonstandard or wrong use of English are frequently reported in street
names and traffic signs, which also violates the laws and regulations concerning
language management. In many cities the misuse of English in public has been
corrected through the language evaluation, while in a few other cities it still
remains a problem. It needs further exploration on how to solve the problems
through the progress of language evaluation.

Translated by Léi Hónɡbō (雷洪波)

Shànɡhǎi University
[email protected]
Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华), Chén Mǐn (陈敏),
Wánɡ Cuìyè (王翠叶) & Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生)
4 Language standardization in China
In 1998 the State Language Commission (SLC) was officially merged with the
Ministry of Education (MOE) as a result of institutional reform by the State Council
of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The MOE is part of the State Council
and is in charge of education and language issues. It is responsible for “drawing
up guidelines and policies for national languages, both spoken and written;
making medium and long-term plans for language development; setting and im-
plementing standards for Chinese as well as minority languages; and directing
the promotion and testing of Putonghua”. (General Office of the State Council
1998) In the MOE, two divisions were set up for language management: the Divi-
sion of Language Application Management and the Division of Language Infor-
mation Management. The latter is “to study, evaluate and approve standards
for spoken as well as written languages in China; to formulate standards for
national language information processing; to guide the standardization of char-
acters in local areas; to be responsible for language standardization in ethnic
groups and to guide research on and application of the standards in the infor-
mation processing of minority languages”. (General Office of the State Council
1998) Among the above four functions, the second and fourth have been newly
added.
Since the establishment of the PRC, the Party and the Government have
attached great importance to the formulation of language standards. At present,
more than 130 standards (see Appendix 2 “List of Standards for Language and
Writing Planning [1955–2006]”) have been set down and promulgated. The stan-
dards are set for a wide range of language use in various social domains, such
as language education, news publications, dictionary compilations, information
processing, and so forth. Their implementation has, undoubtedly, facilitated the
standardization and informationization process for both Chinese and minority
languages.

1 Establishing a mechanism
To ensure the success of language standardization, the departments in charge
have made persistent efforts to develop a sustainable mechanism that involves
effective working systems, institutions and research teams.
58 Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨) et al.

1.1 Making regulations

The MOE and the SLC have printed and distributed two documents: “Management
measures of the State Language Commission for language norms (standards)
(2001)” and “Regulations by the Evaluation Committee of language norms (stan-
dards) in the State Language Commission (2001)”. The documents have laid
down specific rules for the research, formulation, evaluation, approval and
release of standards and have set out the responsibilities, structure and working
procedures of the Evaluation Committee. They have helped to ensure that the
formulation of norms and standards or their promulgation is regulation-based,
standardized and methodical. In this way, they aim to guarantee that the norms
and standards themselves are scientifically formulated and authoritative.

1.2 Forming operative institutions

The National Technical Committee of Language Standardization (NTCLS) is pri-
marily responsible for formulating, assessing, approving and publicizing language
standards; engaging in researches into hot language issues in society; and offering
valuable advice on national language planning. In 2004, six sub-committees
of the NTCLS were set up and put into operation. These sub-committees are
for Chinese Pronunciation and Phonetic Alphabet; for Chinese Vocabulary; for
Chinese Grammar and Discourse; for Chinese Characters; for Minority Languages
and for Foreign Language Application.

2 Establishing standards
Language standardization involves such procedures as system development,
standards assessment and approval, the publicizing and promotion of standards
and standards evaluation and authentication.

2.1 Developing and improving the standards system

The formulation of language standards is systematic and scientific. It is, there-
fore, a must to develop and consistently improve a working system so that stan-
dards can be formulated according to the objective laws of language develop-
ment, with overall planning, and done systematically.
 Language standardization in China 59

The working system should cover the application of Chinese and minority
languages in various forms. To be more specific, the system of language standards
encompasses phonological, lexical, grammatical, literary and other aspects of
language. The system of character standards includes pronunciation, form,
amount and order of characters while other systems of standards deal with
alphabet, Chinese pinyin, sign language, semaphore, Braille and lamp signal.

2.2 Improving the mechanism of developing and assessing

standards
The assessment of various systems is of paramount importance since it helps
not only to bring together the work done previously, but also to guarantee that
the standards are properly formulated and practical. The constructed mecha-
nism involves seven procedures:
1. The NTCLS sub-committees draw up working plans.
2. The Research Planning Leading Group in the SLC initiates projects through
public bidding and entrusted parties.
3. Project teams set standards based on opinions solicited from the general
public.
4. NTCLS sub-committees hire experts to assess whether the set standards are
feasible or not. Standards regarded as unfeasible will be sent back to their
respective teams for improvement and modification.
5. The Evaluation Committee for Language Standards of the SLC then approves
the standards accepted by experts either at meetings or by letter.
6. The MOE further examines and approves the standards.
7. The Standardization Administration of the PRC officially announces the
standards.

2.3 Ensuring conformity to the standards

On 1 January, 2001, the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the standard
spoken and written Chinese” (hereinafter referred to as the “Law”) was imple-
mented. Accordingly, on 28 December, 2004, the Certification Centre for Language
Standards of the SLC (abbreviated as the “Certification Centre”) was founded to
better enforce the “Law” and implement the standards. This centre is affiliated
to the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the MOE.
The Certification Centre has been authorized by the government department
in charge of language to ensure conformity of language application to the
approved standards in or on: (1) information technology and products concerning
60 Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨) et al.

Chinese character input and recognition, speech recognition and synthesis,

Chinese character stock, machine translation system, vocabulary stock, and
Chinese learning machines; (2) publications, such as newspapers, magazines,
journals, books and textbooks; package instruction of commodities; internet,
film and television screen, audio-visual products, and E-products; (4) other prod-
ucts involving language. The Certification Centre is also cooperating with relevant
departments to offer consultation and training on language standards for the
general public.

3 Work progress
3.1 “Table of standard Chinese characters”
The “Table of standard Chinese characters” (hereinafter referred to as the Table)
is an essential component of the standards system. To best meet the social needs
of using modern Chinese appropriately, it is supposed to list the form, pronuncia-
tion and meaning of common standard Chinese characters, as well as their total
number and sequence.

3.1.1 Initiating the Table

The research and formulation of the Table has gone through several stages. In
April, 2001, the MOE and the SLC initiated a research project on the Table; In
October, 2002, the research was included as a key program in the tenth five-
year plan for language application research by the Research Planning Leading
Group in the SLC. In January, 2003, the Table programme was listed in main
points of the MOE for 2003. In June of the same year, the Legislative Affairs
Office of the State Council decided that the final version of the Table would be
formally approved and released by the State Council.
Generally speaking, the development of the Table consists of four phases:
making necessary preparations1 → carrying out academic research → soliciting
opinions → submission for approval. At present, the first two phases have been
almost completed. Forthcoming aspects of the work include: 1. A draft version
of the Table, which will be released to solicit opinions from academia and the
public; 2. An academic committee will be organized to examine the submitted

1 Preparations were made to tease out issues with previous standards, make further investi-
gations, and draw up research plans.
 Language standardization in China 61

draft, to submit it to the Research Planning Leading Group for approval, and to
generate the final version; 3. The final version will then be submitted to the Party
Organization in the MOE and the State Council for governmental approval.

3.1.2 Formulating the Table

From May to August in 2002, the Division of Language Information Management

and other relevant bodies held a number of symposia in Jǐnɡɡānɡ Mountain
(井冈山, Jiānɡxī province, 江西省), Héféi (合肥, Ānhuī province, 安徽省),
and Yāntái (烟台, Shāndōnɡ province, 山东省), where discussions concerning
variant characters, simplified characters and printed fonts involved in the Table
were held and opinions were exchanged.
In January, 2003, the Division of Language Information Management began
to collect characters employed in all walks of life through corresponding depart-
ments and units.
On 15 December, 2003, the MOE and the SLC officially organized a leading
group to ensure that the Table formulation met political and policy requirements.
By the end of December, 2003, a preliminary table of characters was com-
pleted. In the meantime, a series of four books on character standardization
were published by the Commercial Press.
From January, 2004 onwards, the leading group has held various meetings to
gather information and opinions from experts, professionals and former leaders in
the SLC, which have greatly facilitated its further research and formulation of
the Table.
In November, 2004, a working group of experts was formed to help improve
the preliminary Table. Since then, five meetings have been held to carry out
modification and improvement. As a result, the first draft was completed.
On 23 November, 2005, a high-level expert advisory session was held for the
Table programme in Běijīnɡ (北京), where significant issues, regarding characters
(e.g., level, amount, form, simplification by analogy, one simple form versus
several complicated forms, table format, and approval procedures) were ad-
dressed and more improvement suggestions were offered.
On 18 April, 2006, the research programme was completed and passed aca-
demic assessment. The Evaluation Committee affirmed the work done by its
group members. In the meantime, they suggested that the draft Table be further
revised with the help of experts, organized by the departments in charge to
guarantee an early release. On 12 June, 2006, an expert committee was organized
to analyze some key, problematic points regarding designing the Table and to find
problem-solving principles or measures, which are expected to help further
62 Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨) et al.

improve the draft. By the end of that year, a ready-to-submit version was
finished and sent for government approval.

3.1.3 Supplementary work

The Table concerns almost all aspects of Chinese characters. To better support
its formulation and completion, the MOE and the SLC have launched supple-
mentary projects, such as investigations into Chinese character searches, their
strokes, radicals, structures, name of components and fonts. In addition, a
multi-functional platform of Chinese character attributes was constructed. The
projects mentioned above are essential since they are either part of the Table
per se or play a fundamental or supplementary role.

3.2 Promoting international standardization of Chinese

characters
Apart from mainland China, Chinese characters are also used in other areas of
the PRC, such as Hong Kong (香港), Macau (澳门), Taiwan (台湾), and in
foreign countries such as Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
However, there are some differences in the characters used in these areas and
countries. In the information age, the differences have, undoubtedly, hindered
information exchange and cultural continuity. Therefore, the study of the inter-
national standardization of Chinese characters is of pressing importance. As
the birthplace of Chinese characters, and the place from which they have been
developed and disseminated far beyond its borders, China is fully justified
in playing a leading role in formulating international standards for Chinese
characters. It is also fitting that China be actively engaged in the promotion
and implementation of their international standardization.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) initiated the research
and establishment of “Information technology—universal multiple-octet coded
character set” (UCS) in 1984, namely, ISO/IEC 10646. This is an international
standard with unified codes for all languages, through which computer systems
can switch between different languages to achieve smooth communication. Its
basic function is to establish a worldwide real-time and barrier-free information
exchange model. Obviously, ISO/IEC 10646 can help to digitize Chinese classics,
to establish digital libraries, to exchange and share Chinese documents on the
Internet, and to promote Chinese civilization around the world.
 Language standardization in China 63

UCS has now begun to take shape. This is a remarkable cooperative achieve-
ment by experts and scholars from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong
and Macau. However, the international standardization and digitization of
Chinese characters still has a long way to go. In order to promote the digital
application of Chinese characters on a large scale, especially those encoded
characters, researchers in the four regions need to further develop their utility.

3.3 Release of “Norms of specifying parts of speech for

modern Chinese information processing” as national
standards
The MOE and the SLC have initiated research and development on “Contem-
porary Chinese Language Word Segmentation Specification for Information
Processing” (abbreviated to Norms) as national standards. The Norms were
jointly issued on 18 September, 2006 by the General Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China and
the National Standardization Committee, and have been implemented since 1
March, 2007.
The Norms can help to specify both parts of speech and tag codes of other
segmentation units in modern Chinese information processing. In this way, they
will provide valuable resources for teachers and researchers in carrying out
in-depth investigations into questions relating to parts of speech in modern
Chinese. It is believed that its release will promote the parts-of-speech tag
standardization and facilitate information exchange and sharing of language
resources.

3.4 Release of the “Universal phonetic symbol set in China”

and “Proficiency levels and testing framework of Chinese
characters”
The universal phonetic symbol set in China has been implemented since 1
August, 2006. It provides a systematic and complete set of phonetic symbols,
not only compatible with those published by the International Phonetic Associa-
tion, but also suitable for recording languages in China. This symbol set can be
employed in paper-form print and publication, multi-media publication, net-
work communication, speech database construction and other areas. It will
play a definite role in the development of phonetics and language information
processing.
64 Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨) et al.

The proficiency levels and testing framework of Chinese characters has been
implemented on a trial basis since 1 February, 2007. It can be used to evaluate
professional qualifications of both pre-service and in-service personnel by all
levels of governmental units, press and publication corporations, educational
institutions, as well as other institutions and businesses. It can also be used to
assess students’ level of proficiency in using Chinese characters. It prescribes
three proficiency levels for the use of Chinese characters and lists 5,500 characters
to be tested. The framework is another major move, following the Putonghua
Proficiency Test, to implement the Law. It will help to raise both Chinese citizens’
awareness of norms and their proficiency level with regard to the national com-
mon language. It will further play a very significant role in improving the social
environment in which Chinese characters are used, and will promote Chinese
culture.

3.5 Progress in standardization of pronunciation of place

names
In February 2006, the MOE, the SLC and the Ministry of Civil Affairs approved
“Guànzhài Shān” as the correct pronunciation of “冠豸山” (located in Fújiàn
province). In the local Putonghua, “豸” is pronounced “zhài”, referring to a
sacred animal of loyalty, justice and honesty. However, “zhì” (gloss: a legless
worm or bug) is the only pronunciation in current Chinese dictionaries, and on
radio and television. The word “冠” (“ɡuàn”) in “冠豸山” is also mispronounced
“ɡuān”.

3.6 Establishment of the Research Centre for Character

Collation and Standardization and the Centre for Character
Font Design and Research
On 29 April, 2005, the Division of Language Information Management established
two research institutions: the Research Centre for Character Collation and Stan-
dardization, in cooperation with Běijīnɡ Normal University, and the Centre for
Character Font Design and Research, in cooperation with Peking University.
Their establishment is the result of a long period of preparation and a joint effort
to strengthen work and research concerning the collection, collation and font
design of characters in ancient and modern Chinese as well as minority lan-
guages, and to better promote the standardization and informationalization of
characters in China.
 Language standardization in China 65

The first centre is expected to make full use of the research strength and
academic resources of Chinese universities; to cooperate with national research
personnel and integrate academic achievements; to carry out multi-level research
and teaching activities; to strengthen the standardization and informationaliza-
tion of characters in China; and to provide better information services for society
in its use of characters. Currently, its major working areas include international
resources group tracking; construction of a comprehensive character set for
languages in China; text database construction and sharing; and development
and use of software for character coinage.
The second centre has been established to study character fonts for languages
in China, including designing fonts and setting up a character stock; to engage
in research on the standardization of fonts and engage in the demonstration,
publicity and promotion of new fonts; and to carry out technical research on
font design and character stock construction. In sum, the centre will strive to
promote the design and standardization research of characters in China by
working together with calligraphers, typeface designers, graphic designers and
professional associations and institutions.

References
General Office of the State Council. 1998. “Circular from General Office of the State Council
on printing and distributing regulations concerning the allocation of functions, interior
institutions, and staffing of the MOE”, [108]. http://www.chinabaike.com/law/zy/xz/bgt/
1335814.html.

Translated by Gāo Xiǎofānɡ (高晓芳)

Central China Normal University
[email protected]
Chén Mǐn (陈敏)
5 Language resource monitoring and
applied research on language

1 Language resource construction

Language is an important resource for human beings. However, we used to
regard it as a problem, whose solution accordingly became the focus of work.
Taking language as an important cultural or even economic resource means
that the language resource needs to be protected, cultivated, developed and
exploited. In 2005 and 2006, achievements in language resource construction
included enhancing various language databases, integrating language resources
and establishing a nationwide joint construction and sharing system, hence lay-
ing a solid basis for Chinese language information processing, formulation of
language standards and norms, monitoring and guiding of language use in
society, applied linguistic study, etc.

1.1 China Character Set and Chinese Character Attribute Bank

The China Character Set aims to encompass all the characters (ancient and
modern ones including those of ethnic minorities) and symbols bearing Chinese
cultural information. Technological advances in storage, input, output and
retrieval of the set will foster the digitalization of ancient books and records in
Chinese as well as the establishment of digital libraries and museums.
Chinese Character Attribute Bank is a multifunctional platform providing
information about the attributes of Chinese characters containing traditional and
modern ones used domestically and overseas. It will benefit basic education,
journalism, editing and publishing of ancient writings and contribute to the
national and international standardization of Chinese characters.

1.2 Modern Chinese Corpus

The Modern Chinese Corpus is a state-level large-scale general corpus compiled
by the State Language Commission (SLC), which seeks to help promote language
information processing, formulation of language norms, language research,
language education and language use in social life. The corpus, distinguished
by its reliable data and accurate annotation, contains approximately 100 million
68 Chén Mǐn (陈敏)

characters, with its core part comprising 20 million. It meets the leading inter-
national standard in Chinese corpus design and research. Moreover, due to the
reasonable time span and sampling as well as well-balanced data selection, the
corpus offers a comprehensive picture of modern Chinese.

1.3 Oral Corpus of Putonghua Training and Testing

Composed of the Oral Corpus of Nonstandard Putonghua, the Oral Corpus of
Standard Putonghua and so forth, the Oral Corpus of Putonghua Training and
Testing involves sampling, processing and editing of language data collected
during Putonghua training and testing. In addition to this, the Corpus of Local
Putonghua has also been funded. These language databases are not only signifi-
cant in stimulating the development of Putonghua training and testing, but also
in popularizing Putonghua nationwide and contributing to language work as a
whole.

1.4 Information networks and e-governance platform

With the rapid development of information technology throughout the world,
e-governance is playing a pivotal role in advancing national economic and
social information services. Conforming to this trend, the Ministry of Education
(MOE) and the SLC have spared no pains to promote the construction of com-
puter networks concerning language work and application of information tech-
nology to administration.
By 31 December, 2005, departments in charge of language work at both state
and local levels had launched 101 interconnected websites, among which there
are three leading ones run respectively by the SLC, the Division of Language
Application Management and the Division of Language Information Manage-
ment of the MOE, complemented by 98 local websites. The informationization of
language work administration began to take shape. In addition, the SLC’s website
mentioned above is also linked with 53 language-work-related websites run by
various schools and universities, 61 language-research-oriented websites and a
number of domestic and overseas websites devoted to publishing, journalism
and language research. The main functions of the network are as follows: publi-
cizing the state guidelines and policies concerning language work, supplying
consulting services and related information to the public, offering distance edu-
cation which includes online Putonghua training and testing as well as language
proficiency testing, applying information technology to the administration of
language work and research, providing a platform for disseminating language
 Language resource monitoring and applied research on language 69

standards and a channel for seeking public advice and discussing language-
related problems, and building bridges between domestic and overseas academics.

2 Language resource monitoring

As an important informational, cultural and state resource, the language
resource changes with the development of society, which makes it a necessity
to carry out dynamic statistical analysis of the language situation in society
and provide a long-term monitoring and guiding mechanism in order to ensure
better cultivation and exploitation of the language resource.

2.1 Establishing State Language Resource Monitoring and

Research Centre
The State Language Resource Monitoring and Research Centre (hereafter referred
to as the Centre) is managed jointly by the Division of Language Information
Management of the MOE and relevant ministries, commissions and universities.
Currently, the Centre has five branches − the Print Media Language Branch in
Běijīnɡ (北京) Language and Culture University, the Broadcast Media Language
Branch in Communication University of China, the Network Media Language
Branch in Central China Normal University, the Education and Textbook Branch
in Xiàmén (厦门) University and the Overseas Chinese Language Branch in
Jìnán (暨南) University. Employing modern information processing technology,
the Centre aims to conduct statistical study of modern Chinese while monitor-
ing, analysing and exploring new language phenomena and language varieties.
The research findings will be published regularly so as to provide reference lan-
guage material for the government to frame language policies and expert know-
ledge for the public as regards how to use language correctly, hence contributing
to the harmonious development of the social life of language.

2.2 Conducting investigation into language use in media

Based on the investigation into language use in print, audio and network media,
the Centre published The Language Situation in China: 2005 (2nd volume), which
was issued to the press in the MOE on 22 May, 2006. The data for analysis
covered 15 online newspapers, 87 programs of 13 TV stations, 57 programs of
8 radio stations and news webpages on 6 influential websites. Altogether it
70 Chén Mǐn (陈敏)

contained 892,034 documents, 909,429,700 tokens (punctuation included) and

732,143,010 tokens (Chinese characters only). The research explored the use of
Chinese characters, words, punctuation and symbols. For the first two, it was
concerned with occurrence, frequency, cumulative frequency and distribution;
for the latter two, it examined frequency, distribution and coverage. Meanwhile,
a survey of BBS language use was also undertaken, with the data (601,336 docu-
ments and 176,574,655 tokens, punctuation included) containing all the web-
pages on BBS websites of 7 Chinese universities in 2005.

3 Applied research on language

In 2002, the Division of Language Information Management of the MOE granted
109 applications for the SLC 10th Five-Year language research programme, with
93 funded and 16 self-financed, among which there were 2 key projects, 16 major
ones, and 27 ones exploring language-related standards.
In order to accommodate to new situations in language work and standards
formulation, another ten-odd projects were granted in 2005, such as The Lan-
guage Situation in China: 2005, Feasibility Study of Chinese Proficiency Assessment,
Report on Language Use Concerning 2008 Olympic Games, Acoustic Standards
of Putonghua, Research on Gauging Putonghua Pronunciation and Construction
of Pronunciation Database, Research on Grammatical and Textual Standards of
Textbooks Used in Basic Education, Architecture of Chinese Information Process-
ing, etc.
The massive funding was unprecedented in the language work history,
which showed the state’s great concern with the applied research on language
and formulation of language standards in the new century.

3.1 Annotated balanced corpus of modern Chinese

This is a key project funded by the SLC 10th Five-Year language research pro-
gramme. The resulting Modern Chinese Corpus is by far the world’s largest
deep-processed balanced Chinese corpus. Adopting a well-constructed gram-
matical system, the 1-million-character treebank is accurately annotated. Four
operation norms established during the process will be valuable sources of
reference in formulating relevant national standards. Reaching an advanced
level, the corpus and software developed for treebank processing, retrieval,
calculating and management are fully functional and user-friendly. The anno-
tated core part comprising 20 million characters has been put on the Chinese
Language Website which provides the free inquiry service for the public.
 Language resource monitoring and applied research on language 71

3.2 Information system of national Putonghua proficiency

test management
The system is a sub-topic of Research on Putonghua Proficiency Test, a major
project of the SLC 10th Five-Year language research programme. According with
Putonghua Proficiency Test Regulations and Putonghua Proficiency Test Procedures,
the system is multifunctional with an easy-to-use and comfortable interface.
Its application will solve various problems concerning efficiency, uniformity,
inquiry, quality control, statistical analysis, information feedback, etc in the
Putonghua test and also benefit the standardization and informationization of
the test management nationwide. The evaluation committee concluded that the
design of the system has achieved the advanced level of similar domestic projects
and recommended that it should be improved by incorporating experts’ ideas
and suggestions during the trial run so as to play a more significant role in the
national Putonghua proficiency test management.

3.3 Application of smart-speech-technology-aided Putonghua

learning
It is a major project of the SLC 10th Five-Year language research programme,
undertaken by the company of Ānhuī (安徽) iFlytek affiliated to the University
of Science and Technology of China. The achievements are as follows: building
the Corpus of Standard Putonghua and the Corpus of Nonstandard Putonghua in
Certain Dialect Areas as well as establishing rules and knowledge base appropriate
to Putonghua testing and learning; building a standard acoustic model which
can correctly describe the standard Putonghua, measure various non-standard
acoustic deviations of nonstandard Putonghua and avoid the effects of different
timbres on the measurement results through self-adapting techniques; putting
forward prosodic modelling theory based on continuous speech flow and L1-
Tone Model, which can evaluate the tone of monosyllables and one-character
words accurately and the tone and intonation of speech flow fairly well; improv-
ing the posteriori-probability-based sound evaluation algorithm, rendering the
results more accurate and conforming better to the evaluation norms of Putong-
hua proficiency test; establishing an objective to subjective non-linear mapping
model which converts acoustic deviations measured by the standard acoustic
model into scores and grades required by Putonghua Proficiency Test Outline;
designing texts more suitable for test takers and helping them correct their pro-
nunciation errors through interactive and feedback training with the system. The
project will encourage the application of smart sound technology to Putonghua
learning and testing, reduce the workload of manual testing and training,
72 Chén Mǐn (陈敏)

improve efficiency, hence promoting the modernization of Putonghua learning

and testing. The research results are valued as “major technological innova-
tions” in the history of popularizing Putonghua.

3.4 Chinese Character Usage Ability Assessment Standards

It is the result of Research on Chinese Character Usage Ability Assessment, a
major project of the SLC 10th Five-Year language research programme. Establish-
ing a standard system of Chinese character usage ability assessment, the project
plays a guiding role in helping people improve their use of the national common
language. The use of item response theory which is scientific and practical
reflects the international trend of educational measurement. The achievements
of the project prove to be reasonable and feasible through validation tests of
appropriate samples.

4 Publishing Green Book on The Language

Situation in China
The Green Book on the Language Situation in China comprises two series. Series
A establishes “soft” quasi-standards. Language use, which is flexible, is difficult
to regulate. Consequently, a pilot trial process is often needed in order that the
standards can be gradually established. Taking this into account, Series A aims
to play a regulatory role by issuing soft norms while leaving enough room for
flexibility. The forthcoming Series A includes Word List for Chinese Word
Segmentation in Information Processing, List of Common Words in Putonghua,
etc. Concerned with the exploration of the language situation in China, Series B
seeks to guide the society by releasing language data deriving from real life and
serve as reference for the government, linguistic researchers and other relevant
people. It also provides a platform for the Centre to publish research results. The
forthcoming Series B contains Report on National Language Conditions in China,
the Character Set of Chinese Ethnic Minorities’ Writing Systems, The Language
Situation in China: 2005, etc.
On 22 May, 2006, the MOE held the 11th press conference of the year in
Běijīnɡ, releasing the Report on the Language Situation in China: 2005. It was
the first time for the MOE and the SLC to release such an annual report on the
language situation to the public. Mr. Zhào Qìnpínɡ (赵沁平), vice Minister
of MOE and director of the SLC, pointed out that it is an important task for a
modern state to be concerned with the language situation and language life
which is also an important part of social life. With the rapid development of
 Language resource monitoring and applied research on language 73

society and information technology, it is necessary to establish a long-term

mechanism for monitoring and guiding language use, which can supply com-
prehensive up-to-date information about the language situation. Dedicated to
the study of overseas Chinese and exploration of language use in print media,
broadcast media, network media and education, the Centre and its branches
were set up in succession by the MOE and the SLC together with other ministries
and universities. In addition, the research team was organized for the project
The Language Situation in China which presents annual reports on the language
situation and hot issues. The Language Situation in China: 2005 is the first
volume of the Green Book on the Language Situation in China.

Translated by Guō Sōnɡ (郭松)

Tiānjīn University of Commerce
[email protected]
Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波) & Zōu Yùhuá (邹玉华)
6 The status of the language in the press
and publishing1
The state of the Chinese language in the press and publishing mainly refers to
language use in publications, and this includes books (with the exception of
ancient and literary texts), newspapers, periodicals, audio-visual products, and
electronic publications.

1 Overview
Ranging from traditional books, newspapers, periodicals, and audio-visual prod-
ucts to trendy e-books and online games, publications have virtually become
basic necessities of life.
According to the latest “Development Report on China’s Publishing Industry”,
traditional books, newspapers, and periodicals continue to grow steadily. Mean-
while, the growth of emerging audio-visual products and electronic publications
is also increasing rapidly, with Internet publications developing at an amazing
speed (GAPP 2006).
In 2004, there were 573 publishing houses in China, publishing 208,294
titles (121,597 new and 86,697 republished and reprinted), totalling 6.413 billion
copies. 1,922 different newspapers were printed, totalling 40.24 billion copies.
In the same year, 9,490 titles of periodicals were also published, totalling 2.835
billion copies.
In the same year, there were 320 audio-visual publishers in China, bringing
out 34,323 titles of audio-visual publications (15,406 audio and 18,917 visual),
totalling 568 million units. There were also 162 electronic presses, publishing
6,081 titles, totalling 147.8866 million units. The revenue of the Internet publish-
ing sector for the year hit 5 billion yuan.
Languages used in publications are diverse. In addition to the Chinese
language, more than twenty minority languages and dozens of foreign ones are
also used.
There are a total of 37 presses which publish books in minority languages,
accounting for 6.6% of the publishing houses in China. Of these, 31 specialize in

1 Relevant materials are provided by Hónɡ Yǒnɡ (洪勇) of the book department at the General
Administration of Press and Publication (the GAPP).
76 Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波) & Zōu Yùhuá (邹玉华)

publishing in minority languages, which include Mongolian (蒙古文), Tibetan

(藏文), Uygur (维吾尔文), Kazak (哈萨克文), Korean (朝鲜文), Yí (彝文),
Zhuànɡ (壮文), Xibe (锡伯文), Kirgiz (柯尔克孜文), Xīshuānɡbǎnnà Dǎi (西双
版纳傣文), Déhónɡ Dǎi (德宏傣文), Jǐnɡpō (景颇文), Lìsù (傈僳文), Wǎ
(佤文), Lāhù (拉祜文), Hāní (哈尼文), Miáo (苗文) (4 varieties), Nàxī (纳西文),
Bái (白文), Buyei (布依文), Dònɡ (侗文), and Manchu (满文).
Foreign language books are published in English, French, Russian, German,
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese,
Laotian, Cambodian, Indonesian, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, Arabic, Persian,
Swahili, Hausa, Mongolian, Romanian, and Esperanto.

2 New measures
It is a top priority for the administrative departments of the press and publica-
tions to ensure the quality of publications, primarily the quality of language
use, so as to provide acceptable products for readers. For that reason, 2005
saw the “Administrative Provisions on Book Quality” revised, and “Provisional
Administrative Provisions on Newspaper Publishing” and the “Administrative
Standards on Newspaper Quality (For Trial Implementation)” introduced. Sub-
sequently, special inspections of the quality of publications were carried out,
with a focus on the quality of proofreading in both children’s books and evening
newspapers.

2.1 Revising “Administrative Provisions on Book Quality”

On 1 March, 2005, the General Administration of Press and Publication (the
GAPP) promulgated the revised version of the “Administrative Provisions on
Book Quality”. In comparison with the previous version issued in 1997, the
new provisions include major amendments to highlight content simplification,
emphasise operability and clarify the legal basis. It is noteworthy that in the
appendix of “Error Ratio Calculation in Editing and Proofreading of Books”, the
current version tackles the controversial standards on error calculation provided
in the previous version as well as the problem of publishing substandard books.
The new provisions regard standard language use as an important indicator of
the quality of editing and proofreading of books.
 The status of the language in the press and publishing 77

2.1.1 Establishing consistent standards for error calculation

1. Revising excessively severe standards. According to the previous version,

each error would be counted individually. However, according to the new
standards, a mistake would be penalised once. If the same mistake then
appears again, regardless of the amount of times, it would only be counted
as one additional mistake.
2. Revising imprecise standards. The previous version provides a fuzzy classifi-
cation of errors into those concerning knowledge, grammar, logic, science
and technology, and political stance. According to these standards, two
or three points will be deducted for each error depending on the specific
category to which it belongs. In the new version, the errors are divided into
three types related to knowledge, grammar and logic. Every error makes
results in the uniform deduction of two points regardless of which category
the error is made in.
3. Revising inconsistent standards. In the previous version, errors in punctua-
tion and format are classified at three levels, with deductions of 0.25, 0.5
and 1.0 applied respectively. In the revised version, every error in punctua-
tion or format error means that 0.1 point will be deducted.

2.1.2 Establishing a recall system for substandard books

In the previous version, there are no provisions for recalling substandard books
and punishing relevant publishers. The 17th article of the revised version states
clearly that if the error ratio of a book is between 0.1‰ and 0.5‰, it should be
recalled within thirty days of the announcement of the inspection result and
can only come onto the market again when revised and reprinted. If the error
ratio of a book is above 0.5‰, it should be recalled within thirty days of the
announcement. The 18th article stipulates that substandard books with printing
problems should be recalled and replaced.

2.2 Developing error ratio calculation software for assessing

the quality of editing and proofreading
On 6 and 7 April, the GAPP held a technical evaluation meeting on the error
ratio calculation software for assessing editing and proofreading quality. After
the presentation and discussions, the evaluation committee unanimously approved
78 Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波) & Zōu Yùhuá (邹玉华)

the software, stating that it met the leading international standards of similar
programmes.
The software can perform various functions such as automatic searches,
calculation of errors and error ratios, word counts, and producing diagrams
and tables of results. Furthermore, the software has been used for initial
research on error classification and error ratio calculation in China, using a 20-
billion-character Chinese corpus which includes materials from ten branches
of the natural and social sciences. Its design conforms to the requirements of
“Error Ratio Calculation Methods Concerning Editing and Proofreading Quality”.
Application of the software will improve editing and proofreading techniques
and will make a great contribution to the quality of publishing as a whole.

2.3 Implementing special inspections of children’s books

In late March, 2005, the GAPP issued a “Notice Regarding the Implementation of
Special Inspections of Children’s Books”, which aimed at books published in 2004
(based on information on copyright pages). A total of 721 books were inspected,
which were published by 185 presses under the control of 30 provinces, autono-
mous regions and municipalities, as well as relevant ministries and central com-
missions. (Tibet was excluded, for no children’s books were published there).
The results showed that 635 books were acceptable, accounting for 88.1% of
the total, while 86 books were not, accounting for 11.9% of the total (GAPP
2005).
Judging from the inspection result, the overall situation was satisfactory in
the field of children’s book publishing, with a number of high-quality books
winning unanimous praise from experts. Thirteen presses in Běijīnɡ were in-
spected. The error ratios of books published by the Zhāohuā (朝花) Juvenile &
Children’s Publishing House and Dolphin Books were below 0.1‰. The error
ratios were zero in: Bānpǔ Xiānshēnɡ de Yízhǔ (The Legal Will of Mr. Banpu)
published by the China Juvenile & Children’s Publishing House; Mighty hé Tā
de Pénɡyǒumen (Mighty and His Friends) published by the Foreign Language
Teaching and Research Press; Nézhā Chuánqí Chuànshāo (The Legend of Nézhā)
published by the Posts and Telecom Press; and Yìzhì Xùnliàn Dà Mígōnɡ (Mental
Training) published by the Publishing House of Electronics Industry. A book
series entitled Quán Shìjiè Hǎizi Dōu Xǐhuan de 100 Gè Tónɡhuà (100 Fairy Tales
Loved by All the Children in the World) by the People’s Literature Publishing
House was also recognised for its superior overall quality.
Of course, some of the children’s books inspected were of poor quality. The
inspection revealed that error ratios of 86 books published by the Fújiàn (福建)
 The status of the language in the press and publishing 79

Fine Arts Publishing House and the China Peace Publishing House were over
0.1‰. Error ratios of 8 books were over 0.3‰, which included: Zhǐ shànɡ Dònɡ-
wùyuán (Paper Zoo) published by the Fújiàn Fine Arts Publishing House; Kàn
Zhe Wǒmen de Biǎoqínɡ (Look at Our Expressions) published by the Shànɡhǎi
(上海) Education Publishing House; Bǎnɡyànɡ (Models) published by the Nínɡxià
(宁夏) People’s Publishing House; Dà Luózi yǔ Xiǎo Máolǘ (The Big Mule and
The Little Donkey) published by the Nínɡxià Juvenile & Children’s Publishing
House; Bàba Tónɡnián de Gùshì (Stories about Dad’s Childhood) published by
the China Peace Publishing House; Tánɡkè Yī Běn Dú Tiānxià (Knowing the World
in One Book) published by the China Social Sciences Press; Shíwàn Gè Zěnmebàn
(A Hundred Thousand How-to-do’s) published by the Dōnɡhuá (东华) University
Press; and Dònɡwù Zǒnɡ Dònɡyuán (Animal Story) published by the Lánzhōu
(兰州) University Press. On 21 October, 2005, the GAPP published the list of the
86 substandard books in the China Press and Publication News and penalized
the publishers involved, in accordance with the “Regulations on the Administra-
tion of Publication and Administrative Provisions on Book Quality”.

2.4 Implementing special inspections of evening newspapers

In the second half of 2005, the GAPP issued the “Administrative Provisions on
Newspaper Publishing and Administrative Standards on Newspaper Quality (for
Trial Implementation)”. This ordinance made major changes to the “Provisional
Administrative Provisions on Newspaper Publishing”, with provisions for inspec-
tion of newspapers added. In September, the Department of Periodicals of the
GAPP commissioned the Association of China Journalists to conduct a compre-
hensive inspection of the quality of 39 provincial-level and provincial capital-
level evening newspapers, which included both well-established evening news-
papers, such as the Xīnmín (新民) Evening News (of Shànɡhǎi) and others that
were formally party organs, such as the Zhènɡzhōu (郑州) Evening News. As
key members of the 149 evening newspapers nationwide, these 39 papers were
indicative of the overall situation of evening papers in China. By using a method
of random selection, it was decided to inspect newspapers published on 26
March and 2 April, with all pages to be included in the inspection. The inspec-
tion covered such aspects as content, editing and proofreading, design, printing,
and advertising. Here editing and proofreading mainly focused on language use.
It was the first time newspapers had been inspected since the promulgation of
the new regulations.
Results showed that many evening newspapers were of high quality, such
as the Xīn (新) Evening News (of Harbin, ‘哈尔滨’), the Fúzhōu (福州) Evening
80 Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波) & Zōu Yùhuá (邹玉华)

News and the Chánɡshā (长沙) Evening News. For each of these papers, both
issues inspected were among the top five in terms of overall quality, with low
error ratios. By contrast, there were also a number of papers which had prob-
lems in all the areas inspected, and three had excessively high error ratios in
editing and proofreading.

3 Problems and suggestions

3.1 Problems
In the special inspections of children’s books and evening newspapers, the
problems concerning language use were as follows:

3.1.1 Incorrectly written characters

At present, it is quite common to find incorrectly written characters in publica-

tions. The error ratio was particularly high in Tángkè Yī Běn Dú Tiānxià (Knowing
the World in One Book) published by the China Social Sciences Press. Examples
of mistakes include: 海蜇 (hǎizhé, ‘jellyfish’) printed as 海蛰 (hǎizhé, meaning-
less), 油罐 (yóuɡuàn, ‘oil tank’) printed as 油灌 (yóuɡuàn, meaningless), and
坐马车 (zuò mǎchē, ‘travel by carriage’) printed as 做马车 (zuò mǎchē, ‘make
a carriage’). These amounted to a total of 20 mistakes. In some evening news-
papers, 登录 (dēnɡlù, ‘log on’) was printed as 登陆 (dēnɡlù, ‘to land’), 托运
(tuōyùn, ‘consign for transportation’) printed as 拖运 (tuōyùn, ‘tug and transfer’),
允许 (yúnxǔ, ‘allow’) printed as 充许 (chōnɡxǔ, meaningless), and 中坚力量
(zhōnɡjiān lìliànɡ, ‘core forces’) printed as 中间力量 (zhōnɡjiān lìliànɡ, ‘middle-
of-the-road forces’).

3.1.2 Misused words

When people misuse words with similar spellings, pronunciation and meanings,
we assume that they cannot distinguish one meaning from another. In Bàba
Tóngnián de Gùshì (Stories about Dad’s Childhood) published by the China Peace
Publishing House, 哪 (nǎ, ‘where’), 那 (nà, ‘there’); and 的 (de, typically used
with an adjective phrase), 地 (de, typically used with an adverb phrase), and
得 (de, typically used between a verb or adjective and its complement) are used
 The status of the language in the press and publishing 81

interchangeably, with an error ratio reaching 0.322‰. In some evening news-

papers, 诞辰 (dànchén, ‘birthday of a respected or senior person’) and 诞生
(dànshēnɡ, ‘be born’) are confused. Internet terms are also used excessively
and improperly, such as: GF (shortened form of girlfriend); LG (shortened form
of lǎogōnɡ, ‘husband’); 酱紫 ( jiànɡzǐ sounding like zhèyànɡzi, ‘like this’); and
偶 (ǒu which is used in dialect, ‘I’). Abbreviated words are also used randomly,
such as “男 (nán, ‘male’) 未 (wèi, ‘not’) 68” in lonely hearts advertisements
meaning “male, not married, born in 1968”.

3.1.3 Grammatical problems

Sentences with obscure structures are also widespread in publications. In the

26 March issue of a newspaper, “哺乳期禁忌的食物” (bǔrǔqī jìnjì de shíwù;
“Food to avoid during lactation period” was written as “哺乳期禁忌食物”
(bǔrǔqī jìnjì shíwù, which may also mean “avoid food during lactation period”).
The omission of a word changes the meaning completely.

3.1.4 Problems concerning punctuation

The ratio for punctuation errors is relatively high. An obvious example is the use
of quotation marks, which are applied inappropriately in names of restaurants,
conferences, exhibitions and products. There are also problems with the use of
Chinese slight-pause marks (、) and semicolons, with the latter frequently used
between simple sentences. In some articles, commas are used consecutively
until the sentence ends with a full stop, which means sentences are incoherent.
Furthermore, ordinal numbers such as “1”, “2” and “3” should be followed by a
dot rather than a slight-pause mark.

3.1.5 Problems concerning numbers

It is an urgent task to correct mistakes in the use of numbers. For instance, 98

nián (‘the year 98’) should be written as 1998 nián (‘the year 1998’) which can
be shortened as “’98” rather than “’98 nián” (‘the year of ‘98’). In some publica-
tions, Arabic numerals are employed in places where Chinese characters should
be used. Sometimes in the same article or even the same paragraph, Chinese
and Arabic numerals are used interchangeably with a lack of consistency.
82 Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波) & Zōu Yùhuá (邹玉华)

3.1.6 Problems concerning phonetic notations

Chinese phonetic symbols (pinyin) are frequently employed in children’s books.

Errors concerning these symbols are easily recognised, especially errors in the
notation of tones, which account for one third of the total mistakes. One such
example can be found in Yín Baby De Tónghuà (Fairy Tales of Baby Silver) in
which there are many pinyin mistakes. In addition, mistakes concerning the
phonetic transcription and stress are also common in English books.

3.1.7 Problems concerning units of measure

Some publications confuse old and new units of measure, such as metric and
traditional Chinese systems. For example mistakes are often made with 公里
( ɡōnɡlǐ, ‘kilometer’) and 里 (lǐ, ‘500 meters’); and 公斤 ( ɡōnɡjīn, ‘kilogram’)
and 斤 ( jīn, ‘500 grams’). Random abbreviation is also common, with 平方米
( pínɡfānɡmǐ, ‘square metre’) shortened to 平方 ( pínɡfānɡ, ‘square’) or even
方 ( fānɡ, meaningless) which actually stands for ‘cubic metre’. In addition,
some evening newspapers use cm (the abbreviated form of centimetre) and mm
(the shortened abbreviated form of millimetre) in capital letters as CM and MM.

3.1.8 Problems concerning translation

Inconsistent translation of place names and human names is a problem in many

children’s English-Chinese books. In one book series, “uncle” and “nephew” are
translated as “jiùjiu” (‘mother’s brother’) and “wàishenɡ” (‘sister’s son’) in the
first few volumes while they are translated as “shūshu” (‘father’s younger
brother’) and “zhí’er” (‘brother’s son’) in the rest of the series.

3.1.9 Problems concerning information

In children’s books there are abundant picture flashcards, which sometimes pro-
vide inaccurate information. For example, although lions live in sandy grass-
land, in one series of children’s books their habitat is depicted as a forest.

3.1.10 Problems concerning style

After many years of concerted effort, fallacious, exaggerated and essentially

meaningless articles are rarely found in today’s evening newspapers. However,
another form of vacuous, overly rigid, formulaic writing has appeared at times.
 The status of the language in the press and publishing 83

3.2 Suggestions

3.2.1 Changing outdated ideas and enhancing awareness of language

standardization

The resolution of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Party’s 14th Central Committee
states that “the news media and publications should set a good example to the
whole society on the proper use of languages”. This not only demonstrates the
close relationships between news media and publications and work on lan-
guage, but also emphasizes that people involved in the press and publishing
should play an exemplary role.
Work on language is related to national unification and unity, social progress
and international exchange. An awareness of language standardization is the
epitome of consciousness of sovereignty, modernization and civilization. In this
sense, the language issue is no trivial matter and is, in fact, closely linked to the
country’s image.

3.2.2 Improve professional training and strengthen employees’ language

ability

For various reasons, many editors and reporters do not receive rigorous voca-
tional training before recruitment. Furthermore, due to personnel reform, many
contractors and a number of editors and reporters enter the field lacking a sense
of ownership, pride or responsibility for the profession they are engaged in.
Errors in language use and knowledge production are often committed due to
employees’ lack of basic skills and comprehensive knowledge, or lack of famil-
iarity with language norms and standards.
Therefore, it is imperative to promote the vocational training of employees
who should adopt the idea of lifelong learning, master modern editing tech-
niques, familiarise themselves with relevant language norms and standards,
update their knowledge, and improve their ability to use language properly.

3.2.3 Tightening supervision and improving the quality of the editing and
proofreading of publications

In the era of the market economy, some editors and reporters prioritize profits
instead of spreading advanced culture and developing intellectual products.
The reasons for the decline in the quality of publications are manifold: a lack
84 Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波) & Zōu Yùhuá (邹玉华)

of long-term mechanisms for daily management in some newspaper companies

and publishing houses; failing to enforce the policy of “triple review and proof-
reading”; imposing an excessive workload on editors; and not providing profes-
sional support.
It is suggested that newspaper companies and publishing houses should
establish a quality control system for publications. They should also elaborate
and optimise regulations concerning editing, typesetting and proofreading, and
implement management by objectives and quantitative evaluation. Meanwhile,
individuals or social groups can be invited to evaluate publications so as to
help promote the quality control processes and the quality of editing and proof-
reading of publications.

3.2.4 Encouraging research into language use in the media and solving
practical problems in editing and proofreading

Research into language use in the media started late in China, with many problems
still unsolved. While benefiting the editors and reporters, modern technology also
causes new problems: it is difficult to detect errors in an electronic version;
missing words, typographic errors, and corrupted characters occur due to the
incompatibility between fonts on different platforms; and the electronic version
and the paper copy may not be exactly the same, causing inconveniences in lan-
guage digitalization.
We need to strengthen research work in order to resolve language problems
concerning editing and proofreading. Correction and prevention of errors are
both important, but the latter should be prioritized.

References
GAPP (website). 2006. http://www.gapp.gov.cn/cms/html/21/374/200603/446200.html.
GAPP. 2005. “Notice Regarding the Implementation of Special Inspections of Children’s Books”,
China Press and Publication Newspaper. October 21.

Translated by Guō Sōnɡ (郭松)

Tiānjīn University of Commerce
[email protected]
Sī Hónɡxiá (司红霞) & Lǐ Xiǎohuá (李晓华)
7 Use of language in radio and television
broadcasting1

1 Overview
Radio and television language in this chapter refers to the language used in
radio and television programs, including that used by announcers and hosts or
hostesses, that used in commentaries, and that displayed in captions or subtitles.

1.1 Broadcasting institutions

Statistics show that by the end of 2005 the number of China’s broadcasting insti-
tutions had reached 2,557, including 273 radio stations, 302 television stations,
1,932 radio-television stations (SARFT 2006: 38–47) and 50 educational televi-
sion stations (Zhōu 2006). These were broadcast through 2,416 radio channels
and 1,227 television channels. Annual radio broadcasting amounted to 10.19
million hours and television broadcasting to 12.83 million hours, an increase of
3.7% and 16.3% over 2004 respectively. Radio and television coverage among
the domestic population had grown to 94.48% and 95.81% respectively; 0.43%
and 0.52% higher than 2004. In 2005, 976 television dramas totaling 15,801 epi-
sodes and 100 television cartoons totaling 3,555 episodes were produced (SARFT
2006: 32).
By the end of 2005, radio and television broadcasting employed 531,074
people, including 22,736 announcers and hosts or hostesses. Up to 2006, 32 over-
seas satellite television channels were approved for installation in institutions
such as hotels of three or more stars, authorized to receive foreign guests
(SARFT 2007).
In the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, there were 2 terrestial tele-
vision companies, with 4 channels broadcasting nearly 20,000 hours of pro-
gramming in 2004. There were also 5 cable and pay-television corporations and

1 Mr. Bào Jīnhǔ (鲍金虎) from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television Law
Department supplied quantities of law material, Ms. Chén Zhōnɡ (陈忠) from the Chief Editor’s
Office of China Central Television (CCTV) supplied extensive data, Ms. Lǐ Yù (李煜) from the
Radio and Television Research Centre of Communication University of China (CUC) supplied
yearbooks and various magazines, while Mr. Luó Jiànpínɡ (罗建平) of CUC’s China Radio and
Television Yearbook Office supplied relevant yearbooks for the writing of the present paper.
86 Sī Hónɡxiá (司红霞) & Lǐ Xiǎohuá (李晓华)

3 radio stations, producing more than 50,000 hours of programs annually. In the
Macao Special Administrative Region, there are 2 radio stations, one television
station and one cable television company.
In Taiwan, there are tens of television stations with over a dozen news
channels and more than 170 radio stations. By the end of 2002, 64 cable televi-
sion companies had been awarded operating licences (Zhào 2005).

2 Research institutions
The Sociolinguistics and Media Language Research Office in the Ministry of
Education (MOE)’s Institute of Applied Linguistics incorporates the Radio and
Television Language Research Centre. The centre integrates resources related
to radio and television broadcasting, and language use, and is involved in:
research, cultivation of technical and professional talents, academic exchanges,
surveys of media language use, and radio and television program production.
On 15 September, 2005, the Broadcast Media Language Branch of the National
Language Resources Monitoring and Research Centre, was co-founded by the
MOE’s Division of Language Information Management, the Editor General’s
Office of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), and
the Communication University of China. Based in the Communication University,
the centre specializes in monitoring and researching the use of language in
broadcast media, as well as collecting, collating and processing broadcast
language resources. It will also construct a Putonghua corpus of contemporary
Chinese used in broadcast media. This will help to acquire data and set parameters
for language research, language standard research, language standard setting,
and language policy modifications. Furthermore, it will also monitor and
describe language use in broadcast media, and publish its findings. The centre
will also provide consultation for relevant governmental agencies for the setting
of standards and norms.
At present, the National Language Resources Monitoring and Research
Centre, Broadcast Media Language Branch has completed the first phase of
construction of the broadcasting media language corpus, which now holds 81
million characters of television and radio texts; 66 million and 15 million char-
acters respectively. All texts have been automatically annotated, and 3.5 million
characters have been human proof-read. The corpus has also collected 1,260
hours of audio-visual material, including 850 hours of television programs and
410 hours of radio programs, 11 hours of which has already been annotated.
 Use of language in radio and television broadcasting 87

2.1 Important measures

On 23 November, 2004, the SARFT issued the Professional Ethical Norms for
China Radio and Television Announcers and Hosts (hereafter referred to as
Norms), which stressed that broadcasting announcers and hosts or hostesses
should make a conscientious contribution to the promotion of the use of Putong-
hua and the standard use of both spoken and written language. In this way, they
should set an example for maintaining the purity of the Chinese language. The
Norms also demands that announcers and hosts or hostesses use Putonghua
except under exceptional circumstances, and avoid the use of regional accents
and intonations, coarse expressions, obscure jargons, or unnecessary foreign
words. It further requires that announcers and hosts or hostesses observe gram-
matical rules of contemporary Chinese, and use appropriate word order and
rhetoric. Hosts, hostesses and announcers should also avoid the misuse of
classical Chinese expressions, abbreviations and neologisms. According the
Norms, broadcasting professionals should ensure that their speech is clear,
easily intelligible and meaningful, as well as being simple and tasteful, and
that their diction be accurate and lively. The Norms warns that broadcasting pro-
fessionals should avoid abstruse, ambiguous or exaggerated expressions and
that they should not adopt vulgar or highly personalized styles of presenting.
On 16 March, 2005, SARFT announced a Notice on Strengthening Manage-
ment of Television Captions, which stated the following:

Recently, captions for some television programs have shown a number of misused characters.
This is detrimental to television’s mission of promoting standardized language. It is also
detrimental to the public image of various television broadcasting institutions and has
been criticized by viewers. Broadcasting and television administrative agencies and televi-
sion broadcasting institutions at all levels must pay great attention to improving the pro-
duction of television captions. They should be guided by a firm sense of responsibility and
a strong sense of mission (SARFT 2005a).
Relevant agencies and institutions shall set limits for caption mistakes, and results of
broadcast captions shall be included in performance appraisals. Outstanding performance
will be rewarded, while poor performance will be sanctioned, based on a clear apportion-
ing of responsibility. There shall be specialized personnel whose duty is to systematically
and regularly proofread and check caption scripts (SARFT 2005a).
In order to intensify monitoring and management, checking of captions must be further
reinforced, and efforts to formulate regulations for the management of television captions
should be increased. Training of television broadcasting personnel should be augmented
so as to raise their language competence and to substantially improve the public image
of all the country’s television broadcasting institutions (SARFT 2005a).

At a conference held on 24 June, 2005, the Announcing and Hosting Com-

mission of the China Radio and Television Association was established, with
88 Sī Hónɡxiá (司红霞) & Lǐ Xiǎohuá (李晓华)

SARFT deputy director Hú Zhànfán (胡占凡) delivering a speech at the opening

ceremony. The conference called upon all announcers and hosts/hostesses to
“treasure the audience’s trust and project a healthy image”.
On 19 July, 2005, the China Radio and Television Association invited a
number of announcers and hosts/hostesses of entertainment programs, relevant
experts and scholars to a symposium in Běijīnɡ (北京). The symposium announced
a proposal titled China Radio and Television Announcers and Hosts’ Convention
on Self-Discipline (hereafter referred to as Convention).
On 1 August, CCTV’s Topics in Focus presented a program titled Anti-
Vulgarism in Action in which people from different walks of life voiced criticism
of vulgarisms, including the vulgarization of language in television programs.
On 3 August, 2005, SARFT published its Regulations on Qualification Exami-
nations for Radio and Television Editors, Reporters, Announcers, and Hosts ( for
trial implementation) as part of measures to effectively implement the Interim
Provisions on Qualifications of Radio and Television Editors, Reporters, Announcers,
and Hosts (SARFT Order No. 26). The Examination Syllabus includes competence
of standardized language use and stipulates the introduction of speaking tests
for announcer- and host-candidates.
Issued on 10 September, 2005, the SARFT Notice on Approving and Trans-
mitting China Radio and Television Announcers and Hosts’ Convention on Self-
Discipline by China Radio and Television Society emphasizes that the Convention
should be used to standardize the professional behavior of announcers and
hosts/hostesses. The Convention contains provisions for language standards
and sanctions for those who violate them. This includes the stipulation that
announcers’ accreditation may be rescinded for serious violations.
On 8 October, 2005, through its Notice on Reiterating the Use of Standardized
Language in Television Dramas, SARFT reiterated that:
1. Characters in television dramas (except those in local operas) should primar-
ily speak Putonghua. Under normal circumstances, dialects or non-standard
Putonghua should not be used.
2. Important revolutionary and historical dramas, and educational specials
must all use Putonghua.
3. National leaders depicted in television dramas should speak Putonghua
(SARFT 2005b).

These stipulations provoked heated discussions in various fields, among

which the most hotly debated was how dialects should be regarded and handled.
At present, these issues are still being discussed.
SARFT held its first nation-wide qualification examination for radio and
television editors, reporters, announcers and hosts/hostesses on the 17 and 18
of December, 2005, with 9,289 candidates taking the exam. The speaking test
 Use of language in radio and television broadcasting 89

requires that pronunciation be standard, diction and grammar correct, intona-

tion natural, and that articulation be fluent.

3 Minority languages
Besides China National Radio, mainland institutions broadcasting in minority
languages are mostly located in minority areas such as Inner Mongolia (内蒙古),
Xīnjiānɡ (新疆), Tibet (西藏), Guǎnɡxī (广西), Sìchuān (四川), Qīnɡhǎi (青海),
Yúnnán (云南), Gānsù (甘肃), Hēilónɡjiānɡ (黑龙江), and Jílín (吉林). Such
broadcasting involves more than 20 languages, such as Mongolian (蒙古语),
Uygur (维吾尔语), Kazak (哈萨克语), Korean (朝鲜语), Tibetan (藏语), Dǎi
(傣语), Lìsù (傈僳语), Jǐnɡpō (景颇语), Lāhù (拉祜语), Zàiwǎ (载佤语), Miáo
(苗语), Zhuànɡ (壮语), Yáo (瑶语), Hāní (哈尼语), Yí (彝语), Wǎ (佤语).

Broadcasting
Station/Province Channel languages Broadcasting time

China National Radio CNR-8 Sounds of the Mongolian, Tibetan, 20 hours per day
National Uygur, Kazak,
Korean
Radio Inner Mongolian Channel Mongolian 18 hours 15 minutes
Mongolia per day
Radio Sìchuān Minorities’ Channel Tibetan, Yí 19 hours per day
Radio Yúnán Minority Languages Déhónɡ (德宏) Dǎi, 7 hours 35 minutes
Channel Xīshuānɡbǎnnà per day
(西双版纳) Dǎi,
Lìsù, Jǐnɡpō, Lāhù
Radio stations in Tibetan, Déhónɡ Dǎi,
Yúnán Province Xīshuānɡbǎnnà Dǎi,
Lìsù, Jǐnɡpō, Lāhù,
Jǐnɡpō, Zàiwǎ, Miáo,
Zhuànɡ, Yáo, Hāní,
Yí, Wǎ
Radio Tibet News and Compre- Tibetan
hensive Channel in
Tibetan
Radio Tibet Kānɡbā Channel Kānɡbā (康巴)
Dialect of Tibetan

Table 1: Broadcasting in minority languages

Source: China Radio and Television Yearbook 2004, Zhào Yùmínɡ (赵玉明), Chief Editor, China
Radio and Television Yearbook Office, 2004 and 2005.
90 Sī Hónɡxiá (司红霞) & Lǐ Xiǎohuá (李晓华)

Broadcasting
Station/Province Channel languages Broadcasting time

Tibet Television Tibetan Satellite Tibetan 18 hours per day

Television
Radio Qīnɡhǎi Tibetan Channel Ānduō (安多)
Dialect of Tibetan
Radio Hēilónɡjiānɡ Korean Channel Korean
Gānsù Province Gānnán (甘南) Tibetan 7 times per week
Tibetan Channel
Jílín Province TV programs Mongolian 40 minutes per week
Korean 59 hours 54 minutes
per week
Yánbiān (延边) Korean
Satellite Channel
Radio Xīnjiānɡ 2 Uygur Channels Uygur
Radio Xīnjiānɡ Kazak Channel Kazak
Radio Xīnjiānɡ Mongolian Channel Mongolian
Radio Xīnjiānɡ Kirgiz Channel Kirgiz
Xīnjiānɡ Television News and Compre- Uygur Over 18 hours per
hensive Channel in day
Uygur
Xīnjiānɡ Television News and Compre- Kazak Over 16 hours per
hensive Channel in day
Kazak
Xīnjiānɡ Television Entertainment Uygur 14 hours per day
Channel in Uygur
Xīnjiānɡ Television Entertainment Kazak 10 hours per day
Channel in Kazak Monday to Thursday,
12 hours per day
Friday to Sunday
Xīnjiānɡ Television Economy Channel in Uygur 12 hours per day
Uygur
Xīnjiānɡ Television Children’s Channel Uygur, Chinese, 14 hours per day
Kazak Over 4 hours per
language
Xīnjiānɡ Uygur 52 radio frequencies 529 hours per day
Autonomous Region for minorities (radio)
64 television 3,187 hours per
channels for week (television)
minorities

Table 1: Continued
 Use of language in radio and television broadcasting 91

4 Foreign languages
China Radio International broadcasts worldwide in 37 languages, including
Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Sinhalese, Urdu, Tamil,
Vietnamese, Burmese, Malay, Cambodian, Laotian, Indonesian, Filipino, Thai,
Arabic, Turkish, Hausa, Swahili, Persian, Pushtu, Russian, Serbian, Czech,
Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian, Bulgarian, French, Spanish, Italian,
Portuguese, German, English, etc. (Zhào 2004: 180). In addition, there is also an
Esperanto channel.

Broadcasting
Station Channel or Column Language (s) Broadcasting Time

China Central CCTV9 English

Television
China Central CCTV16 Spanish, French
Television
Radio Běijīnɡ Foreign Language English 18 hours
Channel
Hēilónɡjiānɡ News in English English Monday to Saturday
Television 10 minutes per time
Radio Guǎnɡxī Vietnamese
International
Guǎnɡdōnɡ Satellite Channel English Daily
Television
Radio Yúnán International Vietnamese
Channel
Radio Yúnán Economy Channel English for Children
Xīnjiānɡ Television Xīnjiānɡ Satellite News in English 10 minutes per day
TV 1

Table 2: Domestic Broadcasting in Foreign Languages

Source: China Radio and Television Yearbook 2005, Zhào Yùmínɡ, Chief Editor, China Radio and
Television Yearbook Office, 2005.

5 Problems
5.1 Use of letter-words and foreign language words
In recent years, the use of letter-words and foreign (e.g. English) words has
increased considerably.
92 Sī Hónɡxiá (司红霞) & Lǐ Xiǎohuá (李晓华)

Call signs of frequencies or stations are often used in English, such as

FM (Frequency Modulation), AM (Amplitude Modulation), CCTV (China Central
Television), or BTV (Běijīnɡ Television). Some columns or programs are named
in letter-words, of which some are combinations of letter-words and Chinese
words, while others may be combinations of foreign words and Chinese ones.
Letter-words and English words frequently used in radio and television pro-
grams include: ‘MTV’ (Music Television), ‘CBA’ (China Basketball Association),
‘shopping’ (Chinese transliteration; xuèpīn, “blood fight”, ‘fight desperately’),
‘IN’ (in fashion), ‘high’, ‘yeah’ (an exclamation), and ‘Q’ (from “cute”; pretty,
smart or pretentious).
Words from Japanese include biàndānɡ (‘便当’, ‘bento’, “convenient-
appropriate”; box meal), dìxiàtiě (‘地下铁’, “ground-underneath-iron [railway]”;
subway), kǎwāyī (‘卡哇依’, from the Japanese kawaii, meaning ‘lovely’), liànɡ-
fàn (‘量贩’, “quantity peddle”; meaning ‘mass-wholesale’), rénqì (‘人气’, from
the Japanese ninki, “human vigor”, meaning ‘popular’), shúnǔ (‘熟女’, “ripe
woman”; meaning ‘mature female over 30’), and wùyǔ (‘物语’, from the Japanese
monogatari, “thing words”, meaning ‘story’) (Tán 2005).
In 2005, as the program “Super Girl”, broadcast by Húnán (湖南) Satellite
TV, became a national sensation, “PK” (player killing) became a radio-television
buzzword.

Station Channel Column Section, Program

China National Radio CNR-3 Sound of Music yīnyuè (music) Live,

Music Radio Top,
yīnyuè VIP
China National Radio CNR-4 Sound of the Hǎoyùn ( good luck)
Metropolis TAXI
China National Radio CNR-7 Sound of Huáxià Kùxuàn (cool-dazzle)
(China) Go-Go, IQ Chōnɡlànɡ
(surfing)
Běijīnɡ Television BTV-8 SK Zhuànɡyuánbǎnɡ
(No 1 scholar list)
Radio Shànɡhǎi (上海) Popular Music Channel Chāojí (super) DJ
Oriental
Nánjīnɡ (南京) Sound of Jínlín Movie TV Jiǔbā (bar)
Channel
Radio Jiānɡxī (江西) Arts, Music Channel Six-Person Luncheon Wǔcān (luncheon)
Q and A

Table 3: Letter-words and foreign words in radio or television columns

Source: China Radio and Television Yearbook 2004, Zhào Yùmínɡ, Chief Editor, China Radio and
Television Yearbook Office, 2004.
 Use of language in radio and television broadcasting 93

Station Channel Column Section, Program

Jiānɡxī Television Economic Life Channel Xiāofèi (consumption)

go go go
Radio Shāndōnɡ Traffic Sound of Music what’s music
(山东)
Shāndōnɡ Television Life Channel Children’s Program Tiāntiān (everyday) DIY,
“Happy Sunny Garden” DV Bǎobèi (baby)
Qīnɡdǎo (青岛) QTV Duìhuà (dialogue)
Television
Húnán Television Recreation Channel Tiāncái (genius) BANG
BANG BANG
Húnán Economy T2 Qū (district)
Television
Radio Guǎnɡdōnɡ Sound of Education Music Explorer T īnɡjué
Mànyóu (auditory
wandering)
Radio WúZhōu (梧州), Today’s Concern Xīnwén Bàoliào (news
Guǎnɡxī exposing) PHONE
Radio Nùjiānɡ (怒江), Recreation Space E Wǎnɡ (net) Dǎjìn
Sìchuān Station (catch completely)
Radio Gānsù Metropolis FM HAPPY Tiāntiānjiǎnɡ
(everyday prize)
Chónɡqìnɡ (重庆) EBS Shìmín (citizen)
Economy Radio Rèxiàn (Hotline)
Liáonínɡ (辽宁) Satellite Channel TG Kāi Xīn Suǒ
Television (open-heart-lock)
Radio Zhèjiānɡ (浙江) Music FM Amy. Com
Radio Nínɡbō (宁波) Traffic Music Channel Kāixīn (happy) TAXI

Table 3: Continued

5.2 Imitation of Hong Kong or Taiwan accent

In recent years, Hong Kong and Taiwanese movies and television dramas have
gained in popularity on the mainland, as have Hong Kong and Taiwanese
channels, such as Phoenix Television, China Entertainment Television and MTV.
Along with this, Gǎnɡtáiqiānɡ (港台腔), or Hong Kong and Taiwan-inflected
pronunciation, has also become popular in radio and television broadcasting.
Hong Kong and Taiwan stars speak Putonghua with an accent, and some main-
land hosts have been influenced, to a greater or lesser degree, by watching Hong
Kong and Taiwanese programs. In addition, some hosts and young people
regard Hong Kong and Taiwanese accents as fashionable and consciously try
to imitate it. For instance, the two syllables for “younger sister” (mèimei) are
94 Sī Hónɡxiá (司红霞) & Lǐ Xiǎohuá (李晓华)

pronounced to sound like those meaning, literally, “beautiful eyebrows” (měi-

méi), and “younger brother” (dìdi) like those meaning, literally, “resist enemy”
(dǐdí ). Expressions such as mán hǎo’ ān meaning “quite good” and hǎohǎo
ɡǎoxiào’o meaning ‘very funny’ are examples of characteristic intensifiers com-
bined with corresponding accent and modal particles. A syntactic example is a
sentence type like Wǒ yǒu kànɡuo la (“I have see ‘past’ la”) which is believed
to have been influenced by the English present perfective structure. Another
instance is that a female is addressed as zhèwèi nǔshēnɡ (‘this female pupil’)
and a male as zhèwèi nánshēnɡ (‘this male pupil’) regardless of their age.

5.3 Character Misuse and Mispronunciation

According to rough statistics, feedback from viewers received by the CCTV Audi-
ence Liaison Office pointed out 1,911 language mistakes, of which 779 were
mispronunciations and 1,132 were instances of character misuse – an increase
from those reported in 2003 (Zhào 2005).

6. Suggestions
6.1 Increased awareness of language standardization
Faced with problems of non-standard language use in radio and television
broadcasting, some experts point out that although direct responsibility lies
with editorial and broadcasting personnel, the crucial factor is, in fact, leader-
ship. If leaders of broadcasting institutions paid as much attention to language
standardization as to publicity – setting an example and appealing for language
standardization – language mistakes in the media would decrease dramatically
(Zhào 2002).

6.2 Improvement of Institutionalization and Reinforcement

of Management
Some in the media state that the main reason mispronunciation and character
misuse seem to be increasing, in spite of restrictions and requirements imposed
by rules, regulations, working qualifications and even laws, is that management
is not strict enough (Lín 2002). Some scholars are calling for a language pre-
examination system (Zhānɡ 2002).
 Use of language in radio and television broadcasting 95

6.3 Expansion of radio and television language research

Some problems have to be explored. For instance, how should Hong Kong and
Taiwanese accents be regarded? How should pop elements in radio and televi-
sion language be understood and dealt with? What is the relationship between
pop expressions and “keeping close to the masses”? How could those in the
media be more aware and better informed of theoretical aspects? In addition,
research should be undertaken into features of, and rules underlying, common
language mistakes, and into ways of utilizing modern technology in the training
of media personnel. Although methods to correct mistakes should be explored,
it would be preferable to find ways to prevent them from occurring in the first
place.

6.4 Investigation and standardization of Putonghua

pronunciation
The last time the State Language Commission tried to standardize Putonghua
pronunciation was in 1982. The past 30 years have seen the greatest linguistic
changes in China’s history, with Putonghua taking on a number of new phonetic
features. One instance is that the pronunciation of some words is no longer
agreed upon by those who work at radio and television stations. One reason for
such discrepancies is that dictionaries and publications show varied “standard”
pronunciation, while another may lie in the fact that phonetic notation in
dictionaries lags behind everyday pronunciation. Therefore, there is a need for
experts to discuss and decide upon the pronunciation of some words, which
will help standardize pronunciation and promote Putonghua.

References
Lín Rú (林如). 2002. “Strict administration for higher quality of radio and television language”,
Media and Language – Voices from Experts and Stars, p. 185. Compiled by Yáo Xǐshuānɡ
(姚喜双) and Guō Lónɡshēnɡ (郭龙生). Economic Science Press.
SARFT. 2005a. A Notice on Strengthening Management of Television Captions. http://www.sarft.
gov.cn/articles/2005/03/19/20070919200200610324.html.
SARFT. 2005b. Notice on Reiterating the Use of Standardized Language in Television Dramas.
http://www.sarft.gov.cn/articles/2005/10/15/20091225142940180043.html.
SARFT. 2006. 2006 Report on Development of China’s Radio, Film and Television by the State
Administration of Radio, Film and Television Development and Reform Research Centre.
Social Sciences Academic Press.
SARFT. 2007. 2004 statistics from State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
http://tech.sina.com.cn/it/2007-01-16/1447219290.shtml.
96 Sī Hónɡxiá (司红霞) & Lǐ Xiǎohuá (李晓华)

Tán Shānshān (谭山山). 2005. “Han Language College” New Weekly. 15 August.
Zhānɡ Sònɡ (张颂). 2002. “A few thoughts about radio and telvision language”, Media and
Language – Voices from Experts and Stars, p. 143. Compiled by Yáo Xǐshuānɡ (姚喜双)
and Guō Lónɡshēnɡ (郭龙生). Economic Science Press.
Zhào Yùmínɡ (赵玉明). 2002. “Discussion of standardization of radio and television
language”, Media and Language – Voices from Experts and Stars, p. 29. Compiled by
Yáo Xǐshuānɡ (姚喜双) and Guō Lónɡshēnɡ (郭龙生). Economic Science Press.
Zhào Yùmínɡ (赵玉明) eds. 2004. China Radio and Television Yearbook 2004. China Radio and
Television Yearbook Office.
Zhào Yùmínɡ (赵玉明) eds. 2005. China Radio and Television Yearbook 2005. China Radio and
Television Yearbook Office.
Zhōu Tínɡyù (周婷玉). 2006. “The turn of our country’s television development from quantity
expansion to emphasis on quality and efficiency”. 26 March. http://finance.sina.com.cn/
media/ysgb/20060327/06522448883.shtml.

Translated by Zhào Déyù (赵德玉)

Ocean University of China
[email protected]
Liú Qīnɡ (刘青)
8 Standardization of scientific terms
in China
The China National Committee for Terms in Science and Technology (CNCTST) is
an organization involved in standardizing scientific terms. Generally, it has two
aspects of work: to provide appropriate terms with clear definitions for concepts
in science and technology, and to unify and standardize those terms that are in
use, but that are seen as confusing and inconsistent. This is fundamental, long-
term work for the scientific, technological, economic and social development of
China. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to facilitate the construction of
different disciplines and a better development of modern science, technology
and national languages.

1 General situation
1.1 Working guidelines, principles and procedures
Standardization of scientific terms adopts such guidelines as “comprehensive
planning, relying on experts, emphasizing unified coordination, scientific assess-
ment and official release”. The work pays great attention to the social needs, espe-
cially the needs of national economic development. Technical terms are assessed
and approved according to the features of Chinese characters with reference to
terminological theories. While assessing and approving terms in different dis-
ciplines, researchers involved follow the working principle of “fundamental,
single, and primary disciplines take precedent over applied, comprehensive
and subordinate ones”. In sum, workable guidelines, principles and procedures
have been gradually established in the process of standardization.

1.2 System of technical terms

From 1985 to 2005, 61 CNCTST subcommittees examined and approved scientific
terms used in basic science, engineering and technology, agricultural science,
medical science, social sciences, and other disciplines. Up to 2005, CNCTST has
made public more than 200,000 scientific terms that cover more than sixty dis-
ciplines (see Appendix I).
98 Liú Qīnɡ (刘青)

Based on the above work, the CNCTST has set up a corpus for scientific
terms and a website (www.term.gov.cn) whose access is free. This system can
help clarify theoretical concepts in disciplines of different sorts, strengthen the
construction of different disciplines, facilitate communication as well as the
spread of scientific and technological knowledge throughout the world and,
especially, promote the application and popularization of modern information
technology.

1.3 Different terms used across the Taiwan Strait

By 2005, scientific terms used differently in more than 20 disciplines between
the mainland and Taiwan have been compared and unified. Accordingly, books
of parallel terms in six disciplines in the two areas have been published (see
Table 1 below).

Publication
NO. Title year

1 Chinese Terms in Atmospheric Science across the Strait 2002

2 Chinese Terms in Entomology across the Strait 2002
3 Chinese Terms in Pharmacy across the Strait 2003
4 Chinese Terms in Marine Engineering across the Strait 2003
5 Chinese Terms in Ship Science and Technology across the Strait 2003
6 Chinese Terms in Zoology across the Strait 2005

Table 1: Books of parallel terms across the Taiwan Strait

(All books are published by Science Press)
(Source: http://www.term.gov.cn)

1.4 Government policies

In 1987, the State Council clearly stated in Document No. 142 that scientific terms
examined and approved by the CNCTST are authoritative and must be used in
research, teaching, production, business and news publication.
The General Administration of Press and Publication stipulates in its revised
version of “Publication quality management” in 2005 that scientific terms must
be compatible with those issued by the CNCTST and that incompatible terms
will be taken as errors. Besides, it also makes public the standards or norms for
 Standardization of scientific terms in China 99

newspaper management, pointing out that the scientific terms used in news-
papers are subject to examination. Some administrative offices even hire profes-
sionals to check and inspect the application of scientific terms in publications.
Other administrative departments, such as the State Administration of Radio,
Film and Television, have issued to its subordinate units clear requirements for
the use of standard terms.

1.5 Publicity and promotion of scientific terms

To publicize and promote standard terms, the CNCTST has taken various means
and measures, such as holding press conferences and seminars to release
new terms in Běijīnɡ (北京), Nánjīnɡ (南京), and Shànɡhǎi (上海); sponsoring
journals, such as the Journal of Science and Technology Terms; setting up a
corpus and a website on the Internet in 2002; and cooperating with companies
in the information industry.
In recent years, some important organizations have also engaged in the pro-
motion of standard terms. For example, the Association of Dictionaries in China
has taken into account the use of standard terms when granting the National
Dictionary Award since 1993; one of the “two norms” observed by the Com-
mercial Press in revising the Dictionary of Modern Chinese is standard scientific
terms.

2 Analysis of key issues

2.1 Key issue one: standardization of scientific neologisms
Scientific neologisms should not be ignored. Otherwise, they will hinder the
exchange and development of science and technology, and consequently hinder
the course of modernization of science and technology.
The socialization and industrialization of science and technology has made
pressing demands for scientific neologisms. Lù Yǒnɡxiánɡ (路甬祥) (vice chair-
man of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress, president of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, and CNCTST director) said, “One noticeable fea-
ture of modern science and technology is that not only does it have a massive
influence on the economy, it also permeates our daily life. As a result, many
new terms concerning health, household appliances, digital products, to name
just a few, have been created. People need to know and use them.” (Lù 2003)
So, it is urgent to examine and standardize those inconsistent and confusing
neologisms whose use may mislead the public, cause them to misunderstand
100 Liú Qīnɡ (刘青)

scientific and technological knowledge, result in misuse of new terms, and thus
impede the course of the socialization of science and technology.
The international situation makes the standardization of scientific neologisms,
especially assigning them appropriate terms, extremely pressing. First, because
of easy access to the Internet and the rapid development of the information
industry, international exchange is increasing. Also, as is known already, Chinese
(as well as English) is most widely used in the world, with a global user popula-
tion of more than one billion. Given China’s smooth development, it can be pre-
dicted that, more people in the world will learn and use Chinese.
Secondly, the constant development and globalization of information in
science and technology have made worldwide communication increasingly fre-
quent. In the process, a lot of neologisms have been generated in interdisciplinary
and frontier disciplines. Those new terms ought to be duly standardized in order
to avoid confusion in public use.
Thirdly, some neologisms will have an impact on social ethics and people’s
thoughts, and attract widespread public attention. For example, the creation of
gene technology has brought about safety issues in transgenic products, while
the application of stem cell technology has challenged social ethics.
In sum, inventions in science and technology and their various impacts on
society indicate that the standardization and unification of scientific neologisms
are far more important and urgent than ever before.

2.2 Key issue two: comparison and unification of scientific

terms across the Taiwan Strait

2.2.1 Discrepancies, reasons and impacts

Big differences exist between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait where different
scientific terms are given and used according to their respective ways of under-
standing and practise. As far as computer terms are concerned, fifty percent vary
across the strait. Even in some basic areas with a higher level of correspon-
dence, such as physics, twenty percent of the terms are different. The situation
in which one country has different terms for the same concept has made the
exchanges in science and technology, culture, education, economy and trade
between the two sides somewhat problematic. Three major areas affected by
this disparity are stated below.
 Standardization of scientific terms in China 101

(1) Science-technology exchange and business activities

Disparity in scientific terms has led to different Chinese character coding and
follow-up information processing. In turn, Chinese platforms of computer hard-
ware and software on both sides of the Strait are mutually exclusive, which
has greatly impeded information exchange, both in science-technology and
business, and further hindered the product sales market.

(2) General communication

Because of great differences in technical terms, very often when people from
different areas talk to each other, they have to resort to English as the common
means of communication. Even when the speakers are both Chinese, English is
often used as the means of communication.

(3) Communication in written form

Scientists from both sides of the Strait and overseas Chinese might have a similar
experience in writing contracts, agreements and memoranda when they have to
either add notes or write down two different Chinese terms to avoid disputes
that are likely to result from terminological differences. For instance, in drafting
an agreement, they may have to write the corresponding term in brackets to
achieve an accurate representation and to show respect for the other party.
Here is such an excerpt: “Both sides are willing to cooperate in examining and
approving scientific terms in jìsuànjī [计算机, ‘computer’] (diànnǎo [电脑],
‘computer’). Party A is responsible for the completion of chénɡxù shèjì [程序
设计, ‘programme design’] (chénɡshì shèjì [程式设计, ‘programme design’]),
establishment of terminology shùjù kù [数据库, ‘corpus’] (zīliāo kù [资料库,
‘corpus’]), and finally give cípán [磁盘, ‘disk’] (cídié [磁碟, ‘disk’]) to Party B.”
Obviously, it is very labour-intensive and time-consuming to give multiple forms
of the same concept.
102 Liú Qīnɡ (刘青)

2.2.2 Differences in scientific terms between the mainland and Taiwan

(1) Terms in computer science and technology

English terms Mainland China Taiwan

information 信息 (xìnxī ) 资讯 (zīxùn)

data 数据 (shùjù) 资料 (zīliào)
message 消息 (xiāoxi ) 讯息 (xùnxī )
database 数据库 (shùjùkù) 资料库 (zīliào kù)
file 文件 (wénjiàn) 档 (dànɡ)
document 文档 (wéndànɡ) 文件 (wénjiàn)
bit 位, 比特 (wèi, bǐtè) 位元, 比 (wèiyuán, bǐ )
byte 字节 (zìjié) 位元组, 拜 (wèiyuán zǔ, bài )
character 字符 (zìfú) 字元 (zìyuán)
digit 数字 (shùzì ) 数位 (shùwèi)
alphanumeric 字母数字 (zìmǔ shùzì ) 文[字]数[字] (wén[zì] shù[zì] )

Table 2: Different terms in information and corpus

(Zhānɡ 2000)

English terms Mainland China Taiwan

software 软件 (ruǎnjiàn) 软体 (ruǎntǐ )

operating system 操作系统 (cāozuò xìtǒnɡ) 作业系统 (zuòyè xìtǒnɡ)
program 程序 (chénɡxù) 程式 (chénɡshì )
program design 程序设计 (chénɡxù shèjì ) 程式设计 (chénɡshì shèjì)
routine 例程 (lìchénɡ) 常式 (chánɡshì )
benchmark 基准程序 ( jīzhǔn chénɡxù) 基准程式 ( jīzhǔn chénɡshì)
assembly 汇编 (huìbiān) 组合 (zǔhé)
job 作业 (zuòyè) 工件 (ɡōnɡjiàn)
statement 语句 (yǔjù) 陈述 (chénshù)
dump 转储 (zhuǎnchǔ) 倾印, 倒出 (qīnɡyìn, dàochū)
scheduling 调度 (diàodù) 排程 (páichénɡ)
spooling 假脱机 ( jiǎtuōjī ) 排存 (páicún)

Table 3: Different terms in software

(Zhānɡ 2000)
 Standardization of scientific terms in China 103

English terms Mainland China Taiwan

hardware 硬件 ( yìnɡjiàn) 硬体 (yìnɡtǐ )

architecture 体系结构 (tǐxì jiéɡòu) 架构 ( jiàɡòu)
memory 存储器 (cúnchǔqì) 储存器 (chǔcúnqì )
peripheral equipment 外围设备 (wàiwéi shèbèi ) 周边设备 (zhōubiān shèbèi )
printer 打印机 (dǎyìnjī ) 列印机 (lièyìnjī )
mouse 鼠标 (shǔbiāo) 滑鼠, 鼠标器 (huáshǔ, shǔbiāo qì )
modem 调制解调器 (tiáozhì jiětiáoqì ) 数据机 (shùjùjī )
magnetic disk 磁盘 (cípán) 磁碟 (cídié)
screen 屏幕 (píngmù) 荧幕 (yínɡmù)
bus 总线 (zǒnɡxiàn) 汇流排 (hùiliúpái)
pipeline 流水线 (liúshǔi xiàn) 管线 (ɡuǎnxiàn)
disk drive 磁盘驱动器 (cípán qūdònɡ qì ) 磁碟机 (cídié jī )

Table 4: Different terms in hardware

(Zhānɡ 2000)

English terms Mainland China Taiwan

network 网络 (wǎnɡluò) 网路 (wǎnɡlù)

LAN 局域网 ( júyù wǎnɡ) 区域网 (qūyùwǎnɡ)
Internet 因特网 ( yīntèwǎnɡ) 网际网络 (wǎnɡjì wǎnɡluò)
gateway 网关 (wǎnɡɡuān) 闸道 (zhádào)
server 服务器 ( fúwùqì ) 伺服器 (cìfúqì )
cable modem 线缆调制解调器 电缆数据机 (diànlǎn shùjùjī )
(xiànlǎn tiáozhì jiětiáoqì )
Web, WWW 万维网 (wànwéiwǎnɡ) 全球广域网路 (quánqiú guǎnɡyù wǎnɡlù)
scalability 可扩缩性 (kě kuòsuōxìnɡ) 延展性 (yánzhǎnxìnɡ)
Ethernet 以太网 (yǐtàiwǎnɡ) 以太网路 (yǐtài wǎnɡlù)
smart card 智能卡 (zhìnénɡkǎ) 精明卡 ( jīnɡmínɡkǎ)

Table 5: Different terms on the Internet

(Zhānɡ 2000)
104 Liú Qīnɡ (刘青)

(2) Terms in physiology

English terms Mainland China Taiwan

heart failure 心力衰竭 (xīnlì shuāijié) 心脏衰弱 (xīnzànɡ shuāiruò)

hepatic, liver failure 肝功能衰竭 肝脏衰弱 ( gānzànɡ shuāiruò)
(gān gōnɡnénɡ shuāijié)

gradient 梯度 (tīdù) 阶差 ( jiēchā)

ischemia 缺血 (quēxiě ) 乏血 ( fáxiě )
neuron 神经元 (shénjīnɡyuán) 神经原 (shénjīnɡyuán)
syndrome 综合征 (zōnɡhé zhēng) 病征 (bìnɡzhēng)

Table 6: Different terms in physiology

(Chén 1999)

(3) Terms in aviation science and technology

English terms Mainland China Taiwan

landing 着陆 (zhuólù) 降落 ( jiànɡluò)

fighter 歼击机 ( jiānjījī ) 战斗机 (zhàndòujī )
stealth 隐身 (yǐnshēn) 隐密 (yǐnmì )
overshoot 目测过高, 复飞 测场过高, 重飞
(mùcè ɡuò ɡāo, fùfēi ) (cèchǎnɡ ɡuò ɡāo, chónɡfēi )
go around 复飞 ( fùfēi ) 重飞 (chónɡfēi )

Table 7: Different terms in aviation

(Zhōu, 2001)

3 Suggestions
3.1 Promoting the use of scientific terms
As stated earlier, the CNCTST has recently taken several measures to publicize
and promote standard scientific terms, e.g., publishing dictionaries of standard
terms; announcing newly-approved terms in the Chinese Science and Technology
Terms Journal; offering the public free access to the established corpus and web-
site of the terms; and cooperating with enterprises in the information industry.
These measures have produced positive results. However, judging from the
overall situation, more work is required to achieve wider and further promotion.
 Standardization of scientific terms in China 105

As the standardization of scientific terms is a governmental act, it is suggested

accordingly that responsible departments should further establish and improve
regulations for the application of terms and should exercise law-based adminis-
tration. In addition, since the promotion of scientific terms goes hand in hand
with the popularization of science and technology, it is recommended that due
provisions to the “Law of PRC on popularization of science and technology” be
added.

3.2 Strengthening theoretical studies of terminology

Terminology as a new and independent discipline is very active abroad, yet in
China it cannot be found in the “Classification and code of disciplines” of the
national standard GB/T 13745-92, though it has acquired basic conditions as an
independent discipline. Having no code means that it has no disciplinary status.
Consequently, it would be unable to attract any support in terms of personnel,
funds, or other necessary resources. It is therefore strongly suggested that the
discipline of terminology be included in “Classification and code of disciplines”,
which is the basis upon which the Government allocates research funds and the
number of student enrolments in universities and institutions.

3.3 Translating Chinese scientific terms into ethnic minority

languages
The standard terms which have been approved by the CNCTST are expected to
be translated into minority languages to help economic development in ethnic
communities. This may in turn help build a harmonious society. In recent years,
the standardization of scientific terms in China’s Uighur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mon-
golian, and Tibetan characters and other ethnic minority languages has made
some progress. However, given the rich language diversity in China, the transla-
tion of standard Chinese scientific terms into minority languages will be a huge
and arduous project that will require more funds and personnel than ever before.

3.4 Paying attention to the standardization of technical terms

in social sciences
“Views of the Central Committee of the Communist Party on actively promoting
philosophy and social sciences” points out that socialist modernization should
include both advanced natural sciences and well-developed philosophy and
106 Liú Qīnɡ (刘青)

social sciences. Currently, however, it is not uncommon that some non-standard

terms are still being applied in social scientific fields. As a result, their use may
greatly hinder academic exchanges and progress in these fields. In this sense, it
is fundamental and urgent to standardize technical terms in social sciences.

Appendix I: List of publications announced by CNCTST

(All books in the table are published by the Science Press in Běijīnɡ)

Publication
No. Title year

1 Chinese Terms in Astrology 1987

2 Chinese Terms in Geography 1988
3 Chinese Terms in Pedology 1988
4 Chinese Terms in Microbiology 1988
5 Chinese Terms in Atmospheric Science 1988
6 Chinese Terms in Geophysics 1988
7 Chinese Terms in Physics (Basic Physics) 1988
8 Chinese Terms in Forestry 1989
9 Chinese Terms in Physiology 1989
10 Chinese Terms in Genetics 1989
11 Chinese Terms in Medical Science (I. Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Others) 1989
12 Chinese Terms in Marine Science 1989
13 Chinese Terms in Surveying and Mapping 1990
14 Chinese Terms in Automation 1990
15 Chinese Terms in Biochemistry and Biophysics 1990
16 Chinese Terms in Palaeontology 1990
17 Chinese Terms in Chemistry 1991
18 Chinese Terms in Botany 1991
19 Chinese Terms in Human Anatomy 1991
20 Chinese Terms in Cell Biology 1992
21 Chinese Terms in Medical Science (II. Stomatology) 1992
22 Chinese Terms in Mechanics 1993
23 Chinese Terms in Mathematics 1993
24 Chinese Terms in Electronics 1993
25 Chinese Terms in Geology 1993
26 Chinese Terms in Histology and Embryology 1993
 Standardization of scientific terms in China 107

Publication
No. Title year

27 Chinese Terms in Agronomy 1993

28 Chinese Terms in Computer Science and Technology 1994
29 Chinese Terms in Petroleum 1994
30 Chinese Terms in Medical Science (III. Medical Genetics and others) 1994
31 Chinese Terms in Chemical Engineering 1995
32 Chinese Terms in Medical Science (IV. Angiocardiology) 1995
33 Chinese Terms in Navigation Technology 1996
34 Chinese Terms in Medical Science (V. Ophthalmology) 1996
35 Chinese Terms in Mining Science and Technology (Definition Version) 1996
36 Chinese Terms in Atmospheric Science (Definition Version) 1996
37 Chinese Terms in Physics 1996
38 Chinese Terms in Zoology 1996
39 Chinese Terms in Building Landscape Gardens and Urban Planning 1996
40 Chinese Terms in Chemistry, Hydraulic Science and Technology 1997
(Definition Version)
41 Chinese Terms in Railway Science and Technology 1997
42 Chinese Terms in Highway Science and Technology 1997
43 Chinese Terms in Medical Science (VI. Surgery) 1997
44 Chinese Terms in Ship Engineering (Definition Version) 1998
45 Chinese Terms in Electrotechnics 1998
46 Chinese Terms in Pedology (Definition Version) 1998
47 Chinese Terms in Astrology (Definition Version) 1998
48 Chinese Terms in Metallurgy 1999
49 Chinese Terms in Pharmacy 1999
50 Chinese Terms in Psychology (1999) 1999
51 Chinese Terms in Mechanical Engineering (I. Definition Version) 2000
52 Chinese Terms in Entomology (Definition Version) 2000
53 Chinese Terms in Surveying and Mapping (Definition Version) 2002
54 Chinese Terms in Medical Science (VII. Plastic Surgery, Cosmetic Medicine, 2002
Rehabilitation Science, etc.)
55 Chinese Terms in Computer Science and Technology (2nd Edition) 2002
56 Chinese Terms in Geographic Information Systems 2002
57 Chinese Terms in Electrical Power 2002
58 Chinese Terms in Fishery (Definition Version) 2002
59 Chinese Terms in Mechanical Engineering (II. Definition Version) 2003
108 Liú Qīnɡ (刘青)

Publication
No. Title year

60 Chinese Terms in Mechanical Engineering (III. Definition Version) 2003

61 Chinese Terms in Aviation Science and Technology (Definition Version) 2003
62 Chinese Terms in Dialectics of Nature 2003
63 Chinese Terms in Civil Engineering 2003
64 Chinese Terms in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy 2004
(Definition Version)
65 Chinese Nomenclature in Polymer Chemistry 2005
66 Chinese Terms in Space Science and Technology 2005
67 Chinese Terms in Biology (Bound Edition) 2002

References
Chén Guózhí (陈国治). 1999. Scientific terms in physiology across the Strait. Chinese Science
and Technology Terms Journal (4) pp. 44–48.
Lù Yǒnɡxiánɡ (路甬祥). 2003. Embracing an innovative spirit and always keeping pace with
the times, doing our best in standardizing science and technology terms of our country.
Chinese Science and Technology Terms Journal, 1.
Zhānɡ Wéi (张伟). 2000. A preliminary contrastive analysis of scientific terms in computer
science across the Strait. Chinese Science and Technology Terms Journal (4) pp. 38–42.
Zhōu Qíhuàn (周其焕). 2001. A glimpse of differences in scientific terms in aviation across the
Strait. Chinese Science and Technology Terms Journal (4) pp. 37–40.

Translated by Gāo Xiǎofānɡ (高晓芳)

Central China Normal University
[email protected]
Dīnɡ Shíqìnɡ (丁石庆), Liú Hónɡyǔ (刘宏宇) &
Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)
9 Ethnic minority bilingual education
in China
Ethnic minority bilingual or multilingual education refers to ethnic minorities
receiving their education in two or more languages, i.e., both in their mother
tongue and Putonghua or Mandarin Chinese, or their mother tongue plus two
other languages. In China, ethnic minority students can receive long-term, sys-
tematic, formal bilingual education in schools over different time spans. In some
areas, this may begin at kindergarten and extend to senior middle school, uni-
versity and even postgraduate level.

1 General situation
1.1 Basic statistics
Ethnic minority bilingual education is an important component of China’s edu-
cation system, and is also a prominent feature of ethnic minority education.
According to statistics released in 2005 by the Chinese Ministry of Education
(MOE), there are twenty-one ethnic minority languages being used alongside
Mandarin Chinese in bilingual teaching in minority primary and secondary
schools in China, with more than six million ethnic minority students receiving
bilingual education. Among these schools, a number are conducting trials of
trilingual education, with Mandarin Chinese, a minority language and a foreign
language all being taught. Up to the end of 2004, there was a total of 21,351,300
ethnic minority students studying at all levels; an increase of 4.54% from the
previous year. Of this number, 807,300 were studying at regular higher educa-
tion institutes, accounting for 5.70% of the total number of registered students;
a 15.73% increase from the previous year. 6,761,100 students were studying in
regular secondary schools, accounting for 7.78% of the total number of students;
an increase of 10.19% from the previous year. 10,971,500 students were studying
in regular primary schools, accounting for 9.76% of the total number of students,
and constituting a 2.10% decrease from the previous year. At present, the number
of ethnic minority teachers in schools of all levels has increased to 1,025,700; a
slight increase from the previous year (MOE 2004a).
110 Dīnɡ Shíqìnɡ (丁石庆), Liú Hónɡyǔ (刘宏宇) & Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

1.2 Social recognition

With the breakneck development of the Chinese economy, Chinese ethnic minor-
ities have realised the importance of bilingualism, and are laying a new em-
phasis on it. In order to facilitate this shift a series of bilingual education policies
have been put forward by central and local government.
The report of the Annual Conference on National Ethnic Minority Education
held on the 19 April 2005 indicates that national ethnic minority education work
should be based on the following three core objectives: (i) the development of a
teaching staff team; (ii) the development of bilingual teaching resources; and
(iii) the development of Special Classes for Ethnic Minorities (hereafter referred to
as Special Classes). Meanwhile, in order to prepare for China’s Eleventh Five-Year
Plan, the government will launch a programme to provide training to key ethnic
minority teaching personnel, to speed up legislation for ethnic minority education,
and to encourage greater efforts in research on ethnic minority education.
In a five-year period from 2005, the Xīnjiānɡ (新疆) Uygur (维吾尔) Auton-
omous Region will set up mixed ethnic minority schools with Han and Uygur
or Uygur and other ethnic minorities pupils in fifty economically disadvan-
taged ethnic minority areas. By giving advance aid and support, the local gov-
ernment plans to establish fifty trial schools with Mandarin-Minority-English
trilingual language education, whose aim is to speed up the improvement of
teaching conditions. Three hundred million RMB will be invested in building
these schools with the aid of the regional government (Jiǎnɡ 2005). Up to 2005,
there were more than 33,000 students studying in approximately 105 bilingual
schools in the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region (Wàn & Dù 2005).
The Liáonínɡ (辽宁) Provincial Government put forward the regulation that
ethnic minority schools should promote trilingual education, i.e., students will
learn a foreign language, whilst also learning their own ethnic language and
Mandarin Chinese. In order to encourage ethnic minority students to learn and
use their own mother tongue when participating in senior high and vocational
school entrance exams, these students will be tested in the language that they
use in class. The enrolment score for these students will also be five to ten points
lower than for non-ethnic minority students (Liáonínɡ Government Document
2005).
The recognition of the importance of bilingual education among ethnic
minorities is continually increasing. Many parents hope their children will study
in bilingual schools or classes, as the importance of bilingualism is increasingly
borne out in social life. If a student is proficient in two or more languages, he or
she will not only have an advantage in learning sciences and technical subjects,
 Ethnic minority bilingual education in China 111

but will also enjoy added advantages in their further study and future career.
One ethnic minority teacher has set up and financed a Mandarin kindergarten
by himself in Wūshí (乌什) County in the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region.
In this kindergarten, both ethnic minority and Hàn (汉族) Chinese pupils receive
education in Mandarin. This gesture epitomises the enthusiasm and creativity
common ethnic minority people have in promoting bilingual education (Nur
2005).

1.3 Laws and regulations

Specific, concrete provisions for bilingual education are formulated in the laws
and regulations of all ethnic minority regional governments (Chén 2005).
Local governmental documents on spoken and written language, also con-
tain relevant regulations and provisions regarding bilingual education. In April
2004, the document The Decision to Vigorously Promote Bilingual Education was
issued by the Party Committee and the Government of the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur
Autonomous Region. This document proposed that, within two years, Mandarin
classes should be offered from Year 1 in all ethnic minority primary schools in
urban areas. It further stated that from the beginning of 2010, Mandarin should
be offered to all Year 1 students in all ethnic minority schools (MOE 2004b).
In November 2004, The 12th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional People’s Congress passed the Regulations
on Spoken and Written Languages in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The regulation (Chapter Two: Study and Education) included the following
stipulations:

Article 8: Government at all levels should give priority to the development of Mongolian
education in all schools, and train Mongolian-Han bilingual teaching personnel in a range
of professional fields.
Article 9: The Regional People’s Government should increase the investment in Mongolian
education each year.
Article 10: Preferential policies and financial support should be granted to schools provid-
ing education in Mongolian. Tuition fees, incidental expenses and text book costs may be
remitted to students receiving education in Mongolian. Grant and scholarship systems
should be put in place to support students from economically disadvantaged families.
Article 11: Primary and secondary schools which primarily provide education in Mandarin
Chinese should offer Mongolian language classes. Government at all levels should offer
practical skills training in Mongolian for farmers and herdsmen, and improve the support
facilities for this training.
112 Dīnɡ Shíqìnɡ (丁石庆), Liú Hónɡyǔ (刘宏宇) & Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

Article 12: In regions or cities which have the highest percentage of Mongolian minorities,
secondary vocational and technical schools should offer various courses in Mongolian.
Article 13: All colleges and universities should consolidate or add courses taught in
Mongolian. The enrolment of preparatory classes should be increased and these classes
should recruit students who received their secondary education in Mongolian. All colleges
and universities should recruit ethnic minority candidates according to the plans laid out
by the State and should increase their enrolment year on year.
Article 14: Government at all levels should draw up special policies to increase employ-
ment opportunities for graduates from universities and vocational schools, where they
have received education in Mongolian. Governmental and social organisations, enterprises
and institutions should implement a policy whereby graduates who have received their
education in Mongolian and those who have received their education in Mandarin Chinese
are treated equally. There should be no discrimination against the former in the applica-
tion process.
Article 15: Government at all levels should offer practical skills training in Mongolian for
farmers and herdsmen in ethnic minority communities and enhance the support facilities
for this training.

The Yúnnán Provincial Regulation on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese

Language was implemented on 1 January 2005. Article 9 of this document states
that “. . . graduates from normal universities, as well as graduates from non-
normal universities but majoring in the subjects closely related to spoken-
language, should achieve level II in the Putonghua Proficiency Test. With the
exception of those who teach Mandarin phonetics, ethnic minority teachers
whose mother tongue is not Mandarin Chinese can be certified at one level
lower than teachers whose mother tongue is Mandarin Chinese. Students who
are from regular universities or institutes are encouraged to take the Putonghua
Proficiency Test and gain accreditation.”
On 22 March, 2005, Proposals to Accelerate the Reform and Development of
Education in Ethnic Minority Regions in Liáonínɡ Province indicated that ethnic
minority schools should promote trilingual education. The paper stated that,
while ensuring that students in trilingual schools will learn their own ethnic
language and Mandarin Chinese, they will also learn an additional foreign
language. From Year 3 of primary school onwards, the government should pro-
vide both the facilities and financial support for foreign language classes in all
minority schools. By 2010, it should ensure that students receive the same infor-
mation technology (IT) education as students in non-ethnic minority schools.
Areas with better facilities and greater financial resources may offer foreign
language classes and IT classes at an earlier stage.
 Ethnic minority bilingual education in China 113

On 29 July 2005, the Guǎnɡxī (广西) Zhuànɡ (壮) Autonomous Region put
forward The Regulation on Ethnic Minority Education of Nánnínɡ (南宁) City. The
regulation states that minority areas should promote the common spoken lan-
guage, Putonghua, and standardise the written language. Schools in Zhuànɡ
minority areas may implement a system of bilingual education if conditions permit.
All these regulations provide the legal basis for promoting bilingual education.

2 Important policies and measures

2.1 Increased investment in bilingual education
Since 2005, all 30 million students from economically disadvantaged families in
rural areas in central and western China received free textbooks for their com-
pulsory education. In some provinces, such as Xīnjiānɡ, Tibet (西藏), Nínɡxià
(宁夏) and Qīnɡhǎi (青海), more than 80% of the total number of students
benefitted from this policy. Students in the Tibet Autonomous Region were given
‘three guarantees’, that is; the guarantee of free food, free accommodation and
free tuition. While in the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region, free textbooks
have been provided to all students enrolled in compulsory education in fifty-six
counties (Dǒnɡ 2005).
In 2005, the Ministry of Finance and the MOE allocated a special fund of
217.8 million RMB to textbooks for Yúnnán (云南) Province. The fund greatly
supported Yúnnán’s ethnic minority and its bilingual education.
The Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region launched a series of projects, such
as the “National Aid-poor Programme”, World Bank Loan Project, “National Poor
Region Compulsory Education Program”, “Dilapidated-School-Building-Refurbish
Project”, etc. to improve the educational facilities of primary and secondary
schools. From 2006, the Guìzhōu (贵州) provincial government plans to dedi-
cate 10 million RMB as a special fund for solving specific problems related to
educational development. These include bilingual education, teacher training,
the compilation of teaching materials, aiding severely economically disadvan-
taged students and introducing traditional ethnic culture in schools.
During the period of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, the total investment in
Tibetan community areas will reach 14.05 billion RMB in Qīnɡhǎi province. The
Qīnɡhǎi government secured a special national fund for training 7,000 core
teachers in primary and secondary schools across six ethnic minority autono-
mous prefectures. The special fund will also be used for building 700 large-scale
and well-equipped science labs, language labs and libraries. This will greatly
114 Dīnɡ Shíqìnɡ (丁石庆), Liú Hónɡyǔ (刘宏宇) & Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

improve ethnic minority education and the provision of bilingual education (Hé
2005).
The No. 9 Provincial Document of Liáonínɡ Province pledged that the spe-
cial fund for ethnic minority education would be increased to 1 RMB per capita
by 2007.
With prioritisation and the support of the central and local governments,
the educational conditions of ethnic minority students as well as those of bilin-
gual education in ethnic minority areas in general have improved greatly.

2.2 Increase in participants in the Chinese Language

Proficiency Test for Ethnic Minorities
The implementation of the Chinese Language Proficiency Test for Ethnic Minor-
ities (MHK) is also proving to have a positive influence on ethnic minority bilin-
gual education. On 24 October 2002, the MOE issued a notice regarding The Trial
on Chinese Language Proficiency Test for Ethnic Minorities in Some Relevant
Provinces. The Division of Language Application Management of the MOE and
the MHK research team co-authored and published The National Assessment
and Evaluation Guideline for MHK, Level I to Level IV. The MHK was initiated in
Jílín Province in 2004 with 6,200 ethnic Korean minority students making up the
first test batch. From 2004, the MHK will be carried out in other ethnic minority
autonomous regions.

2.3 Achievements in the development of special classes

In order to assist in the cultivation of high-calibre personnel for Tibet, Special
Classes have been set up for Tibetan students in twenty-one provinces. In addi-
tion to three independent Special Senior Middle Schools for Tibetan students,
eight classes were established in senior middle schools, twenty in junior middle
schools and two in teacher training colleges. During the past 20 years, there
have been 29,500 junior middle school students, 21,000 senior middle school
students and 6,500 undergraduates studying in Tibetan Special Schools and
Classes. In addition, nearly 15,000 Tibetan graduates have gone back to the
Tibet Autonomous Region to work. Běijīnɡ (北京) Tibetan Senior Middle School,
which was founded in 1987, has earned a reputation for its excellent educational
facilities and high standard of teaching. All 255 candidates in this school passed
the National College Entry Exam, of which 252 were admitted to university (Xú &
Zhènɡ 2005).
 Ethnic minority bilingual education in China 115

Apart from the above, since 2000, Special Classes for Xīnjiānɡ Uygur senior
middle school (hereafter referred to as Special Senior Classes) students have
been set up in fifteen well-equipped, high standard schools in twelve developed
cities, such as Běijīnɡ, Shànɡhǎi (上海) and Tiānjīn (天津). Up to 2004, enrol-
ment for these classes increased from 1,000 to 1,540, including 70 civil corps.
This took the total number of enrolled students to 5,600. In 2005, thirty new
Special Senior Classes were opened in thirteen other cities, with 3,115 more new
registered students. Using the Special Senior Classes as an example, the People’s
Government of the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region decided to establish
similar classes in junior middle schools in eight major cities in Xīnjiānɡ. The
enrolment numbers for these classes reached 3,000 in 2005 and has not dropped
below 5,000 since 2006.

2.4 Enhanced training of bilingual teachers and the research

and development of bilingual teaching materials
In recent years, in order to improve the quality of Mandarin Chinese teaching,
the Government of the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region has selected teachers
to aid education in southern Xīnjiānɡ. Between 2002 and 2006, it also invested
76 million RMB in the training of Mandarin and bilingual teachers.
In 2004, the Regional Party Committee approved the Training Implemen-
tation Programme for Ethnic Minority Primary and Secondary School Bilingual
Teachers. The programme aimed to provide one to two years’ full-time training
for under-qualified bilingual teachers under the age of 40. The programme was
to take effect in urban schools before 2007 and in rural schools before 2010. A
total number of 55,463 teachers are expected to be trained between 2005 and
2010. In addition, according to the arrangement laid out in the Mandarin Chinese
Teaching Support Programme to Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region, 620 key
teachers from senior middle schools received one years’ training in Běijīnɡ,
Jiānɡsū (江苏), Shāndōnɡ (山东) and Shānxī (山西). A further 1,546 ethnic
minority primary and secondary school teachers received training within their
own autonomous regions (Xīnjiānɡ Youth Class Research Group of the Party
School of the CPC Central Committee 2005). To date, the total number of quali-
fied Mandarin Chinese teachers has reached 15,000.
In order to solve the problem of the lack of bilingual teachers at foundation
level, the Government of the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region plans to facilitate
senior college students from both normal and regular university in undertaking
a teaching practice of no less than four months. Some will even take over sole
116 Dīnɡ Shíqìnɡ (丁石庆), Liú Hónɡyǔ (刘宏宇) & Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

responsibility for the teaching of one subject over a whole semester. By provid-
ing this support, the regional government hopes to simultaneously help solve
the problem of graduates from normal universities not being able to find teach-
ing placements (Nur 2005).
In order to strengthen the minority education teaching team, the Guìzhōu
Provincial Government has established eight Ethnic Minority Teacher Academies
and Qiánnán (黔南) Ethnic Minority Teacher College. These colleges have trained
forty thousand graduates, of which 75.5% are from ethnic minorities. One hundred
and twenty key teachers also underwent a “Bilingual Teacher Training Course”
organised by the Provincial Education Department. In 2004, the Guīzhōu Ethnic
Minority Institute started to offer a Bilingual Teaching course.
Educational publishers in Xīnjiānɡ, Jílín (吉林) and Běijīnɡ have published
a number of test guide books for MHK. The Liáonínɡ Provincial Government has
included trilingual teaching materials as part of its educational development
plan. The education budget covers compiling, editing, translating and publish-
ing teaching materials. Free teaching materials in minority languages are pro-
vided to ethnic minority primary and secondary schools. Each year, the budget
for providing these free textbooks is guaranteed by the Provincial Financial
Department.

2.5 Improving the ethnic minority bilingual environment

To maintain the harmony between uniformity and diversity of social language
life, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission proposed the work guideline of Estab-
lishing Model Ethnic Minority Bilingual Environment Regions. The aim of this
paper is to enhance the harmony between the two aspects, that is; using ethnic
minority languages on the one hand, while speaking and writing the standard
Chinese language on the other. The overall aim of this project is to: fully respect
and protect the rights of ethnic minorities to learn, use and develop their own
spoken and written languages; to meet the demands of their mother tongues;
to enhance positive interaction between their own language and the standard
Chinese language; and finally, to build a harmonious bilingual society and to
maintain social stability. The specific objectives are: 1) to create an atmosphere
which is conducive to valuing, learning and using one’s mother tongue, and to
maintain the diversity of language and culture; 2) to strengthen pre-school and
primary education for learning in one’s mother tongue, to increase the percentage
of the ‘three rates’, i.e., enrolment rate, sustainment rate and graduation rate in
schools, and to improve the overall qualities and competence of ethnic minority
youth; 3) to promote the activities of eliminating adult illiteracy, of aiding the
 Ethnic minority bilingual education in China 117

poor with technology and education, of popularizing education on law, and of

preventing and controlling natural disasters and major diseases; 4) to maintain
the sustainable development of news and publishing, radio broadcasting, film
and television industries, publishing, and cultural and artistic production in
ethnic minority languages.
From 31 July to 4 August 2006, Qapqal (察布查尔) Xibe (锡伯) Autonomous
County in Xīnjiānɡ held a “Training Course on Creating a Better Environment for
the Xibe Language”. Fifty participants including local officials, teachers, editors,
artists and farmers attended the course, with some county officials following
the entire course as observing participants. During the training, the members
learned about the plan to improve the Xibe linguistic environment and acquired
a necessary working knowledge of the language. This also increased their aware-
ness of the importance of inheriting and protecting native language and culture.
From 20 to 24 December 2006, the Sōnɡtáo (松桃) Miáo (苗) Autonomous
County in Guìzhōu held a “Training Course on Creating a Better Environment
for the Miáo Language”. One hundred and thirty-six representatives from schools
and counties from five Miáo community areas, ie. Liǎoɡāo (蓼皋), Pánxín (盘信),
Pánshí (盘石), Zhènɡdà (正大), Chánɡpínɡ (长坪), and ten model villages
participated in the training. Among the participants were also representatives
from the County’s Education Bureau, Broadcasting and Television Bureau, Tour-
ism Bureau and Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau. Twenty-one lectures, group
discussions and sessions for the exchange of opinions were arranged. Profound
lectures were given in simple language on various topics, which included: the
importance of maintaining linguistic and cultural diversity for a harmonious
society; ethnic theory and national policy; the protection of intangible cultural
heritage; the development and utilization of Sōnɡtáo Miáo Autonomous County;
the significance and value of inheriting and developing the Miáo Drum; the
training of women’s skills in the Miáo community; Miáo folk culture heritage
and its protection; bilingual teaching and learning; the significance and value
of inheriting and developing Miáo medicine; and spreading knowledge of agri-
culture, animal husbandry and forestry.

3 Issues and suggestions

3.1 The sustainable development of a bilingual education
system
Bilingualism is a sensitive issue internationally and is related to social stability,
ethnic unity and national development. Currently, the reform of bilingual educa-
tion in China is facing new problems. For example, Xīnjiānɡ province will finish
118 Dīnɡ Shíqìnɡ (丁石庆), Liú Hónɡyǔ (刘宏宇) & Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

changes to mixed ethnic minority schools with Han and minority, or multi-
minority schools within five years. Therefore, the local government should pay
special attention to this and help in solving problems, such as the large number
of students and wide area to be covered. How to manage and optimise the
investment of national and local government in the development of bilingual
education is another problem worthy of further discussion. How to establish a
bilingual education system, which is not only appropriate for the current situa-
tion, but also fulfils the wishes of the people in bilingually backward areas is a
another issue which must be addressed. Considering and solving these new
problems will be of dual significance for exploring a bilingual education system
with Chinese characteristics.

3.2 The emphasis on learning and using minority mother

tongues
In ethnic minority regions, especially in some areas where Mandarin Chinese
education is poor, the level of Mandarin Chinese proficiency has, to a certain
extent, influenced children’s further education and employment. As a result,
there is a tendency for people to place an emphasis on Mandarin Chinese while
ignoring their mother tongue. Recommendations were given that all ethnic
minority schools should improve the quality of Mandarin teaching and ensure
that students are proficient in both Mandarin Chinese and their mother tongue.
Meanwhile, in ethnic minority regions, as well as the nation as a whole, aware-
ness of bilingual and multilingual education should be actively promoted. That
is to say, students should overcome the difficulties of learning a second lan-
guage and place equal emphasis on both their mother tongue and second
language. This represents a practical way to protect ethnic minority language
and culture, in order to help minorities maintain their own identity and promote
their development.

3.3 Creating a bilingual speaking environment and improving

teaching resources for bilingual education

3.3.1 Creating a bilingual environment

According to a survey conducted by the Language Commission of the Xīnjiānɡ

Uygur Autonomous Region, the population in Xīnjiānɡ is more than 10 million.
However, of this number, 70% of people have never learned any Mandarin
 Ethnic minority bilingual education in China 119

Chinese and the rate of bilingualism is extremely low. Eighty percent of people
from the four oldest ethnic minority tribes: Uygur (维吾尔族), Kazak (哈萨
克族), Kirgiz (柯尔克孜族) and Mongolian (蒙古族), are living in inaccessible
and educationally backward areas and mainly use their own minority languages.
The lack of bilingualism has resulted in poor bilingual environments. Many
students are only exposed to a bilingual environment at school, and then return
to a monolingual environment at home or in other public places.
In order to create a favourable bilingual environment, recommendations
have also been made to the culture, education and publicity departments to
play a more active role in promoting bilingualism by using various media tools,
such as art, newspapers, radio, television and the internet. In this way, bilingual
learners would have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a bilingual
environment.

3.3.2 Improving the teaching facilities and quality of bilingual education

Bilingual education is still rather poor in some ethnic minority areas. According
to data released by the MOE, by the end of 2004, 225 counties had not achieved
the twin goals of popularising nine-year compulsory education and largely elim-
inating youth and middle-aged illiteracy in a total of 699 counties in ethnic
minority areas.
Efforts to improve the conditions of bilingual education should also be
strengthened. Enrolment for Special Classes and Schools should be expanded
in areas where conditions permit. Meanwhile, local government should offer
their own Special Classes, starting in areas with favourable conditions. In the
Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region, the number of Special Classes is far from
meeting the demands of students from all ethnic groups. A large number of
talented students do not have chance to study in better bilingual environments
because enrolment is restricted.

3.3.3 Shortage of bilingual teachers

The shortage of bilingual teachers is a long-standing problem. Chinese language

teachers, especially in remote, rural areas in Xīnjiānɡ, cannot actually speak or
understand standard Mandarin. This situation has seriously affected the quality
of Chinese language education in ethnic minority schools. At present, primary
and secondary schools in Xīnjiānɡ still lack more than 10,000 Chinese language
120 Dīnɡ Shíqìnɡ (丁石庆), Liú Hónɡyǔ (刘宏宇) & Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

teachers. A large number of bilingual teachers who are fluent in both an ethnic
minority language and Mandarin Chinese are needed in order to achieve the
goals discussed above, that is to say: to offer Mandarin Chinese classes from
the first year in primary schools by 2005; to offer English classes from the third
year in primary schools in towns and schools with better teaching conditions;
and to phase in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in Mandarin Chinese in
secondary schools. To achieve these goals, however, long-term efforts should be
focussed on increasing the quantity and quality of Chinese language teachers,
in order to change the situation in Xīnjiānɡ.

3.4 Bilingual education legislation issues

At present, apart from the relevant provisions in the Constitution of the People’s
Republic of China, namely the Law on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese
Language, the Law on Ethnic Regional Autonomy, the Laws on Education, and the
Law on Compulsory Education, there is no individual law related to ethnic minor-
ity bilingual education. There are some shortfalls in existing laws and regulations,
at both the national and local level. As a result, there are no detailed legal provi-
sions for problems that occur in this special field.
A special law on ethnic minority education should be developed as soon as
possible. Under the guidance of this new law, more detailed, specialised and
scientific regulations for ethnic minority education should be developed in all
ethnic minority regions. In such regulations, the important role of bilingual
education should be highlighted and special support and guidelines should
also be given to implement bilingual education. When this has been done, it
will be possible to manage education according to law and further the cause of
minority bilingual education.

3.5 Issues about developing bilingual education theories

Bilingual education is a combination of interwoven disciplines. It is also subject
to influence from a number of objective conditions, such as: national scientific,
technological and cultural development; economic strength; national language
policy, language education policy and education budgets; teacher training;
teacher recruitment and training systems; the scope and depth of fundamental
theoretical research; and modern teaching facilities and equipment. Therefore,
a collaborative team of multidisciplinary personnel from different departments
is urgently needed to develop the provision of bilingual education.
 Ethnic minority bilingual education in China 121

Minority bilingual education is a systematic project and in order to succeed

in implementing it, attention must be given to the overall picture, which means
all relevant aspects should be taken into account. In order to achieve efficiency,
the improvement of minority bilingual education must also appropriate to the
characteristics of various ethnic regions. In some places, the policies and plans
proposed by local educational departments and schools are unable to meet the
demands on the ground. School administrators normally execute instructions
from their superiors without flexibly dealing with the situation at their own
schools. Some schools require bilingual teachers to use only Mandarin Chinese
in class with no other native languages allowed, while other schools require
them to prepare lessons in Mandarin Chinese only. These mandatory and inflex-
ible rules contribute to the challenges of bilingualism and impact on the effec-
tiveness and quality of teaching. Attention should not only be paid to the train-
ing of bilingual teachers at the elementary level of education, but also to that of
more mature and experienced bilingual teaching staff.

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Translated by Hè Yǐnɡ (贺颖)

Guǎnɡxī University of Technology / Waterford Institute of Technology
[email protected]
Jiānɡ Dí (江荻) & Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨)
10 The standardization and computerization
of minority languages and writing
The year 2005 witnessed rapid development in the computerization of minority
languages and writing in China. A series of momentous events took place and a
number of far-reaching research findings were published. The successful con-
vening of the National Conference on the Standardization and Computerization
of Minority Languages and Writing heralded the start of a new round of efforts.
The release of the “Ethnic Language Edition of the Linux Operating System and
Office Suite” suggested the formation of a potential new market and industry.
With the publication of “Zhōnɡɡuó mínzú yǔyán gōnɡchénɡ xīn jìnzhǎn” (中国
民族语言工程新进展, Advances in China’s Minority Language Processing) and
other research papers on ethnic languages, a new page was written in the field of
information processing theory and technology for minority languages and writing.
Moreover, the Chinese government also increased investment to speed up the
process of the computerization of Tibetan (西藏) writing.

1 General overview
Among the 55 ethnic minorities that are officially recognized in China, 53 have
their own languages (Chinese as a common language is used by the Huí (回)
and the Manchu (满族) ethnic groups), while 28 writing systems are presently
used in ethnic regions and communities. The ethnic languages to be computer-
ized are mostly those which are widely used and have a long tradition, such as
Mongolian (蒙古文), Tibetan (藏文), Uygur (维吾尔文), Kazakh (哈萨克文),
Kirgiz (柯尔克孜文), Korean (朝鲜文), Yí (彝文) and Dǎi (傣文). The normal-
ization, standardization and computerization of minority languages and writing
systems are not only an important part of China’s ethnic policies, but also a key
to its language policies and administration. On 19 May 2005, Premier Wēn Jiābǎo
(温家宝) signed State Council Decree No. 435, “Regulations on Implementation
of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Regional National Autonomy”.
According to Article 22, the first section of the Law: “The state shall grant liber-
ties to all ethnic groups to use and develop their own languages and writing sys-
tems; support the normalization, standardization, and computational processing
of ethnic minorities’ languages and writing systems; promote the popularization
of standard Putonghua and standard Chinese systems; and encourage citizens
in national autonomous regions to learn the languages and writing of other
124 Jiānɡ Dí (江荻) & Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨)

ethnic groups.” This forms the cornerstone of China’s language policies and
formulates the principles in administering the use of languages.

1.1 Historical background

Upon the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese government
set about the task of conducting surveys on languages used by ethnic groups.
It formulated the script schemes for the respective groups and thus initiated the
work of normalization. A number of interregional organizations1 were set up
at different levels for the administration of several widely-used ethnic languages
including Mongolian, Tibetan, Korean and Yí. In June 1995, the National Tech-
nical Committee for Terminology Standardization (NTCTS) created a special
branch responsible for the work of formulating norms for ethnic terminology.
In 1998, the National Conference on Modernization Planning for Ethnic Lan-
guages was jointly convened by the Department of Cultural Publicity Affairs;
the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC); and the Institute of Ethnology at
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Thereafter, national and inter-
national standards of coded character sets, computer fonts, and keyboards for
some traditionally used ethnic languages have seen the light of day along with
a batch of application software. The electronic publishing and office automation
systems were developed for several ethnic writing systems such as Mongolian
and Tibetan. Progress was also achieved in the development of auto-recognition
and machine-aided translation systems for Mongolian and Tibetan writing. Ethnic
language versions of web pages or websites, such as in Mongolian, Tibetan,
Korean, Uygur and Yí, have also been constructed.

2 Key measures
2.1 Improving governmental administrative structure and
strengthening cooperation
In October 2001, with approval from the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Office
of Language Information Administration for Ethnic Minorities under the Division
of Language Information Management at the MOE was set up. The functions
of this office are: (1) coordinating and administering, from a macro perspective,

1 See the article titled “Cross-provincial cooperation in enhancing the development of the
spoken and written languages of the ethnic minorities in China” in this book.
 The standardization and computerization of minority languages and writing 125

the work of information processing for China’s ethnic languages; (2) conducting
research on the development of information processing for ethnic languages
both at home and abroad; (3) implementing overall planning for information
processing for ethnic languages; (4) participating in formulating and assessing
the norms of minority languages and writing, and (5) organizing research activities
and providing guidance on the development and application of research findings.
In 2002, a seminar on the computerization of ethnic languages was organ-
ized by the Division of Language Information Management at the MOE and the
Division of Cultural Publicity Affairs at the SEAC. Afterwards, research teams
composed of members from seven ministries and commissions including the
SEAC and the MOE were dispatched to various ethnic regions. They conducted
surveys of existing problems, and of the use and development of ethnic language
software, and planned for the standardization and computerization of minority
languages and writing.
In November 2004, through the efforts of the Division of Language Informa-
tion Management at the MOE, the Sub-committee of Ethnic Minorities’ Languages
under the National Technical Committee for Language Standardization (NTCLS)
was created. Meanwhile, the members of the special branch under the NTCTS
were re-elected upon the completion of their terms of office.
In 2005, new officials heading each ethnic language group in this special
branch were nominated and appointed. In addition, the working meeting of the
National Committee for Tibetan Terminology Standardization (NCTTS), at which
its members were re-elected, once again highlighted the significance of the nor-
malization, standardization and information processing of the Tibetan language
and called for the advancement of the standardization of Tibetan terminology.
At this meeting, the challenges for Tibetan terminology standardization were
also discussed at greater length.

2.2 Surveys conducted in ethnic regions

In 2005, the Division of Language Information Management at the MOE dispatched
experts to conduct surveys and research regarding the status of the standardiza-
tion and computerization of minority languages in various ethnic regions, includ-
ing such provinces and autonomous regions as Inner Mongolia (内蒙古), Tibet,
Xīnjiānɡ (新疆), Qīnɡhǎi (青海), Sìchuān (四川), Guìzhōu (贵州), Yúnnán
(云南), Jílín (吉林) and Guǎnɡxī (广西). The focus of the surveys was placed
on “minor ethnic groups” (with a population smaller than 100,000). After com-
pletion of the surveys, the experts gained a better understanding of the history
126 Jiānɡ Dí (江荻) & Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨)

and current state of the ethnic languages. This in-depth research highlighted the
following issues:
1. The importance of the normalization, standardization and computerization
of minority languages and writing should be viewed from the following
perspective: Since ethnic languages are part of the cultural legacy of the
Chinese nation, this work will contribute to the implementation of the
national strategy to develop the western regions; the maintenance of security
and stability in border areas; the fulfillment of common prosperity for all
nationalities; and the advancement of unity among the diverse ethnic
groups in China. It also serves the purposes of competing for more virtual
space and building up social and political harmony.
2. The normalization, standardization and computerization of minority languages
and writing demands overall planning from the governments of the provinces
and autonomous regions involved and close coordination, mutual support
and all-round cooperation among organizations in related fields.
3. The principles of “unified standards, a unified platform, and unified resources”
should be upheld in carrying out the aforementioned task. Efforts should
be made to create a multilingual operating system for minority languages,
Chinese and foreign languages – it is in some sense a trend towards inter-
national standardization. Limited funds should be pooled and allocated
for the building of language resource banks instead of for unnecessary
purposes or redundant or low-level projects. Since the levels of demand
for, and development of, the computerization of ethnic languages varies
from one ethnic group to another, this task must be approached from a prac-
tical and realistic angle, i.e., adhering to the principles of “differentiated and
practical guidance” and “step-by-step implementation”.

2.3 Research projects

The Division of Language Information Management at the MOE formulated and
issued the “Guidelines for Projects on the Standardization and Computerization
of Minority Languages and Writing”. The first batch of 24 projects was launched
in June, and a second batch of 27 projects in December, 2005. These projects
involved work and studies concerning the construction of character sets of
ethnic writing and platform construction, defining the norms of ethnic languages
(including the norms of transforming personal and geographic names, standard-
ization of terminology, and research on basic standards) and the construction of
ethnic language resource banks.
 The standardization and computerization of minority languages and writing 127

2.4 National Conference on the Standardization and

Computerization of Minority Languages and Writing
In July 2005, the National Conference on the Standardization and Computeriza-
tion of Minority Languages and Writing was held in Urumqi (乌鲁木齐), the
capital of Xīnjiānɡ province. At the opening ceremony Yuán Guìrén (袁贵仁),
Deputy Minister at the MOE and Director of the State Language Commission
(SLC), delivered a speech entitled “Fostering a scientific outlook of development
and opening up new dimensions for the normalization, standardization and
computerization of minority languages and writings”. Yuán pointed out that the
standardization and computerization of minority languages and writing systems
is not only an important part of China’s ethnic policies, but also a key to its
language policies and administration. New demands were put forward to fulfill
the goal of making adjustments to the development of the information era, pro-
tecting cultural diversity and building a harmonious society.
For this purpose, we should intensify our efforts in the construction of norms
for ethnic languages, advance the process of normalization and standardization
of information technology for ethnic languages, and guarantee online security
when data and information are transmitted and shared over the internet. It is
required that resources should be pooled to invest in the development of basic
software for ethnic languages and speed up the construction of a unified plat-
form. Support for the phased and well-planned construction of multi-ethnic lan-
guage resource banks is also needed.
The purpose of this conference, in particular, was to implement what had
been laid down at the 2005 Central Ethnic Work Conference – analyzing the
current situation of the standardizing and computerizing minority languages
and writing, and discussing and arranging future work. The conference also
showcased some of the fruits of the research and studies on ethnic language
computerization.

3 Research achievements
The work on the computerization of minority languages was initiated in the
1980s. After decades of development, considerable progress has been achieved.
The national standards of coded character sets, keyboards and fonts have been
defined for Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Kazakh, Kirgiz, Korean, Yí and Dǎi
script. The coded character sets of Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Kazakh, Kirgiz,
Yí and Dǎi writing were officially included in the Basic Multilingual Plane
(BMP) in the latest version of international standards. Some ethnic language
128 Jiānɡ Dí (江荻) & Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨)

software has been successfully run on the Windows system. E-publishing sys-
tems, office automation systems and databases in various languages have also
been developed. Web pages or websites in several ethnic languages have been
constructed and become accessible to the public. Progress has also been made
in areas of speech and character auto-recognition and machine-aided transla-
tion. Chinese scholars in the field of ethnic minorities’ natural language process-
ing have made tireless efforts in fundamental research, and in grappling with
the technical problems in its application. Their work includes research on an
ethnic language corpus; language computation; speech analysis and synthesis;
encoding platform technology; input-output technology; and networking and
typesetting. The computerization of minority languages has gained momentum,
particularly since 2005, and its rapid development has yielded significant results.

3.1 Formulating the standards for ethnic language information

processing
The vigorous development of the computerization of ethnic languages in 2005
was mostly reflected in the progress achieved in defining standards. In April,
three regional standards were jointly issued by the Bureau of Technical Supervi-
sion of Quality and the Office of Informatization of the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autono-
mous Region. These included standards for Uygur, Kazak and Kirgiz coded
character set, basic set and extension set for information interchange; Uygur,
Kazak and Kirgiz fonts and font style for information interchange; and Uygur
commonly used interface information terms for information interchange. These
three standards have greatly promoted the application and popularization of
information technology in Xīnjiānɡ. They have also contributed enormously to
the solution of problems related to the application of Uygur, Kazak and Kirgiz
languages, such as incomplete computer codes; vague and unclear identifica-
tion; inconsistent and non-uniform font and font style standards; and inaccurate
translation of interface terms and software incompatibility. Meanwhile, the
publication of these standards will greatly contribute to the realization of the
goal to apply, popularize, develop and industrialize the information processing
technology of minority languages and writing in Xīnjiānɡ.
In August, “Information technology – Tibetan coded character set for infor-
mation interchange – Extension A (Extension A)” and “Information technology –
Tibetan coded character set for information interchange – Extension B (Exten-
sion B)”, jointly set up by the Tibetan Language Commission, Tibet University
and other institutions, passed its appraisal inspection. “Extension A” contains
962 vertical pre-combined characters in Tibetan, and “Extension B” contains
 The standardization and computerization of minority languages and writing 129

5,702 characters. The coding site is on the OF plane of GB 13000, and the char-
acters are ordered according to the “Basic Set”.2
The standard of “Information technology – Keyboard layout of the alpha-
numeric zone for Tibetan coded character set (basic set)” was also issued at
the same time. The keyboard layout is designed according to the frequency of
Tibetan character use, and its optimized structure generally solves problems
arising from the non-uniformity of Tibetan keyboard layouts, increases input
speed and reduces the frequency of typing errors.
The three aforementioned Tibetan standards, together with another two
standards adopted earlier, “Information technology – Tibetan coded character
sets for information interchange – Basic set” and “Information technology –
Tibetan coded character set (basic set) – 24 × 48 Dots matrix font – Part 1: Báitǐ
(白体)”, have laid the foundation of Tibetan character standards for information
processing. All these standards will be submitted to the relevant authorities for
approval before they are officially promulgated and implemented.
In addition, the Institute of Linguistics at the CASS, with joint efforts from
Founder Electronics Co., Ltd. and the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology
at the CASS, formulated “ISO/IEC 10646-2003 Supplementary to the IPA System
Extension Sets and Five-degree Tone Symbols (International Standard)”. On its
basis, the Universal Phonetic Symbols Sets were developed and will be promul-
gated as norms of the SLC after their appraisal inspection. In November 2005,
after the members of the NCTTS were re-elected, its first general meeting was
convened in Běijīnɡ, indicating the start of well-planned and concerted efforts
for the standardization of Tibetan terminology.

3.2 Platform for ethnic language information processing

In 2005, ground-breaking progress was made in ethnic language information
processing. In July, “Cross-platform Linux-based Tibetan Information Processing
System” (CLTIPS), jointly developed by researchers from the Institute of Soft-
ware at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Office of the Tibetan Lan-
guage Commission of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and Tibet University,
passed an appraisal inspection. CLTIPS is the fruit of a high-tech project,
West Campaign, headed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is an innovative
product with independent intellectual property rights, and is in line with China’s

2 “Basic Set” refers to the “Information technology – Tibetan coded character sets for
information interchange – Basic set”.
130 Jiānɡ Dí (江荻) & Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨)

strategies of the development of its western regions and long-term economic,

social and software-industry development.
CLTIPS, whose design is based on the universality of multilingual computa-
tion, is cross-platform Tibetan office software that can run on Linux or Windows
systems. As such, it marks the establishment of a standardized, uniform char-
acter processing system for Tibetan. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the
Tibet Autonomous Region, the software developers donated 5,000 sets of the
Tibetan Linux operating system and office suites to the region. This will boost
the development of computerization and have a profound impact on the Tibetan
people.
The research and development project of the “Ethnic Language Edition of
the Linux Operating System and Office Suite” undertaken by the Institute of
Software at the CAS passed the appraisal inspection. As a key project under the
863 Program supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), this
system, based on Redflag Linux and RedOffice, has successfully developed an
information platform for processing ethnic writing. It can support the processing
of eight ethnic languages, including Mongolian, Tibetan and Uygur, in a multi-
lingual Linux system and office suite.
The system has also achieved breakthroughs in the following areas: (1)
It has set up an international multilingual processing model and an applica-
tion framework, a reference model of international script processing, and a
component-oriented multilingual adaptive model of graphical user interface
(GUI). (2) It creates the vertical-style GUI. (3) It uses, for the first time, the Open-
Type and other sophisticated script processing technology in processing ethnic
writing. (4) It successfully realizes the goal of the information processing of
Mongolian, Tibetan and Uygur within a uniform framework. This is achieved
by a number of key technical breakthroughs in the field of ethnic language
operating systems and office suites, and thus ensures the compatibility and
portability of the system.
The issuance of information processing standards and the establishment
of related operating platforms have quickly had an impact on the application
of these new information technologies. The website www.xzzyw.cn (Tibetan Lan-
guage and Writing) in a Tibetan version is the first and only official nationwide
website that can fully support an ethnic language. It was opened on 18 July,
2005 with the support and administration of the SLC. The Institute of Ethnology
and Anthropology at the CASS also established the website www.ethnic-
languages.org.cn (China’s Ethnic Language Studies). This website with its
wealth of up-to-date information on minority language research has attracted
close attention and widespread acclaim from both academia and the public.
 The standardization and computerization of minority languages and writing 131

3.3 Other notable achievements

Apart from those mentioned above, there were a few other notable achievements
in 2005 in terms of the computerization of minority languages and writing.
The “Online Handwritten Uygur Symbol Recognition and Electronic Text Editor”,
a project undertaken by Xīnjiānɡ Normal University, was included in the high-
tech development planning of the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Region. Huáɡuānɡ
(华光) Imagesetter Co., Ltd.3 received support from the National Innovation
Fund for Small Technology-based Firms to develop “China’s Electronic Office
System for Multi-ethnic Languages”. In addition to Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur,
Kazak and Kirgiz, the system will also support Todorkhai Mongolian (托忒蒙
古文), Korean, Xīshuānɡbǎnnà Dǎi (西双版纳傣文), Déhónɡ Dǎi (德宏傣文),
Yí (彝文) and Xibe (锡伯文) script. Therefore users from these ethnic groups
can create electronic documents using a visual interface. The documents can
also be transmitted, received, browsed, printed and sealed electronically.
In 2005, the updated 2.0 version of “Sino-Tibetan Etymological Glossary Data-
base with Phonetic and Semantic Retrieval”, jointly developed by the Hong
Kong University of Science and Technology, and the Institute of Ethnology and
Anthropology at the CASS, was released. The database contains over 110 differ-
ent languages used in China and 12 Chinese dialects. It also includes the ancient
phonetic systems of Chinese (archaic and middle ancient), Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-
Burman and Austronesian languages – based on research findings from such
well-known linguists as Li Fang-Kuei (李方桂), Zhènɡzhānɡ Shànɡfānɡ (郑张
尚芳), Bernhard Karlgren (高本汉) and W. South Coblin (柯蔚南). Users can
retrieve information from this database in Chinese, English and a number of
ethnic languages by using key words, speech recognition, semantic elements or
a combination of the three. This system aroused great interest from academia
when it was demonstrated at Leiden University in the Netherlands and at the
38th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics in
2005.

Translated by Gě Yànhónɡ (葛燕红)

Nánjīnɡ University
[email protected]

3 The company later became Wéifǎnɡ Běidà Jade Bird Huáɡuānɡ Imagesetter Co., Ltd.
Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)
11 Cross-provincial cooperation in
enhancing the development of the
spoken and written languages of the
ethnic minorities in China1
There are four cross-provincial cooperation groups aimed at enhancing the
development of the spoken and written languages of the ethnic minorities in
China: 1) the Group for Mongolian Language Affairs (or Eight-Member Group for
short) with eight members from Inner Mongolia (内蒙古) Autonomous Region
(IMAR), Hēilónɡjiānɡ (黑龙江), Jílín (吉林), Liáonínɡ (辽宁), Gānsù (甘肃),
Nínɡxià (宁夏) Huí (回) Autonomous Region (NHAR), Xīnjiānɡ (新疆) Uygur
(维吾尔) Autonomous Region (XUAR) and Qīnɡhǎi (青海); 2) the Group for
Korean Language Affairs (or Three-Member Group for short) with three members
from Jílín, Hēilónɡjiānɡ and Liáonínɡ; 3) the Group for Yí (彝语) Language
Affairs (or Four-Member Group for short) with four members representing
Sìchuān (四川), Yúnnán (云南), Guìzhōu (贵州) and Guǎnɡxī (广西) Zhuànɡ
(壮) Autonomous Region (GZAR); and 4) the Leader Group for Tibetan (藏语)
Education (or Five-Member Group for short) with five members representing
Tibet (西藏) Autonomous Region (TAR), Qīnɡhǎi, Sìchuān, Gānsù and Yúnnán.
Tentative as they were, the efforts of these groups have proven to be pio-
neering work in the area of language affairs of the ethnic minorities in China.
The predecessors of these groups were initially voluntary and grassroots organ-
izations approved by the central or local governments and went on to work as
government agencies for consultation and coordination. In the early days the
groups were simply oriented toward a single aspect of the minority language
affairs and gradually more aspects have become incorporated. Thanks to effec-
tive cross-provincial cooperation, the educational and cultural problems of these
ethnic groups which are scattered over various provinces have been adequately
resolved and their rights of learning, speaking and writing their mother tongues
are fully protected, which in turn has promoted the development of their
languages.

1 My deepest gratitude goes to Hā Sī (哈斯), Jīn Chénɡchūn (金成春) and Xiónɡ Yùyǒu (熊玉有)
for their stimulating advice and generous help.
134 Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

1 About the cooperation

1.1 The eight-member Group in the north
The Official Reply of the State Council Concerning the Language Affairs in Inner
Mongolia (No. 3) issued in 1974 stated: “In order to assert an effective leadership,
it is suggested that a cooperation group be launched as an outcome of the Meet-
ing on the Mongolian Language Affairs for the purpose of regular experience-
sharing, plan-making and reforms in Mongolian language development. The
group headquarters will be established in Huhhot (呼和浩特), the Capital of
IMAR. It will be comprised of members from IMAR, Hēilónɡjiānɡ, Jílín, Liáo-
nínɡ, Gānsù, NHAR, XUAR, Qīnɡhǎi, and the Central Government. The IMAR
Revolution Committee will chair the group and the Central Government will offer
instructional advice when necessary.” Accordingly the group was set up un-
officially in May 1975. Another relevant official document (No. 138) issued by
the State Council in 1977 was quoted as saying: “It is approved that the group
be launched as an authority in charge of the Mongolian language affairs in the
eight provinces.” Later NHAR withdrew in 1979 and Běijīnɡ (北京) and Héběi
(河北) joined in 1987 and 1992 respectively. Now the group members are nine,
but the name “Eight-Member Group” remains unchanged.
The convener and head of the group is an official from IMAR; the advisor
(who also serves as a deputy) is an official from the State Ethnic Affairs Commis-
sion (SEAC); other deputies are the vice-governors in charge of minorities’ affairs
in the eight provinces and the officials responsible for the language affairs of the
ethnic minorities from the provincial Ethnic Affairs Commission. A designated
office of the IMAR Ethnic Affairs Commission was set up to fulfill the routine
duties of the group.
On 13 July 2005, coinciding with the celebrations of the 30th anniversary
of the group, the 13th Members Meeting was held in Urumqi (乌鲁木齐). Wánɡ
Lèquán (王乐泉), Politburo member of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary
of the Party Committee of XUAR, Zhōu Mínɡfǔ (周明甫), Vice-Minister of
SEAC, and other leaders were present at the meeting. The 2006–2010 program
for Mongolian language development in the eight provinces was reviewed and a
long TV documentary, A course of cooperation, had its premiere at the meeting.
On behalf of Sima Yi Tiliwaldi (司马义·铁力瓦尔), Chairman of XUAR, Gipar
Abibullah (贾帕尔·阿比不拉), Vice-Chairman of XUAR, delivered a speech.
Following the party policies on the ethnic minorities, the group has been
working prudently yet enthusiastically. Its hard work is instrumental in helping
the Mongols in China with learning, speaking and writing their mother tongue,
improving the bilingual environment, and facilitating development in the areas
 Cross-provincial cooperation 135

of economy, culture, education, and science and technology in the Mongol-

inhabited regions. To date the years of efforts have been rewarded with effective
cooperation in the fields of education, culture, arts, journalism, publication,
broadcasting, film, television, scientific research and ancient texts.

1.1.1 Mongolian as the language of learning

Mongolian is the required language of learning in some colleges in IMAR. These

colleges enroll candidates from the other member provinces to train Mongolian-
speaking graduates (the enrollment numbers are matched by the other member
provinces). The other member provinces such as Jílín, XUAR, Gānsù and Héběi
recruited primary school teachers and performers for Wūlánmùqí (乌兰牧骑)2
art troupes among the local Mongolian-speaking zhīqīnɡs (知青), i.e. “educated
youth” or “rusticated youth”. With the help of the Department of Education of
IMAR, the group sent experienced Mongolian-speaking teachers to local schools
in the other member provinces to give training programs. All this has met or
reduced the demand for Mongolian-speaking professionals. Some bilingual
graduates were assigned to work for the Party and political organs or the educa-
tional and cultural sectors of the Mongol-inhabited areas. These people first
learn Chinese texts on policies, political theories and new scientific knowledge,
and then explain or spread them in Mongolian among the local people and this
has been playing an indispensable role in the advances in local politics, econ-
omy and culture.

1.1.2 The local arts and culture

From 1976 onwards, some organizations in IMAR have been taking on the task of
training Mongolian-speaking performers for other member provinces; trainers in
IMAR have been invited to teach local Wūlánmùqí performers. Gradually, the
Mongol-inhabited areas outside Inner Mongolia have also been able to feature
their own Wūlánmùqí art troupes with a distinctive local flavour. Currently,
among all the group members except Héběi and Běijīnɡ, the art troupes at
or above county-level or qí 3-level amount to over 60 and have over 1,500 per-
formers in total. These troupes carry forward the Mongolian traditional culture,
and have brightened up the lives of local people.

2 Wūlánmùqí (乌兰牧骑) means “red cultural working team” in Mongolian. It appeared in

1957, undertaking the tasks of performing, publicity, tutoring and service for the people of Inner
Mongolia. It is known as “horseman on the grassland”.
3 Qí is a local administrative unit in IMAR. A qí has its own government to deal with local matters.
136 Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

1.1.3 Journalism and publication

The 30-year cooperation has witnessed great progress in Mongolian newspapers,

magazines, broadcasting and TV programs. The number of Mongolian news-
papers has increased from 5 in 1977 to 27 today; that of Mongolian magazines
from about 10 to 77. According to statistics, there are 12 publishing houses in
China which are capable of editing and publishing Mongolian books; the dedi-
cated editors and proofreaders are about 250; about 600 Mongolian books are
published per year. Each time the Inner Mongolia Bureau of Press and Publica-
tions (IMBPP) makes its annual plan, it invites the publishing houses engaged in
Mongolian publications to give their opinions and suggestions. The member
provinces enjoy priority, under the same conditions, in publishing their manu-
scripts in IMAR. Inner Mongolia Education Press (IMEP) supplies the member
provinces throughout the year with Mongolian textbooks and reading materials.
Since 1991 the group and IMBPP have been jointly organizing the Mongolian
Book Fair every two years, and the fair has gained great social and economic
returns.

1.1.4 Broadcasting and television

Every few years, the group, together with the Inner Mongolia Department of
Broadcasting and Television, runs a training program aimed at training news-
casters who will read news in standard Mongolian on radio and TV. To date,
the Mongolian broadcasting stations have increased from 3 in 1977 to 16 at
present. Since the debut of the first Mongolian TV program in 1987, there has
been dramatic growth. Taking the Inner Mongolia TV Station as an example,
the Mongolian TV programs run for as long as 15 hours per day and satellite tele-
vision delivers them to every corner of IMAR. For years, the Mongolian broad-
casting and TV programs have been habitually shared among the group members,
allowing them to learn from one another, improving the quality of TV programs
and therefore enhancing the lives of the local people. Moreover, the annual selec-
tion of excellent Mongolian contributions has given impetus to journalists.

1.1.5 Scientific research

Shortly after its establishment, the group set out to work on the standardization
of Mongolian terminology in order to put an end to the confusion caused by
haphazard use. To date, the book series on Chinese-Mongolian bilingual termi-
nology have amounted to more than ten. The group also decided on the basic
 Cross-provincial cooperation 137

dialect of standard Mongolian in China, the standard Mongolian phonetics and

the list of Mongolian phonetic symbols. Apart from that, more fruits appeared in
close succession, including the laser typesetting and printing system for Mongo-
lian writing, the Mongolian writing encoding and the transliteration between the
Mongolian and Roman alphabets. At present the information processing tech-
nology for Mongolian writing has become well-developed and widely-used.

1.1.6 The ancient texts

The founding of the Eight-Provincial Editorial Committee of Mongolian Litera-

ture marked the beginning of collecting, collating, compiling and publishing
the ancient texts of the four ethnic minorities of Mongolian, Dahur (达斡尔族),
Owenke (鄂温克族) and Oroqen (鄂伦春族). Adhering to the principles of pro-
tecting the experts, the ancient texts and the dying disciplines, this work, led by
the IMAR Office for Ancient Texts, is carried out in phases with a focus on the
only-existing copies, rare books and books needing emergency treatment. A fair
amount of ancient texts of great historical and cultural significance have been
collected, compiled and published, which has fostered the preservation of tradi-
tional cultures of the minorities and also won the respect of the academic com-
munity at home and abroad.
The legal system of the Mongolian language affairs has developed by leaps
and bounds. Quite a few regulations have come into effect. For instance, IMAR
incentive program for using Mongolian, Regulations of IMAR for the use of spoken
and written Mongolian, Management measures of IMAR for the coexistence of
written Mongolian and written Chinese in society and the market, and Detailed
rules for the implementation of the regulations for the Mongolian language affairs
in Fùxīn (阜新) Mongolian Autonomous County. Similar laws and regulations also
took effect in Hohhot, Bāotóu (包头), Xīnɡ’ān Ménɡ (兴安盟), Chìfēnɡ (赤峰)
and the Sùběi (肃北) Mongolian Autonomous County. Not only have these laws
promoted the development of Mongolian language affairs in local areas, but
they also set an example for similar work in other provinces.

1.2 The three-member group in the northeast

In the 1970s, three organizations were set up aimed at working together coopera-
tively in the area of Korean language affairs. On the basis of this, in 1989 the
three provinces in the northeast agreed to jointly set up another group – the
Korean three-member group – to take charge of the work involved in a more effi-
cient way. This group is chaired by the vice-governor of Jílín; the deputies are
138 Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

the vice-governors from the other two provinces and representatives from the
Minority Affairs Commission, the Education Commission, and the Bureau for
Press and Publication of the three provinces. The group has its headquarters in
Jílín, with the Culture and Education Office of Jílín Minority Affairs Commission
performing its routine duties.
The Group had General Meetings in 1989 and 1998. Counting the two organ-
ized by its predecessors, four general meetings have been held to date. In addi-
tion, the group often holds meetings on various issues on an irregular basis.
The Group is designed to seek cooperation in minority education as well as
the investigation, standardization, digitalization and research in spoken and
written Korean in China. With its relentless efforts, accomplishments have been
made in this regard. For instance, during the period from 1977 to 1985, the
Principles of Korean standards in China was issued and later the Plan for Korean
standards in China was created. In 1986 the Chinese Committee for Korean
Standards, composed of linguists and members from the three member provinces,
Běijīnɡ and Qīnɡdǎo (青岛), was established. To date, the 11 meetings of the
committee have produced satisfying outcomes, including Grammar of Korean
language in China, Korean alphabetization of foreign words, Plan for a standard
Chinese-Korean scientific terminology, National standard of coded Korean character
set for information exchange, Standard Korean writing for students and the Collec-
tion of standard Korean writing.

1.3 The four-member Group in the southwest

The four-member group was set up in Kūnmínɡ (昆明) in 1993 as a department
of the Steering Committee on Minority Language Affairs of Yúnnán Province.
Shortly thereafter, the group transferred linguists specializing in Yí language
from the four member provinces to Kūnmínɡ and had them work on the stan-
dardization of Yí writing. They continued to work with the aim of making a
standardization program applicable to the member provinces by means of the
Yí ideograms.
Their hard work finally yielded positive results – the first draft of the Dic-
tionary of the Yí language appeared in 1996 and the final version was published
thereafter; the Vocabulary of the Yí language also came out soon after that.

1.4 The five-member Group in the west

So far the cooperation has largely focused on Tibetan textbooks. The situation
was far from satisfactory before any cooperation started: the professionals in
compilation and translation were scattered; the quality of textbooks variable;
 Cross-provincial cooperation 139

the use of terms haphazard; the textbooks outdated and the set of textbooks
often incomplete. Organized by SEAC and the former State Education Commis-
sion (SEC), representatives from the five member provinces held a meeting about
the cooperation in Tibetan textbooks in Xīnínɡ (西宁), Qīnɡhǎi in March 1982.
At this meeting, the Leader Group for Tibetan Textbooks Writing and Translation
was set up.
The organizations designated to compile and translate the textbooks are the
Tibetan Centre for Textbook Compilation and Translation and the Qīnɡhǎi Com-
pilation and Translation Centre for Minority Language Textbooks. So far, they
have completed the work on 1,353 kinds of Tibetan textbooks which fall into 9
categories or 26 disciplines and can meet the demands of schools of various
levels and types. This was indeed a historic breakthrough in the work on Tibetan
textbooks. These textbooks have now been made easily accessible to all schools
in Tibet. Even more encouraging news: there is a guaranteed supply of supple-
mentary materials; the Tibetan textbooks keep pace with the Chinese ones;
students get their books before the start of every new term; and there are
enough books for every student to have one copy.
In 1986, the former SEC approved to set up in Tibet the Tibetan Textbook
Review Committee (TTRC) of the State 1–12 Textbook Review Committee. TTRC,
aimed at standardizing the terminology and continuing to improve the quality
of Tibetan textbooks, has proven to be important in maintaining the standards
of Tibetan textbooks.
In 1994, the Leader Group for Tibetan Textbook Writing and Translation was
renamed the Leader Group for Tibetan Education (or Five-Member Group for
short), whose duties, expanding from the cooperation on Tibetan textbooks to
all aspects regarding Tibetan education, involve specifically drafting the plans
for Tibetan textbook review and coordinating or leading the work on Tibetan
education, textbook writing and textbook review. In 1995, in order to train more
bilingual science teachers, the five-member group made a decision at its annual
meeting in Guìdé (贵德) Qīnɡhǎi that Tibet University, Qīnɡhǎi Normal Univer-
sity (QNU) and the former Qīnɡhǎi Education College (now a school of QNU) be
the bases for training bilingual science teachers. Drawing on each other’s re-
sources, the three institutions have made impressive achievements in their work.
The Department of Minority Affairs, QNU, which takes the primary responsibility
for the work, has trained 578 teachers from areas such as Gānsù, Sìchuān, Yúnnán
and Tibet.
From August 8 to 11, 2005, the five-member group, together with the Minority
Normal College, QNU, held the Symposium on the curriculum reform in Tibetan
primary schools at Xīnínɡ, Qīnɡhǎi. A training program in the new curriculum
was also included. The themes of the symposium were the writing of Tibetan
140 Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

textbooks for primary schools, the on-the-job training of primary and middle
school teachers, the development of locally-applicable textbooks, the applica-
tion of modern educational technology in the primary schools in Tibet, the
development of textbooks with distinctive Tibetan cultural characteristics, and
education on ecological protection and sustainable development.

2 Characteristics of the cooperation

2.1 Consultation and coordination
According to the official document No. 3 and the Minutes of the meeting concern-
ing the planning of the minority language book publication (No. 49) issued by the
State Council in 1974 and in 1975 respectively (document No. 49 was submitted
by the former State Bureau for Publishing Management), the cooperation Groups
are coordination organs with the duties of conducting research, planning and
offering experience. For years, the groups have been consistently following the
guidelines.
With regard to language affairs, governments play the role of guiding and
regulating; NGOs do the part of carrying out technical research; and scientific
research institutions conduct theoretical research. When it comes to minority
language affairs, the cooperation between the three parties would most likely
achieve maximum efficiency. These groups, drawing on the areas of expertise
of the three parties, have particularly brought into play the consultation and
coordination functions of the organizations dealing with minority language affairs
in the member provinces.

2.2 Resource integration and administration cost reduction

Over a long period of time China’s ethnic groups have lived together; some
spread out over vast areas while others live in small, compact communities. As
the larger minorities are usually scattered in different provinces, it poses some-
what of a problem in their language affairs. There are three options: the central
government taking up the matter, the provinces working separately on it or
cross-provincial cooperation. The shortcoming of the first option is that it is
hard to make an allowance for the markedly different local situations; the flaw
of the second option is that separate work will widen the differences in dialects,
slangs and writings in different regions, which will undoubtedly hamper the
solidarity and progress of any given minority; therefore, the third option is
 Cross-provincial cooperation 141

optimal. Though these cross-provincial groups are not higher-ranking adminis-

trative departments than the member provinces, they have played the role of
resource integration and, as a result, cut down on the administration costs. The
groups have proven to be efficient in mobilizing governments and NGOs to make
things happen in the development of the minority language affairs – they pro-
vide a platform to come up with workable solutions. According to the solutions,
the member provinces can create flexible approaches to solve locally-specific
problems.
The national population census data in 2000 showed that the Mongol popu-
lation in the five-member provinces was up to 5,482,100, making up 93.53% of the
total population of Mongols in China. They mainly live in autonomous regions:
apart from the IMAR, there are 3 autonomous prefectures and 8 autonomous
counties in the other four member provinces. Without a cooperation group, deal-
ing with various Mongolian language affairs would be impossible. Thanks to the
eight-member group, the member provinces are able to learn from one another,
minimize their weaknesses and fulfill each other’s needs. The all-out efforts of
the group have been repaid with substantial social and economical benefits
which would not have been achieved by a single department or province. For
this reason, the group has been credited for its contribution to the remarkable
development of the Mongolian language in the eight provinces.
The past two decades have also seen the effective cooperation in Korean
language affairs. Besides living in the Yánbiān (延边) Korean Autonomous Pre-
fecture and the Chánɡbái (长白) Korean Autonomous County in Jílín province,
the Korean minority in China is scattered over other areas in the northeast. At
present the hub of the cooperation network is the Yánbiān Korean Autonomous
Prefecture, and the network radiates to the other three provinces. The old situa-
tion of separate work and resource waste has been stopped, thus safeguarding
the right of the Korean people in China to use and develop their mother tongue.

2.3 Fostering solidarity

Equality between ethnic groups and their languages is a policy and law that the
Chinese government has been constantly upholding. Cooperation as a manifes-
tation of this equality has helped solve problems in culture, education, language
standards and terminology standardization, hence defending the immediate
interests of local people.
Thanks to the cooperation, much enthusiasm has been generated among
the ethnic minorities about their mother tongues and the ethnic minorities have
become more aware of their identities as members of the Chinese nation. As the
142 Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)

cooperation has facilitated the development of the minority languages and

accordingly promoted the local economic growth, it has and will continue to
make a contribution to the construction of a moderately prosperous society and
a harmonious society in China.

Translated by Máo Cǎifènɡ (毛彩凤 )

Southeast University
[email protected]
II Special Research
Guō Lìjūn (郭丽君)
12 Status quo of language use in medical
documents and on medicinal packages

1 General information
By language in medical documents it refers to the written Chinese used by pro-
fessional medical workers in their activities, including the writing of case
records, prescriptions, medical certificates, medical examinations and check-up
reports, office handover notebooks, prescription records, etc. and to that on
medicinal packages including inserts, labels and tags.
On 31 March, 2006, a certain Ms. Wú (吴) of Nánjīnɡ (南京), Jiānɡsū (江苏)
Province sued Zhōnɡdà (中大) Hospital, which is attached to Southeastern Uni-
versity, after repeated failure to obtain a satisfactory response to her complaint
of being unable to read the doctor’s careless handwriting on her medical record,
appealing to the law court for “her case record to be rewritten”. This event
created a public sensation and became known as “the first case of a scrawled
case record in this country”. (Nán 2006) Ms. Wú claimed that the reason she
did it this way, rather than against the hospital she had visited, was for the law
to correct doctors’ habit of careless writing and for all medical institutions to
give attention to inquiry and case record writing and earnestly carry out their
obligations to inform patients of their conditions. On 4 July, the court made its
decision at the first trial of the case that, as neat handwriting of a patient’s
case record is obligatory for a doctor, problems therein should be settled
through medical administrative means since they are issues defined in the
norms of rules and regulations of administration rather than those of civil law,
and therefore the support for the plaintiff’s appeal was not granted. Meanwhile,
the court held that a case record is an important medical document, and a
doctor shall make his/her writing of it correct and clear so that it is legible to
most people concerned.
Some experts considered a “scrawled case record” to be a serious problem
of medical morality because it reflected disrespect for patients and deprived
them of the right of knowledge of their conditions. Others suggested that it
would not be a simple case of refutation for a hospital if its pharmacists or other
doctors misread a medicine or a dosage therein, which might result in death.
(Liú and Hóu 2006)
According to the first paragraph of Section 13 of Law of the People’s Republic
of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language (hereafter the
146 Guō Lìjūn (郭丽君)

Law on Language), “The standardised Chinese characters shall be used as the

basic characters in the service trade” and Section 14, “In cases of packaging
and specifications of commodities marketed in the country, the standard spoken
and written Chinese language shall be used as the basic spoken and written
language”.
In 2006, specific measures for the execution of the Law on Language were
enacted successively in Jiānɡsū, Guǎnɡxī (广西), Húnán (湖南), Ānhuī (安徽),
Zhèjiānɡ (浙江) and other provinces and autonomous regions to refine clauses
concerning the use of written Chinese in service trades and commodity packag-
ing and explicitly stipulated the use of standardised Chinese characters on
packages, inserts, labels, and tags, and in prescriptions, case records, physical
examination reports, etc. Prior to this, the enforcement measures for the Law on
Language established by Jílín (吉林 2005), Liáonínɡ (辽宁 2005), Shāndōnɡ
(山东 2004), Shānxī (山西 2003) and other provinces, and Běijīnɡ (北京 2003),
Shànɡhǎi (上海 2005) and other cities under the Central Government, and the
administrative provisions for the Law on Language set up by Guìyánɡ (贵阳
2005), Xī’ān (西安 2005) and other provincial cities also demanded the use of
standardised Chinese characters in commodity names, directions, prescriptions,
case records, etc. Provisions concerning the use of standardised Chinese characters
in prescriptions, case records and physical examination reports attracted the
attention of the media and were expected to be able to eradicate any “scrawled
case record”. (Guō and Zhào 2006)

2 Current problems
The major problem concerning the use of written Chinese in medical documents
and on medicinal packages is the violation of a patient’s right to know the truth
and his/her right of choice. Available data indicate that approximately 80%
doctor-patient disputes are related to the former. (Liú 2005)

2.1 Problems of “scrawled case records” and “scrawled

prescriptions”
When it comes to case records and prescriptions, patients are most interested in
what disease they suffer from, what is written by the doctors they consult, and
what prescription is given. However, quite a proportion of such written docu-
ments are utterly illegible scribbles people call “scrawled case records” and
 Status quo of language use in medical documents and on medicinal packages 147

“scrawled prescriptions”, which may not only prevent patients and their families
from learning the truth of their conditions and of the medicine applied to them
and are therefore against their right of knowledge and choice, but, in certain
cases, delay their timely treatment and even endanger their lives as well.
In July 2005, a man in Nánnínɡ (南宁) went to purchase the traditional
Chinese medicine of aphrodisiac prescribed by his doctor but instead was given
stomachic tonic due to the doctor’s careless handwriting which had been mis-
read by the apothecary. (Tánɡ 2005) In August 2005, a woman in the same city
went to a hospital because she felt uneasy in her throat. After examination, the
doctor scribbled down her conditions and his diagnosis. In his scrawls, 血痰待查
(xuètán dàichá, ‘sputum cruentum, to be checked’) was so careless that the
patient mistook it for 血癌待查 (xuè’ái dàichá, ‘leukemia, to be checked’) and
therefore thought of killing herself. (Lǐ and Lú 2005)
Doctors find themselves in a dilemma, too. Some commonly used Chinese
characters have many strokes and it is really difficult to finish writing them
quickly, e.g., 葡萄糖 (pútaotánɡ, ‘glucose’), 囊 (nánɡ, ‘sac, bursa, capsule’),
臀 (tún, ‘buttocks’), 膝 (xī, ‘knee’), etc. and therefore their working efficiency is
adversely influenced.
“Scrawled case records” and “scrawled prescriptions” have long been pro-
hibited in vain due to both objective reasons like insufficient time for writing
and personal habit and subjective factors such as the sense of responsibility
and less attention of doctors and administrative departments to norms and stan-
dards. In addition, a few hospitals let doctors write in their own careless ways in
order to prevent “their prescriptions from being copied”. In some hospitals,
symbols, Latin abbreviations, and numeric codes understandable only to their
staff members are designated to replace standard names of medicine, which
contributes much to the case record and prescription scrawls.

2.2 Problem of “one drug with multiple names”

In recent years, some pharmaceutical factories have attempted to strengthen the
commodity names of medicines and reduce the names by which they are com-
monly known by adjusting the type, size, colour and area of Chinese characters,
and this has given rise to the circumstances of having “one drug with multiple
names”, mostly found in drugs for common, frequent and chronic ailments like
colds, gastric disease, diabetes, heart trouble, high blood pressure and so on,
particularly in the case of antibiotics. Random inspection of several antiseptics
conducted by a certain magazine showed 17 varieties bearing 525 commodity
names, among which Ofloxacin has as many as 64. (Jīn and Gāo 2006) A dazzling
display of names such as 百服咛 (bǎi fú nínɡ), 泰诺 (tài nuò), 必理通 (bì lǐ
tōnɡ), 感冒清 ( ɡǎnmào qīnɡ), 白加黑 (bái jiā hēi) are actually the same anti-
148 Guō Lìjūn (郭丽君)

cold medicine: acetaminophen. (Lǐ, X. 2006) Such a practice seriously violates

the patients’ right to knowledge with a possible result of spending more money
than necessary and engendering a latent danger in administering drugs.
The confusion between patients and doctors about common and commodity
names of medicines resulted in frequent cases of misuse and unconscious double
dosage. For instance, Mr. Liú from the eastern urban area of Běijīnɡ, having
caught a bad cold, instead of first going to the hospital, attempted an “inte-
grated dosage” of bǎi fú nínɡ and tài nuò he had left over unexpectedly causing
damage to his liver because of this mistake. (Lǐ, X. 2006)
A further complication behind the scenes of “one drug with multiple names”
are “inflated prices” and “prescription rebates”. Meanwhile problems in the
registration, pricing, naming and other aspects of administration have been
exposed. The solution to these problems lies in the recovery and reinforcement
of the system of prescriptions using common names, an established interna-
tional practice which was adopted previously in China and specifically con-
firmed in the Administrative Measures for Prescriptions (trial version) enacted in
2004 by the Ministry of Public Health and the State Administrative Bureau of
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology. On 11 May, 2006, this was
reconfirmed at the annual national conference on hospital management.

2.3 The problem of dubious medicinal directions

At present, some medicinal directions are ambiguous and barely intelligible.
Quite a number of patients who purchased medicine without prescription were
not sure about either the way to take it or the dosage. Some of them took it
incorrectly because they did not understand the directions and this involved
severe consequences.
One of the directions of a granular anti-inflammatory is given as follows:
30 mg ~ 40 mg (30,000 ~ 40,000 units) for children per kg daily, 0.6 g ~ 1.2 g
(60,000 ~ 1,200,000 units) for adults daily, 3 ~ 4 times, or as instructed by
doctors. However, indicated in the drug specifications is only 0.5 g : 0.1 g
(100,000 units). (Lǐ, Y. 2006)
An anti-inflammatory manufactured at a pharmaceutical factory in Shēnzhèn
gives the following directions: take 1.0 g orally a single time. One cannot help
but wonder: by “a single time”, does it mean once daily or a certain amount at
any one time? (Liú 2006)
An aged patient did not understand the meaning of “mg” in “10 mg/片
(piàn, ‘tablet’)” in the specifications of 心得安 (xīn dé ān) which was to be
taken 3 times a day. He mistook it for 10 tablets. As a consequence, his blood
pressure fell abruptly. Without prompt treatment the result would have been
fatal. (Fù and Zhènɡ 2005)
 Status quo of language use in medical documents and on medicinal packages 149

An investigation into the use of medicinal directions of 123 aged out-patients

(60.98% of whom had a higher education background) revealed that, though
78.86% frequently read them, only 6.50% could fully understand them, while
50.41% believed them to be helpful to ensure correct administration. When it
comes to the contents of medicinal directions, their sequence of interest was
administration and dosage, indications for use, expiry date, untoward effect(s),
contraindications, etc. And the items beyond their understanding are succes-
sively pharmacokinetics, pharmaco-toxicology, drug interactions, properties,
names, etc. – all due to the fact that there are many medical terms and that the
concepts involved and relevant expressions are far beyond the comprehension
of ordinary patients, so that they cannot read through smoothly or are dis-
inclined to continue reading. Some directions are not up to the norms in indicat-
ing dosage, administration and specifications and fail to use popular and easy
language (e.g., n tablets or pellets at a time, and n times daily) after using g,
mg, ml and other units of measurement, so that no efficient conversion may be
undertaken and thus correct administration cannot be guaranteed. (Zhōu, Wánɡ,
Rén, et. al. 2006)

2.4 The use of foreign languages

Foreign languages, either used independently or mixed with Chinese, are com-
mon in medical documents and on medicinal packages. Latin letters can be
found on practically all medicinal packages.
Latin letters are used in the following manners in medical documents: 1) a
mixture of Chinese characters and Latin letters in the names of drugs, e.g., APC
片 (APC piàn, ‘aspirin compound’), Co 丹参片 (Co dānshēn piàn, ‘compound
radix salviae miltiorrhizae tablet’); 2) abbreviations for drugs and diseases, e.g.,
PN (penicillin), SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), CHS (chronic hepa-
titis); 3) a molecular chemical formula for drugs, e.g., KCI (potassium chloride),
NaHCO3 (sodium hydrogen carbonate); and 4) coinage for names by individual
hospitals or doctors.
While there was no agreement on the first three approaches, most people
objected to the fourth. Some doctors held that Latin letters might be employed
in medical documents, claiming that “English abbreviations are simple and
clear, therefore their adoption in writing may help quicken the rhythm of diag-
nosis and treatment”. Others were against using them, either considering it
necessary to use the native language, or thinking that Latin abbreviations are
liable to change in meaning in different fields. In the former case, they deemed
it “improper for qualified professional Chinese doctors to use English abbrevia-
tions in diagnosis and treatment, because in so doing it is both inconvenient for
150 Guō Lìjūn (郭丽君)

an apothecary to check the prescription and likely to deprive patients of their

right to know their health conditions”. The latter case may be demonstrated
by examples like GMP, which is understood by a pharmacist to stand for Good
Manufacture Practice, while a medical expert thinks it represents Guanine
Mono Phosphate, and LRF, which may be interpreted in a respiratory depart-
ment as Light Respiratory Failure and in an oncology department as Local
Regional Failure. (Niè 2006)
The problem of using foreign languages is mainly found on the medicinal
packages of imported drugs without a Chinese translation or with Chinese direc-
tions but, after deleting items like ‘untoward effect’, do not correspond with
their foreign language counterparts. This encroaches on patients’ right of knowl-
edge and tends to cause hidden perils of administration.
An aged woman in Wǔhàn (武汉) city was reported to have vomited and
fainted after taking an overdose of an imported drug for melancholia. The
patient was sent to a hospital where doctors checked the Chinese directions but
saw nothing about the distribution and conversion mechanism of the drug.
Luckily, the English version was found and she was saved by quickening the
metabolism rate and discharge of the drug according to the directions. (Wánɡ
et al 2004)
According to Section 7 of the Administrative Provisions for Medicinal Package
Inserts, Labels and Tags, standardised Chinese characters promulgated by the
State Language Commission should be used on medicinal package inserts, labels
and tags; in the case of a necessary contrast with other written languages, the
Chinese expressions serve as the criterion. The problem is that China is in great
need of professionals well-versed both in medicine and in translation, and that
is why the Chinese translation of medicinal directions for imported drugs is
unsatisfactory. The Chinese version which reduces the contents of directions in
a foreign language may result in great danger to the patients.

2.5 The problem of wrong and inappropriate characters

For the moment, wrong and inappropriate characters frequently appear in
medical documents and on medicinal packages. For example, in the directions
of a certain drug, 药物以原型从粪便排出 (yàowù yǐ yuánxínɡ cónɡ fènbiàn
páichū, ‘the drug is discharged as a prototype with faeces’) is wrongly written
as 药物以原型从类便排出 (yàowù yǐ yuánxínɡ cónɡ lèi biàn páichū, ‘the drug
is discharged as a prototype with faeces-like dejecta’). (Huánɡ 2006) Such errors
are chiefly found in drug names and technical terms and may be divided into
two major types: homophones or sound-alikes and look-alikes. Former examples
include 付作用 vs. 副作用 ( fùzuòyònɡ, ‘side effect’), 简解 vs. 简介 ( jiǎnjiè,
 Status quo of language use in medical documents and on medicinal packages 151

‘brief introduction’), 隔肌 vs. 膈肌 (ɡéjī, ‘diaphragm’), and 卵磷酯 vs. 卵磷脂

(luǎnlínzhī, ‘ovolecithin’); and latter examples include 针灸 (zhēnjiū, ‘acupunc-
ture and moxibustion’) mistaken for 针炙 (zhēn zhì, meaningless), 瓣膜 (bànmó,
‘valvule’) mistaken for 办膜 (bàn mó, meaningless) as a result of the transfor-
mation from the classical Chinese character 辦 to its contemporary counterpart
办, 瓜蒌皮 (ɡuālóu pí, ‘snakegourd peel’) mistaken for 瓜萎皮 (ɡuā wěi pí,
‘withered melon skin’), 羌活 (qiānɡhuó, ‘notopterygium root’) mistaken for 姜活
( jiānɡhuó, meaningless), and 厚朴 (hòupò, ‘magnolia bark’) mistaken for 厚卜
(hòubǔ, meaningless). In addition, errors also occur in personal names with
look-alikes with identical or similar sounds, where the less often used characters
are replaced, e.g., 焱 replaced by 炎, and 阎 by 闫.
These errors make it inconvenient for patients to correctly purchase and
rightfully administer drugs, and adversely affect them in understanding their
health conditions. Some drugs have very similar names, therefore, the confusion
in writing might be fatal if, for instance, 地巴唑 (dìbāzuò, ‘dibazole’, a drug for
expanding blood vessels) is confused with 他巴唑 (tābāzuò, ‘tapazole’, a drug
against hypothyroid). Mistakes in personal names should not be neglected since
they would become obstacles in the process of further examination, paying bills,
collecting drugs and other matters.

2.6 Selection of Chinese characters in transliterating

drug names
In transliterating western drugs mostly from other countries, it is often difficult
to decide which Chinese characters are appropriate. The most common problem
is to use different characters for the same drug, which gives rise to the phenom-
enon of one drug with multiple names and causes trouble in identifying them.
For example (standard names are given in the National Pharmacopeia): (Sònɡ
2001)

Standard Variant Western Languages

阿司匹林 阿斯匹林 aspirin

奈替米星 萘替米星 netimicin
普萘洛尔 普奈洛尔 propranolol
甲氨蝶呤 甲氨喋呤 methotrexate
甲巯咪唑 甲硫咪唑 methimazole
头孢拉定 头孢拉啶 cefradine
头孢他啶 头孢他定 ceftazidime
氢化可的松 氢化考的松 hydrocortisone
152 Guō Lìjūn (郭丽君)

Some experts suggested that care should be taken in the selection of

Chinese characters for transliterating foreign drug names. It is advisable to use
those available in drug names as often as possible for the convenience of recog-
nition; meanwhile, characters with chemical senses should be given priority
when such meaning-syllable is implied, e.g. the transliteration of losartan into
氯沙坦 (lǜshātǎn, 氯 being a special character for a chemical element). For the
sake of convenience, the National Committee of Pharmacopeia drafted a table
of characters for transliterating drug names. Therefore, it is recommended that
reference should be made to it for the purpose of standardization. (Xú 2001)
Moreover, variant forms of Chinese characters – traditional, simplified (the
second group) and obsolete – may appear occasionally in medical documents,
particularly with traditional Chinese medicine or the combination of Chinese tra-
ditional and Western medicine. In view of these conditions, the national depart-
ments concerned have established standards for the use of these characters and
therefore they should be followed accordingly.

3 Important measures
3.1 Launching the “hospital management year campaign”
The Fundamental Norms of Case Record Writing (trial version) (16 August, 2002),
The Fundamental Norms of Case Record Writing in Chinese Traditional Medicine
and the Combination of Chinese Traditional and Western Medicine (trial version)
(22 August, 2002), and The Administrative Provisions for Prescriptions (trial version)
(10 August, 2004) printed and distributed by the Ministry of Public Health and
the State Administrative Bureau of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacol-
ogy 1 provide specific norms of written Chinese in case records and prescriptions
and serve as the principal foundation in this professional respect.
It is specified in the first two documents that both Chinese and medical
terms should be used in writing case records, universal Latin abbreviations
may be adopted, foreign languages may be used for symptoms, physical signs,
or diseases when no Chinese translation is made or accepted, and the writing
should be neat, orderly, clear, accurate, grammatically correct and appropriately
punctuated. Assessment criteria were stipulated or compiled for case record

1 On 14 February, 2007, the Ministry of Public Health promulgated the Management Measures
for Prescriptions (MOH Decree No. 53) put into effect on 1 May of the same year; meanwhile
the original Management Measures for Prescriptions (Trial Version) (wèi-yī-fā (卫医发 ) [2004]
no. 269) was canceled.
 Status quo of language use in medical documents and on medicinal packages 153

writing by the departments of health in Guǎnɡdōnɡ (广东 2003), Fújiàn (福建

2003), Zhèjiānɡ (浙江 2003), Jiānɡxī (江西 2004), Ānhuī (安徽 2004), Húnán
(湖南 2004), Hénán (河南 2006) and other provinces and specific requirements
were provided, including legibility and freedom from wrong and inappropriate
characters. The fundamental norms of case writing in Jiāngxī province (trial version)
explicitly specifies that doctors should sign their full names round-handed.
(Chén 2003)
In The Administrative Provisions for Prescriptions (trial version) it is stipu-
lated that a case record should be written clearly without any alteration. If
alteration is necessary, it should be signed and dated where the change is
made. Prescriptions should be written in standard Chinese or English. Abbrevia-
tions or codes coined for drugs by institutions concerned with medicine, preven-
tion, and health or by qualified doctors and apothecary are not permitted. And
the dosage and quantity of drugs should be written in Arabic numerals.
The writing of medical documents can be improved in quality and the
patients’ right of knowledge may be safeguarded to a certain extent if The
Fundamental Norms of Case Record Writing (trial version) and The Administrative
Provisions for Prescriptions (trial version) are carried out earnestly. An investiga-
tion into non-standard prescriptions in primary-level hospitals before and after
the implementation of the latter revealed that, out of 5,000 case records, the
number of samples not up to standard was reduced from 2,322 (making up
46.4% of the total) before the execution to 179 (3.6%) after it. (Yú and Zhánɡ
2006)
An important measure of the Ministry of Public Health for standardizing
medical documents over the past couple of years was the distribution of the
dual files of A Guide to Hospital Management and Assessment (trial version) and
A Guide to Traditional Chinese Hospital Management and Assessment (trial version).
These served as the foundation for departments of health and traditional Chinese
medicine administration to reinforce hospital management and assessment in
a “patient-centred and quality-oriented medical service” during the hospital
management year campaign (hereafter the Management Year). Both guides called
for serious implementation of the trial versions of both Fundamental Norms of
Case Record Writing and the Administrative Measures for Prescriptions, and
required the establishment of “writing standards for medical documents” as
an important component of evaluation and that of strengthening case record
quality control and prescription standardization as the focus of the Management
Year activities.
Ever since then most hospitals have reinforced their management system
and improved the quality of case record writing by adopting active measures.
Some have paid special attention to the quality control of case records and
154 Guō Lìjūn (郭丽君)

formulated comprehensive standards of assessment; others have given special

training to their staff, held writing contests, and established the mechanism
of triple reviewing by the department chief, the quality controller of a medical
department, and the quality control office. In Húnán province, a database of
specialists has been set up for organising both regular and irregular inspection
groups to undertake medical record assessment, offer pertinent suggestions con-
cerning problems found in the Management Year activities, and comment on the
quality of case records with a view to helping medical institutions improve the
quality of writing, reduce doctor-patient disputes and ensure medical security.
(Hospital Management Year Bulletin 2006)

3.2 Development of electronic case records and electronic

prescriptions
It was suggested by some experts that electronic case record and electronic pre-
scriptions be developed in order to settle the problem of scrawls in medical
document writing.
According to statistics by the year 2003, among the total number of 345
Grade 3A and 4,000-odd secondary hospitals, only 900 had built up an informa-
tion system of hospitals or were in the process of doing so. This was nothing
when viewed from the perspective of over 67,000 hospitals in China. Further-
more, it was difficult for these hospitals, their information systems and medical
networks to share their data among themselves because of the absence of
unified technical norms. So the impediment of an “information island” phenom-
enon to the development of medical health was becoming prominent. (Hospital
Management Year Bulletin 2006)
On 20 April, 2006 at Běijīnɡ, the Ministry of Public Health Statistics Centre
signed the “Memorandum of understanding on the standardization of electronic
medical records” with Intel Co. Ltd (China). This indicated that cooperation
between the national department in charge and advanced IT industries will be
dedicated to breaking through the bottleneck of “standardisation” in the reform
and development of public health in this country. (Hospital Management Year
Bulletin 2006)
However, electronic case records are not legally valid at the present moment.
With the implementation of Regulations on the Treatment of Medical Negligence
and “inversion of testification”, the legal validity of electronic case records has
become an issue demanding urgent settlement in the development of medical
information.
 Status quo of language use in medical documents and on medicinal packages 155

3.3 The revision and implementation of the Administrative

Provisions for Medicinal Package Inserts, Labels and Tags
The Administrative Provisions for Medicinal Package Inserts, Labels and Tags
(hereafter the Administrative Provisions) was revised and implemented in 2006
and the corresponding Guiding Principles of Writing Directions for Prescriptions
of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Crude Drugs, Detailed Regulations on the
Norms of Directions for Non-prescription Chemical Drugs, and Detailed Regula-
tions on the Norms of Directions for Non-prescription Chinese Patent Drugs were
promulgated. The Administrative Provisions and its corresponding detailed rules
and regulations have defined more detailed and definite prescriptions of written
Chinese for medicinal package inserts, labels and tags, and provided the foun-
dation for rules and regulations of written language on medicinal packages.
Other requirements for written Chinese in The Administrative Provisions
promulgated on 15 March, 2006 in medicinal package inserts, labels and tags
include: they should be scientific, standard and accurate; expressions easy to
understand should be used in the directions for over-the-counter drugs so that
patients can make their own judgment, choice and administration; the language
on medicinal package inserts, labels and tags should be clear, complete, easy to
understand; affixation should be firmly made; identification should be clear and
prominent, and standard Chinese characters promulgated by the State Language
Commission should be adopted and set as norms if comparison with other
languages is required; disease and drug names, terms of pharmacology as well
as of clinical tests and results should be in agreement with the vocabulary pub-
lished or standardised by the state; and units of measurement should conform
to the national standards.
The Administrative Provisions makes corresponding stipulations about the
type, size, colour, width of common names, commodity names, and trade (brand)
names on medicinal packages against the tendency of highlighting commodity
names and weakening of common names. The key points include: common
drug names should be marked and prominent and their type, size and colour
should be consistent, fulfilling the following requirements: labels/tags should
be marked out in prominent positions in the top one-third of space if horizon-
tally set and on the right-hand side if vertically composed; cursive script, seal
and other types difficult to identify should be avoided; type modifications like
italics, outline and shaded types are not permitted; the colour should be black
or white, strikingly contrasted with the background; fragmenting is not allowed
except when space is restricted. Commodity names should not be arranged on
the same line with common names, nor should it be more prominent than the
latter in type or colour, with per-character width not exceeding half the width
156 Guō Lìjūn (郭丽君)

of the latter. Labels/tags bearing registered trademarks should be kept in the

margins or corners, and for those with language components, the size should
not exceed a quarter of the common names in per-character width.
On 1 April, 2006, the National Drug Administration launched a two-month
specialised inspection of medicinal packaging on the market throughout the
country in conjunction with the publication of The Administrative Provisions.
While most packages, labels and direction inserts of drug manufacturers came
up to the requirements of the national laws, rules and regulations, problems
were still found. Discrepancies associated with the written language included
the absence of Chinese in identification, the non-standard use of common
names and commodity names in proportions, etc.
On 30 July, 2006, the State Council printed and distributed the Special
Programme of Consolidating and Standardizing the Order of the Drug Market
in China (hereafter the Programme), demanding the people’s governments of
all provinces, autonomous regions and cities under the central government, as
well as all ministries, committees and other institutions of the State Council
should undertake a deep and wide special program of drug market consolida-
tion and standardisation all over this country. The Programme proposed further
rectification of “one drug with multiple names” phenomenon and specialised
actions to control and standardise the order of drug markets all over the country.
The phased actions were completed in Jílín and Gānsù (甘肃) provinces and the
public reaction was good.

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Translated by Liánɡ Xiǎopénɡ (梁晓鹏)

Qīnɡdǎo University of Science & Technology
[email protected]
Xià Lì (夏历) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)
13 The Language status of migrant workers

1 Introduction
Along with China’s industrialization and urbanization, the further speed-up of
China’s reform and opening up, and the collapse of the urban-rural dual develop-
ment framework, a growing number of peasants have left their land in the
countryside to seek new opportunities in the city. They are often called “peasant
workers” or “migrant workers”. As a product of the urban-rural dual develop-
ment, their identity is the household register is classified as “peasants”. Although
some have contracted farmland to take care of, the majority of them are engaged
in non-agricultural industries, with salaries as their main sources of income.
“Migrant workers” in the broad sense include both those who go to work in
cities in a different region and those who work in a second industry or third
industry in the same region, while the narrow sense of “migrant workers” only
refers to the former. This paper focuses on “migrant workers” in the narrow
sense, and excludes those of ethnic minorities in China as well.
The trend for peasants to move from the countryside to the city can be
traced to as early as the modern times of China. Nevertheless, the massive wave
of migrant workers is an entirely new phenomenon in the last few decades.
According to the statistics and surveys done by The National Bureau of Statis-
tics, the Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Labor and Social Security in
2004, there are currently 120 million migrant workers in China. The latest report
shows that 200 million peasants in China are no longer engaged in agriculture
now, with 40% of them (80 million) employed locally and 60% of them (120
million) going out to seek employment or do business. (Lǐ 2007)
Migrant workers are undergoing changes in their working mode. At the
beginning, they wanted to leave their farmland but not their hometown, later
however, they had to seek employment in cities, for which they had to leave
both their farmland and their hometown. Living and working in an urban envi-
ronment with no familiar life styles and close interpersonal relationships, they
are bound to meet some language problems, and this should be one new concern
of language studies.
160 Xià Lì (夏历) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

2 Analysis of the language status of migrant

workers
As regards the language status of migrant workers, the primary concern is the
relationship between Putonghua and dialects, specifically language use, language
abilities, language attitudes and language learning. The figures used in this
paper mainly come from two surveys: “Survey on the language status of migrant
workers”, conducted by Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英) during 2004 and 2005 (Xiè 2006)
and “Survey on the language status of migrant workers and exploration and
research on the language community of migrant workers”, conducted by Xià Lì
(夏历) in Běijīnɡ and Nánjīnɡ from 2005–2006. (Xià 2007)

2.1 Language abilities of migrant workers

The first problem which migrant workers have to face when they work in the city
is the change in language habits. In the countryside in China, people communi-
cate mainly in Chinese minority dialects (languages used in the countryside by
ethnic groups). According to the Survey on Chinese Language Use (2006) Chinese
dialects are used more frequently by the rural population than by the urban
population in locations such as the family, the market, the hospital and the
government. It follows that Putonghua is used less frequently in these locations.
Set in such a social background, the majority of migrant workers have to
improve their languages, especially Putonghua. (Leading Group Office for survey
on Chinese language use 2006) The surveys by Xiè Jùnyīnɡ and Xià Lì reveal
that 98% of migrant workers can talk with their family members in both Putong-
hua and their native dialects, a percentage which is much higher than the
average level for China (53.06%) as well as Běijīnɡ (90.36%).
Xià Lì’s survey also demonstrates that although many migrant workers
possess a certain capability for communicating with others in Putonghua, the
accuracy of their pronunciation and fluency in Putonghua is relatively low. 40%
of them belong to the categories of “very inaccurate” and “inaccurate”, and 70%
of them do not speak frequently in Putonghua. After seeking employment in the
city, the percentage of time spent using Putonghua increases and the accuracy
of their pronunciation also improves. It shows an apparent decrease in the per-
centages in the “very inaccurate” and “inaccurate” categories, with a total of
23.53%, which is much lower than the 40% before they went to work in Běijīnɡ.
It also records an increase in the “relatively accurate” and “very accurate” cate-
gories, with the former accounting for 31.18% and the latter accounting for
 The Language status of migrant workers 161

27.06%. In other words, about 60% of migrant workers can speak fluently with
others in Putonghua, which shows an apparent improvement in their Putonghua.

2.2 Language use of migrant workers

With respect to language use, migrant workers used to rely mainly on one single
dialect for communication before they went to work in the city. However, once
in the city, they gradually switch between the use of Putonghua and their native
dialects depending on the situations and their addressees. According to the
survey by Xià Lì, migrant workers use more dialects and less Putonghua in their
hometown than in the city. When they are in their hometown, they use their
dialects 70% of the time. The frequencies of using Putonghua are all below 10%
except on occasions like talking to teachers or non-local residents, where rela-
tively high frequencies can be perceived. In the city, dialects are used mainly
when they talk with their family members and friends, while Putonghua is
mainly used in public places such as hospitals, post offices and stores. Figure 1
shows the frequencies of language use by migrant workers in the city.

Figure 1: Frequencies of language use by migrant workers in the city

As can be seen in Figure 1, great differences exist in the use of languages by

migrant workers in the city and their hometown. In the city, dialects no longer
serve as the main means of communication, and Putonghua has risen from a
supplementary means of communication to the main means of communication,
serving distinct functions together with native dialects.
162 Xià Lì (夏历) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

2.3 Migrant workers’ language learning

When migrant workers move from the countryside where dialect dominates to
the Putonghua-dominated city, they are faced with huge pressure for learning
Putonghua. Xiè Jùnyīng’s survey reveals that 79.2% of respondents reply that
they were required by “many” and “some” employers to be capable of speaking
Putonghua when they were job-hunting. In the catering industry especially, more
than 90% of them were requested to answer employers’ questions in Putonghua.
The pressure exerted by seeking employment has become the main driving force
for migrant workers to learn Putonghua. See Table 1 which shows the percentage
of different reasons for migrant workers to speak Putonghua.

reasons for communicate requirement

speaking working and with more find better of the personal
Putonghua business people jobs schools interest not clear
percentage 69.0 55.0 3.0 10.0 5.0 5.0

Table 1: Percentage of different reasons for migrant workers to speak Putonghua (%)

Xià Lì’s survey also demonstrates that migrant workers learn Putonghua
mainly for utilitarian reasons. See Figure 2.

Figure 2: Percentage of different motivations for migrant workers to speak Putonghua

 The Language status of migrant workers 163

Social interaction is the main means whereby migrant workers learn Putong-
hua. Both Xiè Jùnyīnɡ’s and Xià Lì’s surveys reveal that most migrant workers
learn Putonghua through social interaction, which is followed by learning at
school and watching TV and listening to radio. The smallest percentage goes
on a training course, 1.0% in Xiè Jùnyīnɡ’s survey and 2.35% in Xià Lì’s survey.

2.4 Migrant workers’ attitude towards language

Xiè Jùnyīnɡ’s and Xià Lì’s surveys show that migrant workers hold a positive
attitude towards both Putonghua and dialects, attributing relatively high utilitarian
values and social prestige to Putonghua. Discrepancies can be perceived between
Xiè Jùnyīnɡ’s survey and Survey of Chinese Language Use in migrant workers’
subjective evaluation of Putonghua and native dialects. They are manifested
mainly in two aspects: “intimacy” and “social influences”. The points of “inti-
macy” evaluation migrant workers give to their native dialects are apparently
higher than the overall national figure (3.80), while it shows much lower points
than the national figures in the “social influences” evaluation. In contrast, it
shows a much lower figure in the “intimacy” evaluation of Putonghua than the
national figure (4.36) and a much higher figure in “social influences” evaluation
than the national figure (4.62). This demonstrates congruency with the national
figure in migrant workers’ general recognition and evaluation of Putonghua and
dialects, that is, native dialects are characterized by “intimacy”, while Putong-
hua by “usefulness”. The specific differences in the points of evaluation reflect
the special group characteristics of migrant workers. After leaving their home-
town, they feel more intimate towards their native dialects. Also after leaving
their specific language environments, they acquire a better understanding of
the social status and influences of their native dialects. Table 2 shows migrant
workers’ evaluative points towards their native dialects and Putonghua.
In Xià Lì’s survey, over 55% migrant workers give a positive evaluation of
Putonghua as “being intimate”, “being good to hear”, and “being friendly”, and
only less than 15% hold different views. Meanwhile, the evaluation towards the
function and status of Putonghua is also high. The evaluations about Putonghua’s
“range of use”, “usefulness”, and “expressive function” also show great similarity.
Especially in “range of use” and “usefulness”, more than 90% of migrant workers
hold a positive attitude. Over more than 50% of migrant workers give a positive
evaluation of Putonghua in demonstrating “level of education”, “sense of
equality”, “confidence”, “politeness and upbringing”, “economic status”, and
“level of being respected”. Only in the last two aspects, the percentages of
positive evaluation are just a little bit higher than 50%. In the rest of the above
aspects, the percentages are all above 60%. The percentages of negative evalua-
164 Xià Lì (夏历) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

social
items intimacy usefulness influences good to hear average values

native dialects 4.4 3.0 2.7 3.5 3.4

Putonghua 3.8 4.4 4.2 4.3 4.2

Table 2: The migrant workers’ subjective evaluation of Putonghua and native dialects
(1 = agree, 5 = disagree)

tion towards those aspects are all below 20%. There are two aspects whose per-
centages are below 10%.
Both surveys also show that it is not difficult for migrant workers to learn
Putonghua. In Xiè Jùnyīnɡ’s survey, 87.7% of migrant workers express the view
that Putonghua is easy to learn. They have a high expectation of their own and
their children’s levels of Putonghua. In Xià Lì’s survey, 40% of migrant workers
hope they can speak fluent and standard Putonghua. About 35% of migrant
workers hope their Putonghua can be fluent and relatively standard. Only about
20% expect their Putonghua to meet solely the need for communication, and
10% have no other specific expectation of their Putonghua. Migrant workers are
explicit in their expectation of their children’s Putonghua: 95% hope that their
children are capable of speaking Putonghua.

2.5 Government’s measures towards migrant workers’

communication abilities
In view of the difficulties of migrant workers in communication, many local
governments put the improvement of their Putonghua on a task list. In 2004,
the Ministry of Education (MOE) proposed including Putonghua courses in the
employment training for migrant workers. Relevant responsible people in the
Division of Language Application Management of the MOE pointed out that
migrant workers may find good jobs if they can communicate in Putonghua. In
the same year, the documents issued by 8 ministries and commissions such as
the MOE emphasized that necessary guidance should be given to the promotion
and popularization of Putonghua in small towns and remote rural areas. Depart-
ments working on language should actively cooperate with employment depart-
ments, ensuring that Putonghua was one course in employment training. In
2005, the MOE and the State Language Affairs Committee issued “A notice on
developing the Putonghua training work for migrant workers” ([2005] No. 32).
 The Language status of migrant workers 165

It states that it is an inevitable trend for surplus rural labor to move to non-
agricultural industries and towns, so providing Putonghua training for them to
communicate fluently is fundamental for improving migrant workers’ education
and occupation opportunities and speeding up the process of urbanization, as
well as an indispensible link for promoting economic development and building
a harmonious society. It is also stipulated in the laws in some provinces and
cites that “People’s governments at all levels and related departments should
make plans to promote Putonghua training and the use of standard Chinese
characters among peasants (including migrant workers)”. (People’s Government
of Zhèjiānɡ Province 2006) Some local governments have already provided
Putonghua training for migrant workers when they are organizing labor transfer.
For example, Chánɡshā city provided training course for migrant workers in 2004,
through which 30,000 migrant workers learned Putonghua. It is also reported that
governments will take Putonghua training as one component of migrant workers’
career training in order to improve their communication abilities so that they
can adapt better to the city life (Cuī, 2007).
To date, altogether 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities
directly under the central government (e.g., Běijīnɡ, Shànɡhǎi, Tiānjīn, Chónɡ-
qìnɡ, Yúnán, Shāndōnɡ, Húnán, and Guǎnɡxī) have developed Putonghua train-
ing for migrant workers. It is believed that with growing emphasis from the
government, Putonghua training will become more popular and effective.

3 Main Problems
3.1 Language problems and migrant workers’ life
Although great achievements have been made as regards the popularization of
Putonghua, large gaps remain between the city and the countryside. 66.03% of
urban people can speak Putonghua, while only 45.06% of the rural population
can speak it. (Leading Group Office for survey on Chinese language use 2006.)
Set in this background, many peasants are faced with language problems after
they move to the city. Dialects and non-standard Putonghua affect migrant workers’
employment and their communication with other groups of people. Feeling inferior
to urban citizens, they often socialize only with their own countrymen. Some
sociology surveys reveal that only 5.8% migrant workers socialize with urban
citizens. When they experience difficulties and economic problems, it is usually
their countrymen that they first want to turn to for help and support (Lǐ, 2003).
This phenomenon can be attributed to a number of factors, but language is
166 Xià Lì (夏历) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

undeniably one big barrier that obstructs communication between migrant

workers and urban citizens. Some migrant workers admit that they are unwilling
to speak because they are afraid that they will be looked down upon for their
poor Putonghua. This situation does no good both to migrant workers’ self
development and to China’s overall goal for constructing a harmonious society.

3.2 Language problems and migrant workers’ work

As a result of language problems, many migrant workers can only work in
unpleasant working conditions. They are weak at communication in the work-
place, and sometimes losses are incurred due to misunderstandings. They often
choose to keep silent when they find the addressees cannot understand them,
which is not conducive to their communication with their customers, colleagues
or employers. In some sectors, language problems have become one of the main
reasons for their failure to find a job. Many migrant workers are not capable of
communicating directly with employers, so they can only rely on people with
whom they are familiar to introduce work to them. Worse still, some migrant
workers, because of their inability to communicate directly with their employers,
often need the help of others to express their ideas and requests. Still some
others are capable of speaking a little Putonghua, but they feel that their pro-
nunciation has a strong accent, so they are unwilling to speak much and have
an inferiority complex. Therefore, they are still unable to communicate well with
people around them.

3.3 Migrant workers’ language learning and training

Currently, migrant workers are still learning Putonghua mainly through their
own self-study. Although suggestions have been proposed by some relevant
national departments and Putonghua training courses have been provided, lan-
guage is still one main factor that prevents migrant workers communicating
effectively with others and being unable to identify with the urban way of life.
The propaganda together with the promotion and implementation of Putonghua
training among migrant workers cannot yet meet the actual demands. Xià Lì’s
survey reveals that only 2.35% attend Putonghua training classes to improve
their Putonghua. Therefore, migrant workers’ language training remains an
urgent problem waiting to be solved. Although Putonghua training has been in-
cluded in the work plan of some government departments, further efforts should
be made as regards the specific measures to implement them.
 The Language status of migrant workers 167

3.4 Migrant workers’ native dialect preservation

Migrant workers hold different attitudes towards Putonghua and their native
dialects. They identify themselves with Putonghua for its utilitarian values, while
they are more emotionally identified with their native dialects. Nevertheless,
changes have occurred to migrant workers’ evaluations towards their native
dialects. According to Xià Lì’s survey, the migrant workers are rather liberal as
far as their children’s language choice is concerned. More than 50% of migrant
workers hope that their children can preserve their native dialects while up to
20% hold a negative attitude towards their children’s efforts of keeping the
native dialects. About 30% do not care much about whether their children will
keep the native dialects or not. It may be predicted that the current co-existence
of Putonghua and dialects for different uses would not continue to their next
generations. Some of migrant workers’ children will turn increasingly to the
use of Putonghua. Once they are back to their hometown, they will be treated
as “outsiders” because of their language use, which may lead to a confusion of
identity. Therefore, problems concerning the native dialects of migrant workers’
children are worthy of further attention.

4 Suggestions
With the growing number of migrant workers, their language problems have
increasingly asserted themselves. In order to construct a harmonious society,
the Chinese government should show appropriate concerns towards their lan-
guage problems. In view of the current situations in China, the top priority is to
protect migrant workers’ rights to speak Putonghua and their native dialects and
to receive appropriate language training.

4.1 Strengthening Putonghua education in compulsory

education and enhancing Putonghua proficiency of
rural teachers
Xiè Jùnyīnɡ’s and Xià Lì’s surveys reveal that the higher the education migrant
workers receive, the better their Putonghua is, and that education is one of their
primary channels for learning Putonghua. Therefore, to highlight and improve
the Putonghua education in primary and secondary schools in rural areas is
not only one important precondition for improving migrant workers’ language
168 Xià Lì (夏历) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

abilities but also a fundamental means for solving migrant workers’ language
problems and even improving the overall qualities that migrant workers can
offer. Currently the majority of migrant workers have only attended junior middle
school, so it is strongly recommended that Putonghua education in primary and
secondary schools is reinforced. More importantly, the awareness of Putonghua
by primary school teachers in rural areas should be raised and their proficiency
in Putonghua should be improved, which in turn will be of great significance to
the improvement of migrant workers’ Putonghua. The current situation in China
is that the proficiency level of Putonghua of the teachers in rural areas is appar-
ently lower than that of teachers in towns and cities. Some rural teachers teach
completely in dialects, and Putonghua has still not become the sole teaching
and working language. Teachers’ language abilities are prerequisites for en-
suring students have qualified language abilities, therefore the promotion of
Putonghua in education should involve strengthening the training of rural
teachers.

4.2 Developing specific training at different levels and

reinforcing the common function of Putonghua
So far Putonghua has not been widely popularized in the rural areas, where dia-
lects still have a wide and strong influence. In view of the differences between
the local dialects and Putonghua, this situation requires the authorities in places
where migrant workers are from to provide Putonghua training to those migrant
workers who really need it in an effort to improve their communication abilities
and increase their self-confidence. Meanwhile, authorities in the receiving areas
and each employing company should also provide appropriate Putonghua train-
ing to migrant workers in their cities and companies. Every functional depart-
ment should also provide different levels of Putonghua training based on the
work migrant workers are expecting to do. For example, for those workers in
the construction and manufacturing industries, in which the environment is
relatively closed and Putonghua is not frequently used, the perception is that
they will have no problem in communicating with others in Putonghua after
receiving appropriate training. However, for those who work in other industries
such as catering and beauty salons, it is envisaged that, with appropriate train-
ing, their Putonghua should not only meet the basic needs of communication
but also be as standard as possible.
 The Language status of migrant workers 169

4.3 Advocating the co-existence of Putonghua and dialects

and constructing a harmonious existence of life and
languages
As mentioned above, native dialects are also useful to migrant workers to a
certain extent, so the emphasis on the significance of Putonghua should not
blind us to the special functions of dialects. At present, many migrant workers
are faced with the demand for Putonghua in their job hunting and daily life,
which is conducive to its popularization. Nonetheless, there are some human
resources departments and employers who reject migrant workers only because
of their accents. Suggestions are that both places that export and import migrant
workers should give appropriate training to migrant workers and that urban
citizens and the employing institutions should be liberal with migrant workers’
language habits and only make a moderate demand on their Putonghua. Migrant
workers also need to consciously improve their Putonghua and language abilities.
The coexistence of Putonghua and dialects for different uses should be advocated
among migrant workers, so that Putonghua can play the dominant role, while
special uses can be reserved for dialects, thus contributing to a harmonious
existence of both languages and life.

4.4 Paying attention to the language and state of mind of the

new generation of migrant workers
As migrant workers are becoming younger and younger, a new generation
appears. Many of them go out to work immediately after they graduate from
school, and most of them have no experience of agricultural work or lack agri-
cultural knowledge. The majority of them go to work in the city not for survival
but out of the need to change their life style and seek a better chance of devel-
opment. Migrant workers of this new generation usually have received a rela-
tively high level of education, and are capable of speaking fluent or relatively
fluent Putonghua. In language habits and life styles, they have left their home-
town further and further behind. On the one hand, they cannot identify them-
selves fully with the urban life. On the other hand, they do not want to and
also cannot find a way to go back to their hometown. Uninhibited by traditional
ideas, they even chat with their countrymen in Putonghua rather than native
dialects. Therefore, attention should be given to the languages and state of
mind of those “no-dialect” and “marginalized” people, and appropriate educa-
tion should be given to help them appreciate their native dialects, native land
and native culture.
170 Xià Lì (夏历) & Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)

References
Lǐ Dōnɡ (李东). 2007. Deputy Minister Labor: China has 200 million migrant workers. China Net
News, http://www.china.com.cn/news/txt/2007-01/26/content_7718634.htm.
Xià Lì (夏历). 2007. “Survey on the language status of migrant workers and exploration and
research on the language community of migrant workers 2005–2006”. Ph.D. dissertation.
Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英). 2006. Survey on the language status of migrant workers. In Socio-
linguistics and Media Language Lab of Institute of Applied Linguistics Ministry of Educa-
tion (ed.) Theory and Practice of Language Planning. Běijīnɡ: Language and Culture Press.
Leading Group Office for survey on Chinese language use. 2006. Survey on Chinese Language
Use. Běijīnɡ: Language and Culture Press.
Cuī Jìnɡ (崔静). 2007. Putonghua will be adopted into the skill training courses for migrant
workers. http://news.xinhuanet.com/mrdx/2007-03/07/content_5812674.htm.
Lǐ, Hànlín (李汉林). 2003. Strength of relationship and virtual community: from the perspective
of research on migrant workers. In Li, Peilin (ed.) The migrant workers: Economic and
social analysis of Chinese migrant workers. Běijīnɡ: Social Sciences Academic Press.
People’s Government of Zhèjiānɡ (浙江) Province. 2006. “Measures to implement Law of
the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language
in Zhejiānɡ Province”. Order of People’s Government of Zhèjiānɡ (浙江) Province
No. 228. The Supreme People’s Court of the P.R. of China·Laws & Regulation.
http://www.chinacourt.org/flwk.

Translated by Doreen Dōnɡyīnɡ Wú (吴东英)

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
[email protected]
Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生) & Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)
14 Efforts of creating a good language
environment for Běijīnɡ Olympic Games:
A brief report
On 13 July, 2001, Běijīnɡ (北京) finally won the bid to host the 29th Olympic
Games in 2008. The present report focuses mainly on two aspects of the efforts
which were made in the years following 2001 to create a good language environ-
ment for the Běijīnɡ Olympic Games. One is the micro-level of the specific lan-
guage to be used in the Olympic Games; and the other is the macro-level of
the general language situation in the city of Běijīnɡ. The data cited were all
collected before December, 2006.

1 General information
1.1 Events related with language use for the Běijīnɡ
Olympic Games
On 13 December, 2001, the Běijīnɡ Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic
Games (BOCOG) was officially founded, and undertook the organizational work
to host the Běijīnɡ Olympic Games and the Běijīnɡ Paralympics Games. Mean-
while, the official website of BOCOG was opened to release news in Chinese
while also featuring English and French versions. By the end of 2006, BOCOG
had issued Olympic emblems, mascots, pictograms, cultural activity slogans,
environmental slogans, and volunteer symbols for the Běijīnɡ Olympic Games,
emblems, torch relay symbols, and the mascot for the Běijīnɡ Paralympics
Games as well as the joint slogans for both Games (Figure 1). Based on feedback
and opinions from different groups of people, BOCOG continued to adjust and
standardize the related language usage. On 5 June, 2005, BOCOG held the
launching ceremony of the Běijīnɡ Olympic Volunteer Program, and announced
the Běijīnɡ Olympic Volunteer Program Action Plan.

Figure 1: Slogan for 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympics Games

172 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生) & Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

1.2 The social and cultural environment in Běijīnɡ

In April 2002, the Organizing Committee of Běijīnɡ Speaks Foreign Languages
Program (OCBSFLP) was officially established. It was primarily involved in two
kinds of work: assisting Běijīnɡ residents to learn English and examining and
standardizing Chinese-English bilingual public signs.
In the past few years, OCBSFLP has periodically organized various kinds
of language competitions as well as many other activities such as Foreign Lan-
guage Week, Foreign Language Festival, English Corner in the Community, and
English Class for Villagers. These events and activities have created a positive
English-learning environment for Běijīnɡ residents, motivated them to be inter-
ested in learning English and improved their English proficiency and communi-
cation. By the end of 2005, the number of Běijīnɡ residents who were learning
English exceeded 4.1 million, about 30% of the city’s population.1 (See Table 1)

Events Frequency

Annual Chinese New Year Gala in English 3

TV occupational English competition 6
TV Chinese singing foreign songs competition 6
Běijīnɡ TV English competition for children 7
English debating competition for middle school students 5
TV Business English competition 4
English TV show of life in Běijīnɡ 6
English competition for Běijīnɡ families 1

Table 1: English-learning activities for Běijīnɡ residents

Source of Data: Website of Běijīnɡ Speaks Foreign Languages, “Events & Activities.”
(http://www.bjenglish.cn/contests/)

In November 2006, the Běijīnɡ Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision

ratified and issued Standards for English translation of public signs in Běijīnɡ,
which became effective on 1 December, 2006. This regional regulation provides
criteria for standardizing the English translation of public signs in Běijīnɡ, play-
ing a significant role in improving the poor English used in public signage in
the city and thereby enhancing the cultural image of Běijīnɡ as an international
metropolis.

1 Běijīnɡ Speaks Foreign Languages Website http://www.bjenglish.net.cn/ministry/2006-09/

26150.shtml.
 Efforts of creating a good language environment for Běijīnɡ Olympic Games 173

2 The language use for sports events2

2.1 Emblem and pictograms with Chinese cultural elements
On 3 August, 2003, BOCOG released the Pictograms of the Běijīnɡ 2008 Olympic
Games in a grand ceremony. The Olympic emblem of “Chinese Seal: dancing
Běijīnɡ” perfectly integrates Chinese language and culture with the Olympic
spirit, making it an extraordinary combination of both traditional Chinese culture
and modern graphics.
Chinese characters, ideography of one of the oldest self-generated writing
systems still in use today, demonstrate a vigor which is integrated into, inter-
preted by, and manifested in the emblem of the Běijīnɡ 2008 Olympic Games.
The figure on the red Chinese Seal, which looks like a dancing person, is actu-
ally a stylized form of the Chinese character 京 ( jīnɡ), which represents the host
city of the 29th Olympic Games. “It looks like both a character and a painting
but it is neither of them alone. Instead there is calligraphy within the painting
and vice versa. When viewed as calligraphy, the Chinese character appears;
when viewed as a painting, a dancer appears.” “Běijīnɡ 2008” written in the
Zhújiǎn (竹简) style right under the Chinese Seal also demonstrates the unique
charm of Chinese calligraphic art. The simple charm of Chinese calligraphy and
the simple beauty of the five interlocking Olympic rings bring out the best in
each other.

Figure 3: Example of Jīn (金) Character. Data

Figure 2: Emblem of Běijīnɡ 2008 Olympic source: Data processing Lab. “Exhibition of
Games Jin Character ” http://www.sinica.edu.tw/~cdp/

2 All the data and references are from the website of the 29th Olympic Games unless
otherwise indicated. http://www.Běijīnɡ2008.cn/.
174 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生) & Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

Sports symbols are one of the basic image elements of the Olympic Games,
and they are widely used in road signs, directions and decorations both inside
and outside the stadiums, on guidance posters for athletes and audiences, and
so on.

Figure 5: Example of Hsiaozhuan

Figure 4: BOCOG issued the sports symbols of 2008
(小篆) style. Data source: Data
Běijīnɡ Olympic Games on 7 Aug. 2006
Processing Lab “Exhibition of
Hsiaozhuan style”.
http://www.sinica.edu.tw/~cdp/

The sports symbols of the 2008 Běijīnɡ Olympic Games use the stroke
style of Tsiaozhuan as their basic form, integrating it with ancient pictographic
characters of oracle inscriptions (甲骨文) and Jīn characters, and with simplistic
modern graphics. The sports symbols are designed to be easily recognized,
memorized and applied. The strong contrast between the black and white in
sports symbols highlights the distinguishing feature of each sport, the elegance
of sports aesthetics, and the profoundness of traditional Chinese culture, as well
as achieving harmony and consistency of “form” and “meaning”.
From the “Chinese elements” used in the emblem and sports symbols as
well as from the Chinese character writing style as shown in Figure 3 and Figure
5, we see how the art of Chinese characters continues to develop.

2.2 Naming the Fúwá (福娃) mascots

BOCOG held a grand ceremony to announce the mascot of the Běijīnɡ Olympic
Games at 8pm on 11 November, 2005 which attracted attention from all over the
world. The mascots are five fúwá or “good-luck dolls”, as shown in Figure 6.
From left to right, their names are Bèibèi, Jīnɡjīnɡ, Huānhuān, Yínɡyínɡ, and
Nīnī. Together these names form the sentence “Běijīnɡ huān yínɡ nǐ,” which
 Efforts of creating a good language environment for Běijīnɡ Olympic Games 175

means “Běijīnɡ welcomes you.” The five dolls are shaped like people but are
each reminiscent of another image: a fish, a giant panda, a Tibetan antelope, a
swift and with the Olympic flame in the middle. The color of their heads and
limbs are that of the five Olympic rings. The fúwá appear very friendly and are
easily recognized.

Figure 6: Mascot of 2008 Běijīnɡ Olympic Games (Original)

Figure 7: Mascot of 2008 Běijīnɡ Olympic Games (New)

When the original mascot posters were unveiled, the English name, “Friend-
lies,” appeared beside the Chinese word “福娃”, rousing criticism about the
accuracy of this English translation. Different people, from primary school pupils
to PhD degree holders, put forward various opinions, and the media also
expressed critical comments. A heated debate entitled “Is the English name of
fúwá appropriate?” was sparked in the sports forum of Xinhua net.
It is reported that it was Dr. Li from the Department of Resources and Envi-
ronment of Lánzhōu University who first questioned the fúwá’s English name,
“Friendlies”. He pointed out three problems regarding the meaning and pronun-
ciation of this name. Meanwhile, he recommended three alternatives, “Forworld”,
“Forward” and “Forwards” to BOCOG.
Forworld matches the slogan of the Běijīnɡ Olympic Games “One World One
Dream”. Forward, which means “march ahead courageously”, echoes the spirit
176 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生) & Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

of the Olympic Games, i.e. higher, faster, and stronger. Forwards, which means
“to the front”, also conveys the idea of marching courageously ahead. The pro-
nunciations also resemble that of “fú wá zi”, which means “kid” in the dialects
of Southeast China. It is the third translation that got the most approval of
American experts of the English language and the support of global netizens.
Based on discussions between related organizations and agencies, BOCOG
did away with the name “Friendlies”, and adopted the Chinese Pinyin “Fúwá”
as the English name for the mascots, as shown in Figure 7. Officially licensed
Olympic merchandise and advertisements bearing the name “Friendlies” were
gradually replaced by this new name.
The association of the new name “Fúwá” with the mascots integrated both
the Chinese characters and Pinyin making it easy to remember and more popular
among both Chinese people and foreigners. The new name was also more accept-
able academically and legally. The changing of the name fúwá not only demon-
strated that BOCOG respects and abides by the language law and regulations,
but also showed that the status of standard spoken and written Chinese has
been well maintained. Such a successful case was to serve as a precedent for
the use of standard Chinese in the 2008 Běijīnɡ Olympic Games and in future
international sports games and competitions as well.

2.3 Language services for the Olympic Games

Language services play an essential role in the success of the Běijīnɡ Olympic
Games. Volunteers are mainly involved in receiving guests, language translation,
traffic and transportation, security, medical and health care, guidance for audi-
ences, goods distribution, communication and liaison, and act as support in
organizing the Games, stadium operation, news release, organizing cultural
activities and so on. Language proficiency and communicative competence is
indispensible not only for language translation, but also for various kinds of
other work. As such, Běijīnɡ Olympic volunteer program action plan states that
applicants with Putonghua as their mother tongue must have basic English com-
municative competence; applicants whose mother tongue is not Putonghua must
have basic Putonghua communicative competence.
The Běijīnɡ Olympic Volunteers, as usual, are classified into two categories:
professional volunteers with special skills, and nonprofessional ones with no
special skills. The volunteers responsible for language services fall into the first
category, and they provide services in 50 to 60 languages. According to BOCOG,
language volunteers, especially who have knowledge of less common languages,
are in shortage. As a result, BOCOG asked individuals who have special language
skills from both within China and abroad to commit themselves to volunteer
work for the Olympic Games.
 Efforts of creating a good language environment for Běijīnɡ Olympic Games 177

Language training was provided for language volunteers. BOCOG deliber-

ately set up a Běijīnɡ Olympic Games Volunteer Work Coordination Group Office
(BOGVWCGO) to provide different forms of training. By July 2006, Běijīnɡ witnessed
the establishment of more than 200 Olympic education model schools. The Coordi-
nation Group provided in-service training on etiquette, English and professional
skills for 200,000 employees in eleven fields such as business, services, tourism
to meet their special needs.
To this end, BOCOG published two books, The Textbook of Oral English for
Běijīnɡ Olympic Games, and The Textbook for Běijīnɡ Olympic Games Volunteers
(in both Chinese and English versions). In August 2006, BOCOG published nine
kinds of The Training Textbook of Běijīnɡ Olympic Games Volunteers. By the end
of 2006, BOCOG had issued the textbook, Pilot training for Paralympics Games.
Meanwhile, some language professionals and companies also engaged them-
selves in language training and services. On 30 October, 2006, Běijīnɡ Yuánpéi
(元培) Century Translation Co., Limited was authorized to provide written transla-
tion and oral interpretation for the 2008 Běijīnɡ Olympic Games. EF Business
Consulting Co., Limited (Shànɡhǎi), another service provider, would also pro-
vide language training services for the Games.
Běijīnɡ Association for People with Disabilities and Association for the Deaf
planned to provide free training for 1,000 sign language volunteers in Běijīnɡ
and began to set up a sign language translation team to provide services. Various
forms of the Olympic Sign Language Campaign were carried out in different dis-
tricts and counties as well as at schools of all levels in Běijīnɡ in order to create
a positive learning environment and to foster awareness of the need for good
services for people with disabilities.

3 Creating a favorable language environment

in Běijīnɡ
The Běijīnɡ Municipal Communist Party Committee, the municipal government
and organizing committee of Běijīnɡ Speaks Foreign Languages Program made
collective efforts to create a good language environment for the Běijīnɡ Olympic
Games. Běijīnɡ Municipal Community Party Committee and Municipal govern-
ment made “An action plan for the humanity-oriented Olympic Games”, and “A
general plan for Běijīnɡ Speaks English Program”.

3.1 Activities for foreign language speaking

Since its establishment in 2002, the organizing committee of the Běijīnɡ Speaks
Foreign Languages Program has cooperated with other relevant departments to
178 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生) & Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

organize different kinds of themed activities and hundreds of foreign language

competitions to promote the learning of foreign languages, to improve Běijīnɡ
residents’ foreign language competence, to create an international language
environment in Běijīnɡ and to foster talent in foreign languages. In 2006, the
number of residents who can speak a foreign language totaled 4.87 million,
about 31.6% of Běijīnɡ’s total population, a 2% increase year-on-year.
Foreign Language Week and the Foreign Language Festival have been held
by Běijīnɡ residents. Particularly between 13 and 14 May 2006, the organizing
committee of Běijīnɡ Speaks Foreign Languages Program, the publicity depart-
ment of Běijīnɡ Municipal Committee, Foreign Affairs Office of the Municipal
Government and Government of Cháoyánɡ District jointly held an event called
“Foreign Language Week of Běijīnɡ residents – sponsored by Amway”, which
included an exhibition of the achievements of the Běijīnɡ Speaks English Pro-
gram, lectures given by foreign language professionals, performances of foreign
language entertainment programs, free consultations provided by agencies con-
cerned with foreign language education and study abroad programs, an exhibi-
tion of foreign language books, a foreign language corner for Běijīnɡ residents,
on-site recruitment of volunteers, the finals of Family English Competition,
foreign language games and so on. Hundreds of foreign language education
organizations and international training centres participated in this Foreign
Language Week event. Among the many activities was the important “Wall Street
English Cup” – a competition which was part of the Běijīnɡ Speaks English Pro-
gram lasting from 14 April to 14 May.
From 14 October to 15 October, 2006, the Fifth Foreign Language Festival
of Běijīnɡ residents was held at the Working People’s Cultural Palace, which
attracted more than 50,000 participants. During the festival, the representatives
who had passed the First Běijīnɡ English Level Test were awarded with certifi-
cates in Chinese and English as well as a badge stating “I can speak English”.
A series of books on Běijīnɡ English Test for the second level were given to the
residents to motivate them to learn English.
The English Level Test for Běijīnɡ Residents was provided. The Organizing
Committee of Běijīnɡ Speaks Foreign Languages Program, the Foreign Affairs
Office of the municipal government and the testing department of Cambridge
Testing Committee ESOL – the famous international education assessing organi-
zation – jointly launched the Běijīnɡ English Testing System (BETS) for Běijīnɡ
residents. The test has three levels, BETS-1, BETS-2, and BETS-3 from low to
advanced level. The residents who wished to test their English proficiency could
take the test at a particular level. 2,357 residents have taken the test.
To promote the speaking and learning of other foreign languages, many
activities and events were held. On 16 December, 2006, the organizing committee
of Běijīnɡ Speaks Foreign Languages Program, the Běijīnɡ Education Committee,
 Efforts of creating a good language environment for Běijīnɡ Olympic Games 179

and the Foreign Affairs Office of the municipal government jointly organized the
semi-finals of the French Competition for Běijīnɡ students, which was one of a
series of foreign languages spoken by less of the population on campus with
the theme of “Greeting the Whole World”. The competition attracted 180 candi-
dates from eight colleges and universities. In the near future, events and activities
will be also organized to promote the learning of other foreign languages such
as Japanese, Spanish, German, Russian and Korean.

3.2 Standardization of English public signs in Běijīnɡ

Many errors are found in the English translation of bilingual public signs in
Běijīnɡ. To solve this problem, the Leadership Group of Standardizing Běijīnɡ
Public English Signs (LGSBPES) was established in October 2005. On 3 June,
2006, the leadership group held a meeting to make a plan to standardize English
public signs and passed The overall plan for standardizing the English public
signs in Běijīnɡ, whose task was to revise English public signs in Běijīnɡ, to be
completed by the end of 2007.
Led by the municipal government’s Foreign Affairs Office, together with
LGSBPES and the Municipal Standardization Association, The English Trans-
lation Standard of Bilingual Public Signs was drafted and stipulated based on
extensive research and collected data. The standards include general principles,
an English translation standard for traffic and transportation, tourist attractions,
businesses and services, the stadium, medical care and health services together
with guidelines for implementation. On 3 November, 2006, the Běijīnɡ Bureau
of Quality and Technical Supervision ratified and issued the above standards,
which were effective on 1st December, 2006. Standardizing the English public
signs would begin in 2007, and it was planned to complete the revision of in-
correct or inaccurate English signs at important public places by October 2007.
The six categories listed above were the first series setting out an English
translation standard for public signs issued in China. They serve not only as
policy support for Běijīnɡ’s language standardization but also as a good model
for other cities.

Translated by Zhàn Jú (战菊)

Jílín University
[email protected]

Liú Chànɡ (刘畅)

Jílín University
[email protected]
Sūn Xiǎoxiān (孙晓先), Wánɡ Yíjiā (王颐加),
Qiáo Lìhuá (乔丽华) & Jiǎnɡ Bīnɡbīnɡ (蒋冰冰)
15 A survey of Shànɡhǎi students’ use of
Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect1
As one of the major cities in China, Shànɡhǎi (上海) has a highly diverse and
mobile population, consisting of 13.52 million registered permanent residents
and 4.99 million mobile residents. In recent years, its economic and social
development has led to increasingly rich and dynamic language activities.
Many languages and Chinese dialects are used in Shànɡhǎi apart from the
most widely used Putonghua.

1 Questions and research design

How do students in Shànɡhǎi use languages today? What kinds of new charac-
teristics do these language uses exhibit? In order to answer these questions as
well as provide solid statistics to language authorities, an investigation entitled
“Shànɡhǎi Students Language Use” has been carried out. Through scientific
sampling and field research, language use data of 8661 subjects, including kinder-
garten kids and various grade students, were collected.
Research Methods: The investigation focuses mainly on Shànɡhǎi students’
language behaviors, language attitudes, and language ability. Research methods
include questionnaires for language behaviors and language attitudes, interview
questionnaires – such as Saying Words for Pictures, Talking about Pictures and
Listening Comprehension – for language ability, and forums to find out ability
of different grade students and their attitudes towards Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi
dialect.
Research Subjects: The investigation covers all the 19 districts of Shànɡhǎi.
Only students who, along with both parents, were born and raised in Shànɡhǎi
were included in this research programme. Subjects were categorized into 6
groups, namely, college freshmen, high school (including some middle special-
ized or professional schools) grade one students (Grade 10), middle school grade
one students (Grade 7), primary school grade five students (Grade 5), primary
school grade one students (Grade 1), and kindergarten level one kids. Number
and proportion of each group is specified in Table 1.

1 To be simple and clear, student in this article may include kindergarten kids, and language
may refer to Shànɡhǎi dialect.
182 Sūn Xiǎoxiān (孙晓先) et al.

Kindergarten
level one Grade 1 Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 10 College
kids students students students students freshman Total

Number 900 1800 1800 1792 1795 574 8661

Proportion (%) 10.4% 20.8% 20.8% 20.7% 20.7% 6.6% 100%

Table 1: Sample Distribution

2 Results
2.1 Language behaviors
This part is mainly devoted to find out Shànɡhǎi students’ language use behav-
iors in different circumstances such as talking with their parents, making phone
calls, going shopping, talking with their teachers or classmates.

2.1.1 Language use at home

Students of various ages all have a relatively stable language environment and
language use habits. For instance, 24% of Grade 5 students use only Putonghua

Subjects
Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 10 College
Communication party and language used students students students freshman

Father Shànɡhǎi dialect 37 46 56 74

Putonghua 24 16 12 9
Shànɡhǎi dialect and Putonghua 38 35 31 17
Other 1 3 1 0
Total 100 100 100 100
Mother Shànɡhǎi dialect 36 43 55 72
Putonghua 26 18 13 7
Shànɡhǎi dialect and Putonghua 37 36 31 21
Other 1 3 1 0
Total 100 100 100 100
Family Shànɡhǎi dialect 38 45 58 71
Putonghua 23 20 11 7
Shànɡhǎi dialect and Putonghua 36 33 29 22
Other 3 2 2 0
Total 100 100 100 100

Table 2: Language Use at Home (%)

 A survey of Shànɡhǎi students’ use of Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect 183

during their conversations with their father, 26% with their mother, and 23% in a
family gathering when both parents are present. The use of Putonghua in family
conversations results from two reasons. First, parents are usually inclined to follow
their children’s language choice; second, many parents encourage Putonghua
use in family conversations. If a student uses Shànɡhǎi dialect in family conver-
sations, he usually uses it with all family members. It can be concluded from the
above-stated figures that in family conversations about 15% of families mainly
use Putonghua, about 40% of families use both Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialects,
and about 45% of families mainly use Shànɡhǎi dialects.
The figures also make it clear that the percentage of Shànɡhǎi dialect in
family conversation is rising as students grow older. As shown in Table 2, of
Grade 5 students, only 37% speak Shànɡhǎi dialect at home, compared to over
70% of college freshmen.

2.1.2 Language use in daily life

As Table 3 shows, only 14% to 30% of students start a phone call in Shànɡhǎi
dialect. Among them, college students account for the highest percentage (30%).
In comparison, when students answer an incoming call, more than 61% reply
in the same dialect if the other speaker is speaking Shànɡhǎi dialect, with the
highest percentage (82%) found, again, among college students. To conclude,
when making or receiving a phone call, a majority of students choose Putonghua
as their first preference, but will switch to Shànɡhǎi dialect if they are spoken to
in that dialect. Similarly, when shopping, fewer than 30% students start a con-
versation in Shànɡhǎi dialect. College students (30%) are most likely to do
so, followed by Grade 10 (24%), Grade 7 (17%), and Grade 5 students (15%). If
greeted in Putonghua by a salesperson, more than half of students will reply
in Putonghua (Grade 5 students 58%, Grade 7 students 54%, Grade 10 students
52%, and college students 88%). These figures reveal that age is a strong indica-
tor of Shànɡhǎi dialect use. Younger students tend to use Putonghua while older
students prefer Shànɡhǎi dialect. These data also reveal that most students are
able to switch to the language the other party is speaking and college students
are most apt at such code switches.

2.1.3 Language use at school

In the case of talking with their teachers or classmates out of class, younger
students tend to use more Putonghua. For instance, when primary students talk
184 Sūn Xiǎoxiān (孙晓先) et al.

Subjects
Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 10 College
Circumstance and language used students students students freshman

Phone call Making a call Shànɡhǎi dialect 14 15 27 30

Putonghua 37 41 26 26
Shànɡhǎi dialect and 43 40 45 44
Putonghua
Other 6 4 2 0
Total 100 100 100 100
Answering a Shànɡhǎi dialect 63 61 68 82
call Putonghua 17 19 13 8
Shànɡhǎi dialect and 18 19 16 10
Putonghua
Other 2 1 3 0
Total 100 100 100 100
Shopping When speaking Shànɡhǎi dialect 15 17 24 30
first Putonghua 50 49 46 56
Shànɡhǎi dialect and 31 31 27 14
Putonghua
Other 4 3 3 0
Total 100 100 100 100
When greeted Shànɡhǎi dialect 7 7 15 7
in Putonghua Putonghua 58 54 52 88
Shànɡhǎi dialect and 32 36 27 5
Putonghua
Other 3 3 6 0
Total 100 100 100 100
Asking for directions Shànɡhǎi dialect 27 23 27 32
Putonghua 42 41 39 47
Shànɡhǎi dialect and 29 34 34 21
Putonghua
Other 2 2 0 0
Total 100 100 100 100

Table 3: Language Use in Daily life (%)

with their classmates, 44% use Putonghua and 20% use Shànɡhǎi dialect. In the
same circumstance, more than 40% of high school and college students use
Shànɡhǎi dialect, whereas only about 25% use Putonghua. When talking with
their teachers, the number of high school and college students who speak
Shànɡhǎi dialect also doubles that of primary school students and middle
school students. These figures exhibit that school activities out of class are
 A survey of Shànɡhǎi students’ use of Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect 185

Subjects
Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 10 College
Communication partner and language used students students students freshman

Classmate Shànɡhǎi dialect 20 22 43 44

Putonghua 44 39 25 27
Shànɡhǎi dialect and Putonghua 33 37 32 29
Other 3 2 0 0
Total 100 100 100 100
Teacher Shànɡhǎi dialect 15 13 28 27
Putonghua 49 47 41 52
Shànɡhǎi dialect and Putonghua 33 37 31 21
Other 3 3 0 0
Total 100 100 100 100

Table 4: Language Use at School (%)

carried out in both Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect. Putonghua is more widely
used in primary schools and middle schools than in high schools and colleges.
According to different characteristics students use language at school, stu-
dents can be divided into 3 age periods. (I) primary school period. Students of
this period use more Putonghua than students of the other periods. 44% to 49%
primary students speak Putonghua when talking with their classmates and
teachers respectively. Another important feature of language use of primary
school students is their frequent switch between Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi
dialect. This mixed use results from both the surrounding dialect speaking envi-
ronment and the expressive insufficiency of Putonghua. Students have to speak
Shànɡhǎi dialect when they find Putonghua inadequate to express themselves. (II)
middle school period. During this period, 39% to 47% students speak Putonghua
when talking with their classmates and teachers respectively. Students of this
period have become able to speak Putonghua and are accustomed to speaking
it. (III) high school and college period. Communication in Putonghua among stu-
dents during this period drops to 25%–27%. This decline is not because students
are not able to speak Putonghua, but because they choose to use either Putong-
hua or Shànɡhǎi dialect to fulfill different social functions. At this period, stu-
dents are able to switch between Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect freely when
necessary.

2.1.4 Language use under common circumstance

These data demonstrate again the correlation between age and Shànɡhǎi dialect
use – older students using more Shànɡhǎi dialect. This tendency is especially
186 Sūn Xiǎoxiān (孙晓先) et al.

Subjects
Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 10 College
Language used students students students freshman

Shànɡhǎi dialect 20 21 33 35
Putonghua 38 39 29 29
Shànɡhǎi dialect and Putonghua 39 38 38 36
Other 3 2 0 0
Total 100 100 100 100

Table 5: Language Use under Common Circumstance (%)

obvious when middle school students and high school students are compared.
There is no statistical difference between Grade 5 students and Grade 7 students,
and between high school students and college students.

2.2 Language attitude

Language attitude refers to people’s affective feelings, either positive or nega-
tive, about a language or a dialect. In this survey, students were requested to
evaluate Shànɡhǎi dialect, the results of which were expected to represent
empirically students’ attitudes towards Shànɡhǎi dialect. More than half of
students, as the attitudinal data show, hold positive attitudes toward Shànɡhǎi
dialect.

2.2.1 Students’ attitude towards language switch

The above statistics show that 47% of the students are tolerant of the mixed use
of Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect, or language switch during a conversation.
Moreover, the degree of acceptance grows with the age of the subjects. For
instance, 74% of the college students are tolerant of the mixed use of Putonghua
and Shànɡhǎi dialect. Of all grades, students are inclined to choose (3) and (4),
with a larger number of students preferring (3) to (4). Further, the older the stu-
dents, the larger the percentage of students choosing (3) over (4). This tendency
indicates that high grades, thanks to their rich communication experience, are
better at language switching.
 A survey of Shànɡhǎi students’ use of Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect 187

Subjects
Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 10 College
Options students students students freshman

(1) have never met language switch 7 5 7 1

(2) surprised 10 6 7 3
(3) switch to the other’s language naturally 47 55 57 74
(4) stick to my own language 30 27 17 12
(5) have no idea 3 2 2 1
Other response 3 5 10 9
Total 100 100 100 100

Table 6: Students’ Attitude towards Language Switch (%)

2.2.2 Students’ affective feeling towards Shànɡhǎi dialect

When asked about their reaction to hearing Shànɡhǎi dialect, 38% of the stu-
dents feel it “amiable”, 50% feel “nothing special”, 9% feel “a little awkward”,
and 2% think of it as “inappropriate”. When asked why they speak Shànɡhǎi
dialect, 52% of students say it is out of habit, 6% of students speak Shànɡhǎi
dialect because it sounds pleasant, 11% of students think speaking Shànɡhǎi
dialect will enable them to make more friends, and 7% of students take pride
in speaking Shànɡhǎi dialect. Theses figures show that the attitude of the
Shànɡhǎi students toward language use has undergone drastic changes: they
are becoming more and more accustomed to diglossic practices.
When asked to evaluate Shànɡhǎi dialect on a five-point scale in terms of
its “pleasantness” (whether it is pleasant to hear), “amiability” (whether its
speakers sound kind), “prestige” and “usefulness”, the largest percentages of
students gave 5 points to the three options “pleasantness”, “amiability” and
“usefulness”. More than half of students, 50%, 62%, and 55% respectively, gave
4 points or above to “pleasantness”, “amiability”, and “usefulness”, as is shown
in Table 7.
188 Sūn Xiǎoxiān (孙晓先) et al.

Points Pleasantness Amiability Prestige Usefulness Average

1 point 10 7 20 11 12
2 points 13 11 19 13 14
3 points 26 20 24 21 23
4 points 22 24 16 21 21
5 points 28 38 21 34 30
Other 1 0 0 0 0
Total 100 100 100 100 100

Table 7: Evaluation of Shànɡhǎi Dialect (%)

2.2.3 Importance of Shànɡhǎi Dialect

When asked “which language (dialect) will be important in future in Shànɡhǎi,

Putonghua, Shànɡhǎi dialect, or English”, about 40% of students chose Putong-
hua, about 20% chose Shànɡhǎi dialect, another 20% thought it difficult to pre-
dict, while 10% chose English, and less than 9% chose a combination of these
three languages. This shows that Putonghua’s status as the national common
speech is generally accepted among students.

Subjects
College
Language Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 10 freshman

Putonghua 40 37 36 34
Shànɡhǎi dialect 23 18 15 22
English 11 12 10 7
Difficult to say 18 19 20 17
Putonghua, Shànɡhǎi dialect and English 2 2 5 9
Shànɡhǎi dialect and English 0 0 1 2
Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect 3 8 6 3
Putonghua and English 3 3 6 5
Other 0 1 1 1
Total 100 100 100 100

Table 8: Importance of Shànɡhǎi Dialect (%)

 A survey of Shànɡhǎi students’ use of Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect 189

2.3 Language ability

With three types of tests – Saying Words for Pictures, Talking about Pictures, and
Listening Comprehension – this survey measured the students’ proficiency in
Shànɡhǎi dialect. The full score of each test is 30, 40 and 30 respectively. As
shown in Table 9, students’ proficiency in Shànɡhǎi dialect improves with
age. Kindergarteners and lower grade preliminary students are fairly poor at
listening and speaking: only 13 to 14 percent of the kindergarten kids got full
marks in the listening and speaking tests and no more than a third of Grade 1
students have acquired satisfactory listening and speaking skills. In contrast, a
larger percentage of high school and college students got full marks in one test
or all the three tests. There exists a wide gap between language abilities of pre-
school kids and students. The percentage of Grade 1 pupils who got full scores
roughly doubles that of kindergarten full score achievers; as much as 50%
of grade 5 students got full marks in the listening and the oral tests. This is
probably due to the fact that preschool kids are exposed to a Putonghua speak-
ing environment most of the time. Preliminary pupils’ language competence,
listening and speaking skills in particular, improve substantially as they are
exposed to more languages. If students are divided into three groups based on
their language proficiency – “Advanced”, “Intermediate” and “Preliminary”, the
percentages of advanced Shànɡhǎi dialect speakers among kindergarten kids,
Grade 1 students, Grade 5 students, Grade 7 students, Grade 10 students and
college freshmen are 20%, 58%, 74%, 82%, 91% and 100% respectively.

Subject
Kinder- Grade Grade Grade Grade College
Item and score garten 1 5 7 10 freshman

Saying Words 30 35 71 89 94 94 99
for Pictures
Talking about 40 14 26 42 60 64 64
Pictures

Listening 30 13 32 54 73 74 90
Comprehension

Total score and 80—100 Advanced 20 58 74 82 91 100

Proficiency level 60—79 Intermediate 26 20 18 13 6 0
0—59 Preliminary 54 22 8 5 3 0

Table 9: Shànɡhǎi Students’ Ability of Shànɡhǎi Dialect (%)

190 Sūn Xiǎoxiān (孙晓先) et al.

Students are also required to evaluate their proficiency of Shànɡhǎi dialect.

The results are presented in Table 10.

Advanced: Speak
it frequently, Intermediate: Preliminary:
fluently, and Can speak it but Can understand but
accurately not accurately can not speak it Total

Grade 5 52 43 5 100
Grade 7 48 45 7 100
Grade 10 63 33 4 100
College freshman 60 36 4 100

Table 10: Students’ Self-evaluation of Their Proficiency of Shànɡhǎi Dialect (%)

According to Table 10, about 90% of all students claim that they can speak
Shànɡhǎi dialect well or fairly well. This percentage is lower than what was
obtained through the aforementioned proficiency tests. This difference mirrors
different people’s different understanding of what is standard Shànɡhǎi dialect.

3 Conclusion
From the data obtained, the following conclusion can be reached.

3.1 Putonghua has become the dominant language used by

students in Shànɡhǎi
It is found through this research that Putonghua has established its dominance
among Shànɡhǎi students. With its reform and opening up, Shànɡhǎi has
become China’s most important economic centre experiencing dynamic growth
of international and interregional exchanges. It has also become a melting
pot featuring a culture of openness, tolerance and inclusion. It has become a
common belief among Shànɡhǎi residents that to boost the city’s further growth,
it is a must to promote the use of Putonghua on one hand and create a tolerant
and open linguistic environment on the other. Over the past few years, there
were two important forces contributing to the wide use of Putonghua. One is
 A survey of Shànɡhǎi students’ use of Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect 191

the Shànɡhǎi government’s increasing efforts to popularize Putonghua in public

places. This has helped to create an environment encouraging students to learn
and speak Putonghua. Second is the Putonghua Proficiency Test. As passing
the Putonghua Proficiency Test is one of the key requisites of being a teacher,
teachers become increasingly capable of giving lessons in Putonghua. Accord-
ingly, students are paying attention to the use of Putonghua because they
acquire knowledge mostly in spoken and written Putonghua. The findings from
interviewing more than 8,000 students shows that students prefer using Putong-
hua when attending lectures or participating in group activities. As a result, they
have not only become accustomed to speaking Putonghua, but also became
good at it.

3.2 Shànɡhǎi students are capable of speaking both

Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect
This research also indicates that with Shànɡhǎi’s reform and opening up, a
diglossia environment has come into being. Ability of students to switch
between language varieties in different social occasions has remarkably im-
proved. Students are willing to speak Shànɡhǎi dialect in their daily life. Native
Shànɡhǎi students, even those who are fluent speakers of Putonghua, can speak
Shànɡhǎi dialect. The difference lies just in how well and how frequently they
speak it. Students become more proficient in and accustomed to speaking
Shànɡhǎi dialect as they age. Younger students tend to use Putonghua more
often whereas older students prefer Shànɡhǎi dialect. Native Shànɡhǎi students
can switch between Shànɡhǎi dialect and Putonghua in light of different com-
municative situations.

Translated by Gōnɡ Tónɡxǐ (宫同喜)

Shànɡhǎi International Studies University
[email protected]
Luó Zìqún (罗自群)
16 Status quo of the Jinuo language
The Jinuo people call themselves kjy ⁴⁴no⁴⁴, which is written as 攸乐 (yōulè) in
ancient Chinese literature. The Jinuo group was officially recognized by the State
Council on 6 June 1979 as a nationality, the last recognized minority nationality
in China in the 20th century.
According to the statistics of the 2000 census, the Jinuo population is
approximately 20,899, mainly distributed in Jinuo Township ( Jinuo Mountain),
located in Jǐnɡhónɡ (景洪) City of the Xīshuānɡbǎnnà (西双版纳) Dǎi (傣)
Autonomous Prefecture of Yúnnán (云南) Province. There are 11,112 Jinuo people
in this township, accounting for 53.2% of the total population. Another major
group of Jinuo inhabit Měnɡwànɡ (勐旺) Township, Jǐnɡhónɡ City. Other smaller
Jinuo groups live in the townships of Měnɡyǎnɡ (勐养) and Dàdùɡānɡ (大渡岗)
in Jǐnɡhónɡ City, and the townships of Měnɡlún (勐仑) and Xiànɡmínɡ (象明)
in Měnɡlà (勐腊) County. The Jinuo language belongs to the Yí (彝) – Burman
branch of the Tibeto-Burman group in the Sino-Tibetan family. The Jinuo do
not have their own writing system. Before the establishment of the People’s
Republic of China, the Jinuo people were still at the final period of village
commune. This period is a transitional phase from a primitive society to a class
society. It was not until the establishment of the People’s Republic that the Jinuo
stepped into the modern society.
Starting from June 28, 2006, we conducted a one-month investigation in
Jinuo Township. Under the jurisdiction of Jinuo Township, there are 7 villages
consisting of 45 villager groups and a plantation. The major ethnic group in
Jinuo Township is the Jinuo, accounting for 97.5% of the population. We carried
out an exhaustive survey of 9 villager groups, including Bāxiù (巴秀), Bāyà
Lǎozhài (巴亚老寨), Bāyà Xīnzhài (巴亚新寨), Bāpò (巴破), Bāduǒ (巴朵),
Bākūn (巴昆), Luòkē Dàzhài (洛科大寨), Luòkē Xīnzhài (洛科新寨) and
Moyanɡ (么羊) from 7 villages representing various types of speakers, covering
their names, sex, age, nationality, education, language proficiency in Jinuo
and Chinese (or other languages). We also conducted a survey of language use,
taking a random sample of the township’s government offices.

1 The status quo of native language use

1.1 The Jinuo language still retains its strong vitality
The research team studied 6 Jinuo concentrated villages, including Bāxiù, Bāyà
Lǎozhài, Bāyà Xīnzhài, Bāpò, Bāduǒ and Bākūn. The Jinuo language is well pre-
194 Luó Zìqún (罗自群)

Proficient Intermediate Poor Nonspeaker

Location Population Number % Number % Number % Number %

Bāxiù 252 252 100 0 0 0 0 0 0

Bāyà Lǎozhài 303 302 99.7 1 0.3 0 0 0 0
Bāyà Lǎozhài 434 431 99.3 3 0.7 0 0 0 0
Bāpò 310 307 99.0 3 1.0 0 0 0 0
Bāduǒ 280 270 96.4 7 2.5 3 1.1 0 0
Bākūn 184 168 91.3 13 7.1 3 1.6 0 0
Total 1763 1730 98.1 26 1.5 7 0.4 0 0

Table 1: Statistics of the Jinuo speakers in the Jinuo concentrated villages

served in these villages. The research was based on 4 language levels: proficient,
intermediate, poor and nonspeaker. Those in the proficient and intermediate
levels can understand and speak Jinuo and are able to communicate in Jinuo;
those in the poor category can understand daily conversations but cannot speak
the language. In our exhaustive survey and statistics of speakers who are 6
years of age or older with normal language ability, we found that the percentage
of the Jinuo speaking population is very high, as illustrated in Table 1.
If categorized by age, all the Jinuo elderly individuals in the 60 year or older
age group use Jinuo as their first language. This group belongs to the proficient
level and consists of two types: Jinuo monolinguals who are unable to commu-
nicate in Chinese (This group accounts for 59% of the total. Most of them are
elderly, women and illiterate) and the Jinuo-Chinese bilinguals (who account
for 41% of the total and have a better command of Jinuo than Chinese. There
are no Chinese monolinguals). Proficient speakers in the 19–59 age group
account for 97.9% of the total, which shows that the majority in this age group
can speak fluent Jinuo. The 13–18 age group refers to the teenagers or middle
school students. These youngsters in all the villages all have a good command
of Jinuo. In the 6–12 age group, those of the proficient level account for 94.2%
of the speakers. Generally, the use of Jinuo in these villages does not display a
prominent generational discrepancy. The majority of speakers are proficient in
Jinuo and there are no individuals totally unable to understand Jinuo. All these
indicate that the Jinuo language is the major communication tool in the daily
life of the Jinuo people in the Jinuo concentrated areas and still retains strong
vitality. Jinuo is the language used in conversations and greetings on domestic
and public occasions regardless of an individual’s sex and age. Although the
majority of the Jinuo people can speak Chinese, they prefer speaking Jinuo
amongst themselves. Jinuo is still widely used at Jinuo Mountain. The non-Jinuo
 Status quo of the Jinuo language 195

people living in this area have generally learned to speak Jinuo and some of
them are highly proficient in it. The highly concentrated Jinuo population pro-
vides a broad space for Jinuo to be spoken as a native language and it consti-
tutes an objective condition for the Jinuo language to remain intact for such a
long period of time.

1.2 The decrease of language ability among youngsters

In the last half century, the Jinuo language in Jinuo Township has experienced
a change in function and scope, as well as a change from monolingualism to
bilingualism. Among Jinuo speakers, the majority of those under 40 years of
age cannot sing songs of their own nationality. Even if they can, they do not
fully understand the meanings of the songs, which has raised concerns in the
older generations. The teenagers’ ability to use their native language is declining
due to their better command of Chinese. Furthermore, there are a handful of
them who do not understand their mother tongue.
In order to test language ability, the research team selected 500 words with
different difficulty levels from the basic lexicon for the purpose of a random
sampling test on speakers of different age groups. The 500 words were divided
into three levels according to the criteria of most frequently used, frequent used
and not frequently used. Specifically, the first level covers 230 words (1–230), the
second 140 words (231–370) and the third 130 words (371–500). During the test,
the subjects were categorized into four levels according to their use of words,
namely, Level A: able to use them fluently; Level B: able to use them with
hesitations; Level C: able to recognize them after prompts; Level D: unable to
understand them. From the results of the test, we observed prominent stratal
discrepancies in different age groups using these 500 words, which reflects the
tendency towards the vocabulary change in their native language.
Table 2 indicates that the subjects in the 30–39 age group have a good com-
mand of more than 75.4% of the 500 tested words; those in the 20–29 age group
can use up to 51.6% of the 500 words, more than a half of the total; those in the
15–19 age group know only 30.8% of them, less than a third; those in the 10–15
age group know 19.4% of the words, less than a fifth. Therefore, we can come to
the conclusion that the command of Jinuo lexicon decreases across generations,
with the younger people having weaker/less command.
Table 3 shows that for the 500 words tested, those not in use or never heard
of account for only 0.4% for the 30–39 age group but up to 12.8% for the 10–14
age group, which indicates that the number of forgotten Jinuo words increases
with decrease of age.
196 Luó Zìqún (罗自群)

Only A & B
Age All are A without C & D Total %

30–39 (7 people) 319 58 377 75.4

20–29 (8 people) 220 38 258 51.6
15–19 (9 people) 136 18 154 30.8
10–14 (4 people) 86 11 97 19.4

Table 2: Statistics of proficiency of the 500 words among different age groups (I)

Age All are D C or D Total %

30–39 (7 people) 1 1 2 0.4

20–29 (8 people) 1 6 7 1.4

15–19 (9 people) 0 11 11 2.2

10–14 (4 people) 42 48 90 12.8

Table 3: Statistics of proficiency of the 500 words among different age groups (II)

From the survey, we can assume that the trend of the usage of indigenous
Jinuo words by youngsters is that some of them have become unfamiliar terms
and begun to turn into archaic forms; whereas others are being used only by
some of the speakers and showing a tendency of becoming obsolete; still others
are only heard of occasionally and will possibly become obsolete.
It is worthwhile to note that in recent years there have been a group of
young Jinuo speakers who understand only Chinese rather than their mother
tongue. Some of these people understand limited Jinuo, but cannot speak it.
Others can neither understand nor speak Jinuo and have become Chinese mono-
linguals.
The main causes for the decreasing vocabulary in the case of young Jinuo
speakers can be listed as follows:
1. Social cause. Because of the disappearance or rarity of some objective entities
or activities, the words that refer to them have gradually dropped out of daily
speech. For example, some speakers aged thirty or forty still remember that
cattle and horses used to be raised in some of the local places. But horses
are not raised there any longer and cattle are also seldom seen nowadays.
Therefore, words associated with buffaloes and horses like a⁴⁴khjɔ⁵⁴ ‘saddle’,
khjɛ⁵⁴kho³¹ ‘horseshoe’, mjo⁴⁴tshɛ⁴⁴ ‘horse mane’ mjo⁴⁴phɔ⁴⁴ ‘stallion’, ŋjɤ⁴⁴pʌ⁴⁴
‘cow pen’, tɔ⁴⁴ ‘castrated buffalo’, nɔ⁴⁴vu⁴⁴a⁴⁴phi³³ ‘nose quoit’, ua⁴⁴ta⁴⁴
‘yoke’, etc. are seldom used.
 Status quo of the Jinuo language 197

2. Domestic cause. The Jinuo language is mainly passed down through family
relatives. The extent of parents’ Jinuo vocabulary and their attitude to
language in the education of children directly affect the size of the Jinuo
vocabulary of their children. In a Jinuo family, there is a direct ratio between
vocabulary size and the age of a speaker. The older the speaker the richer
their vocabulary. The employees in the township government offices are
from various parts of the country: some are Jinuo locals and the others are
ecdemic non-Jinuos. Of the 330 members from 6 government units sampled
by the research team, 197 are Jinuo, making up 59.7% of the total and 113 are
non-Jinuo members, accounting for 40.3%. Among the non-Jinuo members,
73 are Hàn Chinese, accounting for 22.1%; 21 are Hāní, accounting for 6.4%;
16 are Lāhù, accounting for 4.8% and 23 are of other nationalities, account-
ing for 7.0%. Chinese is naturally the best choice for communication in
such an ethnically mixed community. The second or third generations of
the descendents of the Jinuo government officials have grown along with
the non-Jinuo children and therefore they mainly speak Chinese. Most of
these children only understand rather than speak Jinuo and consequently
have a smaller vocabulary than those living in the villages.
3. Personal cause. Some Jinuo speakers have left the Jinuo speaking villages
for other places to go to school, work or live where the Jinuo township
government is located. Their Jinuo vocabularies have shrunk to a greater or
lesser degree compared with those who have been living in the villages.

2 The status quo of Chinese use

2.1 Chinese is used widely in social communication
In the last half century, the Jinuo have shifted from a monolingual to a bilingual
nationality owing to the great changes in their sociopolitical and economic life.
Jinuo bilingualism can be divided into three categories according to the alternat-
ing languages they speak: (1) Chinese as alternating language; (2) Chinese and
Dǎi as alternating languages; and (3) Chinese and Hāní (哈尼) (aka Àiní, 爱尼话)
as alternating languages. The first type of speakers are the majority and are most
influential in the usage of Jinuo language. According to the survey data from the
1980s, the Jinuo people had basically shifted from monolingualism to bilingual
proficiency both in Jinuo and Chinese. Bilingualism amongst the Jinuo has
recently experienced a new development both in depth and width.
In all the Jinuo villages at Jinuo Mountain, regardless of their accessibility
to the outside world or not, Jinuo individuals everywhere are proficient in
198 Luó Zìqún (罗自群)

Proficient Intermediate Poor Nonspeaker

Age Number % Number % Number % Number %

6–12 25 86.3 3 10.3 1 3.4 0 0

13–18 48 100 0 0 0 0 0 0
19–59 176 87.1 19 9.4 4 2 3 1.5
60+ 4 16.7 6 25 13 54.2 1 4.1
Total 253 83.5 28 9.2 18 6 4 1.3

Table 4: Statistics of Chinese ability of Jinuo individuals in Baya Laozhai in Qiémǎ village

Chinese. Even in Bāyà Lǎozhài in Qiémǎ (茄玛) village, a relatively remote

hamlet 23 kilometres away from the township, 83.5% of the speakers are profi-
cient in Chinese, while only 1.3% cannot understand Chinese at all.
Among young or middle-aged individuals within the 19–59 age group, those
who are proficient in Chinese account for 87.1% of the total. All these villagers
are Jinuo nationals using Jinuo as their daily language. Generally, they can com-
municate in Chinese fluently with people who cannot speak Jinuo. They can also
switch between these two languages freely.
There are 290 people in Bāduǒ in Xīnsītǔ (新司土) village, which is 1
kilometre from where the township government is located. The speakers in the
hamlet who belong to the proficient or intermediate level of Chinese, except
for those under 6 years of age, account for 92.9% of the total population. All
the teenagers under 18 years of age belong to the proficient or intermediate
category.
At Jinuo Mountain, the Jinuo people speak Jinuo in daily life and production
activities, but use Chinese for social activities, such as local government admin-
istration, commodity exchange, school education, publicizing activities and

Proficient Intermediate Poor Nonspeaker

Age Population Number % Number % Number % Number %

6–12 24 22 91.7 2 8.3 0 0 0 0

13–18 39 39 100 0 0 0 0 0 0
19–59 188 180 95.7 5 2.7 3 1.6 0 0
60+ 29 5 17.2 7 24.2 5 17.2 12 41.4
Total 280 246 87.9 14 5.0 8 2.9 12 4.3

Table 5: Statistics of Chinese ability of Jinuo individuals in Bāduǒ in Xīnsītǔ village

 Status quo of the Jinuo language 199

communication with other ethnic groups. The research team has worked particu-
larly on bilingualism in school education. Chinese is used as the instruction
language in school. The communication language between teachers and students
is also realized in Chinese, although Jinuo is also used sometimes privately.
Children use Jinuo to communicate with their parents, but parents use Chinese
as the tutoring language of children.
Jinuo and Chinese assume a complementary distribution in their communi-
cation, which is reflected in two facets: firstly, they are communicatively com-
plemented, which means that Jinuo, the local Chinese and Putonghua are used
alternatively depending on the communicative targets; secondly, they are ex-
pressively complemented in the sense that Jinuo has enlarged and enriched its
lexicon by borrowing a great number of Chinese words.
Bilingualism of Jinuo Mountain speakers displays stratal features due to the
difference in ages and literacy. Individuals from the elderly, middle-aged and
youngster groups have various degrees of proficiency in Chinese. According to
the survey of the 5 villages of Bāduǒ, Bāpò, Bāyà Xīnzhài, Bāyà Lǎozhài and
Bākūn, almost all the individuals 60 years of age or older are highly proficient
in Jinuo; 89% of the middle-aged and young individuals (19–59) are proficient in
Jinuo and 79% of the teenagers (6–18) are proficient in Jinuo. In contrast, only
55% of the elderly speakers have reached the proficient level in Chinese; 69%
of the middle-aged and young speakers are proficient in Chinese; 82% of the
teenagers are proficient in Chinese. Speakers with higher education are more
capable of bilingualism and vice versa (see Figure 1 below).

Figure 1: Statistics of proficiency in Chinese and Jinuo of different age groups

200 Luó Zìqún (罗自群)

School education has played an important role in the development of bilin-

gualism of the Jinuo nationality. Students speak Jinuo from childhood and it is
in the school that they come into contact with Chinese. Additionally, the Jinuo
people attach great importance to education. As a result, the more education
they receive the more proficient they are in Chinese. Another feature of Jinuo
bilingualism is that people can speak not only the local Chinese dialect, but
also Mandarin Chinese. Many Jinuo speakers can switch freely between Jinuo,
local Chinese dialect and Mandarin Chinese.
It is due to several factors and conditions that the Jinuo has become a bilin-
gual nationality in such a short period of time. These factors include (1) the
improvement of their political status and the economic and cultural develop-
ments which have been the momentum for the formation of bilingualism. With
increasing contacts with the outside world, the chances for the Jinuo people to
speak Chinese have increased. Therefore, there is a general desire in the Jinuo
community to master Chinese. (2) School education is the key for the formation
of bilingualism. The Jinuo nationality have made great strides forward in school
education in the past 50 years. There are data showing that for every ten thou-
sand people in Jinuo Township there are 76.4 university students, 322 vocational
school students, 230 senior high school students and 4,600 junior high school
students. The process of receiving education is also the process of learning
Chinese. (3) The attitude towards Chinese language helps to promote the forma-
tion of bilingualism. As some put it, they “speak Dǎi when meeting with Dǎi
people, speak Chinese when meeting with Hàn Chinese and also are able to
speak Hāní when meeting with Hāní people”. This outstanding language ability
is, to a great extent, closely related to their open language attitude and modest
mentality. The Jinuo people have a strong desire and simple motivation for
learning Chinese. They are happy to accept the status quo of the co-existence
of Jinuo, Chinese and other languages.

2.2 Chinese words are gradually borrowed into Jinuo

The Jinuo language has been under the influence of Chinese in the long history
of its development. Jinuo has enriched itself by taking in necessary elements
from Chinese. The Chinese influence in Jinuo has been mainly lexical borrow-
ings. Loan words have been those related to daily life and production. The
number of these transliterated words has been limited. Since the establishment
of the People’s Republic of China, Jinuo has borrowed increasingly from Chinese
owing to closer contacts with the Hàn Chinese. Chinese loan words in Jinuo can
be divided into different categories according to different criteria.
 Status quo of the Jinuo language 201

They can be divided into two kinds of Chinese loan words: those before the
People’s Republic and those after the People’s Republic, the latter outnumbering
the former. The former include 棉絮 (miánxù, ‘cotton fibre’), 手帕 (shǒupà, ‘hand-
kerchief’), 洋芋 ( yánɡyù, ‘potato’), 豆腐 (dòufu, ‘tofu’), 莴笋 (wōsǔn, ‘lettuce’),
麦子 (màizi, ‘wheat’), 犁 (lí, ‘plough’), 耙 (pá, ‘harrow’), 石榴 (shíliu, ‘pome-
granate’), 核桃 (hétao, ‘walnut’), 骡子 (luózi, ‘mule’), among others. The latter
include 国家 ( ɡuójiā, ‘country’), 人民 (rénmín, ‘people’), 干部 ( ɡànbu, ‘cadre’),
商店 (shānɡdiàn, ‘shop’), 银行 (yínhánɡ, ‘bank’), 公司 ( ɡōnɡsī, ‘company’),
电视机 (diànshìjī, ‘television set’), 电话 (diànhuà, ‘telephone’), 电冰箱 (diàn-
bīngxiānɡ, ‘refrigerator’), 手机 (shǒujī, ‘mobile phone’), among others.
They can also be divided according to their functions in the lexicon: the
first type are words for which Jinuo does not have an equivalent, for example,
白兔 (báitù, ‘white rabbit’), 狮子 (shīzi, ‘lion’), 肥料 ( féiliào, ‘fertilizer’), 灯
(dēnɡ, ‘lamp’), 蜡烛 (làzhú, ‘candle’), 喇叭 (lǎba, ‘loudspeaker’), 棋 (qí, ‘chess’),
球 (qiú, ‘ball’), 颜色 (yánsè, ‘colour’), 数目 (shùmù, ‘number’), among others.
Since the 1980s, with the popularization of energy saving stoves, Jinuo has
borrowed from Chinese words like ʧɔ⁵⁴ (灶, zào) ‘stove’, jɛ⁵⁴xua⁵⁴ʧɔ⁵⁴ (液化灶,
yèhuàzào) ‘liquefied gas stove’, tɕɛ³¹ne³¹ʧɔ⁵⁴ (节能灶, jiénénɡzào) ‘energy saving
stove’, mɤ³¹tɕhi⁵⁴kua⁵⁴ (煤气罐, méiqìɡuàn) ‘gas cylinder’, ʧɔ⁴⁴tɕhi⁵⁴ʧɔ⁵⁴ (沼气灶,
zhǎoqìzuàn) ‘firedamp stove’, etc; the second type are words that have equivalents
in Jinuo. After borrowing into Jinuo, they co-exist with the indigenous Jinuo
words. For example, Jinuo has the word khlo⁴⁴ meaning ‘mineral, mine’, but in
the last few decades, Chinese words like khua⁵⁴ ‘mineral, mine’ and compounds
formed with this element mei³¹khua⁵⁴ (煤矿, méikuànɡ) ‘coal mine’, thu³¹khua⁵⁴
(铜矿, tónɡkuànɡ) ‘copper mine’, the³¹khua⁵⁴ (铁矿, tiěkuànɡ) ‘iron mine’, etc.
have entered into the Jinuo lexicon and become widely used, with the old indige-
nous form khlo⁴⁴ gradually forgotten.
In some scenarios where Chinese loan words co-exist with the indigenous
Jinuo words of the same or similar meanings, the Chinese loan words have
gradually had an advantage over the indigenous words and finally substituted
for them. For example, for the meaning of the Chinese 粑粑 (bābā, ‘rice cake’),
there used to be an indigenous word a⁴⁴thø⁴⁴ or xʌ⁴⁴thø⁴⁴, but it has been
replaced by the Chinese loan word pa⁴⁴pa⁴⁴ which has become very pervasive
in daily speech. In other scenarios indigenous words still have prominence,
with Chinese loan words only circulating among a limited number of people
in specific situations. There are also cases where both indigenous words and
Chinese loan words are in use, but their functions are complementary.
Historically, the Jinuo also borrowed many words from the adjacent Dǎi.
Some of these words are now being replaced by Chinese loan words.
202 Luó Zìqún (罗自群)

The increase of Chinese borrowing has enhanced the expressiveness of

Jinuo on the one hand, and reduced the inherent vitality of the indigenous Jinuo
words on the other.

3 Discussion
This chapter presents an interesting case of a minority language in use in China.
It is being used effectively as a communication tool by a small population,
closely correlated with their dense population concentrated in Jinuo Township.
The Jinuo people are optimistic and confident about the future of their
language. However, opinion is divided as to the real prospects for longevity of
the language. Some people think it will live on at least for the next two or three
generations; others think this period can extend four or five generations or even
longer. According to the assessment of the research team, as long as the Jinuo
continue living in dense, cohesive groups, their native language will continue
its importance as the primary means of communication among the local popula-
tion. It will deserve its place to complement Chinese. Jinuo will remain stable
and functional for at least the next sixty to seventy years.
As a solution to the weakening ability of Jinuo youngsters to use their native
language, the research team suggests that primary schools with a Jinuo student
majority strengthen their bilingual education. They should also introduce teach-
ing about Jinuo culture in the primary and middle school curriculum in order to
preserve Jinuo tradition and culture.

Translated by Lù Tiānqiáo (陆天桥)

Jiāngsū Normal University
[email protected]
Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)
Revised by Xǔ Xiǎoyǐnɡ (许小颖)
17 A survey of Chinese characters, words
and phrases used in news media
(2005–2006)

1 Introduction
Over the last two decades great changes have been witnessed in Chinese society.
Corresponding changes in China’s linguistic landscape make it necessary for
relevant administrative authorities to have a practical grasp of the current
national language situation. The National Language Resources Monitoring and
Research Centre conducted a preliminary survey and analysis of the use of
Chinese characters, words and phrases used in news media (newspapers, radio
and television, and the Internet) in 2005 and 2006. This report is a general
description of the survey.
The annual corpora of 2005 and 2006 for the survey are both compiled from
three sources: print media, broadcast media and Internet media. As for the print
media, fifteen newspapers are selected for each year according to a comprehen-
sive consideration of their circulation, issuing region, publishing cycle, media
value and size of readership.
The following is a list of the newspapers, among which the first thirteen
were included in both years: Běijīnɡ (北京) Youth Daily, Běijīnɡ Daily, Běijīnɡ
Evening News, Legal Daily, Guānɡmínɡ (光明) Daily, Guǎnɡzhōu (广州) Daily,
West China City News, Global Times, Today’s Evening News, Southern Weekend,
People’s Daily, Shēnzhèn (深圳) Special Zone Daily, China Youth Daily, Economy
Daily, Qiánjiānɡ (钱江) Evening News, Yánɡchénɡ (羊城 ) Evening News, and
Yánɡzǐ (扬子) Evening News. Text materials collected from the corresponding
online versions of these newspapers form a print media sub-corpus.
As for the broadcast media, programs from fourteen television stations in-
cluding China Central Television, Běijīnɡ Television and eight broadcasting sta-
tions such as China National Radio and Shànɡhǎi (上海) Eastern Broadcasting
Station were selected based on their audience ratings. Transcribed text data of
the audio/video recordings of these programmes make up a broadcast media
sub-corpus.
As for the Internet media, some influential portal websites with high click-
through rates were selected, such as Xīnhuánet (新华网), People.com, China.
204 Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)

com, ChinaNews, Sina, NetEase, Tencent, Tom and Sohu. News text data con-
tained in these websites was collected to constitute an Internet media sub-
corpus.
In total, the 2005 corpus amounts to 892,034 text files, with a total of
909,429,700 character tokens1 and 732,143,010 Chinese characters tokens.2 The
2006 corpus amounts to 1,311,749 text files, with a total of 1,170,367,879 character
tokens and 978,994,406 Chinese characters tokens.

2 Features of the use of Chinese characters,

words and phrases
The survey results show that the use of Chinese characters, words and phrases
in news media in 2005 and 2006 has the following features:

2.1 Approximately 950 Chinese characters cover 90% of the

whole corpus
Coverage rate (CR), expressed as a percentage, refers to the proportion of a
certain subject of investigation against the total number of all subjects of inves-
tigation in a corpus. Table 1 shows three different coverage rates of the use of
Chinese character types (CCT) in 2005 and 2006.

No. of CCT with No. of CCT with No. of CCT with

CR = 80% CR = 90% CR = 99%
Media 2005 2006 2005 2006 2005 2006

Newspapers 585 591 937 955 2,345 2,401

Radio & TV 507 528 869 904 2,303 2,379
Internet News 557 589 897 954 2,214 2,340
All 581 591 934 958 2,314 2,377

Table 1: Coverage rates of the use of Chinese characters in 2005 and 2006

1 ‘Character token’ refers to the total number of running Chinese characters, letters, numbers,
punctuation, and symbols occurring in a corpus.
2 ‘Chinese character token’ refers to the total number of running Chinese characters occurring
in a corpus.
 A survey of Chinese characters, words and phrases used in news media 205

From the above table, it can be seen that approximately 590 Chinese char-
acter types cover 80% of all data in each corpus. Approximately 950 Chinese
character types cover 90%, while 2,400 types are sufficient to cover 99%. This
may indicate, indirectly, that learning Chinese is not as difficult as is commonly
imagined, for one can read 80% of Chinese characters printed in newspapers
once 590 Chinese characters have been mastered. However, as for those who
learn Chinese as a second language, it does not necessarily mean that they can
understand 80% of newspaper content, as language learning involves many
other factors, such as vocabulary, cultural background and so on.

2.2 Use of high-frequency Chinese characters stable in

both years
High frequency is an important basis in the selection of common Chinese char-
acters. Some features of Chinese character usage at societal level can be found
when comparing the use of high-frequency Chinese characters in both years.
Table 2 is a comparison of the first three frequency sequence ranges (FSR).

No. of commonly
FSR CR used Chinese characters

Top 600 ≥ 80% 579

Top 1000 ≥ 90% 966
Top 3500 ≥ 99% 3,430

Table 2: Comparison of high-frequency Chinese characters in 2005 and 2006

From the above table, we observe that use of high-frequency Chinese char-
acters is stable in both years: of the first 600 high-frequency Chinese characters,
only 21 are used exclusively, accounting for 3.5% of the total; of the first 3,500
high-frequency Chinese characters, only 70 are used exclusively, accounting
for 2% of the total. Those exclusively used high-frequency Chinese characters
often reflect the hot social issues of the respective year in which they occur. For
example, 伊 (Yī) and 朗 (Lǎnɡ) relate to the 2006 Iran (伊朗) nuclear issue and
荣 (rónɡ) relates to “the socialist concept of honour (荣) and disgrace (Eight Dos
and eight Don’ts)” proposed by Hú Jǐntāo (胡锦涛) in 2006.
206 Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)

2.3 High-frequency Chinese characters mirror changes in

social life and shifts in the public’s focus
Containing 3,500 Chinese characters, the List of Frequently Used Modern Chinese
Characters (LFUMCC) was jointly released by the State Language Commission
(SLC) and the former State Education Commission (the Ministry of Education
since 1998) in 1988. When comparing the Chinese character list for 2005 and
2006 with the LFUMCC, 398 Chinese characters in 2005 and 388 in 2006 are
observed to appear exclusively in the former. The above differences with the
LFUMCC in each year, however, have a great deal of commonality in that more
than 87% of Chinese characters in it are commonly used when comparing them
with each other. This reveals a high degree of commonality in the use of Chinese
characters in both years, in spite of their apparent respective differences with
the LFUMCC. (See specific data in Table 3)

Commonly Ratio of Exclusively Ratio of

used Chinese commonly used Chinese exclusively
No. of differ- characters in used characters in used
ences from differences Chinese differences Chinese
Year LFUMCC from LFMCC characters from LFUMCC characters

2005 398 87.69% 49 12.31%

349
2006 388 89.95% 39 10.05%

Table 3: Comparison of Chinese characters used in both years and LFUMCC

By analysing these differences, certain changes can be seen in the use of

high-frequency Chinese characters. This may be a result of different sources of
corpus materials, but to a greater extent it mirrors the changes in social life
and the shifts in people’s focus.
Take the survey results of 2005 as an example. High-freqency Chinese char-
acters concerning agricultural life in the LFUMCC, such as: 驴 (lǘ, donkey), 骡
(luó, mule), 锄 (chú, hoe), 铲 (chǎn, spade), 犁 (lí, plow), 镰 (lián, sickle), 秧
(yānɡ, rice seedling), 秆 ( ɡǎn, stalk), 茎 ( jīnɡ, stem), 稼 ( jià, crop), 禾 (hé,
standing grain), 箩 (luó, a large bamboo or wicker basket), 筐 (kuānɡ, a large
bamboo or wicker basket), 粪 ( fèn, dung), and 浇 ( jiāo, water) drop out of the
high-frequency list of 2005. This suggests that traditional agricultural modes of
production are gradually diverging from modern social life as society develops.
Chinese characters closely related to daily life in the past, such as: 绸 (chóu, silk
fabric), 缎 (duàn, satin), 绢 ( juàn, silk), 袄 (ǎo, coat), 袍 (páo, gown), 饺 ( jiǎo,
 A survey of Chinese characters, words and phrases used in news media 207

jiaozi), 馒 (mán, steamed bun), 薯 (shǔ, edible tuberous root), 糠 (kānɡ, chaff)
do not appear in the high-frequency list, reflecting changes in people’s life-
styles.
Kinship terms, such as: 舅 ( jiù, uncle), 姨 ( yí, aunt), 婶 (shěn, aunt), and 侄
(zhí, nephew) are also used less frequently, possibly due to the long-term imple-
mentation of the Family Planning Policy.
Such Chinese characters as: 鸽 ( ɡē, pigeon), 狐 (hú, fox), 蚁 ( yǐ, ant), 龟
( ɡuī, tortoise), 蛙 (wā, frog), 鹊 (què, magpie), 雁 ( yàn, wild goose), 葵 (kuí,
sunflower), 椒 ( jiāo, pepper), 蕉 ( jiāo, banana), and 棕 (zōnɡ, palm) do not
appear in the high-frequency list of 2005. Does this imply that people are
becoming increasingly estranged from nature as they march towards industrial-
ization and modernization?

2.4 Approximately ten thousand words and phrases cover

90% of the whole corpus
The survey of words and phrases used in 2005 and 2006 is based on automatic
word segmentation, using a Chinese lexical analysis system developed by the
Insitute of Automation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The word/phrase
coverage rate (WPCR) for each year is shown in the following table:

Word/phrase types
Media 2005 2006

Newspapers 11,272 12,907

Radio & TV 8,208 8,934
Network (News) 10,016 11,229
All 11,213 12,207

Table 4: Word/phrase types with a WPCR of 90% in both years

The survey results of WPCR highlight a concentration of high-frequency

words. Among words from each media reaching a WPCR of 90%, commonly
used words account for between 59% and 87%. Table 5 shows the numbers of
word/phrase types with different WPCRs in both years.
208 Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)

Word/phrase types
WPCR (%) 2005 2006

10 6 5
20 36 27
30 111 90
40 269 239
50 558 532
60 1,072 1,063
70 2,035 2,095
80 4,179 4,478
90 11,213 12,207
99 134,664 150,193
100 1,651,749 2,022,273

Table 5: Word/phrase types with different WPCR in both years

When reaching a WPCR of 90%, word/phrase types used in 2005 and 2006
both number approximately 120,000; when the WPCR increases from 99% to
100%, the corresponding number of word/phrase types for 2005 and 2006 reach
1,520,000 and 1,870,000 respectively, accounting for only 1% of the whole
corpus.
Observed from a perspective of word/phrase types with a different WPCR,
word/phrase types with a WPCR of 60% in 2006 do not increase with the expan-
sion of corpus size. Instead, there are fewer word/phrase types compared to
those in 2005 (see Table 5). Word/phrase types begin to increase when reaching
a WPCR of 70%. Whether this phenomenon is anomalous or characteristic will
be observed over the following annual surveys.

2.5 Only 28% to 35% words/phrases are commonly used in

both years
The number of commonly used word/phrase types in both years is 586,161,
accounting for 35.49% and 28.99% of the total word/phrase types in 2005 and
2006 respectively. This means that the majority of words/phrases are used differ-
ently in each year. (See specific data in Table 6).
 A survey of Chinese characters, words and phrases used in news media 209

No. commonly No. of exclu- Ratio of

Word/phrase used words/ sively used common
Year types phrases words/phrases use (%)

2005 1,651,749 1,065,588 35.49

586,161
2006 2,022,273 1,436,112 28.99

Table 6: Comparison of word/phrase types in 2005 and 2006

A greater part of the exclusively-used words/phrases, whether from differ-

ent media or different years, are proper nouns and time expressions. Taking the
exclusively-used words/phrases in both years as an example, their distributions
are shown as Figure 1.

Figure 1: The distribution of exclusively used word/phrase types

It can be seen that a large proportion (more than 40%) of exclusively-used

words/phrases are names of organizations, followed by names of people, place
names and time expressions. The proportion of ordinary words/phrases, labeled
as “others” in the above graph, is quite small.
210 Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)

2.6 The percentage of commonly used high-frequency words/

phrases is large
Table 7 is a detailed description of commonly used high-frequency words/
phrases in 2005 and 2006.

High- Commonly Exclusively

frequency used word/ Ratio of used word/ Ratio of
word/phrase phrase commonly phrase exclusively
Year Types Types used (%) types used (%)

2005 11213 94.21 649 5.79

10564
2006 12207 86.54 1643 13.46

Table 7: Commonly used high-frequency words/phrases in both years

Statistics show that commonly used words/phrases account for 86% of

high-frequency words/phrases. This is in spite of the low percentage of com-
monly used words/phrase in both years, and indicates a steady use of high-
frequency words/phrases.
Some of the results of the statistics of commonly used word/phrase types
in these high-frequency words/phrases in order of FSR from 10 to 10,000 are
shown in Table 8.

Commonly used
FSR word/phrase types Ratio (%)

Top 10 8 80.00
Top 100 90 90.00
Top 500 435 87.00
Top 1,000 884 88.40
Top 3,000 2,679 89.30
Top 5,000 4,537 90.74
Top 10,000 9,170 91.70

Table 8: Commonly used high-frequency word/phrase types in both years

 A survey of Chinese characters, words and phrases used in news media 211

2.7 Changes in annual high-frequency words/phrases mirror

social concerns
High-frequency words/phrases which show a dramatic change mirror the annual
changes in social life. Comparing the top 5,000 high-frequency words/phrases
used in 2005, the frequencies of the following high-frequency words/phrases
in 2006 increased markedly: 世界杯 (shìjièbēi, World Cup), 伊朗 (Yīlǎnɡ, Iran),
社会主义 (shèhuì zhǔyì, Socialism), 农村 (nónɡcūn, rural areas), 自主 (zìzhǔ,
autonomy), 创新 (chuànɡxīn, innovation), 养犬 ( yǎnɡquǎn, dog-raising), 非洲
(Fēizhōu, Africa), 以色列 (Yǐsèliè, Israel), 在线 (zàixiàn, online), 陈水扁 (Chén
Shuǐbiǎn), 循环经济 (xúnhuán jīnɡjì, circular economy), 创意产业 (chuànɡyī
chǎnyè, innovative industry), 软件 (ruǎnjiàn, software), and 手机 (shǒujī, mobile
phone).
Among these words, many reflect the hot social issues of 2006, most of
which appear in “2006 Top 10 Chinese Buzzwords”. This indicates that just as
language is a mirror of society, so social changes also influence changes in lan-
guage. At the same time, annual changes in high-frequency Chinese characters,
words and phrases also mirror social concerns.

3 Conclusion
To conclude, it can be inferred from the above seven features that the smaller a
linguistic unit is, the more stable it will be, and vice versa. It is through the
constant combinations and expansions of these units that a language system is
able to represent the world. Language systems carry the stamp of the age, and
common words in a language tend to change as time goes by. Thus, the List of
Frequently Used Modern Chinese Characters needs constant revision so as to
meet the demands of the society.

Translated by Yánɡ Jiānɡ (杨江)

Húnán University of Science and Technology
[email protected]
Zhōu Xuéwén (周学文) & Jiānɡ Dí (江荻)
18 Investigation of Tibetan language
informationization and software use

1 Introduction
1.1 Significance of informationization of Tibetan language
The Tibetan language is part of the long history and diverse culture of the Tibetan
people, but it is now faced with both crisis and opportunity in the current wave
of global informationization. If the Tibetan language were successfully informa-
tionized, it could be digitized and networked, which would enable Tibetan
culture to flourish. It would also propel the Tibetan informationization industry
into a period of rapid development in a global context, allowing it to gradually
develop into a key industry in the Tibetan region. This in turn would strongly
promote the socio-economic development of the Tibetan-inhabited regions.
Without this process of informationization, the vast amounts of documents
which have recorded Tibetan history and culture can only be exchanged and
transmitted via traditional means. Therefore, not only would the efficiency of
the informationization of the Tibetan language be low, it could also hinder its
integration with the global process thereof. In today’s world of rapid develop-
ment in informationization, a written language which has not yet been informa-
tionized, has no means of being effectively exchanged with the outside world,
and may die out. Therefore, the informationization of the Tibetan language is of
great significance.

1.2 Current standards of Tibetan language informationization

Currently, the situation with regard to standards for the informationization of
the Tibetan language is confused. In July 1997, three national standards for
Tibetan coding, Tibetan fonts and Tibetan keyboard layout were approved
by the International Standardization Organization and International Electron-
Technical Commission, working as an international standard for Tibetan coding.
This standard regards Tibetan as alphabetic writing, only including Tibetan
radical words, some symbols and conventions, and 193 code bits in total. How-
ever, for technical reasons, most of the Tibetan platform software has not
adopted this standard, and still uses its own Tibetan letter codes and fonts,
which has resulted in a mutual incompatibility between systems.
214 Zhōu Xuéwén (周学文) & Jiānɡ Dí (江荻)

In August 2005, headed by the Tibetan Language Committee of Tibet,

several other organizations collectively developed five national standards based
on the Tibetan Large Coded Character Set, including Information Technology:
Tibetan Coded Character Set – Extension A and Information Technology: Tibetan
Coded Character Set – Extension B. However, these have not become interna-
tional standards.
The confusing state of Tibetan informationization standards has caused at
least three adverse consequences: 1) It is inconvenient to use because files in
one Tibetan language platform may be unreadable code in another, which is
more apparent in the networked information age. When users are browsing Tibetan
writing on the Internet, the Tibetan platforms in their computers must be consis-
tent with those on the Internet; otherwise, the writing does not appear properly
because of unreadable code. 2) Tibetan informationization firms are looking on
passively because they lack impetus to improve and to upgrade current informa-
tionization systems. 3) The developed application software and data cannot be
shared, which confuses the users and also retards further software development.

1.3 Marketization of Tibetan language software

There has been insufficient marketing of current Tibetan language software.
Tibetan software development and application can be traced back to the mid
1980s. In 1986, the early nationwide plug-in Tibetan Application System TCDOS,
on which temporal CCDOS and UCDOS in Chinese could be mounted, was
developed by Qīnɡhǎi (青海) Normal University. Meanwhile, a similar plug-in
Lánhǎi (兰海) Tibetan System, subject to mixed processing Chinese, Tibetan
and English, was also developed by Northwest University for Nationalities.
In 1989, motivated by the work of compiling and publishing the Chinese
Tripitaka (大藏经), the China Tibetology Research Centre and Huáɡuānɡ (华光)
Group jointly developed the Tibetan Computer Typesetting System which has
been put to use in Tripitaka typesetting, and has achieved great success. Sub-
sequently, the Founder Tibetan Typesetting System was jointly developed by
the Nationalities Publishing House, the China Computer Software and Technical
Service Corporation, the Institute of Computer Science and Technology at Peking
University, and the China Ethnic Languages Translation Bureau. This system has
been updated many times and developed from a DOS-based operating system to
a Windows-based operating system.
In July 2005, the Cross-Platform Tibetan Information Processing System
Based on Linux passed testing. This processing system was the result of a joint
project undertaken by the Institute of Software, the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
the Office for Tibetan Language Committee of Tibet and Tibet University. It was
 Investigation of Tibetan language informationization and software use 215

also part of a Western Action High and New Technology Project of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences. From a technical perspective, this system has built on the
universalities of multilingual calculation, to establish a unified writing process-
ing system for national language normalization and standardization. The system
also complies with the national software development strategy to develop cross-
platform Tibetan office software based on Linux/Windows.
These Tibetan systems have been gradually introduced to society in the
course of their development, which has made a great contribution to China’s
informationization of the Tibetan language and to Tibetan economic develop-
ment. However, due to the Tibetan region’s less developed economy and rela-
tively small number of Tibetan software users, there are now great difficulties
in the marketing of Tibetan software. Thus, the profits software developers have
been able to generate are not sufficient to support the upgrading, training and
promotion related to the software.
Overall, informationization of the Tibetan language is now in a critical phase,
and faces the dual problems of unclear standards and insufficient software
marketization. Under such circumstances, an understanding of Tibetan informa-
tionization and software use will be beneficial to future policy making.

2 Method
A questionnaire survey was employed in this study. Participants included 35
work units and 58 individuals from four regions, i.e., the Tibet Autonomous
Region, Qīnghǎi province, Gānsù (甘肃) province and Sìchuān (四川) province.
This article investigates the situation regarding Tibetan informationization
in the work units and the personal use of Tibetan software in the aforemen-
tioned regions. Fifty-eight valid questionnaires were received, among which
eight were from Xigaze (日喀则), five from Nyingchi (灵芝), six from Lhasa
(拉萨), fifteen from Xīnínɡ (西宁), three from Lánzhōu (兰州), twelve from
Gānnán (甘南), and nine from Chénɡdū (成都).

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Suggestions from Tibetan informationization users
The following section includes suggestions from Tibetan informationization
users. The results are as follows:
216 Zhōu Xuéwén (周学文) & Jiānɡ Dí (江荻)

Suggestions

Establishing Tibetan platforms on the basis of international standards 70

Providing free, unified Tibetan platforms 15
Organizing unified leadership and development of Tibetan platforms 8
Speeding up the training of talent for Tibetan informationization 5
Developing Tibetan application software 2

Table 1: Suggestions from Tibetan software users (%)

All suggestions mainly aim at developing and promoting free, unified, com-
prehensive and applicable Tibetan platform software, integrating the Tibetan
platforms development process and training talent for Tibetan informationiza-
tion. The results show that 85% of Tibetans in the survey would like to see the
establishment of unified and free software platforms. When considering that
low cost, unified Chinese platforms have long since been created, it is clear
that current Tibetan software platforms have hindered the informationization of
the Tibetan language. The disunity of Tibetan software platforms lies in the dis-
unity of the standards. The small proportion of software users results in the high
cost of developing software, thereby making it difficult for developers to recover
costs. The reason Tibetan software users criticise the standards so strongly is
that they have suffered a lot when using the current software. This reflects the
fact Tibetan language informationization is lagging behind its counterparts; a
problem which needs to be solved urgently.

3.2 Tibetan language platform use

The results of the survey demonstrate that there are two kinds of Tibetan lan-
guage operating systems. One is a special system aimed at the publishing and
printing industries; the other a general one aimed at ordinary users. The former
actually involves a multilingual electronic publishing system in Chinese, Tibetan
and English, examples of which include the Founder Electronic Publishing System
and the Wéifǎnɡ (潍坊) Huáɡuānɡ Electronic Publishing System. Examples of
the latter system include the Tónɡyuán (同元) Tibetan System developed by
Northwest University for Nationalities; the Pandita Tibetan System developed by
Qīnɡhǎi Normal University; the Nationalities Writing Linux operating system and
office software – which includes processing for Tibetan, Mongolian and Uygur
writing, among which the office software can run on a Windows platform –
jointly developed by Tibet University, the Institute of Software at the Chinese
 Investigation of Tibetan language informationization and software use 217

Academy of Sciences, Northwest University for Nationalities, Xīnjiānɡ (新疆)

University, and the Montery Corporation; and systems from abroad, such as the
SambhoTa Tibetan System.
Every work unit which uses Tibetan publishing and printing systems usually
employs the Founder or Wéifǎnɡ Huáɡuānɡ multilingual publishing system.
Despite the limited fonts and low letter input efficiency, these systems are
mature and, after years of use and version upgrading, have been able to meet
the normal demands of publishing and printing Tibetan newspapers. As for
general Tibetan software use, this varies between different work units. The dis-
tribution of installed Tibetan platforms is shown in Table 2.

Platforms
Tónɡyuán Pandita Tibet SambhoTa
(同元) (班智达) University (桑布扎) Electronic
Tibetan Tibetan Tibetan Tibetan Publishing
Regions System System System System System

Xigaze (6) 3 1 2
Nyingchi (5) 1 2 2
Lhasa (6) 1 2 1
Xīnínɡ (15) 6 4
Lánzhōu (3) 2
Gānnán (12) 6 2
Total (35) 12 9 2 3 9

Table 2: The distribution of installed Tibetan platforms

As is shown in Table 2, the Tónɡyuán Tibetan System and the Pandita Tibetan
System account for 80% of the total installed systems. The Tibet University
System is only installed in two work units because it has been newly introduced
and still needs to adapt to the market. Even though launched much earlier than
other systems, the SambhoTa Tibetan System only accounts for 11% of the total
number of installed systems due to its disadvantages. The Tónɡyuán System and
the Pandita System are mainly distributed in their respective provinces, as in
this way it is more convenient to install, maintain and support. Those systems
installed outside their own provinces show that they have the approval of the
majority of users.
In Sìchuān province, only the Southwest University for Nationalities was
surveyed. The results are shown in Table 3.
218 Zhōu Xuéwén (周学文) & Jiānɡ Dí (江荻)

Time spent
using Tibetan Browsing Tibetan
Tibetan language platforms
Software web pages
Informants SambhoTa Tónɡyuán Pandita (hours/week) (hours/week)

9 9 8 3 3.5 4.2

Table 3: Tibetan software use by Tibetan students

As is shown in Table 3, the SambhoTa and Tónɡyuán systems are the plat-
forms that students use most frequently. According to the investigation, students
browsed Tibetan web pages for more than four hours per week, covering Tibetan
news, culture, music, Tibetan universities official websites, and dating sites.

3.3 Tibetan language websites

It has been reported that there are dozens of influential Tibetan websites at
present, covering news broadcasts, education, culture and folk custom, lan-
guage and Tibetan medicine. The click-through rate of these websites has also
gradually increased. As for personal Tibetan language websites, they are more
influential than Tibetan websites, most of which are established by Tibetan
internet enthusiasts or professionals. Table 4 shows the results of frequently
clicked Tibetan websites.

Websites Field of contents

Tibet Tibetan Language Work Net Tibetan language learning, policies, standards,
academic exchanges
Tibet Education Net Literature, education
China Tibetology Net Culture, history
Tibetan Culture Net Culture, education
China Tibetan Netcom News, technology, economy
China Tibetan Information Net News, technology, history, culture

Table 4: Frequently clicked Tibetan websites

Table 4 shows that most Tibetan website users are interested in information
which attracts higher click-through rates, such as Tibetan news, science and
technology, and culture and education. The results suggest that current direct
 Investigation of Tibetan language informationization and software use 219

users of Tibetan websites are mainly people involved in the fields of science and
technology, and culture and education, whereas few users appear to be involved
in commerce and trade.

3.4 Rate of Tibetan language platform installation and use

The results are shown in Table 5.

No. of
No. of people (and
computers proportion)
with Tibetan No. of using Hours of
No. of platforms people in Tibetan platform use
Regions computers installed work unit platforms per week

Xigaze (6) 377 52 (13.8%) 692 73 (10.5%) 10

Nyingchi (5) 38 9 (23.7%) 70 11 (15.7%) 7
Lhasa (4) 720 325 (45.1%) – – –
Xīnínɡ (10) 460 345 (75%) 132 110 (83.3%) 15.4
Lánzhōu (2) 120 20 (16.7%) 15 15 (100%) 1
Gānnán (8) 653 287 (44%) 106 8 (7.5%) 1.55
Total (35) 2368 1038 (43.8%) 1015 217 (21.4%) –

Table 5: Rate of Tibetan platform installation and use

As is shown in Table 5, there are 1,038 computers with Tibetan platforms

installed; close to half the total of 2,368 computers. This demonstrates that the
Tibetan platform configuration rate is higher in those work units which require
Tibetan processing. Given that staff in the surveyed work units includes Hàn,
Tibetan and other ethnic groups, the overall rate of Tibetan platform application
is approximately 20%. However if only Tibetan employees are taken into con-
sideration, the rate is much higher, in some work units even reaching above
80%. The average time that staff in each work unit access Tibetan software
varies greatly, this is mainly due to factors such as job type and responsibilities.
Generally, the rate of Tibetan software use is much higher in such industries as
publishing and printing, translation and editing, and radio and television.
The results indicate that, Tibetans show great enthusiasm for Tibetan infor-
mationization, one of the new aspects of modernization, although the level of
informationization is still low and the standards are not unified. Work units
220 Zhōu Xuéwén (周学文) & Jiānɡ Dí (江荻)

currently implementing Tibetan informationization include Tibetan government

institutions at various levels, publishing and printing institutions, cultural insti-
tutions, radio and television stations, a number of enterprises and individual
users. They employ Tibetan software to fulfill such tasks as word processing;
file printing and release; publishing Tibetan books and newspapers; creating
PowerPoint presentations; Tibetan language teaching and learning; receiving
Tibetan manuscripts, editing and dispatch; Tibetan captioning; and developing
dedicated Tibetan application systems.
Some enterprises and institutions have already established Tibetan language
websites, used them to post information, to interact with people and to introduce
products and services. The number of individual users of Tibetan informationiza-
tion has reached a certain scale and level. By virtue of Tibetan software, these
users usually process Tibetan files, establish personal Tibetan language websites,
and browse and communicate on Tibetan language networks.
In conclusion, the situation with regard to current standards for Tibetan
software coding is confused, which makes full marketization very difficult. At
such a crucial time, policy and financial support from governments at all
levels becomes particularly important. We can expect that Tibetan language
informationization will, with the increasing development of the Tibetan region’s
economy, gradually complete its marketization process, and will eventually
become an important industry in the Tibetan region.

Translated by Yánɡ Rónɡhuá (杨荣华)

Héhǎi University
[email protected]
Hóu Mǐn (侯敏 )
19 An investigation into lettered words

1 Corpus and methodology

In recent years, a growing number of lettered words have occurred and have
been frequently used. They make communication more convenient. However,
they also cause new problems. There is still no agreement among academics on
the definition of lettered words, i.e. what they are and what they are not. Few
people have yet by using a corpus quantified and interpreted the percentage of
lettered words in our language use. In order to understand the actual situation
of the use of lettered words, the National Language Resources Monitoring and
Research Centre has conducted an inquiry and presented its statistical analysis
in The Language Situation in China: 2006. The sources of the inquiry come from
the corpus for national language resources monitoring which consist of 1,311,749
text files, 1,170,367,879 occurrences of zìfú (字符), (including characters, punctua-
tions, symbols, letters and numbers), 978,994,406 occurrences of characters and
596,080,949 word tokens. The corpus includes print media, audio media and
network media.
In the above-mentioned corpus, there are 238,019 letter-related word segmen-
tation units, which account for 9% of the total types of word segmentation units.
The letter-related word segmentation units occur 4,889,904 times, accounting
for 0.8% of the total occurrences of language units in the corpus.
There are 396,454 occurrences of 77,945 English word entries, 53,168 occur-
rences of 7,337 website entries, 7,023 occurrences of 2,449 e-mail address entries
and 42,705 occurrences of 10,467 non-word unit entries. The following conclu-
sions can be drawn:
1. There are 139,821 types of lettered words, accounting for 58.74% of the total
lettered word segmentation units and 5.3% of the total types of word seg-
mentation units in the corpus.
2. There are 4,390,554 occurrences of lettered words, accounting for 89.78% of
the total occurrences of letter-related word segmentation units and 0.7% of
the total occurrences of word segmentation units in the corpus.
3. There are 138,202 atypical lettered words, accounting for 98.84% of the
types of lettered words. These atypical lettered words include people’s
names, place names, names of organisations, train numbers, flight num-
bers, vehicle license numbers, car models, phone models, television models,
models of instruments and weapons, brand names and others. See table 1
for types of lettered words.
222 Hóu Mǐn (侯敏 )

Types of Percentage Number of Percentage

Types words (%) tokens (%)

People’s names1 31 0.02 91 0.002

Place names 8,469 6.05 31,940 0.73

Name of organisations 27,535 19.69 28,064 0.64

Train numbers, flight numbers, car plate 102,167 73.07 2,112,598 48.11
numbers and other codes and models

In total 139,821 100.00 4,390,554 100.00

Table 1: Types of lettered words

2 Results
With the acceleration of our international communications, the development of
our cultural quality and foreign language proficiency as well as the develop-
ment of modern technology, letters which play a convenient and efficient role
in using electronic media are not rare phenomena in our language and lives
anymore. Lettered words have become a part of Chinese language. There are
two main types of letter-related word segmentation units. The first type is
English words. These code switching words are used to achieve communication
objectives. The number of frequently used English words in Chinese language is
limited and has not emerged into the lexical system of Chinese so far nor will
they in a certain period of time. This report suggests that there are over 500
occurrences of 187 English words. See Appendix 2 for details. The second type
is lettered words which are largely comprised of names of institutions, brand
names, code names and models. It should be noted that some typical lettered
words have entered the Chinese lexical system and become an indispensable
part of our everyday expressions. The lettered words, like VS, NBA, GDP, AC, IT,
MP3, QQ, AMD, DVD and CEO are among the top 5,000 frequently used words.
Overall, the types of letter-related word segmentation units have a relatively
large number and account for 9% of the total word segmentation units in the
corpus. However, their low occurrences only account for 0.8% of the total occur-
rences of all language units in the corpus. The typical lettered words are small

1 They refer to structures like ‘阿 Q’, ‘阿瑟 ·M·塞克勒’. Full English names are not included.
 An investigation into lettered words 223

in number and only account for 1.16% of all lettered words. However, they are
frequently used and account for 50.51% of the occurrences of lettered words.

2.1 Main functions of letters: coreference and sequence

In our language and lives, we often need to provisionally distinguish things of
the same kind. For example, each building within a group of buildings needs a
distinctive code name. Enterprises need to give distinctive names to their products
of different models and functions. Flight numbers, train numbers, car plate
numbers all need distinctive code names. These code names have no strong con-
notation. They are easy and simple as well as distinctive. Letters do not have
fixed meanings. They are sequential, and easy to write and remember. Therefore,
they are suitable for being code names. Compared with ‘the first area, the second
building, the third block, the forth correspondent’, ‘area A, building B, block C,
correspondent D’ are easier and more convenient to use. Therefore, the combina-
tion of letters and Arabic numbers plays an important and irreplaceable role in
the Chinese communication system when a distinctive coreference or sequence
is required. The lettered words having functions of coreference and sequence
account for 73.07% of total lettered words. Their occurrences account for
48.11% of those of the total lettered words.

2.2 Abbreviations as major ways of forming lettered words

Abbreviations are the major ways of forming typical lettered words. The abbrevi-
ated lettered words account for 74% of lettered words. The main forms of abbre-
viations are as follows:
1. Abbreviations that come from single foreign words, i.e. TV, kg;
2. Initialisms of foreign words, i.e. CT, NBA;
3. A combination of the initial of the first foreign word and the following word,
i.e. E-mail;
4. Abbreviations that come from the first letters of Chinese syllables, i.e. RMB,
FB;
5. Initialisms of Chinese words, i.e. HSK, GB;
6. A combination of the first letter(s) of Chinese word(s) and the initiallism of
English words, i.e. BTV, SDTV.

In addition, lettered words are also formed in the following ways:

7. Letters are referred to as sequence, i.e. A 楼 (A lóu, building A), B 座 (B zuò,
block B);
224 Hóu Mǐn (侯敏 )

8. Letters are referred to as type, i.e. B 股 (B gǔ, B shares), A 型 (A xínɡ, type A);
9. Meanings are indicated by the shapes of letters, i.e. T 型台 (T xínɡ tái,
T-shaped stage, catwalk), O 型腿 (O xínɡ tuǐ, O-shaped legs), and so on;
10. Some lettered words are formed in a variety of ways, i.e. kala OK or karaoke;
11. The combination of initialisms and Chinese characters is another way of
forming lettered words, i.e. GPS 全球定位系统 (quánqiú dìnɡwèi xìtǒnɡ,
GPS) (Shěn 2001, Liú 2002, Wánɡ 1996).

2.3 Different occurrences of a large number of variant forms of

lettered words
Variant forms of words refer to the words which have the same meanings but
different forms. The phenomena of variant forms largely exist in lettered words.
Their existence is mainly caused by the following factors:
1. Ambiguity of letter cases. These words include ‘MP3, Mp3, mP3 and mp3’ or
‘SOHO, Soho, SoHo, soho’ and etc. Typos which may have also caused
wrong cases are not analysed in this paper.
2. Ambiguity of collocation of lettered words with characters or with what
characters. Some lettered words form word families. The word family of
‘DVD’ include the core word DVD, followed by DVD 盘 (pán, plate), DVD
光盘 (ɡuānɡpán, DVD), DVD 碟 (dié, saucer), DVD 光碟 (ɡuānɡdié, light
saucer), DVD 影碟 ( yǐnɡdié, film saucer) and DVD 激光视盘 ( jīɡuānɡ shìpán,
laser sight plate). The word family of GPS includes the core word GPS,
followed by GPS 定位仪 (dìnɡwèi yí, locator), GPS 定位系统 (dìnɡwèi xìtǒnɡ,
positioning system), GPS 导航仪 (dǎohánɡ yí, navigation instrument), GPS
导航系统 (dǎohánɡ xìtǒnɡ, navigation system), GPS 卫星定位系统 (wèixīnɡ
dìnɡwèi xìtǒnɡ, satellite positioning system), GPS 卫星导航系统 (wèixīnɡ
dǎohánɡ xìtǒng, satellite navigation system), GPS 系统 (xìtǒnɡ, GPS system)
and GPS 全球定位系统 (quánqiú dìnɡwèi xìtǒnɡ, GPS global positioning
system).
3. Ambiguity of the use of hyphen, i.e. HIP-HOP and HIPHOP, E-mail and
Email, US and U.S. and others.
4. Ambiguity of abbreviations, i.e. Windows98, Win98, WindowsXP, XP or
others.

The frequency of the use of variant forms differs. Generally speaking, abbre-
viated lettered words spelt in capital letters are frequently used. Therefore,
capital letters are the basic forms of these lettered words. See Table 2 for the
figures on the occurrences of words MP3 and SOHO. The first letter of products’
 An investigation into lettered words 225

names normally occur in the upper case, followed by letters of lower case. See
Table 3 for samples. Certain measurement units, domain names often occur in
the lower case. See Table 4 for samples.

Forms MP3 mp3 Mp3 mP3 Total occurrences

Occurrences 20,827 578 130 2 21,537

Percentage (%) 96.7 2.7 0.6 0.01 100.00
Forms SOHO Soho Soho soHo Total occurrences
Occurrences 1,384 42 19 1 1,446
Percentage (%) 95.7 2.9 1.3 0.07 100.00

Table 2: Samples of the occurrences of variant forms of lettered words (1)

Forms Vista VISTA vista VIsta ViSta Total occurrences

Occurrences 7,329 144 48 4 1 7,526

Percentage (%) 97.4 1.91 0.6 0.05 0.01 100.00
Forms Windows windows WINDOWS WIndows Total occurrences
Occurrences 13,058 361 296 12 13,727
Percentage (%) 95.1 2.63 2.15 0.09 100.00

Table 3: Samples of the occurrences of variant forms of lettered words (2)

Forms cm CM Cm Total occurrences

Occurrences 9,834 627 3 10,464

Percentage (%) 93.97 5.99 0.02 100.00
Forms gov GOV Gov Total occurrences
Occurrences 292 33 2 327
Percentage (%) 89.29 10.09 0.61 100.00

Table 4: Samples of the occurrences of variant forms of lettered words (3)

Certain lettered words contain duplicated meanings. The clear meaning of

the letter part is followed by a Chinese interpretation or character interpretation
marks, as people try to make a better clarification of the word. For example, the
English word VIP is the abbreviation of ‘very important person’. However, VIP is
226 Hóu Mǐn (侯敏 )

followed by character interpretation marks. Therefore, VIP is used in Chinese as

VIP 贵宾 (ɡuìbīn, VIP important customers).
The abbreviations consisting of letters are easier than the combinations of
letters and characters and have a dominant position in the use of lettered words.
For example, in the corpus, both DVD shìpán and DVD jīɡuānɡ shìpán occurred
3 times. DVD 压缩碟 (yāsuō dié, compressed disc) occurred 7 times. DVD pán
occurred 32 times. DVD ɡuānɡdié occurred 47 times. Both DVD dié and DVD
yǐnɡdié occurred 125 times. DVD ɡuānɡpán occurred 339 times. Conversely, the
word DVD, consisting of letters only, occurred 15,357 times, accounting for 96%
of the total occurrences of its word family. Of course, the use of character inter-
pretation marks also depends on people’s knowledge of lettered words. If
lettered words are unknown character interpretation marks are likely to be
used. In the word family of ‘GPS’, GPS wèixīnɡ dǎohánɡ qì (GPS satellite
navigation device) occurred 6 times. GPS quánqiú dìngwèi dǎoháng xìtǒng (GPS
global positioning system) occurred 14 times. GPS wèixīng dǎoháng xìtǒng occurred
15 times. GPS dìngwèi yí occurred 30 times. GPS dǎoháng yí (GPS navigation
device) occurred 39 times. GPS quánqiú dìnɡwèi xìtǒnɡ (GPS global satellite posi-
tioning system) occurred 51 times. GPS quánqiú wèixīnɡ dìnɡwèi xìtǒnɡ occurred
77 times. GPS dǎohánɡ xìtǒnɡ occurred 81. GPS wèixīnɡ dìnɡwèi xìtǒnɡ occurred
138 times. GPS dìnɡwèi xìtǒnɡ occurred 146 times. GPS xìtǒnɡ occurred 240 times.
GPS occurred 5177 times, accounting for 86% of the total occurrences of this
word family.
The statistical analysis shows that a hyphen or period is often used. In the
corpus, the vibrant forms of hyphenated word ‘HIP-HOP’ occurred 1,105 times
while the vibrant forms of ‘HIPHOP’ occurred only 162 times. The former ones
almost doubled the latter ones. ‘U.S.’ occurred 458 times while ‘US’ only occurred
292 times. The former one occurred 1.5 times more often the latter one. In the
broadcasting corpus, ‘E-mail’ appears 59 times while ‘Email’ or ‘email’ appear
14 times in total. Compared with the combination of the latter two forms, the
former one is more than quadrupled. However, there are exceptional cases. ‘XO’
occurs 226 times while ‘X.O’ only occurs 17 times.
461 out of 1,619 lettered words have vibrant forms, accounting for 28.5% of
the total number of lettered words. For the majority of the lettered words, they
are frequently made up of capital letters, such as NBA, IBM, CEO, MP3, etc. A
few frequently used lettered words are written in the lower case. These words
include measurement units such as ‘cm’, ‘ml’, ‘kg’ and domain names such as
‘mobi’, ‘com’, ‘org’, ‘gov’, ‘ca’ and etc. ‘KHz’ and ‘kHz’ differences occur 50 times
and 53 times respectively. The similarity of their occurrences is a rare case.
According to the analysis on the above-mentioned lettered words in vibrant
forms, we should establish basic forms of these words and encourage people to
 An investigation into lettered words 227

use them. This establishment should be based on the frequency of use of other
principles.

2.4 Impact of numerous homomorphic forms of lettered words

on communication
Homomorphic forms of lettered words refer to the lettered words which share
the same forms but have different meanings. The main reason for homomorphic
forms is the use of abbreviations. Most of the lettered words are English abbrevia-
tions. Different words can look the same in the abbreviated forms. For example,
‘PM’ has at least the following origins and meanings:
1. The abbreviation of ‘post meridiem’;
2. The abbreviation of ‘product marketing’;
3. The abbreviation of ‘prime minister’;
4. The abbreviation of ‘project management’;
5. The abbreviation of ‘project manager’;
6. The abbreviation of ‘page maker’;
7. The abbreviation of Chinese word ‘pāi mǎ’ (to flatter). Internet language.

‘PS’ has at least the following meanings:

1. The abbreviation of ‘postscript’;
2. The abbreviation of ‘Photoshop’;
3. The abbreviation of ‘Play Station’;
4. The abbreviation of ‘political science’;

‘ABC’ is well known. It has at least the following five meanings:

1. It is referred to as the common sense or simple truth;
2. The abbreviation of ‘American Broadcasting Company’;
3. The abbreviation of ‘Australian Broadcasting Corporation’;
4. The abbreviation of ‘Agricultural Bank of China’;
5. The abbreviation of ‘American-born Chinese’;

There are 288 homomorphic forms of lettered words in Appendix 3, account-

ing for 17.8% of the 1,619 lettered words in Appendix 3. These forms of lettered
words are not very distinctive and can affect communication when a context is
not clearly introduced.

2.5 The complicated and various relationships between forms,

pronunciations and meanings of lettered words
Apparently, it is easy to identify lettered words according to the way they are
written. In fact, the relationships between their forms, pronunciations and
228 Hóu Mǐn (侯敏 )

meanings are complicated and various. These relationships are indicated in the
following 8 aspects:
1. Letters are pronounced separately. The full meaning of a lettered word is the
combination of meanings of the words which each letter represents. They
mainly come from English words. They are the major part of lettered words.
The examples include NBA, WTO, DVD, GPS, VCD, OCR.
2. Each lettered word is pronounced as a full word. The full meaning of a
lettered word is the combination of meanings of the words which each letter
represents. They mainly come from English words. The examples include
SOHO, DINK, FAX, ROM, SARS.
3. Certain lettered words are made up of the initial of an English word and
another word. The pronunciation of these words includes the name of the
initial and sound of the word. The meaning is the combination of the word
which the initial is in and the following word. The examples include E-mail,
dBase.
4. Lettered words are pronounced either letter by letter or as a full word. They
mainly come from English words. The examples include SIM kǎ (SIM card).
5. Letters are pronounced separately. The full meaning of a lettered word is the
combination of meanings of the words which each letter represents. They
mainly come from Chinese words. The examples include HSK, WSK, PSC.
6. Lettered words are created by Chinese speakers. The letters are pronounced
as their original sounds. The shapes, sequence referrals and coreference
meanings of the letters are adopted. The examples include T xínɡ tái, V 型领
(V xínɡ lǐng, V-shaped collar), O 型腿 (xínɡ tái, O-shaped leg), B 本 (běn,
B licence), A 股 (ɡǔ, A shares), D 座 (zuò, block D).
7. The words are written in the form of letters but pronounced as Chinese
characters. The meanings of characters are adopted. These lettered words
come from the abbreviations of Chinese pinyin and are largely used online.
The examples include RMB (Rénmínbì, Chinese currency), LP (lǎopo, wife),
FB ( fǔbài, corruption), MM (mèimei, a beautiful girl), GG (ɡēɡe, older
brother), JJ ( jiějie, older sister), JM ( jiěmèi, sisters), TJ (tàijiān, eunuch) and
BT (biàntài, abnormal).
8. Lettered words are written in the form of letters but pronounced as Chinese
characters. The meanings of English words which the letters are in are
adopted. These words are mainly English abbreviations of measurement
units and names of organisations. The examples include ML (pronounced
as háoshēnɡ), cm (pronounced as límǐ ), HP (pronounced as mǎlì).

Apart from the above-mentioned 8 aspects, there are some exceptions. In

‘BtoB’, ‘B’ is pronounced as the name of the letter. It is the abbreviation of the
 An investigation into lettered words 229

word ‘business’ and retains the meaning of the word. The word ‘to’ is an English
word and is pronounced as the word itself. ‘BtoB’ is the combination of the first
two aspects, above mentioned. ‘B2B’ is more complicated. The word ‘two’ is
a spoonerism of ‘to’. Then ‘two’ is transformed into ‘2’. This transformation is
popular due to its easy writing and fun factor. ‘B2B’ occurs much more than
‘BtoB’ and ‘BTOB’. These exceptions are categorised as others. See Table 5 for
figures on lettered words of different types.

Types 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Other

Sample words NBA SARS CDROM SIM kǎ HSK T tǎi (stage) FB HP BtoB
WTO SOHO E-mail POS jī (machine) WJ A gǔ MM ML C2C

Number 1,154 137 24 13 8 163 35 38 47

Percentage (%) 71 8.5 1.5 0.8 0.5 10.1 2.2 2.3 2.9

Table 5: The relationship between forms, pronunciations and meanings of lettered words

2.6 Different occurrences of lettered words between different

types of media
The occurrences of letter-related word segmentation units differ between news-
papers, broadcasting and news networks. See Table 6 for concrete figures.

Occurrences
of letter- Types of letter-
Total related word per- related word per-
Types of occurrences segmentation centage Types of segmentation centage
media of words units (%) words units (%)

Newspapers 239,316,328 1,749,607 0.7 1,609,761 100,260 6.2

Broadcasting 33,374,440 32,759 0.1 289,497 5489 2.0

(News) network 323,390,181 3,106,042 0.96 1,518,952 172,631 11.4

Corpus 596,080,949 4,889,904 0.8 2,640,356 238,019 9.0

Table 6: The use of lettered words segmentation units in newspapers, on broadcasting and at
news networks
230 Hóu Mǐn (侯敏 )

As a mouthpiece of the government, Chinese broadcasting requires that its

language be prudently used. The above-quoted figures show that few lettered
words occur in the broadcasting language. Lettered words in newspapers are
also used prudently. Most lettered words occur in networks, accounting for the
highest percentage among all the types of media. As a type of writing, networks
require certain lettered words, like LP (lǎopo), FB ( fǔbài).

2.7 Numerous misspellings of lettered words

The limited number of lettered words is not inherent in Chinese. They are phono-
graphic, not ideographic. Their non-distinctive features often lead (Chinese
people) to making mistakes. For example, ‘POS’ is referred to as point of
purchase in a retail unit or an electronic cash register in a shopping centre.
‘POSE’ is the English word ‘pose’. Many examples in this corpus show that
‘POS’ is mistakenly replaced with ‘POSE’. ‘USB’ is the connection of computer
peripherals. It is often misspelt as ‘UBS’. ‘SARS’ (severe acute respiratory syn-
drome) is misspelt as ‘SRAS’. It is also not a rare case that ‘GPS’ (Global Posi-
tioning System) is substituted by ‘GPX’, ‘GPC’ or ‘GSP’.

References
Liú Yǒnɡquán (刘涌泉). 2002. Issues on Chinese lettered words. Applied Linguistics. No. 1.
Shěn Mènɡyīnɡ (沈孟璎). 2001. The inclusion of lettered words into the dictionary.
Lexicographical Studies. No. 1.
Wánɡ Jíhuī (王吉辉). 1996. A study on non-Chinese words. Journal of Nánjīnɡ Normal
University. No. 2.

Appendix 1
An explanation on ‘The list of lettered words, frequently used in newspapers,
broadcasting and (news) networks’
The explanation of ‘The list of lettered words, frequently used in News-
papers, on broadcasting and at (news) networks’ (also see Appendix 3 on page
232–233) covers the following aspects:
1. The variant forms of lettered words, combined with characters, occur in the
form of entries in this list. A word in the word list is represented by its most
popular variant of entry. The other entries are recorded in the note section.
The total occurrence of a word is the combination of its variant forms of
 An investigation into lettered words 231

entries. Therefore, the original 1,619 entries of a word have been reduced to
1,377 entries.
2. Considering the practical use of lettered words, the lettered words which
refer to organisation names and brand names, and occur more than 200
times have been selected into this list. These words include NBA, IBM, TCL.
3. For a better understanding, this list provides suggestive explanations. Due
to the size limitation, the explanations are designed to be short and do not
intend to cover all the meanings. The explanations are based on the con-
sultations of Xiàndài hànyǔ cídiǎn (Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (fifth
edition), Zìmǔcí Cídiǎn (edited by Liú Yǒngquán), Shíyònɡ zìmǔcí cídiǎn
(A Practical Dictionary of Letter Words) (edited by Shěn Mènɡyīnɡ), the web-
sites of Baidu, Google and Kingsoft dictionary.
4. Due to the limitations of the technology of auto word segmentation, the
result of the occurrences of some word entries is bigger than their actual
occurrences. For example, ‘TL’ is the abbreviation of tiělù (railway). How-
ever, the entries of ‘TL’ may include the words ‘TL-T29’ and ‘TL-WN250’
which refer to product models.

Appendix 2
An explanation of ‘The list of English words, frequently used in newspapers,
broadcasting and (news) networks’
The explanation of the list referred to above (also see appendix 4 on page
233–234) covers the following aspects:
1. This list consists of the English words which have more than 500 occurrences.
Their abbreviations are not included in this list.
2. Variant words are not distinguished between upper and lower cases.
3. English words, like ‘Word’, ‘in’ have certain meanings in Chinese. They are
included in ‘The list of English words, frequently used in newspapers,
broadcasting and (news) networks’ as well as in ‘The list of lettered words,
frequently used in Newspapers, on broadcasting and at (news) networks’.
There is no separate statistical analysis on their occurrences.
232 Hóu Mǐn (侯敏 )

Appendix 3
The selected lettered words, frequently used in newspapers, broadcasting and
(news) networks

Number
Words Suggestive definition Occurrences of texts Notes

VS To compete against each other, the 64,711 9,356 Vs, vs

abbreviation of ‘versus’
NBA The abbreviation of ‘National Basketball 33,304 14,732 nba, Nba
Association’; or matches organised by
the NBA.
GDP The abbreviation of ‘gross domestic 25,313 10,035 gdp, GDp
product’
Mazda 1) Mazda Motor Corporation; 2) the 24,905 578
products of Mazda.
IT The abbreviation of ‘information 23,219 10,728
technology’
MP3 The abbreviation of ‘MPEG Audio Layer-3’. 21,537 9,360 mp3, Mp3,
It is a digital audio encoding format. It mP3
also refers to audio files in this format
and the mini electronic products which
support these audio files.
QQ An instant online messaging program 19,032 7,402 qq
N Many, countless. N times refer to count- 16,659 7,464 N
less times. N years refer to many years.
A ɡu ‘A shares’ are purchased and traded in 15,630 5,367
the currency of Renmembi. They are sold
by Chinese companies to institutions,
organisations and individuals in China
(except Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao).
F1 The abbreviation of ‘Formula One Grand 15,588 4,942 f1
Prix’
DVD 1) the abbreviation of digital video disc; 15,357 6,604 dvd
2) the abbreviation of ‘digital versatile
disc’; 3) DVD recordable format; 4) DVD
player
CEO The abbreviation of ‘chief executive 14,494 8,050 ceo
officer’
 An investigation into lettered words 233

PC The abbreviation of ‘personal computer’ 14,310 5,935 pc, Pc

PK It is a game between players, resulting 13,802 8,918 pk, Pk
in one game character’s death. Now it
refers to competitions or confrontations.
It is the abbreviation of ‘player killing’.
CBA 1) the abbreviation of ‘Chinese Basketball 12,320 4,695 cba
Association’; 2) the abbreviation of
‘cargo booking advance’
LG The name of an electronics company 11,069 3,951
TCL One of the largest consumer electronics 10,858 3,314
groups
IBM 1) the abbreviation of ‘International 10,687 3,684 ibm
Business Machines Corporation’;
2) Products of IMB
CCTV The abbreviation of ‘China Central 10,181 5,820 cctv, Cctv
Television’
MV The abbreviation of ‘music video’ 10,174 4,076

Appendix 4
The selected English words, frequently used in newspapers, broadcasting and
(news) networks

Number
Sequence Words Simple definition Occurrences of texts

1 blog Blog 23,300 11,503

2 FONT font 13,759 1,840
3 TEXT text 12,398 1,752
4 OK OK 8,384 3,783
5 LINE 1) (to) queque; 2) route 7,411 1,821
6 HEIGHT height 7,312 1,736
7 SIZE size 7,310 1,736
8 the definite article 7,232 2,149
9 a indefinite article 6,344 2,522
10 I I 6,250 3,262
234 Hóu Mǐn (侯敏 )

11 bold 1) thick and dark printing letters; 6,188 1,738

2) not afraid
12 inter The abbreviation of ‘international’ 6,185 1,740
13 WEIGHT weight 6,184 1,735
14 ALIGN 1) to organize, arrange; 6,180 1,737
2) to form an alliance
15 MARGIN margin 6,178 1,735
16 ideograph ideograph 6,177 1,734
17 JUSTIFY justify 6,177 1,734
18 justify justify 6,177 1,734
19 of of 5,553 2,559
20 The definite article 5,206 2,698

Translated by Liú Wěimínɡ (刘伟明)

Trinity College Dublin
[email protected]
III Language Focuses
Lǚ Hé (吕禾) & Zōu Hǎiqīnɡ (邹海清)
20 Dialect craze
A series of heated discussions were held on the issue of dialect in 2005, which
constituted a hot spot in the language situation of China. The discussions were
summarised as three main points below.

1 Dialects into the media

1.1 Background
Dialects accompanied entertainment programmes early on in the establishment
of China’s broadcasting stations. In the first years of the People’s Republic of
China, there were still quite a number of programs in dialects. After the State
Council issued Directions Regarding the Promotion of Putonghua in 1956, dialects
were rarely heard for a period of time. (Cài and Wánɡ 2005)
But in recent years, dialects have been used more and more in the media.
“Ah liùtoú shuō xīnwén” (阿六头说新闻, ‘News told by a well-informed and
butter-tonsiled native’), news in dialect in Channel West Lake Bright Pearl of
Hánɡzhōu (杭州) TV Station, ranked among the Top 100 best programs of the
country in 2004, recorded the highest audience rating, and set an example for
a lot of television stations in the Chánɡjiānɡ (长江) delta. Fúzhōu (福州) People’s
Radio Station started the program of “Zuǒhǎi xiānɡyīn” (左海乡音, ‘Fújiàn
dialect’), telling news and native anecdotes in Fúzhōu (福州) dialect and was
warmly welcomed by the people. At the beginning of 2005, the Life Channel of
Fúzhōu (福州) TV started the only TV program in local dialect in the province of
Fújiàn. “Wùdū yèhuà” (雾都夜话, ‘Night talk in the foggy city’), a short play in
dialect organised by Chónɡqìnɡ (重庆) Satellite Television in 1994, was the only
program in Chónɡqìnɡ ranking among the Top 10 in the whole country accord-
ing to its audience rating and quota. It aroused a surge of programs in Sìchuān
dialect, like “Shēnɡhuó má là tànɡ” (生活麻辣烫, ‘Life of hot tastes’) of Chónɡ-
qìnɡ (重庆) TV, “Tiānfǔ lónɡménzhèn” (天府龙门阵, ‘Chatting in the land of
abundance’) and “Xīnwén shūchǎnɡ” (‘News stand’) of Sìchuān TV, and “Chī zài
Chénɡdū” (吃在成都, ‘Eating at Chénɡdū’) of Sìchuān Radio, and so on. (Cài &
Wánɡ 2005) In August 2005, the Economics channel of Sìchuān TV witnessed a
brand new change oriented towards “creating a period of dialect using the local
feature”. (Zhōu & Hé 2005) In March 2005, Nánjīnɡ (南京) TV started a dialect
news program – “Tīnɡ wǒ sháosháo” (听我韶韶, ‘Listen to Me’). (Chénɡ 2005)
Other programs include “Yuè cè yuè kāixīn” (越策越开心, ‘The more you chat,
238 Lǚ Hé (吕禾) & Zōu Hǎiqīnɡ (邹海清)

the more pleasure you have’) of Húnán (湖南) Economics channel and “Tántiān-
shuōdì Āh fúɡēnɡ” (谈天说地阿富根, ‘Idiomatic chat of a Shànɡhǎi native’) of
Shànɡhǎi TV.
Wánɡ bǎozhǎnɡ hòuzhuàn (王保长后传, ‘The continued story of Wánɡ (王)
the village head’), a play in Sìchuān dialect, set up the maximum audience
rating of 9.5% in Chénɡdū (成都). (Yán 2005) The dialect teleplay Shānchénɡ
bànɡbanɡ jūn (山城棒棒军, ‘Porters at the piedmont town’) had been replayed
over a dozen times in Chónɡqìnɡ (重庆) and still enjoyed a high rating of
audience. The dialect play Wàidì xífù běndì lánɡ (外地媳妇本地郎, ‘A native
groom with a bride from elsewhere’) received an audience as high as 22% in
Guǎnɡdōnɡ (广东). (Zhào 2005) The Shànɡhǎi version of the sitcom Lǎo niánɡjiù
(老娘舅, ‘Old uncle’) was expecting its sequel. The dialect plays “Liú Lǎoɡēn”
(刘老根, ‘Liú Lǎoɡēn’) and “Dōnɡběi yī jiā rén” (东北一家人, ‘A family in
the northeast’) in northeast China were rebroadcast on many local stations.
Xīnjí chībùliǎo rè dòufu (心急吃不了热豆腐, ‘A watched pot never boils’) and
Peacock – two films in Bǎodìnɡ (保定) dialect of Héběi (河北) and Ānyánɡ
(安阳) dialect of Hénán (河南) provinces respectively – both won box office
success and awards.
Dialect short plays were hugely popular among the audience and frequently
played an important role in evening entertainment. The performances given by
Zhào Běnshān (赵本山), Sònɡ Dāndān (宋丹丹) and Fàn Wěi (范伟) in north-
east dialect, by Zhào Lìrónɡ (赵丽蓉) with Tánɡshān (唐山) intonation, and by
Guō Dá (郭达) and Lǐ Qí (李琦) with Shǎnxī (陕西) accent brought about much
hearty laughter.
The translation of foreign films and television plays into dialects was also
flourishing. In 2004, Tom and Jerry was suddenly put into Northeast, Sìchuān,
Shǎnxī (陕西), Lánzhōu (兰州) and Shànɡhǎi dialects and sold considerably
well. This example was followed widely in business circles and a “dialect craze”
spread all over the country. The result was such classic films and television
works as Mr. Bean, Modern Times, La Grande Vadrouille, The Great Dictator,
and City Lights in all dialects. (Niè 2005)
Quite a number of newspapers in Húběi (湖北) province have a dialect
column. For example, Chǔtiān (楚天) Metropolis Daily, Wǔhàn (武汉) Evening
Paper, and Chǔtiān Jīnbào (楚天金报 ‘Chǔtiān golden report’) started “Teahouse
of Han Flavour”, “The Nine-headed Bird”, and “Tales in Streets and Lanes”
respectively. (Chí 2005)

1.2 Rules and regulations

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (hereafter SARFT) issued
notices first in October 2004, demanding that “radio and television institutions
 Dialect craze 239

of all levels shall not broadcast foreign programs translated into dialects”
(The SARFT 2004) and then on 13 September, 2005, requiring broadcasters and
comperes “to speak Putonghua without imitating the Hong Kong and Taiwan
accent or expressions unless it is necessary”, “without imitating regional accents
or expressions, without using accent, intonation, vulgarity, slang, jargon harmful
to standard language and without inserting unnecessary foreign expressions
into Putonghua”. (The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television 2005)
On 8 October, 2005, The SARFT Notice of Reaffirming the Use of Standard Lan-
guage in Television Plays was issued specifying that “Putonghua should be given
priority in teleplays (exclusive of local drama) and dialects and non-standard
Putonghua are generally not permitted; Putonghua must be used in important
teleplays of revolutionary and historical themes, teleplays for children and
adolescents, special teleplays of propaganda and education, and Putonghua
should be used by leaders in teleplays”. (The SARFT Notice of Reaffirming the
Use of Standard Language in Television Plays 2005)
These documents prompted strong responses in the media, particularly in
the south, and heated discussions were held about them.

1.3 Cons
It was pointed out by some that “the popularity of films and television plays is
absolutely not a technical question of artistic treatment but a serious legal con-
ception involving language standardisation”. (Zhònɡ 2005)
From the practical point of view, a dialect restricted to a certain region re-
sults a smaller audience. For instance, the film Xīnjí chībùliǎo rè dòufu (心急吃
不了热豆腐) played well in Běijīnɡ, Tiānjīn (天津) and Héběi (河北), but not so
in the south because different dialects bring about different responses regarding
stimulation and humour. Very pure and typical dialects generally satisfy some at
the expense of others. (Lǐ, H. 2005) Besides, it is a fact that excellent original
films and teleplays are few nowadays. News broadcast in one dialect tend to
drive away people from another dialect area because of their failure to under-
stand what is said. People are mostly interested in the news reflecting everyday
life; however, what is broadcast is often more genial than penetrating.
The application of dialects is uneven: some good and some bad. And occa-
sionally vulgar vocabulary is used to please the audience, which makes a bad
impression. Taking an example, the dialect version of Tom and Jerry contains
such expressions of violence as “kàn lǎozi bù biǎn nǐ!” (看老子不扁你, ‘See if
I won’t crush you!’) and “zhěnɡ sǐ” (整死, ‘torture to death’).
240 Lǚ Hé (吕禾) & Zōu Hǎiqīnɡ (邹海清)

1.4 Pros
The SARFT notice received different responses in Chinese society. Some under-
stood the prohibition of Hong Kong and Taiwan accent as a prejudice against
the south, for it actually represents Putonghua with Guǎnɡdōnɡ (广东) and
Fújiàn (福建) accents. The fact is that young people in the south speaking
with Hong Kong and Taiwan accent are as good as their counterparts in
Běijīnɡ who speak with a local Běijīnɡ accent; therefore, the prohibition may be
misunderstood as a discrimination against dialect. (Wánɡ L. 2005) Nínɡbō (宁波)
TV opened “Tiānrán wǔtái – āɡuó diànyǐnɡ” (天然舞台—阿国电影, ‘Natural
Stage– films in Nínɡbō (宁波 ) dialect’) on 31 October, 2005, cutting out a section
of a classic comedy and dubbing it in Nínɡbō (宁波) dialect. (Yú 2005) Shān-
chénɡ bànɡbanɡ jūn (山城棒棒军) in Sìchuān dialect was expected to be con-
tinued in November 2005. Its producer insisted that “it is the dialect that makes
the play unique, so it would be bland if Putonghua were used”. “It is ill-advised
to impose uniformity about the use of language,” suggested one well-known
producer/director. “We should see the good points as well as the bad ones,
otherwise our works of art would be affected adversely.” The director/producer
of Lǚliánɡ yīnɡxiónɡ zhuàn (吕梁英雄传, ‘Legend of the Heroes at Lǚliánɡ’), a
teleplay in Shānxī (山西) dialect, thought that “there would be difficulty in
carrying out the requirements, because many dialects have their unique ele-
ments of humour, and their effect is strikingly different. As teleplays strive for
popularity and entertainment, I think diversity is preferable in artistic produc-
tion.” A typecaster of General Zhū Dé (朱德) in many films and teleplays felt
that “it is justified not to go to extremes of whether to speak Putonghua or
dialect”, and “the typical flavour of a dialect may be added onto the last word
somewhere in a dialogue using Putonghua as a basis”. A specialist in this trade
held that “dialect teleplays are exceptional after all and will not become the
norm. They are certainly not as popular as their counterparts in Putonghua, so
let us just put them onto the market for the public to decide what they want to
watch; it is unnecessary for SARFT to issue a ban against them.” Director Lǐ
Péisēn (李培森) for China Teleplay Centre remarked that “it would be prob-
lematic if standard Putonghua should be required in all teleplays without any
consideration”. (Zhào 2005)

1.5 Regional cultural foundation

Dialect is the vehicle for regional culture. The appearance of films, teleplays and
other programs in dialect reflect people’s identification with regional cultures.
Before “Āh liùtoú shuō xīnwén (阿六头说新闻)”, news programs in Hánɡzhōu
 Dialect craze 241

(杭州) downtown area had only an audience rating of approximately 2% on

average. After its introduction, the audience rating increased steadily, reaching
a maximum of 14%. (Wú and Liú 2005)
Meanwhile, dialect programs can trigger both alienation and novelty among
audiences with different dialectal backgrounds. For example, Wánɡ bǎozhǎnɡ
hòuzhuàn (王保长后传) in Sìchuān dialect was not only warmly welcomed
by the audience in part of southwest China, Húnán (湖南) and Húběi (湖北)
provinces, but its version in other dialects sold better than that in Putonghua
and even became popular in Shànɡhǎi, Shāndōnɡ (山东) and other places.
Such plays that were influential in wide areas were mostly in northeast and
Sìchuān dialects. One important factor is that these dialects belong to Northern
Mandarin and are intelligible to the great majority of people.
A minor inquiry was undertaken on people.com.cn into the question, “What
do you think of teleplays in dialects?” Among 374 e-pals, 56.4% expressed their
love of them because “they have a feel good factor”. This showed that the
market for dialect programs is robust and they are irreplaceable for both cultural
identification and demand for entertainment.

2 Knowledge of dialects in the classroom

2.1 Origin
In September 2005, an additional course – Yǔwén zōnghé xuéxí (语文综合学习,
‘Comprehensive Chinese Learning’) – was opened for Grade 6 primary school
students in Shànɡhǎi. It contained a unit of “Impression of Shànɡhǎi” with an
article introducing Shanghainese with the dialect title of “Nóng xiǎodé fá” (侬晓
得伐, ‘Do you know?’). The article offered a detailed list of the pronunciation
and tones of the dialect, and its many interesting words, e.g., shāfā (沙发,
‘sofa’) and báituō (白脱, ‘butter’) borrowed from English, tātāmǐ (榻榻米,
‘tatami’) from Japanese, (Wánɡ Y. 2005) all selected from 700 Years of Shànghǎi,
(Shī, Pān and Táo 1991) and chiefly explored the origin and development of
Shanghainese. The list also contained Sūzhōu dialect words such as āshì (阿是,
‘isn’t it?’, ‘is it?’), Nínɡbō dialect words like ālā (阿拉, ‘we’), loaned words like
sīdìke (司的克, ‘stick’) and shuǐméntīnɡ (水门汀, ‘cement’), as well as old
Shànɡhǎi dialectal expressions virtually unintelligible to the native people
nowadays. (Shèn 2005) The course of Yǔwén zōnɡhé xuéxí (语文综合学习) was
designed for extracurricular reading so that the students might learn something
about Shànɡhǎi culture, with one hour per week and without tests. However, the
242 Lǚ Hé (吕禾) & Zōu Hǎiqīnɡ (邹海清)

selection of this introductory article was a pioneering event and aroused debates
in Shànɡhǎi. (Wánɡ Y. 2005)

2.2 The reasons for it

2.2.1 The degradation of dialects refracts the deficiency of regional culture

Some scholars pointed out that the purpose of introducing Shanghainese and
its historical development in primary and secondary classrooms was for the
students to learn the cultural information of the dialect. Others emphasised
that it was quite necessary both for the young generation to understand their
native culture and for students from other places to understand the dialect so
that they could get along well in this city. With the speeding up of international-
isation, Shànɡhǎi has experienced a great change in demography and the role of
Shànɡhǎi dialect is being eroded. The degradation of dialect reveals that the
local culture is being partially lost. The broadcasting station was forced to hold
special classes to train “successors” for the program “Tántiānshuōdì Āh fúɡēnɡ
(谈天说地阿富根)” familiar to the local people these many years because they
could not find young broadcasters who could speak orthodox Shanghainese.
(Wánɡ Y. 2005)

2.2.2 Dialects and Putonghua are mutually complementary

Some scholars believed that dialects and Putonghua should be in a relationship

of mutually complementing each other and act as a tool for improvement.
For instance, words like 自来水 (zìláishuǐ, ‘running water’), 马路 (mǎlù, ‘road,
street’), and 麦克风 (màikèfēnɡ, ‘microphone’) came into Shànɡhǎi dialect first
and then were absorbed by Putonghua. In the educational environment of
schools, Putonghua should be promoted and Shanghainese maintained. (Wánɡ
Y. 2005)

2.3 Opinions against it

A commentary on xinhuanet.com pointed out that the number of Shànɡhǎi
citizens who can communicate in Putonghua took up 70.47% of the total, while
in public places like markets and hospitals, the proportion of citizens frequently
speaking Putonghua was less than 30%, and in their working units the per-
centage was 34.84%, lower than the average for the whole country. This means
 Dialect craze 243

that learning to speak Putonghua in a megacity like Shànɡhǎi is still a very

tough job. In such a situation, “while it is a meaningful business to explore, pre-
serve, research and maintain dialects, any violation against the national policy
of promoting Putonghua should be avoided, not to speak of compiling dialects
for use in textbooks for primary and secondary school students to ‘inherit and
pass on’. . . . In the current circumstances in which the country is forcefully pro-
moting Putonghua, it is obviously against the express provisions if dialect were
to be taught in primary students’ textbooks” and “past experience shows that
Putonghua promotion should start from kindergarten and primary and secondary
schools, otherwise it would be difficult to learn it well.” (Shèn 2005)

2.4 Some reflections

The practice of “dialect in textbooks” in Shànɡhǎi had no direct relation with
the promotion of Putonghua. It was just a case of inserting an article for students
to learn the characteristics of Shanghainese rather than replacing Putonghua
with Shànɡhǎi dialect in the classroom. Between the mastery of Putonghua and
that of a dialect there is no given rule that one grows at the sacrifice of the other.
The introduction of an article about dialect does not necessarily lead to students’
decline in competence in Putonghua. Allowing the natives to learn, understand
and appreciate their own dialects is a reflection of respect for cultural diversity.
Informing students of the interrelationship between a love of dialects and a love
of Putonghua is intrinsically compatible with teaching them the interrelationship
between love for their hometown and love for their motherland. “Nowadays the
primary school pupils in Guǎnɡdōnɡ (广东) or Shànɡhǎi may talk to outsiders
in fluent Putonghua and chat with their companions in dialect.” (Shíniánkǎnchái
2005) It is an ideal target for students to have a mastery of both.

3 The problem of “safeguarding dialects”

3.1 Origin
In January 2005, a delegate of Shànɡhǎi People’s Congress made an appeal for
“safeguarding Shanghainese” when he was being interviewed. He believed that
the dialect would confront the predicament of being forgotten with the increas-
ing number of outsiders in Shànɡhǎi and the decreasing number of occasions
for its use. He was particularly worried that there would be more and more
young people unable to speak the dialect. Apart from that, local dramas like
Shànɡhǎi opera, Kūnqǔ (昆曲) opera, and storytelling and ballad singing in
244 Lǚ Hé (吕禾) & Zōu Hǎiqīnɡ (邹海清)

Sūzhōu (苏州) dialect was being marginalised. Shànɡhǎi antimask, once known
to epitomise the unique Shànghǎi style, was losing its cultural status, and had
even became “insulated” from the younger generation.
He offered two causes for such conditions. One was internal: more and more
young people were reluctant to accept Shanghainese; and the other was external:
in a city receiving people from all around, Putonghua certainly became the
language they share and Shànɡhǎi dialect was much less needed. Therefore, he
suggested that due respect be given to the dialect, more space be made for it in
the media, recreational performances, television and radio broadcasting, and
that it be advocated among the young, e.g., appropriate education of Shanghai-
nese in schools, exploration of literary works characterised by the dialect with
interest as the point of departure, and the development of interests like anti-
mask, Shànɡhǎi opera, Kūnqǔ opera, and storytelling and ballad singing in
Sūzhōu (苏州) dialect. (Gù 2005) During the People’s Congress and the People’s
Political Consultative Conference in 2005, Mǎ Lìlì (马莉莉), deputy president of
Shànɡhǎi Opera House, and a member of Shànɡhǎi City Political Consultative
Conference, made a proposal of the “Standardisation and implementation of
Shanghainese – preservation of native culture series 1”, holding that dialects
possess unique humanistic values and are therefore worth being preserved.
(Tián 2005)
There were similar occurrences elsewhere. In February 2005, in the third
session of the eighth Political Consultative Conference of Hánɡzhōu (杭州)
City, a representative submitted a motion entitled “Preserve Hánɡzhōu (杭州)
dialect and maintain the essential meaning of famous historical-cultural cities”,
claiming that, with the increasing population of outsiders and the decreasing
number of people speaking the dialect, the city would in the course of time
lose its unique features as a city famous for its history and culture. He suggested
advocating communication in Hánɡzhōu (杭州) dialect on informal occasions
and preserving the dialects of 99 national level famous cities of history and
culture as well as of all provincial capital cities, “so that intangible historical
culture with regional characteristics won’t be lost”. (Mǎ 2005)
After being reprinted and reported by a dozen media channels all over
the country, this subject became the focus of widespread attention. An article
entitled “Bǎowèi Hànyǔ, xiān bǎowèi fānɡyán (保卫汉语，先保卫方言 ‘To
safeguard Chinese, safeguard dialects first’)” appeared in Southern Weekly (Lǐ,
W. 2005) supporting this recommendation. However, a query was raised in
articles in China Youth Daily and China Education Daily concerning the slogan
of safeguarding dialects. (Bó 2005; Yán, Fàn, Gāo, et. al. 2005) A discussion
was held by the Institute for Language Planning of the Ministry of Education
on safeguarding dialects and agreement was reached that the wording was not
quite right. (Institute for Language Planning of the Ministry of Education 2005)
 Dialect craze 245

3.2 Causal analysis

Since the 1990s, many discussions have taken place in China’s linguistic circles
concerning the preservation of languages and dialects, e.g., Guō Xī (郭熙), Cáo
Zhìyún (曹志耘), Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明), Qián Nǎirónɡ (钱乃荣), and Xuē Lín
(薛遴) made relevant analyses from different perspectives. (cf. Guō 1999; Cáo
2001; Lǐ, Y. 2005; Qián 2005; Xuē 2005) However, more widespread attention
was aroused this time, evidently because it was intimately associated with social
development and the change in people’s concept of language. There were
several reasons given: 1) some scholars currently did feel that the survival of
dialects was threatened; 2) there might be a misunderstanding that promoting
Putonghua adversely affected or even harmed the existence and development of
dialects if social psychology, linguistic attitudes and feelings of the public could
not be properly handled; and 3) with the expansion of the influences exerted
by postmodernism came the trends of ideologies advocating equality, diverse
elements and the preservation of diversity.

3.3 Several opinions

3.3.1 It is improper to say “safeguarding dialects”, but it is indeed worth

discussing

Chén Zhānɡtài (陈章太), a research fellow at the Institute for Language Plan-
ning of the Ministry of Education, pointed out that the slogan of “safeguarding
dialects” is extremely irrelevant, irresponsible and harmful to the country, the
nation, the society and the public, including all the people in the broad dialect
areas. “Safeguarding” suggests invasion and great harm, i.e. the contradiction
between Putonghua and dialects is so intensified that protection becomes neces-
sary. However, this is not true. If it is a case of “preserving dialects”, that is what
has been done for decades in this country. Sufficient space has been reserved
for the application and development of dialects and it has proved to be effective.
On the other hand, the discussion itself is a good thing, because the question
of language had rarely attracted so much attention in the past. (Institute for
Language Planning of the Ministry of Education 2005)

3.3.2 Dialects still possess a dynamic power of life

From an overall point of view, according to Chēn Zhānɡtài, Cantonese has more
influence on its surrounding subdialects and local dialects than Putonghua and
246 Lǚ Hé (吕禾) & Zōu Hǎiqīnɡ (邹海清)

this shows that the active force of dialects is still being strengthened. A head of
the Putonghua Promotion department under the Ministry of Education’s depart-
ment of Language Planning and Administration agreed that dialects are still
used widely in people’s daily life, in local drama and all forms of folk art, as
well as in the trades and public services for local customers, and still maintain
their dynamic vitality. (Institute for Language Planning of the Ministry of Educa-
tion 2005)

3.3.3 The rise and fall of dialects are not determined by man’s will

Some scholars thought that the natural selection of a language is largely

decided by the social conditions in which the language is used, particularly the
economic foundations, rather than anything to do with the language itself. The
current economic development and personnel flow are bound to give a powerful
impetus to the unification of language. What is happening in China actually is
also a global megatrend. The development of language is not determined by
man’s will. If it did not change to suit the needs of its time, a dialect would
eventually perish and be wiped off the map. It is the normal process of language
in its natural evolution; it is the natural law of language development. Man can
do nothing about it. (Institute for Language Planning of the Ministry of Educa-
tion 2005)

4 Problems and reflections

The data in “A Survey on the Conditions of Chinese Language Planning” issued
on 26 December 2004 showed that 53.06% of China’s population could com-
municate in Putonghua and 86.38% could do so in dialect. The use of Putonghua
at home among family members took up approximately 18%, while the propor-
tion rose up to 42% for Putonghua in places of work. (Zhānɡ 2004) These percen-
tages demonstrated that Putonghua in China is far from being popularised; it is
not even sufficient to suit the needs of social development and therefore should
be further promoted.
On the other hand, promoting Putonghua on a large scale does not mean
wiping out dialects. Putonghua and dialects have their own functions and their
own serviceable ranges; dialects also play an active role in enriching and devel-
oping Putonghua. While dialect programs have been on the rise in certain local
television stations, their proportion is small from the viewpoint of the whole
 Dialect craze 247

country. Despite the fact that Chénɡdū (成都) had a bigger proportion of dialect
programs, it was merely 1/40th of the total. (Qúanɡuó fānɡyán jiémù yìlǎn 2005)
Programs in Putonghua are still absolutely the mainstream in radio and televi-
sion broadcasting; dialect programs cannot adversely affect the promotion of
Putonghua.
Numerous languages and multiple dialects are precious social, economic
and cultural resources for a country rather than obstacles on the road to
national unity and socioeconomic development. Therefore, linguistic harmony
lies in the coexistence and common flourishing of all the languages and dia-
lects, no matter how many people use them. Within a harmonious environment
they may have their own spaces to live and grow in, their own positions to
occupy, and their own roles to play, so that a symphony of Chinese language
will be played together. (Zhōu 2005)

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6 November.
Wú, Fēi (吴飞) and Liú Jiā (刘佳). 2005. How far can dialect broadcasting go? – The foundation
of reality and space of development of news programmme in dialects. China Media
Report. Vol. 1.
Xuē, Lín (薛遴). 2005. The choice of dialects in the public realm. China Sociolinguistics. Vol. 1.
Yán, Sù (严肃). 2005. The Sìchuān dialect version of Wánɡ the village head spread all over the
country. Sichuan Daily. 10 March.
Yán, Yìmínɡ (颜逸明), Fàn Kěyù (范可育), Gāo Jiāyīnɡ (高家莺), Xú Lìlì (徐莉莉) and Fèi
Jǐnchānɡ (费锦昌). 2005. An objection to the “suggestion of ‘safeguarding’ Shanghainese”.
China Education Daily. 6 June.
Yú, Sùméi (俞素梅). 2005. Another program in Ningbo dialect is to be broadcast next week.
Nínɡbō (宁波) Evening News. 28 October.
Zhānɡ, Zōnɡtánɡ (张宗堂). 2004. Investigation result: over half the Chinese can communicate
in Putonghua. http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2004-12/26/content_2381671.htm.
26 December.
Zhào, Nánnán (赵楠楠). 2005. TV play “refuses” dialect again and disagreement goes on
in this field. http://news.xinhuanet.com/newmedia/2005-10/14/content_3614978.htm.
14 October.
Zhònɡ, Yán (仲言). 2005. (Are dialects popular in films and TV plays?). http://news.xinhuanet.
com/comments/2005-10/27/content_3688996.htm. 27 October.
 Dialect craze 249

Zhōu, Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生). 2005. A preliminary discussion on the thought of linguistic

concordance. Applied Linguistics. Vol. 3.
Zhōu, Rónɡ (周戎 ) and Hé Qiàn (何茜). 2005. A big change of the Economics channel of
Sìchuān TV. Sìchuān Daily. 1 August.

Translated by Liánɡ Xiǎopénɡ (梁晓鹏)

Qīngdǎo University of Science & Technology
[email protected]
Wánɡ Hónɡméi (王红梅)
21 Controversy in Chinese language
education: Classical or vernacular?
Mènɡ Mù Hall (孟母堂, Hall of the Mother of Mencius), a previously little-
known traditional private school in Shànɡhǎi (上海), received an order of imme-
diate closure on July 17, 2006. Subsequently, heated media reports on the issue
raised widespread social concern. The school propagated “reading the classics,
esteeming Confucius and Mencius, chanting Shakespeare, and practising logic
and maths”. Chinese classics such as The Book of Changes (Yìjīnɡ, 易经), Pupil
Rules (Dìzǐɡuī, 弟子规 ) and The Analects of Confucius (Lúnyǔ, 论语) were
taught, with the recitation of classic texts as its first priority. The ability to read
aloud fluently and to recite, rather than a deep understanding of the content,
was the teaching principle especially promoted by this school. There are a great
many differences of opinion on such old-fashioned educational principles, rang-
ing from praise to suspicion and objection. How to educate children in reading
and reciting the Chinese classics has become a controversial topic, because it
symbolizes the choice between classical literary Chinese and vernacular Chinese.

1 Major events in the controversy

1.1 Debates before 1949
There were two public, large-scale debates about the rivalry between classical
and vernacular Chinese before 1949, in addition to numerous smaller and private
ones. The great debate around the May Fourth Movement in 1919 popularized ver-
nacular in a comprehensive way and eventually led to “the Mandarin Campaign”
(国语运动, Guóyǔ Yùndònɡ). The subsequent debate on “Mass Language” (大众
语文, Dàzhònɡ Yúwén) in the 1930s further consolidated the position of ver-
nacular Chinese, making it closer to the spoken language of the public. Both
great debates ended with the shrinking and retreating of classical literary Chinese.

1.2 The “National Studies1 Boom” starting in the 1990s

Since the 1990s, increasing attention has been paid to classical literary Chinese.
Chinese novelist Cáo Wénxuān (曹文轩) has explored the “dominance of Chinese

1 National studies (Guóxué) refers to the studies of traditional Chinese culture (philosophy,
literature, language, history, etc.).
252 Wánɡ Hónɡméi (王红梅)

literature in the vernacular” in his article “Controversy over classical versus ver-
nacular Chinese revisited”. (Cáo 2000) The year 1992 witnessed the establish-
ment of the Centre for the Study of Traditional Chinese Culture in Peking Univer-
sity and the publication of A Collection of National Studies. On August 16, 1993,
The People’s Daily, one of the CCP’s official newspapers, published a full-page
article entitled “National studies emerging in Peking University”. Two days later,
a signed article, “National studies: returning after a long absence,” came out in
the same newspaper, praising Peking University’s initiatives in national studies
(Chén 2002).

1.3 “The death of Chìtù (赤兔)”2: a composition with

full marks
In July 2001, a composition entitled “The death of Chìtù” was granted full marks
in the College Entrance Examination, which caused a great stir in society. Similar
reports were released by much of the media, calling it “a fine story coming from
the College Entrance Examination Assessment Section of Jiānɡsū (江苏) Province”.
The news narrated in great detail how a candidate wrote his composition in
fluent classical Chinese, won recognition and praise from all the reviewers, and
finally gained full marks. Even Nánjīnɡ (南京) University, known for its rigorous
admission process, agreed on the spot to enroll the student – in an unconven-
tional way. It was discovered that the candidate, Jiǎnɡ Xīnjié (蒋昕捷), had
developed the habit of reading Chinese classics in elementary school. His read-
ing ranged from Water Margin, Journey to the West, to Dream of Red Mansions,
among which Romance of the Three Kingdoms became his favorite – he could
even recite many chapters of it (Zhānɡ 2001). While these reports appeared in
some way inconsistent with the facts, the issue itself has definitely triggered a
new round of controversies over classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese.
In his paper “Classical Chinese vs. vernacular Chinese in contemporary
China”, Chén Pínɡyuán (陈平原) asserted that “the dominance of vernacular in
modern Chinese must be broken.” (Chén 2002) He claimed that both in history
and at the present time, vernacular and classical Chinese have been mutually
absorbing each other, and the border between them has sometimes become
blurred. It is impossible to distinguish between them based on the relative
degree of plainness and clarity of the style. In actual fact, classical Chinese
may sometimes be blurted out easily by people, while vernacular Chinese may

2 Chìtù (赤兔) is a first-rank battle steed in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and “The death of
Chìtù” is a made-up story by a candidate in the College Entrance Examination.
 Controversy in Chinese language education: Classical or vernacular? 253

read awkwardly at times. Seen within the context of the thousand-year develop-
ment of Chinese, the rivalry between literary Chinese and vernacular Chinese is
not mutually-defeating, but more often going in cycles.
Years later, Bì Gēnɡ (毕耕) published an article – “Re-evaluating the rivalry
between classical and vernacular Chinese during the May Fourth Movement”,
arguing that “as two linguistic forms of classical literature, literary and ver-
nacular Chinese had long been supplementing each other and developing in
rise and fall movements.” (Bì 2003)
On 22 April, 2004, two articles with contrasting views appeared in China
Education Daily: “Laying equal stress on literary and vernacular Chinese: turn-
ing the clock backward” by Wánɡ Shànɡwén (王尚文), and “No way back
home without classical Chinese” by Hán Jūn (韩军). The former advocated that
primary and middle school education should give priority to vernacular Chinese,
at the same time teaching an appropriate number of fine classical works in order
to instill an early appreciation of Chinese traditional culture, and to promote
national pride and an interest in further learning. Classical Chinese could be
provided as a selective course if necessary. Hàn’s position, however, was radi-
cally different, claiming that primary and middle school students should pay
equal attention to literary and vernacular Chinese, with the aim of cultivating
cultural roots and laying the foundation of vernacular for people in modern
times. The two articles made a big impact and set off a new round of debates.

1.4 Mènɡ Mù Hall Event

The phase of controversy triggered by “The death of Chìtù” carried on intermit-
tently until the closure of Mènɡ Mù Hall in Shànɡhǎi in 2006, which caused
immense uproar, and made “national studies” and “classics for children” topics
of public concern. The controversy over classical versus vernacular Chinese was
pushed to a new higher level.

2 National studies and children’s reading classics

A reading campaign aimed at children has advocated reading and reciting
ancient books among children under fifteen or sixteen. The materials include
a few basics of Confucianism and Taoism, and even a few associated with
Buddhism.
254 Wánɡ Hónɡméi (王红梅)

2.1 The rise of children’s classics reading campaign and the

“National Studies Boom”
Mènɡ Mù Hall was sponsored by the Shàonán (绍南) Centre for Culture and
Classics Promotion, which was established in May 1999 as a member institution
of the China Confucius Foundation. It primarily served to educate teachers in
the Chinese and English classics, and also produced a variety of teaching mate-
rials for reading classics. Lǚ Lìwěi (吕丽委), founder of the Hall, was once a
representative of Shàonán Centre for Culture and Classics Promotion in Xiàmén
(厦门). The Centre, with offices based in both Xiàmén and Shànɡhǎi, has pro-
moted the classics reading campaign in various places for nearly a decade,
mainly in the form of giving lectures, training teachers, holding forums, and
setting up off-campus training institutions. It has also cooperated with other
ordinary schools, jointly providing model classes of classic reading. The full-
time private school is only one form of the practice, while Mènɡ Mù Hall is
neither the first nor the only one of such schools in China. According to Shàonán
Culture Decade Chronicle, Little Giant Classics Reading School, founded by Wánɡ
Jìnɡdōnɡ (王敬东) in Pínɡyuán (平原) County, Shāndōnɡ (山东) Province in
September, 2000, is recorded as the first classics reading school in Mainland
China. Another private school in Lóudí (娄底), Hunán (湖南) Province began
to promote Chinese classics even as early as February 1998.
“National studies” as an academic term did not emerge in the history of
cultural development until China’s modern age. It is generally believed that
its emergence was closely related to the self-rescue of national culture in the
mid-19th century. After its failure in the Opium War in 1842, China witnessed
the boom of “the oriental spreading of western culture” and “Chinese-style west-
ernization”, which were both intended to resist foreign invasion and make the
country rich and strong. It was in this historical context that the term “National
studies” came into being, which usually refers to the teaching of traditional
Chinese culture and academic thought, and is generally regarded as a rival to
western learning. Its popularity in recent years can be seen from the mushroom-
ing classes all over China, ranging from “experimental classes of national studies”
in universities to the “classic reading movement for children” in modern private
schools. The boom has also led to the spread of “Gentlewomen Schools”, the
Blogosphere of national studies, as well as the selection of National Studies
Masters.
Some more events:
In October 2005, Rénmín (人民) University of China set up a School of
National Studies and started offering corresponding classes;
In November 2005, the Department of Philosophy of Peking University began
to offer classes in “Qiányuán (乾元) Classroom of National Studies” to over
 Controversy in Chinese language education: Classical or vernacular? 255

40 students from among the owners of private enterprises, bank directors or

government officials;
In August 2006, the Department of Philosophy in Fùdàn (复旦) University
announced the opening of the first “Elite National Studies Class” in Shànɡhǎi;
In August 2006, Tsinghua (清华) University declared the start of a “Senior
Seminar (Shànɡhǎi): the Essence of Chinese Culture and Modern Business Strategy”
in October, which raised competition with Fùdàn University in Shànɡhǎi;
Also in October 2005, Júzhāi (菊斋) School, the first modern private school
put up a portrait of Confucius and began to recruit students in Sūzhōu (苏州),
Jiānɡsū province.
In 2006, the first old-style school for preschool children appeared in Wǔhàn
(武汉), Húběi (湖北) province;
In 2006, modern old-style private schools sprang up like mushrooms in
Pínɡjiānɡ (平江) in Húnán (湖南) Province, Nánchānɡ (南昌) in Jiānɡxī (江西)
Province, Xúzhōu (徐州) in Jiānɡsū (江苏) Province, in Chónɡqìnɡ (重庆)
Municipality and other places.

2.2 Popular books of national studies on hot sale

With national studies flourishing in recent years, plenty of popular books on
the topic emerged in the market. “Enlightenment Classics Series of National
Studies” by Qīnɡdǎo (青岛) Publishing House embraces Three-Character Scripture
(三字经), Book of Family Names (百家姓), Thousand-Character Text (千字文),
Pupil Rules (弟子规), The Great Learning (大学), The Doctrine of the Mean
(中庸), The Analects of Confucius (论语), Mencius (孟子), Family Management
Motto (治家格言), Collection of Folk Maxims (Zēnɡ Guǎnɡ Xián Wén, 增广贤文),
Lìwēng’s Rhyme Book (笠翁对韵), and Encyclopedia for Children (Yòu Xué
Qiónɡ Lín, 幼学琼林). A series of 12 books on traditional Chinese culture for
elementary education, published by Higher Education Press, includes 19 Con-
fucian works from the Book of Songs (诗经), Book of Filial Piety (孝经) to The
Analects of Wánɡ Yánɡmínɡ (王阳明) (Chuán Xí Lù, 传习录). Such series are
popular, not only because of their quality of content, but also because of the
current social needs.

2.3 Perspectives of children’s reading classics

Conflicting views on children’s reading classics still exist. Opponents argue that
children have a poor understanding of the classics and their mechanical memor-
izing has no substantial effect in absorbing their essence. However, supporters
believe that it is a positive exploration to incorporate national studies into the
256 Wánɡ Hónɡméi (王红梅)

whole school education, for reading classics not only helps students appreciate
the profundities of ancient Chinese culture, but also benefits their learning
of classical Chinese when they are in middle school. More importantly, these
classics embody profound philosophical notions such as being and doing (Liú
2004).

3 Teaching classical and literary Chinese in

schools
3.1 Learning requirements of classical Chinese from primary
to senior middle school
Classical literary Chinese is an indispensable part of the textbooks of the first
nine years of compulsory education. The guidelines for teaching classical Chinese
in the New Nine-year Compulsory Education Curriculum Standard are as follows:
Stage One (Grades 1–2): reciting a number of children’s songs, nursery
rhymes and simple poems to stimulate the imagination, obtaining an initial emo-
tional experience and an appreciation of the beauty of the Chinese language;
Stage Two (Grades 3–4): reciting 50 beautiful poems and articles, focusing
on the emotional experience in the process of reading;
Stage Three (Grades 5–6): reciting 60 excellent poems and articles, under-
standing the content and the emotions expressed in the works through tone
and rhythm;
Stage Four (Grades 7–9): reciting ancient poems, consciously developing an
appreciation and an aesthetic interest in the process of accumulation, inspira-
tion and application.
Altogether the Standard requires students in Grades 1–6 to recite 160
ancient and modern poems and articles, and students in Grades 7–9 to recite
80 poems and articles, totaling 240 poems (foreign and modern Chinese poems
included).3
The guidelines for classical Chinese in the New Curriculum Standard for
Senior Middle School Chinese textbooks are as follows: understanding simple
classical texts and developing a nascent language sense; cultivating the ability
to understand the meaning of words and texts with the help of notes and refer-
ence books; understanding and distinguishing the meaning and usage of com-
mon content words, function words and sentence patterns in classical Chinese,

3 Course Goal: New Curriculum Standard for Primary School Chinese course. retrieved from
http://221.194.113.1512 on 7-6-2005.
 Controversy in Chinese language education: Classical or vernacular? 257

focusing on analogical capability in reading practice; reading classical poems

and essays aloud fluently, and reciting a number of famous works.4

3.2 The current teaching situation of classical Chinese from

primary to senior middle school
Classical Chinese teaching in primary schools focuses on ancient poems and
short fables. Take the PEP version of Chinese textbooks (six-year programme) as
an example. Two books for Grade 1 contain 5 ancient poems; for Grade 2, 10
poems; for Grade 3, 8 poems and 5 fables; for Grade 4, 10 poems; for Grade 5,
10 poems; for Grade 6, 11 poems, 2 fables, and 3 short essays. Altogether there
are 54 poems and 10 fables to be taught in the six years of study.
The percentage of classical works increases significantly in junior middle
school. In the four versions of the New Curriculum Standard Chinese textbooks,
the percentage is roughly 20% to 40% (see Table 1).

Grade 7 Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 9

Number (1) (2) (1) (2) (1) (2)
Version C M C M C M C M C M C M

PEP version 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20
Yúwén version 10 20 10 20 14 16 10 19 10 19 10 20
Jiānɡsū version 8 24 8 25 9 26 9 24 8 17 8 13
Shànɡhǎi version 12 25 11 25 12 20 14 19 14 17 14 23

Table 1: Number of classical and modern works in the four versions of the New Curriculum
Standard Chinese textbooks for the junior middle school
C for classical works; M for modern works.

The overall percentage of classical works increases again in the senior middle
school. In the five versions of the New Curriculum Standard Chinese textbooks,
the proportion is roughly 25% to 50% (see Table 2).
Classical works in the textbooks for primary and senior middle schools are
selected in accordance with students’ comprehension skills, with an increase
in the number of texts and the degree of difficulty. Thus, classical works for

4 New Curriculum Standard for Senior School Chinese course. retrieved from http://bbs.ht88.
com on 11-3-2005.
258 Wánɡ Hónɡméi (王红梅)

Number Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book 4 Book 5

Version C M C M C M C M C M

PEP version 4 12 8 8 8 8 10 6 4 12
Yúwén version 4 12 8 8 8 8 8 8 4 12
Jiānɡsū version 6 15 4 17 10 16 12 11 6 18
Guǎnɡdōnɡ version 6 13 6 13 6 13 6 13 6 13
Shànɡhǎi version 16 27 14 25 15 28 16 28 12 24

Table 2: Number of classical and modern works in the five versions of the New Curriculum
Standard Chinese textbooks for the senior middle school
C for classical works; M for modern works.

primary schools are relatively few and easy to read. However, in junior and
senior middle schools the number of texts increases along with their length
and difficulty.

3.3 Expert interpretation: the purpose of learning classical

Chinese
Professor Lù Jiǎnmínɡ (陆俭明) from Peking University has stated that the most
important objective in reading classical literary Chinese for primary and middle
school students is to understand the ancient books. If they know nothing about
the profound wisdom of traditional Chinese culture, how can they inherit and
develop it? Not all students are required to master classical Chinese, but the
necessary training can lay a solid foundation for those wishing to conduct
further studies in this area. Moreover, only few classical literary words have
been retained in vernacular Chinese, so it is almost impossible to understand
the classics and obtain an authentic perception of our traditional culture with
only a basic command of modern Chinese (Chén 2006).
Professor Wánɡ Nínɡ (王宁) from Běijīnɡ Normal University, also a consul-
tant for senior middle school Chinese textbooks (Yúwén version) has said that
the vernacular and the classical are necessarily mixed because the vernacular
is the heir of classical Chinese. However, classical and vernacular Chinese
appear at different language stages in history, and therefore the mastery of the
former does not necessarily lead to the acquisition of the latter. Moreover, apart
from the function of promoting modern Chinese learning, classical Chinese has
its own merits in providing insight into our society. It is not only necessary but
urgent as well to teach classical Chinese in basic education. On this issue, there
is no room for any hesitation (Wánɡ 2005).
 Controversy in Chinese language education: Classical or vernacular? 259

Dènɡ Tónɡ (邓彤), a Chinese language teacher from Xuānchénɡ (宣城 )

Middle School, Ānhuī (安徽) Province, also a contract research fellow in the
Institute of Chinese Language Education at Peking University, has shared ideas
with Chinese language teachers from the Middle School Affiliated to Rénmín
University of China. Some acknowledged that classical texts should be selected
for students to read in junior middle school and even in primary school. The aim
is to cultivate students’ language intuitions about classical Chinese, so detailed
linguistic analysis is not necessary. It will do as long as students grasp the
general meaning and keep accumulating knowledge. This will lay a good founda-
tion for those who have interest in and potential talent for the study of classical
Chinese. For those who have little interest in it, this will help them to clear
obstacles in normal communication when they enter society (Chén 2006).

4 Conclusion
Mixed views on and reactions to children’s classics reading in Mènɡ Mù Hall
or elsewhere is in essence a reflection of the controversies over literary Chinese
versus vernacular Chinese.
The emergence of Mènɡ Mù Hall illustrates the attempt by some people,
including a few parents, to blaze a new trail for a more individual approach to
children’s education. The motivation for introducing children to the classics lies
primarily in the hope that they will thus gain access to civilization and pass on
the virtues of Chinese culture, and learn how to conduct themselves in society;
secondly, it also appears to be an attempt to reverse the decline of Chinese lan-
guage teaching. Theoretically speaking, such attempts are necessary, but in
practice, legal support and scientific research should be taken into consideration
as well. There is no point in acting prematurely.

References
Bì Gēnɡ (毕耕). 2003. Re-evaluating the rivalry between classical and vernacular Chinese
during the May Fourth Movement. Guǎnɡxī (广西) Social Sciences, 25 (12).
Cáo Wénxuān (曹文轩). 2000. Controversy over literary and vernacular Chinese revisited.
Digest, (11).
Chén Pínɡyuán (陈平原). 2002. Classical Chinese vs. vernacular Chinese in contemporary
China. Journal of Sun Yatsen (中山) University (Social Science Edition), 42 (3).
Chén Xiānɡ (陈香). 2006. Should primary and middle school students stay away from classical
Chinese? China Reading Weekly. 28 April.
260 Wánɡ Hónɡméi (王红梅)

Hán Jūn (韩军). 2004. No way back home without classical Chinese. China Education Daily.
22 April.
Liú Xiǎodōnɡ (刘晓东). 2004. Argue with Mr. Nán Huáijǐn (南怀瑾): Against the Movement of
Children’s Reciting Ancient Chinese Classics. Journal of Nánjīnɡ Normal University (Social
Science Edition), (3).
Wánɡ Nínɡ (王宁). 2005. Classical and vernacular Chinese: classical Chinese teaching in
middle schools. Language Teaching and Research, (3).
Wánɡ Shànɡwén (王尚文 ). 2004. Laying equal stress on literary and vernacular Chinese:
turning the clock backward. China Education Daily. 22 April.
Zhānɡ Lín (张琳). 2001. A full-mark college-Entrance-Examination composition: Ten-year
reading efforts for a composition in elegant classical Chinese. Beijing Youth Daily.
23 July.

Translated by Fāng Xiǎobīnɡ (方小兵)

Nánjīnɡ Xiǎozhuānɡ University
[email protected]
Xú Shìxuán (徐世璇)
22 Language endangerment
The phenomenon of language endangerment and extinction has recurrently
taken place throughout history without arousing much public awareness and
concern. Nowadays, under the impact of increasing economic globalization,
languages are dying off on such a large scale and at such a rapid pace that
language endangerment has reached an unprecedented level of historical severity.
More and more languages are being reduced to the verge of extinction. There-
fore, recently, language endangerment has aroused growing and intense public
concern.

1 Situations of language endangerment in China

China, as a unified multi-ethnic nation with a splendid traditional culture, has a
great wealth of linguistic resources. It is no other than the linguistic and cultural
diversity that characterizes the richness and grandeur of Chinese civilization.
However, in China as well as in other parts of the world at large, languages
are dying and facing the threat of extinction. A number of ethnic languages
and local dialects are vanishing from our life in an imperceptible way. Several
examples are the following:
Manchu (满语), once spoken by the Manchus (满族), is a language belong-
ing to the Manchu branch of the Manchu-Tungusic group, Altaic family. Nowadays,
only about 100 people in remote villages in Fùyù (富裕) County and Hēihé (黑河)
City of Hēilónɡjiānɡ (黑龙江) Province can understand Manchu. Among them,
many can not speak this language except for some 50 elderly people.
Hezhen (赫哲语), also a language belonging to the Manchu branch of the
Manchu-Tungusic group, Altaic family, is spoken by the Hezhen ethnic group
who are scattered in such counties/cities as Tónɡjiānɡ (同江), Jiāmùsī (佳木斯),
Ráohé (饶河), Fǔyuǎn (抚远) of Hēilónɡjiānɡ Province. At present, only a dozen
people aged 60 and over are competent in Hezhen for communicative purposes.
And there are no more than 50 Hezhen speakers, counting those who can speak
a little bit of this language.
Shē (畲语), a language spoken by the Shē ethnic group, belongs to the Shē
branch of the Miao-Yao group, Sino-Tibetan family. Today, there are only approxi-
mately 1500 people who still speak this language, spreading over counties such
as Bóluó (博罗), Huìdōnɡ (惠东), Zēnɡchénɡ (增城 ), Hǎifēnɡ (海丰) in Guǎnɡ-
dōnɡ (广东) Province.
262 Xú Shìxuán (徐世璇)

Tatar (塔塔尔语), a language belonging to the Western Huns branch of

the Turkic group, Altaic family, is the mother tongue of the Tatar ethnic group.
Fewer than 1000 of its speakers are scattered throughout the Xīnjiānɡ (新疆)
Uygur (维吾尔) Autonomous Region.
Oroqen (鄂伦春语), the native tongue of the Oroqen ethnic group, belongs
to the Tungusic branch of the Manchu-Tungusic group, Altaic family. Most Oroqens
now settle in the Oroqen Autonomous Banner1 in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region and the city of Hēihé in Hēilónɡjiānɡ Province. At present, only several
hundred people are speaking Oroqen. And even in the Oroqen settlements and
communities where people are supposed to use this language most frequently,
young Oroqens under 20 can hardly understand and speak it – a sign indicating
the absence of intergenerational transmission.
Apart from the above-mentioned languages, other minority languages in
China facing the grave threat of endangerment include Pǔbiāo yǔ (普标语),
Xiāndǎo yǔ (仙岛语), Kānɡjiā yǔ (康家语), Ānónɡ yǔ (阿侬语), Dárànɡ yǔ
(达让语), Gémàn yǔ (格曼语), Bìsū yǔ (毕苏语), Sānɡkǒnɡ yǔ (桑孔语).
Additionally, quite a few Chinese dialects are also in danger of dying out.
Examples are the following:
Shē dialect (畬话): This dialect is spoken by part of the Shē people scattered
in mountainous areas in southern Zhèjiānɡ (浙江) Province, northern Fújiàn
(福建) Province, and northern Guǎnɡdōnɡ Province. Under the strong pressures
from the neighbouring Wú and Mǐn dialects such as the Teochew (潮州) sub-
dialect, more and more native Shē speakers have begun to abandon their native
tongue and use another predominant Chinese dialect in their local areas.
Dànjiā dialect (疍家话): Dànjiā denotes boat-dwellers in provinces such as
Guǎnɡdōnɡ, Hǎinán (海南), Húnán (湖南) and Guǎnɡxī (广西) Zhuànɡ (壮)
Autonomous Region in China. Their vernacular, also commonly known as Dànjiā,
has a unique mixture of their lifestyle and social status. Since the 1950s, the
number of Dànjiā speakers has been declining sharply while more and more
Dànjiā people are choosing to bid farewell to their old living and adopt a new
life on land instead of on boats.
Zhènɡ dialect (正话): Speakers of Zhènɡ dialect are scattered in some of the
remotest villages in a narrow area in northern Diànbái (电白) County, Guǎnɡ-
dōnɡ Province. Although there are currently more than 6,000 people who can
speak this dialect, all of them are virtually bilingual in Zhènɡ dialect and some
other dominant dialect in the area. Even in those villages where Zhènɡ dialect
is mostly used, it is no longer a privileged language – communication there
generally alternates between this and other dialects.

1 ‘Banner’ is an administrative division of the county level.

 Language endangerment 263

Further, other dialects on the path to extinction include Military dialect

(军话), whose speakers are scattered in such provinces as Guǎnɡdōnɡ, Hǎinán,
Fújiàn and Guǎnɡxī Zhuànɡ Autonomous Region; Dānzhōu dialect (儋州话),
which once was popular in Dān (儋) County and Chānɡjiānɡ (昌江) Lí (黎)
Autonomous County of Hǎinán Province; Station dialect (站话), once widely
spoken along the ancient courier route in Hēilónɡjiānɡ Province; and Línɡ
dialect (伶话) in Zīyuán (资源) County and Lónɡshènɡ (龙胜) Multi-ethnic
Autonomous County of Guǎnɡxī Zhuànɡ Autonomous Region.
All these endangered languages and dialects are of immense academic
importance in that they preserve some unique features of ancient languages
and embody precious cultural values. If these languages die out, it will be an
irretrievable loss to both Chinese culture and human civilization.

2 Research highlights
During the 1990s, studies on language endangerment came under the spotlight
for international linguistic circle. They gained extensive publicity around the
world when the linguistic academia, the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the international community launched
a series of programmes in this area.
Chinese linguists have also been paying attention to languages/dialects
whose social and communicative functions are severely crippled with ever-fewer
speakers. After the 1980s, the work of language survey and documentation of
some rarely-spoken languages, previously conducted by individual researchers,
has been taken over by consciously organized researches when the accelerating
trend of language endangerment began to manifest itself. Research projects
were launched in succession to survey, document and analyze the rarely-spoken
languages in an extensive and systematic way. For example, the Dictionary Series
on China’s Minority Languages2 and a Book Series on China’s Newly Identified Lan-
guages3 were compiled and published. Researchers also analyzed the language
structures and social functions of some dying languages, and documented their

2 Over 10 dictionaries have been published for the Dictionary Series on China’s Minority
Languages since 1990s, and more are expected. There is no editor-in-chief responsible for the
entire Series. The compilation of these dictionaries was taken up by different compilers, and
they were published by Sìchuān Ethnic Publishing House in Chénɡdū and The Ethnic Publishing
House in Běijīnɡ.
3 Book Series on China’s Newly Identified Languages, edited by Sūn Hónɡkāi (孙宏开) and Xú
Shìxuán (徐世璇), has been published by Shànɡhǎi Far-east Press, Press of China University of
Nationalities and The Ethnic Publishing House in Běijīnɡ since 1996, and more are expected.
264 Xú Shìxuán (徐世璇)

sounds, vocabularies and grammars. Also, some follow-up surveys on the use of
such languages were conducted to collect evidence and samples for a theoretical
exploration of the cause, process and patterns of language extinction.
However, academic opinions were divided on the concept of “endangered
languages” when it was firstly introduced to Chinese scholars, and thus created
confusion in some aspects. For example: Is it justified to assert that fewer lan-
guages and dialects would better serve the modern society? Should there be a
dichotomy between modernization and language/culture diversity? Should the
progress of society be achieved at the cost of traditional languages and cultures?
Should we just stand by and leave languages to themselves, since it is supposed
to be the right of the concerned ethnic group to decide the fate of their language
of their own free will? In the late 1990s, linguists in China, with a more insight-
ful understanding of the issue, reached broad consensus that it was an unavoid-
able duty and of profound significance to carry out studies on and document
endangered languages.
From December 1996 to September 1998, linguists from Hong Kong (香港)
and the mainland of China cooperated in a project called “Endangered Languages
in Southern China” – the first project focusing on this issue to which the term
“endangered languages” was attached. In 1998, the project “Researches on
Endangered Languages in Southwest China” funded by the Humanities and
Social Sciences Foundation, Ministry of Education, was launched to document
Gēlǎo (仡佬), Bùyānɡ (布央), Bùɡàn (布干), Hù (户) languages. This was the
first project funded by the Chinese government for surveys and researches on
endangered languages, a sign indicating growing official concern about language
endangerment.
From 1999 to 2000, more than 80 linguists and native ethnic language
speakers nationwide (from Běijīnɡ as well as other parts of China), at the request
of UNESCO and supported by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC) and
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), have completed the standardized
UNESCO questionnaire for the Report on World Languages. This project provided
an opportunity to look into the situations of 82 languages in China and reflected
the latest developments about their use.
In October 2000, the “Seminar on Endangered Languages in China” was
convened in Běijīnɡ, the first academic meeting in China on this issue. Despite
its small size, this meeting, which heralded this type of study’s formal initiation
into the Chinese academic world, was a milestone in China’s studies on lan-
guage endangerment.
In November 2001, Bīnwēi yǔyán yánjiū (Study on Language Endangerment)
(Xú 2001), China’s first theoretical exploration on this issue, was published. In
this groundbreaking book, the author made comprehensive analyses and elabo-
rations on language endangerment, provided a wealth of information on the
 Language endangerment 265

international linguistic profession and UN organizations, and put forward con-

structive proposals in line with China’s practical conditions for coping with
language endangerment. This work has promoted the development of this kind
of study in China.
In February 2004, near the UNESCO International Mother Language Day
(February 21), a series of articles focusing on language endangerment and extinc-
tion in China appeared in newspapers and magazines, such as China Youth
Daily, China Business Newspaper/News Weekly, Běijīnɡ Science and Technology
News, and Běijīnɡ Today. This was the first time that the Chinese media included
the notion of “language endangerment” and reported the situation of China’s
endangered languages to the public.
On 26 July 2004, Yánɡ Guānɡ (杨光), Director of the Division of Language
Application Management, Ministry of Education, delivered at the 89th Universal
Esperanto Congress an important speech entitled “Language equality and diver-
sity: Goal and situation of human civilization” – China’s official stance on the
issue of language/culture diversity was firstly clarified in this speech. It holds
the opinion that the trend of economic globalization should stay in tune and
coordination with cultural diversity; equality and diversity of languages/cultures
should be respected and promoted in this general scenario of economic global-
ization; and, China pledges to assume important responsibility in protecting the
linguistic and cultural diversity of mankind.
Thereafter, a succession of research projects on language endangerment was
launched by such institutions as the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology
of CASS, China University of Nationalities and the Institute of Ethnic Affairs of
Hēilónɡjiānɡ Province. Researchers conducted field work, carried out descriptive
studies, and made statistical analysis of the situations of the endangered lan-
guages and dialects. In this way, large amounts of valuable materials and data
on the current situations of these languages were collected.
At present, the Chinese linguistic circle is attaching great importance to the
study of language endangerment which has come under an academic spotlight
for contemporary scholars. They have reached consensus on the severity of
language endangerment and gained increasingly deeper understanding of the
relationship between language endangerment and protection of traditional cultures
and language diversity. Research projects aiming to document and preserve the
data of endangered languages have been carried out at different levels in vari-
ous areas. The stepped-up efforts in pragmatic researches are a sign that Chinese
scholars are striving to catch up with international study in this field. A new and
important area in linguistic research is beginning to unfold, attracting a growing
number of scholars in ethnic languages and Chinese dialects to this calling.
266 Xú Shìxuán (徐世璇)

3 Research projects
3.1 UNESCO-funded project “Documentation of Endangered
Languages in China”
This UNESCO project, initiated in 2002, is to conduct surveys on the situations of
the ethnic languages currently in use in China, evaluate the severity of their
endangerment, and record the vocal sounds, words/expressions, grammars and
natural speech of these languages. It is expected that a comprehensive report for
every language surveyed will be produced with the ethnic history, situation of
each language, the geographic distribution of its speakers, the cause of en-
dangerment and the possible preventative measures against endangerment. In
addition, a book of the general profile of its structure and system, and a corpus
of audio recordings consisting of the daily words/expressions, illustrative ex-
amples of grammar, natural speech and long stories is also expected. During
the past years, scholars have completed the survey and documentation of the
following languages: the dying Manchu language in northeastern Hēilónɡjiānɡ
Province (2002), the Shē language only spoken in counties such as Huìdōnɡ,
Hǎifēnɡ of Guǎnɡdōnɡ Province (2002), the Tǔjiā (土家) language in western
Húnán Province (2003), the Ānónɡ language in border areas of northwestern
Yúnnán (云南) Province (2003), the Yùɡù (裕固) language in western Gānsù
(甘肃) Province (2003), and the Lājiā (拉伽) language in Guǎnɡxī Zhuànɡ
Autonomous Region (2004). Additionally, in 2005, surveys and documentation
of the Ěrsū (尔苏) language used by some Tibetans in western Sìchuān (四川)
Province and of Hezhen in border areas of northeastern Hēilónɡjiānɡ Province
were also carried out.

3.2 CASS-funded key project “Research on Endangered

Languages and Dialects in China” (A-class)
This project, started in 2002, aimed to conduct surveys and researches on some
endangered minority languages and Chinese dialects. The surveys of the Chinese
dialects focus on the following aspects: (1) geographic distribution of the dialect
surveyed and other dialects spoken around the area; (2) the use of the language;
(3) features in its sounds, words and grammar; (4) phonology and homophonous
character table; (5) illustrative examples indicating the universality/uniqueness
of the grammar; (6) classified glossaries; (7) natural language data including
riddles, proverbs, folk songs, folk legends, lyrics and lines of traditional Chinese
 Language endangerment 267

drama; and, (8) relevant literature/documents. Up to 2005, three sub-projects,

respectively on the study of Military dialect, Station dialect and Zhènɡ dialect,
have been completed.

3.3 “Preservation of China’s Traditional Folk Culture” –

a project supported by the Ministry of Culture
The focus of this project is to document and preserve China’s folk music, folklore
and other forms of traditional cultures. Two sub-projects are devoted to linguistic
researches on Oroqen and Yùɡù. The former language is spoken in the northeast
of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and a few counties/cities in the adjacent
Hēilónɡjiānɡ Province, while the latter is spoken in western Gānsù Province.

3.4 “Speech Corpus of Endangered Minority Languages in

China” – a “211” and “985” project of the Ministry of
Education
A speech database is expected to be established on the basis of a corpus of 4000
words and 800 sentences illustrative of its grammar. In 2005, the tasks of field
work, data collection, phonetic transcription, Chinese translation and data entry
were completed for languages such as Manchu, Hezhen, Lónɡshān (龙山) Tǔjiā
and Gēlǎo.

3.5 “Case Studies of Endangered Languages in Guǎnɡxī

Zhuànɡ Autonomous Region” – a key project supported
by the National Social Sciences Foundation (2004)
This project consists of four sub-projects involving the surveys and documenta-
tion of four endangered languages in Guǎnɡxī, namely Wǔsè (五色), Lājiā, Jīnɡ
(京), Máonán (毛南) languages, all of which are seldom used and spoken at
present. In 2005, researchers conducted field surveys and recorded first-hand
linguistic data, including daily expressions, illustrative examples of grammar,
folklore and folk songs. The current situations of these languages in their uses
and underlying socio-economic forces and backgrounds were also under careful
study. The field work and relevant literature have provided useful clues about
the history and traditional customs of the ethnic groups surveyed. A number of
268 Xú Shìxuán (徐世璇)

exploratory, while insightful, works and researches were published, such as: (1)
a survey on the endangered Wǔsè language – current situations and causes of
endangerment, (2) a study on the variations of Jīnɡ language, (3) an investiga-
tion into the vitality of Máonán language, and, (4) a comparative analysis of
quantifiers in Máonán and Chinese.

3.6 “Study on the Synchronic Structure of Manchu and

Hezhen” – a project funded by the National Social
Sciences Foundation (2005)
This project focuses on two endangered languages – Manchu and Hezhen – in
Hēilónɡjiānɡ Province. Researchers collected and analyzed data studying the
synchronic structure of these two languages in a systematical way so as to
provide, at great length, a panoramic view of their linguistic systems.

3.7 “Researches on Endangered Languages in Southwest

China” – a project supported by the Humanities and
Social Sciences Foundation, Ministry of Education (1998)
This project is devoted to the study of four endangered languages belonging to
the Gēyānɡ (仡央) branch of the Zhuànɡ-Dònɡ (壮侗) language group, namely
Gēlǎo, Bùyānɡ, Bùɡàn and Hù language. After final review and assessment in
2005, the fruits of this effort will be attested to by a rewarding book (a namesake
of the project) of approximately 500,000 words, containing a general descrip-
tion of the languages, some comparative studies and a glossary appendix. Also,
a speech corpus is going to be published.

3.8 Two international programmes

Two international sub-programmes are being carried out under the “Endangered
Languages Documentation Programme” supported by the Lisbet Rausing Chari-
table Fund and administrated by the School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London. The “Endangered Languages Documentation Programme”
is the most extensive and influential global collaborative project of its kind in
the world. Started in 2003, it aims to document and archive, within ten years,
the world’s critically endangered languages by means of audio, video, and text
 Language endangerment 269

documentation. The two sub-programmes carried out by Chinese scholars are

“Documentation of the Southern Tǔjiā Language of China” and a post-doctoral
project on “Documentation and Comparative Study of two Endangered Languages
in Tibet: Wǔtún huà (五屯话), Dào huà (倒话)4 ”. The researches will be deposited
in the archives of China’s academic institutions, local archives and the University
of London. These two international linguistic projects are granted to Chinese
scholars after application and several rounds of intense competition, and will
be undertaken and completed by them independently.
In addition, the project “Comparative Case Studies on China’s Endangered
Languages” supported by the National Social Sciences Foundation, was granted
in 2001. One of the achievements of this effort – Zhōnɡɡuó bīnwēi yǔyán ɡè’àn
yánjiū (Case Studies on China’s Endangered Languages), edited by Dài Qìnɡxià,
was published by The Ethnic Publishing House in 2004.

4 Research prospects
China’s 55 ethnic minorities speak over 100 distinctive languages, among which
minor languages (languages spoken by a very small number of people) account
for a majority of all these languages. Compared with major languages (languages
of numerous speakers), minor languages are found in a disadvantageous and
marginalized position in terms of their social domain and communicative func-
tions, which results in obvious, while objective, disparities between these two.
During the process of globalization and urbanization, it seems to be an inevitable
and irreversible tendency that some marginalized languages, threatened by the
dominant language(s) in the area, would be gradually dying off and even driven
to extinction. According to concerned statistics in the late 1980s and 1990s, the
numbers of speakers of half of China’s languages are decreasing over the past
ten years.
Therefore, linguists will face a long-term task of documenting and preserving
these endangered languages and dialects. And, the study of language endanger-
ment will remain an area of research priority and emphasis. The linguistic
academia will be faced with a number of new challenges arising from language
endangerment, such as studies on changing relationships in the use of languages,
causes and the process of language endangerment, controllable variables in
the decline of languages, possibilities to slow down the process of language

4 Both Wǔtún huà and Dào huà are isolated linguistic islands within the vast Tibetan-speaking
area. Dào huà is spoken by approximately 2,600 people in eastern Tibet, and Wǔtún huà is
spoken by about 2000 people in north-eastern Tibet.
270 Xú Shìxuán (徐世璇)

endangerment, and structural and systematic variations and characteristics in

language decline and endangerment. We should create national language corpora
and databases, and try our utmost to document the disappearing languages by
combining expertise and technical resources in order to preserve China’s precious
cultural legacy.

Reference
Xú Shìxuán (徐世璇). 2001. Bīnwēi yǔyán yánjiū (Study on Language Endangerment). Běijīnɡ:
Press of China University of Nationalities.

Translated by Gě Yànhónɡ (葛燕红)

Nánjīnɡ University
[email protected]
Jí Chuánbō (汲传波)
23 The craze for English1
The year 2005 witnessed a craze for English among Chinese citizens, and it was
also a controversial topic concerning the language situation in China. It has
been estimated that there are 350 million English learners nationwide from a
variety of institutions, including both students from schools, colleges and uni-
versities as well as other members of society. This number is equal to the total
population of the U.S., Britain, and Canada (Zhānɡ Zhōnɡxiá 2005). This raises
a number of questions. How to analyze such a language situation? Is English
learning overheated in China or is it not overheated enough? This article will
make an introduction to and an analysis of this topic.

1 A brief introduction
1.1 English learning and examinations in China
A survey by the British Culture Association demonstrates that the past decade
saw two billion English learners and 3 billion people who were literate in
English around the world. There are three times as many English speakers from
non-English-speaking countries as those from English-speaking countries. In
Asia alone, 350 million people can communicate in English, a number that totals
the populations of three countries (the U.S., Britain and Canada); and in China,
approximately 100 million children are studying English (Yú Pínɡ 2005). Among
speakers of English, non-native speakers outnumber native speakers in a pro-
portion of 3:1. This is an unprecedented occurrence as indicated by David
Graddol, who points out that English-as-Second-Language speakers have now
outnumbered English-as-native-language speakers (Zhānɡ Zhōnɡxiá 2005).
When it comes to English examinations, examinees who attended the College
English Test (CET) Band 4 and Band 6 from 1987 through 2004 totaled more than
11 million. In a sense, the CET can be regarded as the single-subject test with the
most examinees among all the courses around the world (Wú Qǐdí 2005).

1.2 College English Education Reform

The College English Teaching Reform is an important component of the Project
for Education Quality and Education Reform in Institutions of High Learning,

1 As for the references in this article, the full names of all the relevant authors are listed in the
brackets at the end of each reference for many authors have the same family name. For
instance, (Zhānɡ Zhōnɡxiá 2005) and (Zhānɡ Xīnshènɡ 2005) are listed.
272 Jí Chuánbō (汲传波)

and is designed to develop students’ ability to use English in a comprehensive

way. This reform, under the guidance of the Ministry of Education of China
(MOE), has been implemented three ways since 2002:

(1) Syllabus redesign

The former syllabus for college English has been redesigned and been replaced
with the College English Curriculum Requirements. The former syllabus was
oriented to students’ reading comprehension while the later towards students’
ability to use English in a comprehensive way with a focus on listening and
speaking.

(2) Reform of teaching modes

A teacher-centred teaching mode using such materials as textbook, chalk and
blackboards has been replaced with a new teaching mode which incorporates
computer networks together with courseware and which focuses on learners’
individual needs and motivations in studying so as to construct a brand-new
language assessment mode that may keep pace with the times.

(3) Evaluation and assessment reform

An evaluation and assessment reform has been carried out in college English
teaching. In order to carry out the reform, a special research project was set up
by MOE in February, 2003, called the College English Curriculum Requirements
Project as a result of which the College English Curriculum Requirements (For
Trial Implementation) was released in January, 2004 and four sets of College
English Teaching Courseware were developed by MOE. Such courseware is
based on network and multimedia technology. In February, 2004, the College
English Curriculum Requirements were implemented as a trial reform in more
than 180 institutions of higher learning together with the four sets of course-
ware. To date, 30 million yuan has been invested in the reform of college English
teaching by the MOE and preliminary achievements have been made.

1.3 Bilingual Education2 (Chinese and English) in schools at

all levels
Recently, bilingual education has been advocated in schools at all levels: kinder-
garten, primary schools and institutions of higher learning in China. In the
economically developed regions such as Běijīnɡ and Shànɡhǎi, such advocacy

2 Here Bilingual Education (Chinese and English) means that English is the dominant language
in the classroom in China and it is different from bilingual education in a scientific sense. The
choice of this term in the article does not indicate the writer’s reflection on this concept but
caters for public opinion on this concept in China.
 The craze for English 273

cannot be overemphasized. For example, according to the demands made in

the document An Outline of Strategic Action Planning of the Shànɡhǎi Municipal
Government for China’s Entry into WTO (Shànɡhǎi Municipal Government 2000),
in 2002, the Shànɡhǎi Education Committee developed a plan entitled Increased
Emphasis on Foreign Language Education in both Elementary and Senior Middle
Schools (Shànɡhǎi Committee of Education 2001) to meet the demands of
advanced students in both English and other fields. In this document an idea
was put forward that more effort should be made to establish about 100 bilin-
gual schools. By the year 2004, in Shànɡhǎi bilingual education experiments
had been carried out in 260 schools (elementary schools or middle schools,
plus 17 kindergartens). This experiment has involved 42 courses and research
projects, 2,100 staff members and 45,000 learners. All these efforts mark the
successful beginning of bilingual education in China.
When it comes to institutions of higher learning, on August 17, 2001 the MOE
issued The Notice of Guidelines for Improving the Bachelors Education Quality in
Institutions of Higher Learning (MOE 2001). This document has pointed out that
in bachelors programs, great efforts should be made to deliver lectures in English
in both common courses and specialized courses. The document also states that
courses about new technologies, such as Biotechnology and Information Tech-
nology, should be high on the list of priorities in terms of delivery of lectures in
English. This also holds true for courses on finance and law that are beneficial
for China’s adaptation to trade practices following its entry to the WTO. Such
attempts may help courses delivered in English in institutions of higher learning
to account for 5–10% of the curriculum in three years. To achieve this goal is
very difficult for some colleges which do not have qualified staff members or
other relevant conditions, but tentative measures can be taken. For instance, in
some classrooms, English language textbooks can be used while teachers give
lectures in Chinese. Through practices such as this, the goal of teaching 5–10%
of the curriculum in English may be achieved gradually. As a result of such ini-
tiatives, some measures have been taken in some institutions of higher learning
to promote the development of bilingual education. A good case in point is to
entitle teachers to less teaching work if they deliver their lectures in English so
as to encourage them to take on more bilingual courses.

1.4 Education expenses for child learners of English

A recent survey of parents whose children range in age from 0 to 12 from the
consumption-oriented metropolises of Běijīnɡ (北京), Shànɡhǎi (上海), Guǎnɡ-
zhōu (广州), Chénɡdū (成都) and Xī’ān (西安) was undertaken by the Meiland
Information Company located in Běijīnɡ. The survey showed that of all the
274 Jí Chuánbō (汲传波)

expenses for children, 10–20% were for their education and more than 50% of
those were for learning English. To take Běijīnɡ as an example, the total number
of children aged 0–6 was 400,000, of whom 240,000 were city residents. The
English learning expenses for those city children averaged between 50 to 100
yuan per month or 600 to 1,200 yuan annually. That is to say, these city children
aged 0–6 will spend 140 million to 280 million yuan on English learning every
year (Lǐ Lì 2003). Today, such figures must be soaring.

2 Hot issues in debate

2.1 English examinations

2.1.1 Criticism of CET Band-4 and Band-6

Strong criticism against CET Band-4 and Band-6 indicates that such tests are a
bane of both the country and the people, or like a harassment of the people and
a waste of money. Such criticism can be found in Yánɡ Àixiánɡ’s article Strong
Criticism Against the College English Testing System (2003)3 which is full of vitriol
against such test.
Two professors from Fùdàn (复旦) University and Shànɡhǎi International
University respectively have suggested that CET Band-4 and Band-6 should be
cancelled because English learning has been the focus of many students of dif-
ferent majors in institutions of higher learning. What is more, many colleges and
universities have stipulated that students must attain certificates for Band-4 or
Band-6 before they get their diplomas. Such regulation is unfair. Consequently,
English as a tool enabling people to get information has been paid undue atten-
tion (Cáo Yì 2005).
Such fierce criticism appears to result from three factors: (1) it takes learners
an excessive amount of time to study English; (2) the certificate of CET Band-4 is
a prerequisite for a diploma; and (3) students study English just for passing the
examination but have poor English communicative competence in practice.
However, every coin has two sides. Some scholars in China take a positive
attitude towards CET Band-4 and Band-6. For example, Lǐ Xiùlì (李秀丽) of

3 This article consists of four parts, namely: 1) College English Test-A Bane of the Country and
the People; 2) Public English Test System-A Failure: A Special Interview with Professor Yán
Zhōnɡzhì (严忠志), Dean of School of International Law and Commerce at Sìchuān (四川)
International Studies University; 3) What on Earth is the Use of English? 4) An Overseas
Student’s Experience: Russian Students Choose Their Favorite Languages to Study.
 The craze for English 275

Tsinghua University has pointed out that “compared with other examinations,
CET is renowned for its qualified examination board members and carefully
polished battery”. Other scholars maintain that it is of little significance to talk
about the cancellation of Band-4 or Band-6 because society needs an English
proficiency evaluation system that is acceptable to the majority of people. In
China, special attention has always been given to the first stage of selecting
talented personnel though screening and Band-4 or Band-6 certificates play a
vital role in initial recruitment in some businesses and organizations (Lóu Xiào-
xiào 2005).
Yánɡ Huìzhōnɡ (杨惠中) of Shànɡhǎi Jiāotōnɡ (交通) University has asserted
that many test entrants who failed in Band-4 or Band-6 would complain a lot
about the test itself and what is worse, some people would be just as vehement
attacking the college English as the CET Band-4 and Band-6 (cited in Lǐ Xuělín &
Lù Jìnɡfě 2004).

2.1.2 Reform of the English examinations

Given that there has been much criticism of Band-4 and Band-6, reforms have
been introduced in English testing. For example, Xiè Kèchānɡ (谢克昌), a mem-
ber of the National Political Consultative Committee of China (NPCCC), pointed
out that a reform should be undertaken of the compulsory English testing
system for entrance examinations at all levels in China so as to help students
find their correct position, and this should also be the basic guideline for rele-
vant education departments and personnel bureaus at all levels in China to
reform the English education system at that time (Xiè Kèchānɡ 2005). Professor
Gù Hǎibīnɡ (顾海兵) of Rénmín University of China believed that governments
at all levels in China should not involve themselves just as administrators of the
Foreign Language Examinations for Professional Titles (FLEPT) and the Foreign
Language Proficiency Tests (FLPTs). Gù also believed that we should not ignore
the importance of foreign languages; we should merely get rid of the system in
which foreign language plays an overwhelmingly important role in everything.
Gù admitted that sometimes governments at all levels are overstepping their
role for they themselves administer the FLEPT or the FLPTs; that they are lack-
ing in this role because they do not have relevant laws and regulations about
English testing. Their position as administrators is tricky: it is like having a foot-
ball match in which they are the players, the coach and referee simultaneously.
Gù argues that what they should do is emphasize the role the market has played
in the recruitment of talented personnel (Gù Hǎibīnɡ 2004).
276 Jí Chuánbō (汲传波)

Wú Qǐdí (吴启迪), former deputy minister of the MOE, has argued that since
CET Band-4/6 has been in good shape for 17 years and developed steadily, we
may conclude that this testing system has met all social needs (Wú Qǐdí 2005).
However, she also says that because of a variety of factors, undue social atten-
tion has been paid to the CET Band-4/6. For instance, some institutions of
higher learning require that students pass the CET certificates before they can
receive their diploma and some businesses and other organizations regard this
certificate as one of the requirements that potential employees have to fulfill.
Recently, a reform has been implemented of the CET Band 4/6. Great expecta-
tions have been placed on such reform by netizens (internet users). For example,
a survey by Sina Net demonstrated that as of May 26 2005, 1,780 participants
(52.32% of all surveyed) expressed concern about the subject, with the hope
that the CET should take on a new form and that it should not have so much
emphasis placed upon it; 852 participants (25.33%) believed that any reform
was just superficial and would have little impact on them; 398 participants
(11.83%) thought that the reform would be unfair to members of society other
than students; 354 participants (10.52%) thought that they were not accustomed
to the new form of CET because it was very difficult for them to prepare for the
test in the new form.4 With the reform being expanded, it is worth thinking
further how English testing in both primary school and middle school is linked
to that in college or in university.
Learners’ craze for English has just shifted from “studying English for the
test” to “studying English for practice”. The College English teaching reform
has redesigned its English syllabus. The former syllabus was aimed at improv-
ing students’ reading comprehension while the objective of the new one is to
develop students’ ability to use English in a comprehensive way, especially in
listening and speaking. The syllabus reform has had a tremendous impact on
English training and learning. For example, after interviewing 1,500 subjects
respectively from 8 cities (amongst them Běijīnɡ, Shànɡhǎi, Wǔhàn, Guǎnɡzhōu,
Xī’ān), a survey made by the Institute of China Social Survey showed that sub-
jects enrolled on the English program attend the training out of a increasing
variety of needs: 42.7% for improving their ability to use English; 25.7% for
enriching their knowledge; 26.4% for employment or work; 28% for making
friends from a larger circle, or for traveling abroad, or for personal interest; but
only 12.2% for attending the exam – a dramatic decrease from the past (Wánɡ
Yúkūn & Zhēn Xiǎoyàn 2005).

4 Retrieved from http://edu.sina.com.cn/exam/2005-05-24/170433304.html on 24-5-2005.

 The craze for English 277

2.2 Issues of “safeguarding Chinese”

2.2.1 Two contrastive views

The slogan “safeguarding Chinese” has been echoed by many people. Chinese
linguist Mǎ Qìnɡzhū (马庆株) asserted that “safeguarding Chinese means to
safeguard our motherland for Chinese has been threatened by English in terms
of its purity and its usual dominant position in China. What is worse, China has
lost its language sovereignty” (2004a). Gěnɡ Yínpínɡ (耿银平) has also pointed
out that it is indisputable that Chinese had been overlooked and been used care-
lessly. English education around China has involved the longest length of study
of all the disciplines in the education system for a diplomas (2005). Hénɡ Shā
(恒沙) (2004) maintained that some Chinese citizens have such a complex about
“English first” that it is the Chinese language that needs special attention. Wánɡ
Lìchénɡ (王立成) has once pointed out that “safeguarding Chinese” is, in its
deepest sense, to safeguard the culture hidden beneath the language. Such pro-
tection results in the self-respect of our own culture and the discarding of the
blind worship of a foreign culture or a new culture. Only by so doing can we
absorb original thoughts and creative ideas (Wánɡ Lìchénɡ 2005).
Proponents of “safeguarding Chinese” hold that English has now in its
unique way squeezed out Chinese learning in China. A survey made by Sina
Net showed that 88% of 5,000 subjects held that “college students’ Chinese
proficiency has declined as a whole. More importance should be attached to
Chinese learning compared with learners’ craze for English” (Táng Yǒnɡlín &
Xiè Yánɡ 2005). Zhānɡ dé’èr (张德二), a member of the NPCCC and also the
chief expert with the China National Meteorological Centre, has also pointed out
that the Chinese language proficiency of young scientists and technicians has
dropped dramatically and more efforts should be made to help them improve it.
Sina Net conducted another survey: “Is it necessary to safeguard Chinese?”
Out of 3,687 participants (as of 25 May, 2005), 3,242 of them (accounting for
88.15% of all the participants) agreed while 344 (9.35%) disagreed, and 90
(2.45%) were neutral.5
However, some other scholars believe that safeguarding Chinese is making a
fuss about nothing. Chinese is a healthy language now and its teaching process
will not be affected negatively by English teaching. Wānɡ Huìdí (汪惠迪) also
argued that recently the Chinese language has been spreading vigorously around
the world and it now boasts an unprecedented position and level of acceptance

5 Retrieved from http://cul.sina.com.cn/s/2005-01-31/109643.html on 31-1-2005.

278 Jí Chuánbō (汲传波)

internationally. Therefore, he was greatly shocked by the slogan of “safeguarding

Chinese” (Wānɡ Huìdí 2004).

2.2.2 Point of view from a third side

Confronted with the appeal for “safeguarding Chinese”, leaders of educational

departments at different levels have voiced their ideas concerning this issue in
different ways and on different occasions.
Faced with the fact that some foreign language learners in China have attached
less and less importance to and have even ignored Chinese language learning,
they have argued that we should rectify this situation by means of publicity
and guidelines and urge relevant departments or bureaus to lay more emphasis
on and strengthen the teaching and the application of the standard spoken and
written Chinese language. In addition, norms and standards must be established
so as to make reasonable use of and absorb the beneficial factors of the foreign
language. Furthermore, in accordance with the law, proper intervention in the
inappropriate use of foreign language in public places must be made and appro-
priate guidelines must be provided so as to foster a healthy environment for the
standard language (Liú Yù 2005).
In the course of learning a foreign language, the importance of learning
one’s mother tongue and native culture cannot be overemphasized. If a person
did not master his/her native language, s/he would not learn a foreign language
well; in addition, a particular culture is a kind of cohesive force for a nation.
Therefore, we should make the best use of this situation to compare and appre-
ciate two languages so as to highlight the learning of both the Chinese language
and culture, including the minority people’s active learning of their own lan-
guage and culture for the comparison and appreciation of two languages and
cultures can make them complementary to each other (Zhānɡ Xīnshènɡ 2005).
In given fields such as enrolment tests, promotions to higher positions and
employment, there exists a policy or mental inclination towards the emphasis of
foreign languages (mainly English) and the neglect of Chinese, thereby damag-
ing the prestige of our mother tongue. Consequently, we should raise our aware-
ness of Chinese language at the national level to foster a love of our motherland
as well as our native tongue. Leaders at all levels, especially high ranking ones,
should set a good example to promote the languages of China. People from
other fields such as education, radio and television, news media and publishing
houses, and the culture and arts sectors, should also set a good example for
other members of society. We should also handle the relationship between
 The craze for English 279

Chinese and foreign languages in a scientific way. It is true that foreign lan-
guage education needs emphasizing with the introduction of China’s opening-
up policy, but it should never eat away at our native language (Lǐ Yǔmínɡ 2004).
We are now advocating foreign language learning, but we will not go to
extremes. On the one hand, we attach more importance to language sovereignty;
on the other, we will not reject other languages. We firmly believe that languages
around the world develop while interacting with one another without one
language being superior to the other in communication and that language and
culture would take on pluralistic forms. It is plausible that English-oriented
cultural hegemony is threatening the safety of other languages and cultures, is
squeezing them out on the world stage and is hurting the self-dignity of other
peoples. However, one body of opinion has it that the Chinese language has
not yet been threatened by foreign languages. After all, China is a large country
with an ever extending influence around the world. An increasing number
of people have set about learning Chinese and it is no easy task for a foreign
language to threaten Chinese language and culture (Yánɡ Guānɡ 2004).

2.3 Issues of bilingual education (Chinese and English)

The emergence of bilingual education (Chinese and English) has given rise to a
heated discussion in China: some people are for it while some others are against
it. When we searched “bilingual education” on the website through the Baidu
search engine, we found 155,000 articles (May 2005), which, in terms of content,
can be categorized as: 1) concerns that bilingual education harms Chinese
language education and the teaching of the courses, and 2) concerns about
whether there are qualified teaching staff, proper textbooks and an appropriate
environment that are indispensable for bilingual education in China (Wánɡ
Bīnhuá 2003). The debates on the necessity of conducting bilingual education
can be classified as follows.

2.3.1 Opponents’ views

Some scholars insist that bilingual teaching activities should be prohibited in

elementary schools and middle schools and that it be also inadvisable to have
them in colleges or universities. Bilingual teaching may be made available for
some courses. However, the practice cannot be extended to all courses for it
would lower the position of the standard spoken and written Chinese language
(Mǎ Qìnɡgzhū 2004b).
280 Jí Chuánbō (汲传波)

Some other scholars believe that for the time being it is more important
to give lessons in Chinese than in English. If English were treated as the main
language while Chinese was subordinate on campus, the disadvantages would
outweigh the advantages, i.e., students would master neither language well.
Therefore, we need to conduct an experiment on bilingual teaching. However,
an experiment is not the same as an experience that can be shared widely with
others. What is more, the practice cannot be repeated blindly. It can only be
introduced to a minority of people who are interested in bilingual education.
Still other scholars point out that qualified teaching staff are indispensable
to successful bilingual teaching. In principle, foreign teachers’ involvement in
and advice on bilingual education are still necessary (Wánɡ Xùdōnɡ 2002). This
practice is aimed at improving students’ foreign language proficiency. If require-
ments are not met for introducing this practice, the aim would not be easily
achieved and what is worse, the teaching of both Chinese language and other
courses would be badly affected (Dīnɡ Lìhónɡ & Jiāo Yáoɡuānɡ 2005).

2.3.2 Proponents’ views

Proponents of bilingual education argue that it is advisable that lectures in such

courses as mathematics and physics be delivered in English for these courses
originated from the Western academic field. They also have their unique ways
to convey their content in a logical way, which are accepted worldwide. There-
fore it is a hindrance to the understanding of such courses if we translate them
into Chinese. Knowledge of such courses in Chinese is also disadvantageous for
Chinese learners in communicating with foreigners in the future (Zhānɡ Bójiānɡ
2005).
Most proponents maintain that childhood is the best time for people to learn
English and, as a result, it is of great help to improve learners’ English profi-
ciency if they start learning it in elementary and middle schools. In addition,
China’s entry into the WTO needs a multitude of educated people who are skill-
ful in English communication (Chén Fānɡrónɡ 2004).
Some local educational departments have positively encouraged the practice
of bilingual teaching in elementary and middle schools and have demonstrated
the achievements made in such programs. For example, a survey by the Shànɡhǎi
Teaching and Researching Office in March, 2003 showed that of 15,000 students
from 50 schools (elementary and middle schools), more than half equaled or
surpassed eighth-grade students of 1997 in terms of their English listening,
speaking, writing and reading, and 36% of all the eighth-grade students did so
compared with tenth-grade students of 1997. In addition, students’ achievements
 The craze for English 281

in other courses such as Chinese, maths, physics, chemistry and the natural
sciences have remained steady.
Still other scholars have discussed the feasibility of bilingual teaching in
China with the help of relevant successful experiences gained in such countries
as Canada, the U.S., Australia and Japan (Wánɡ Bīnhuá 2003).

2.3.3 Further research

Zhānɡ Xīnshènɡ, vice minister of the MOE, argued that we should be cautious
about having classes (for example, maths, physics or chemistry) in a foreign
language in elementary or middle schools and that more empirical evidence
should be gathered before we carry it out. Bureaus and departments within the
MOE are now undertaking such investigations. For some universities, such as
Tsinghua and Peking Universities, it is necessary that 10 percent of all the
courses be given in a foreign language, especially, those of natural sciences,
technology or mechanics. (Zhānɡ Xīnshènɡ 2005)
Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明), Chief Secretary for Language Information Administra-
tion, thought that since its advent, bilingual teaching has been the concern of
both opponents and proponents. In fact, however strong proponents’ views are,
they cannot dwarf the perplexing problems bilingual teaching is facing; how-
ever diverse the opponents’ views are, they cannot hinder the development of
bilingual teaching for the importance of a foreign language (above all English)
cannot be overemphasized in one’s life. Such importance is so overwhelming
that it is not sufficient to expect people’s common sense would fulfill that role.
Therefore, in the current situation, we should attach more importance to further
research on bilingual teaching rather than just approving or disapproving of it.
(Lǐ Yǔmínɡ 2003)
Some other scholars have pointed out that we should not carry out bilingual
teaching at the expense of mother tongue education and that not harming
mother tongue education is a prerequisite for the successful implementation of
bilingual teaching. Therefore, bilingual teaching should be guided by scientific
methodology rather than administrative regulation; otherwise, we may rush head-
long into mass action to conduct bilingual teaching in a passionately fanatical
manner. Consequently, it is of great urgency now that research networks about
bilingual teaching be set up to probe into its theory and application (Zhōnɡ
Qǐquán 2003).
It is true that we cannot classify all the views concerning bilingual teaching
under the three headlines mentioned above, but these may point towards the
whole picture of the state of affairs concerning bilingual teaching.
282 Jí Chuánbō (汲传波)

2.4 Issues about people’s craze for English

It is believed that the craze for English (‘overheated English’) in China results
from propaganda about the importance of English rather than other foreign
languages. In China, some people are forced to study English so as to pass tests
at all levels, such as entrance tests, proficiency and recruitment tests (Wēn
Jìnɡēn 2005). This undue emphasis on English is upheld by many people. One
scholar has pointed out that the disadvantages of overheated English have
been increasingly obvious: children have to learn English in kindergarten; both
pupils from elementary schools and students from junior middle schools are
required to learn English; English in senior middle schools plays a vital role
in the College Entrance Exam; English is a compulsory course in college; in
society, a variety of English training courses have been provided, as have many
intensive English training programs. However, students’ time and energy are
limited. Under such pressure from English learning, they cannot develop in a
well-rounded way and what is worse this situation may cause great harm to
their ability to develop their Chinese culture and language heritage (Wú Xiǎojīnɡ
2005).
However, another body of opinion has held that overheated English and the
issue that the whole nation is crazy for English do not exist (Yánɡ Guānɡ 2004).
Qián Nǎirónɡ (钱乃荣) held this view and pointed out that the Chinese lan-
guage system has not been threatened by any foreign languages (Qián Nǎirónɡ
2005). Qián also argues that the massive campaign for English study has resulted
from the driving force of modernization in China and it is very advantageous
for this process. In recent years, many neologisms in Chinese have come from
English. At the beginning of the 20th century, China drew as many useful
lessons from as many countries as possible. Such practice holds true for us
now. We should be more self-confident and open-minded. It is implied in
Chinese history that the Chinese language and culture were most prosperous
when communication between China and foreign countries was frequent. The
‘examination culture’ that is popular in China now has nothing to do with the
overheated English phenomenon and we should view it from a different angle
of perspective.
UNESCO has launched a campaign to make people’s diverse cultures around
the world accessible. One of the suggestions is that language diversity should
be encouraged as much as possible in educational institutions at all levels
worldwide and that children should be urged to acquire as many languages as
possible. With the deepening of China’s reform and economic globalization,
more and more Chinese people are interested in learning English and the over-
heated English phenomenon will continue for some time. On the one hand, we
should realize its importance; on the other, we should single out the key problems
 The craze for English 283

that arise from this phenomenon and get them resolved so as to make what is
currently perceived as an overheated demand for the language develop healthily
and properly.

3 Reasons for the craze for English

3.1 English – a dominant language worldwide
In this age of economic globalization and information, it is of particular impor-
tance to study English, the lingua franca most widely used around the world.
English as a dominant language derives from the fact that English-speaking
countries are strong in economics, science and technology. Not the Queen’s
English from Newsweek (dated March 7, 2005) re-emphasized the importance of
English – the spread of science and technology is the leading factor that results
in the spread of English. According to the statistical reports by the British
Cultural Association, 80% of the instruction manuals for electronic products
and 66% of scientific or technological articles are in English (Yú Pínɡ 2005).
English as a dominant language also derives from the fact that American
culture is overwhelmingly influential. This culture, which is embodied in tech-
nology and entertainment, is now sweeping the world (Hénɡ Shā 2004).
The language of work also reflects English as a dominant language around
the world. Newsweek has pointed out that one of the reasons for the great enthu-
siasm for English is because of career development. David Garrett, the commis-
sioner from the British Culture Association said that a century ago, only elites
such as diplomats or chief executive officers (CEO) spoke English in their work;
however, in today’s globalization, even clerks must have some knowledge of
English (Yú Pínɡ 2005).
In the age of the internet, English has become a ‘quasi-Esperanto’ and has
dominated the virtual world controlled by Microsoft, IBM and Compaq with
English formatting and standard as the guidelines. English can be viewed as
the passport into the virtual world (Hénɡ Shā 2004) as 80% of the information
on the Net is in English. In addition, English accounts for 95% of all the lan-
guages spoken on different occasions in the U.N. (Yánɡ Guānɡ 2004).

3.2 Policies for the Future

In order to meet the needs of economic globalization and informationization,
and also in order to implement the strategic plan that education should be
geared to the needs of modernization, of the world and of the future, education
284 Jí Chuánbō (汲传波)

departments in China have developed policies to promote English teaching.

Currently, students in middle schools are all required to study English. In addi-
tion, since 2001, in some cities with appropriate conditions students of Grade
Three and above are also required to start English lessons. According to The
Almanac of the People’s Republic of China-2004, there were 227 million and
fifty-five students from schools at all levels. For these students, English is a
compulsory course. Furthermore, as we have seen, English is one of the courses
students have to pass in the College Entrance Exam and the Postgraduate
Entrance Exam. English has also been one of the requirements people must
meet for promotion or to acquire higher professional titles.

3.3 Situational needs

Educational bureaus in China have established policies that are of great help
to meet the needs of the current situation. Faced with English as a dominant
language in the world, Chinese people are greatly urged to study English for
some of the following situations: to go abroad, to work in joint ventures, to
read scientific and technological documents, to surf the internet, to attend inter-
national conferences. It is self-evident that English is one of the prerequisites for
China’s involvement in the world and for development in the future.
As for English learners, their great enthusiasm for English results from such
situations as entrance examinations at all levels, graduation requirements,
career pursuit and promotion, which are also the important stages in one’s life.
However, English examinations are mainly in written form and do not take into
account the learners’ authentic communication competence. Such examina-
tions cannot show clearly the whole picture of learners’ proficiency in English.
Although some learners have scored high in examinations, they cannot commu-
nicate freely in real situations. Consequently, many are complaining that English
study and examinations have occupied much of their time, only to get high
scores and to interfere with their other courses rather than improve their com-
municative competence.

4 Implications and reflections

We must reflect seriously on and objectively analyze the issues that have arisen
from this craze for English in China. Since English examinations at all levels
cannot be cancelled temporarily and that nation’s desire for English will remain,
reforms in English teaching must be undertaken.
 The craze for English 285

First, a foreign language teaching plan must be drawn up. Authoritative

organizations for foreign language teaching must be established in order to
make universally accepted policies and regulations and to provide unified super-
vision of the implementation of these policies and regulations.
Second, we need to examine the CET Band-4/6 from all sides. We should not
regard such tests as having only one purpose. Rather, we should direct our
attention to improving learners’ English proficiency by means of such testing
methods and to helping social organizations to make reasonable use of such
testing methods.
Thirdly, we should create contexts in to use English. Despite learners’ obses-
sion for English, they are poor at English in practice. Therefore more emphasis
should be put on improving their communicative competence.
Finally, we should take into account the issue of providing services in
English. Relevant organizations should be set up to serve the increasing number
of foreign guests. A good case in point is the provision of a telephone operator’s
service in English.

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Newspaper (21-6-2005).
Wēn Jìnɡēn (温晋根). 2005. Overheated English-A Cultural Invasion of China. Retrieved from
http://z.it.sohu.com/detail-31404.html on 14-4-2005.
Wú Qǐdí (吴启迪). 2005. An Brief Introduction to the Reform on the College English Test (CET)
Band-4 and Band-6, the Second Press Release of the Ministry of Education 2005. Retrieved
from http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/info8745.htm (Website of the Ministry of
Education of China) on 2-25-2005.
Wú Xiǎojīnɡ (吴晓晶). 2005. Overheated English should cool down. Guānɡ mínɡ Daily.
(8-6-2005).
Xiè Kèchānɡ (谢克昌). 2005. How to study English nowadays? People’s Daily (14-1-2005).
Yánɡ Àixiánɡ (杨艾祥). 2003. Strong criticism against the College English Testing System.
Twenty-first Century Talent Newspaper – College Weekly (29-10-2003).
Yánɡ Guānɡ (杨光). 2004. Five challenges that China faces for Chinese language to be a widely
used language around the world. Outlook Oriental Weekly (18-12-2004).
Yú Pínɡ (于萍). 2005. The English language market in China. Sānlián (三联) Life Weekly
(4-4-2005).
Zhānɡ Bójiānɡ (张伯江). 2005. A War of Safeguarding Chinese-How Chinese Rises Peacefully
from Sina Net. Retrieved from http://cul.sina.com.cn/s/2005-01-31/109643.html on
31-1-2005.
 The craze for English 287

Zhānɡ Xīnshènɡ (章新胜). 2005. An Introduction to Chinese Language Education Conference

Worldwide by The Panel of Chinese Language Education Overseas. Retrieved from
http://gb.chinabroadcast.cn/3821/2005/06/15/[email protected] on 15-6-2005.
Zhānɡ Zhōnɡxiá (张忠霞). 2005. English learning: A reshaped global business. Xīnhuá (新华)
Daily Telegraph (3-19-2005).
Zhōnɡ Qǐquán (钟启泉). 2003. My reflections on bilingual teaching. Global Education (2): 5–7.

Translated by Jiānɡ Zhànhǎo (姜占好)

Xī’ān International Studies University
[email protected]
Zhānɡ Lí (张黎) & Zhānɡ Shūyán (张书岩)
24 The use of characters for names

1 Introduction
The use of characters for names was brought to the public’s attention in 2006.
Taking all information into consideration, we can discover some new trends
which have emerged over the last few years.

1.1 Potential increase of names consisting of three or

more characters
Our names (which include surname and given name) are generally made up of
either two or three characters. The given name usually consists of one or two
characters. The National ID Card Information Centre is a department of the
Ministry of Public Security. In 2006, the centre conducted statistics on the names
used in different decades in Běijīnɡ city. The result shows that the prevalence
has changed between two-character names and three-character names in recent
decades. It is relatively clear that different names echo different decades. Before
the 1960s, the top 20 commonest names were all comprised of three characters.
In the 1960s, names consisting of two characters occurred among the top 20. In
the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the top 20 common names were only comprised of
two characters. People who were born after 2000 have increased the use of
three-character names. There are four names among the top 20 which consist of
three characters (Wěi R. 2006). Another statistical project has been conducted
on the number of characters used for names. The participants are 18,482 stu-
dents of Xiānɡtán (湘潭) University who registered between 2002 and 2005.
The ratio between two- and three-character names in each year is as follows:

Year Two-character names (%) Three-character names (%)

2002 44 56
2003 43 57
2004 43 57
2005 41 59

Table 1: The ratio between two- and three-character names of students in Xiānɡtán University
(Liú 2006)
290 Zhānɡ Lí (张黎) & Zhānɡ Shūyán (张书岩)

The above-mentioned students were all born in the 1980s. Therefore, this
local investigation leads to a conclusion that the number of three-character
names is likely to increase gradually.
Although both two- and three-character names still hold a dominant posi-
tion, the names consisting of four- or more characters have increased in recent
years. For example, 2,359 people who registered in Yíchānɡ (宜昌) City, Húběi
(湖北) Province between 2000 and 2004 have four- or more characters in their
names (Anonymous 2005). The extreme case, reported by Beijing Youth Daily, is
that a girl even has a six-character name (JiǔDǐnɡShān 2006). This shows that
people are beginning to accept names consisting of four or more characters.
A popular way of forming four-character names is to combine the father’s
surname and mother’s surname, followed by another two characters. For example,
尹林光子 (Yǐn Línɡuāngzǐ) is one of the ‘Super Girl’ contestants in Hánɡzhōu
(杭州) Division in 2006. Her father’s surname is 尹 (Yǐn). Her mother’s surname
is 林 (Lín). The majority of people in Yíchānɡ City whose names consist of four
or more characters form their names this way (Anonymous 2005).

1.2 Novelty and individuality

The character range for names is in the process of expansion in our country.
The borrowing of obscure characters from the GB Secondary Character Library
makes a major contribution to this trend. In the late 20th century, in order to
renew the second generation ID card, the Ministry of Public Security and other
relevant departments created the new character library GB13000, consisting of
32,252 characters. It expanded the capacity of the national standard characters
library. However, 4,600 obscure characters were still not computer-readable
when the ID card was upgraded. The problem with those obscure characters
did not get resolved until 2006 when the ‘Scheme for obscure characters’ was
implemented. The new scheme has become the resolution to the input of
obscure characters for names entered into computers (Zhānɡ Xīmǐn 2006).
The characters which were hardly ever used for names have gradually become
part of names. The examples include ‘茵 (yīn)’, ‘荫 (yīn)’, ‘珈 (jiā)’, ‘梓 (zǐ)’,
‘萱 (xuān)’, etc. The Population Information Network is governed by the House-
hold Registration Division of Běijīnɡ Municipal Public Security Bureau. From its
webpage, it has been discovered that the character ‘懿 (yì)’ is mostly used by
people who were born in the 1990s or onwards (Rén Q. 2006).
Both traditional names and westernised names are in use. Traditional cul-
ture is exerting an increasing influence on names. Given names, such as ‘宇轩
(Yǔxuān)’, ‘子豪 (Zǐháo)’, ‘子涵 (Zǐhán)’ and ‘浩然 (Hàorán)’ are among the top
20 popular names in Běijīnɡ (北京) (Wěi R. 2006). Certain given names are
copied from foreign given names or sound of the name, i.e. 丽娜 (Lìnà), 露西
 The use of characters for names 291

(Lùxī), 洁妮 (Jiénī) or 杰妮 (Jiénī) (Liú 2006). Some people even form their
names in a western order by beginning with their given names, followed by their
surnames, i.e. 奥迪锐娜王 (Àodíruìnà Wánɡ). In addition, some people bring
English letters into their names, i.e. 赵一 A (Zhào Yī-A) (Zhāng et. al. 2006). In
2006, a Běijīnɡ citizen went to a Public Security office and attempted to change
his/her given name into ‘@’ (Wèi Y. 2006). This phenomenon is worth mention-
ing although it is a rare case.

1.3 Frequently used common given names

The National ID Card Information Centre has analysed the personal information
of about 200 million people in the municipalities and provincial capitals. The
result shows that the one character given names, like 伟 (Wěi), 静 (Jìnɡ) and
芳 (Fānɡ), and the two character given names, like 志强 (Zhìqiánɡ), 秀英
(Xiùyīnɡ) and 俊杰 (Jùnjié), are still frequently used. This is the first analysis
of this kind and clearly explores the situation of frequently used given names
(Wei R. 2006).

1.4 Decreasing gender differences in given names

Some articles reveal that the gender differences, indicated by given names, have
decreased since the 1980s. They are often neutral and do not offer a clear indi-
cation of gender (Ibid). The statistical project conducted by Xiānɡtán (湘潭)
University also reports that some girls use boys’ given names (i.e. 胡松鹤 Hú
Sōnɡhè, 李万超 Lǐ Wànchāo, 杨雄 Yánɡ Xiónɡ) or some boys use girls’ (i.e.
徐香云 Xú Xiānɡyún, 刘叙红 Liú Xùhónɡ, 杨文琴 Yánɡ Wénqín) (Liú 2006).
The second generation ID card was being replaced in full swing in 2006,
revealing some problems on names. This exposure drew so much public atten-
tion that it was reported by the Voice of America. The Ministry of Public Security
of China announced that it would formulate a Name Registration Ordinance. The
third draft of this ordinance was completed in September 2006 and further
advice was being sought. This ordinance will become the first regulation on names
and have certain impact on the use of characters for names in our country.

2 Issues
The overall issues regarding the use of characters for names in 2006 are as
follows:
292 Zhānɡ Lí (张黎) & Zhānɡ Shūyán (张书岩)

2.1 The use of obscure characters

Obscure characters and variant forms of characters abound in Chinese names.
The national standard GB2312-80 ‘The Encoding of the Chinese graphic character
set for information interchange: Primary set’ includes 6,763 characters. Its scale
is similar to that of ‘The list of commonly used characters in modern Chinese’
which was jointly introduced by the National Language Committee and the
General Administration of Press and Publication in 1988. The GB2312-80 was
meant to be sufficient for our daily lives and work. However, it is reported
that there are over 60 million people with obscure given names in China (Yin &
Lan 2005). Over 40,000 people in Běijīnɡ who have applied for their second-
generation ID card have obscure characters in their names. The same has
happened to over 10,000 people and over 3,000 people in Nánjīnɡ and Shēnzhèn
respectively (Zhānɡ 2006). Pàotónɡshù (泡桐树) Primary school in Chénɡdū City,
Sìchuān Province, welcomed over 400 new students in the autumn of 2006.
Up to one-tenth of them had obscure characters in their names. These obscure
characters include ‘遄 (chuán)’, ‘炱 (tái)’, ‘芏 (dù)’, ‘珩 (hénɡ)’, ‘氍 (qú)’ and
etc. (Wèi Y. 2006). A student studying at a primary school in Nánnínɡ City uses
the character jiē which is formed by the character 契 (qì) with 女 (nǚ) on
the bottom instead of 大 (dà) (Qín et. al. 2006). This character could not even
be found in the CJK character encodings which consist of up to 70 thousand
characters.
Obscure characters are mainly used to avoid duplication and to pursue
individuality. Some people even look into the Kānɡxī dictionary and try to find
unique characters when they pick given names. But this is likely to cause a lot
of inconvenience in today’s information society. The system of the Ministry of
Public Security has an input of 30 thousand characters and sometimes appears
insufficient. The system of the other public services normally contains 20 thou-
sand characters at most. It can be difficult for them to cope with all obscure
characters.

2.2 Duplication of names

It is a common phenomenon that names are duplicated in China. There are 5,013
people whose name is 张伟 (Zhānɡ Wěi) in Běijīnɡ City. The number of persons
with this name is 59,275 as the statistical analysis on 200 million people reveals
(Wěi R. 2006). This may lead to a supposition that there are more than 300,000
people nationwide whose name is 张伟 (Zhānɡ Wěi). In Shěnyánɡ (沈阳) City,
a total number of 4,049 people have the name 刘洋 (Liú Yánɡ) (Wèi Y. 2006). In
 The use of characters for names 293

Hánɡzhōu City, more than 1,000 people each have names such as 王芳 (Wánɡ
Fānɡ), 陈燕 (Chén Yàn), 王伟 (Wánɡ Wěi) and 王燕 (Wánɡ Yàn). The following
table is part of the statistics on the duplication of names collected from The
National ID Card Information Centre.

Settings Statistics on citizens Statistics on citizens Statistics on 200

Ranking in Shànɡhǎi in Gǎnɡzhōu million people

No. 1 陈洁 (Chén Jié) 陈志强 (Chén Zhìqiánɡ) 张伟 (Zhānɡ Wěi)

3,937 1,147 59,275

No. 2 张敏 (Zhānɡ Mǐn) 黄志强 (Huánɡ Zhìqiánɡ) 王伟 (Wánɡ Wěi)

3,751 864 55,219

No. 3 张伟 (Zhānɡ Wěi) 李志强 (Lǐ Zhìqiánɡ) 李伟 (Lǐ Wěi)

3,511 827 52,372

No. 4 张燕 (Zhānɡ Yàn) 陈伟强 (Chén Wěiqiánɡ) 刘伟 (Liú Wěi)

3,458 798 46,530

No. 5 王秀英 (Wánɡ Xiùyīnɡ) 陈俊杰 (Chén Jùnjié) 李静 (Lǐ Jìnɡ)

3,456 769 46,214

No. 6 张秀英 (Zhānɡ Xiùyīnɡ) 陈妹 (Chén Mèi) 王静 (Wánɡ Jìnɡ)

3,256 760 45,310

No. 7 张磊 (Zhānɡ Lěi) 梁妹 (Liánɡ Mèi) 张静 (Zhānɡ Jìnɡ)

3,234 760 44,455

No. 8 王伟 (Wánɡ Wěi) 黄俊杰 (Huánɡ Jùnjié) 王芳 (Wánɡ Fānɡ)

3,083 728 44,027

No. 9 陈燕 (Chén Yàn) 陈志明 (Chén Zhìmínɡ) 刘洋 (Liú Yánɡ)

2,974 708 43,184

No. 10 张杰 (Zhānɡ Jié) 陈丽华 (Chén Lìhuá) 张勇 (Zhānɡ Yǒnɡ)

2,971 706 42,607

Table 2: Statistics on the duplication of names (Wei R. 2006)

Duplication of names comes about for four reasons. First, China’s huge popu-
lation leads to a high possibility of duplication of names. Second, in the past,
some characters have been commonly used for given names. Compared with
the population size, the number of the characters used for given names appears
extremely small. Third, the distribution of surnames is extremely uneven in
China. A few surnames are used by the majority of the population. A survey
conducted in 2006 shows that more than 2,300 surnames have been collected.
However, 129 of them are used by 87% of the population (Lǐ & Zhānɡ 2006).
294 Zhānɡ Lí (张黎) & Zhānɡ Shūyán (张书岩)

Fourth, Chinese given names mainly consist of one or two characters. The pro-
portion of one character given names is too high to avoid duplication.

2.3 Westernised names

Westernisation of names is not a common phenomenon. The names, like 珍妮
(Zhēnnī), 丽娜 (Lìnà), sound the same as foreign names but do not violate the
normal way of forming Chinese names. Therefore, this way of forming names
should not be questionable. However, the reversed order of surnames and given
names, and the use of letters or symbols for foreign languages in given names
are contrary to traditional Chinese culture and the national standard for spoken
and written language. The above-mentioned phenomenon does not occur often.
However, it would have a negative impact on traditional culture and the
national standard for spoken and written language if the westernisation of
names were not standardised but allowed to become a fascination for some
rebellious people.

2.4 The right to names and their standardised management

The necessity of producing legislation on the use of characters for names and
standardising their management remains controversial. In 2003, the National
Language Committee planned to publish a table of characters used for names.
This plan aroused different opinions. It was pointed out that the Civil Law stipu-
lated citizens’ right to names, to decide, use and change their names in accor-
dance with the law. Currently, it can be troublesome for people to apply to
public security offices to change their names. The public security offices are con-
sidering adopting a Name Registration Ordinance and producing legislation on
the use of characters for names.

References
Anonymous. 2005. Four character names gain popularity in order to avoid duplication.
Available at http://www.sanxia.net.cn/news/seeit.asp?news_id=68391. 23 March.
JiǔDǐnɡ Shān (九顶山). 2006. One girl has a six-character name. Beijing Youth Daily.
18 October.
Lǐ Bīn & Zhānɡ Jiànsōnɡ (李斌、张建松). 2006. The release of the new book of surnames:
Li still the most popular surname. Available at http://news3.xinhuanet.com/st/2006-01/
10/content_4032643.htm. 10 January.
 The use of characters for names 295

Liú Chénxī (刘晨曦). 2006. Students’ names in the early 21st century. Journal of Tàiyuán
Normal University (Social Science Edition). No. 5.
Qín Guǎnɡhuá, Liú Bīn, Gāo Mínɡ and Liú Yuányuán (覃广华、刘斌、高铭、刘媛媛). 2006. The
perplexity of names. Available at http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2006-10/19/content_
5224334.htm. 10 October.
Rén, Qīnɡhǎi (任清海). 2006. Statistics on Chinese names: Witnessing different periods.
Modern Evening Times. 14 April.
Wěi Rànɡ (韦让). 2006. The most popular surname is 王 Wánɡ in Běijīnɡ. Available at
http://www.ben.com.cn/bjxw/mtdd/cbjx/200607/t20060713_48601.htm. 13 July.
Wèi Yùnhēnɡ (魏运亨). 2006. Chinese names: from massive duplication to obscurity
and strangeness. Available at http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2006-09/15/
content_5095079.htm. 15 September.
Yīn Yàn zhào (殷燕召) & Lán Tiān (兰天). 2005. Nearly 60 million obscure Chinese names
cannot be recognised by computers. Guānɡ mínɡ (光明) Daily. 24 March.
Zhānɡ Xīmǐn (张希敏). 2006. China has successfully developed a scheme for obscure characters
for personal information, consisting of more than 30 thousand characters. Available at
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/news/2006/2006-03-24/8/707206.shtml. 24 March.
Zhānɡ Zhènɡ wéi (张正为), Wánɡ Yánlínɡ (王岩玲), Ruǎn Yīnɡ (阮瑛), Huánɡ Hé (黄荷). 2006.
The value and fascination of names in the electronic age. Available at http://news.sina.
com.cn/s/2006-08-10/163510688623.shtml. 10 August.

Translated by Liú Wěimínɡ (刘伟明)

Trinity College Dublin
[email protected]
Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)
25 Chinese buzzwords (2002–2006)
In 2002 the list of the top ten buzzwords in Chinese newspapers was released for
the first time. Starting from 2003, lists of such words were released twice a year,
under the titles of “Spring and Summer Buzzwords” and “Annual Buzzwords”.
By the end of 2006 they had been released eight times in total. Since the second
release, a list of the top ten buzzwords from various specialist fields and topics
has also been added. The first four releases were jointly issued by Běijīnɡ Lan-
guage and Cultural University, the China Association of Press Technicians (CAPT)
and the Chinese Information Processing Society of China (CIPSC). Afterwards the
Print Media Language Branch of the National Language Resources Monitoring
and Research Centre (CNLR) also participated in the project. From that time on,
the list of buzzwords has been jointly issued by all four organizations.

1 Corpus Description
In choosing newspapers for analysis, a number of criteria were considered,
such as circulation, geographical distribution, frequency of publication, media
value, and size of readership. There has been some change in the choice of
newspapers over then years. Newspaper selected for analysis include: Běijīnɡ
(北京) Youth Daily (4), Běijīnɡ Daily (4), Běijīnɡ Evening News (4), Legal Daily,
Guānɡmínɡ (光明) Daily (4), Guǎnɡzhōu (广州) Daily (2), West China City News
(1), Global Times (4), Today’s Evening News (4), Economic Daily (1), Southern
Weekend Economic Daily (1), People’s Daily Economic Daily (1), Shēnzhèn (深圳)
Special Zone Daily (4), Xīnmín (新民) Evening News (2), Economy Daily, Qiánjiānɡ
(钱江) Evening News, Yánɡchénɡ (羊城 ) Evening News (4), and Yánɡzǐ (扬子)
Evening News (4), China Youth Daily (4). The numbers in brackets represent the
number of times each has been chosen annually. The corpus used each year
comprises of approximately 0.4 billion characters.

2 Selection Methodology
Buzzwords are selected through a synthesis of quantitative and qualitative
means. First, the chosen newspapers are downloaded from the Internet, con-
verted into plain text through the stripping of meta information, and then
formatted and classified. By employing segmentation software, words which
298 Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)

contain between two and ten characters are selected. The frequency of occur-
rence, range of distribution and range of circulation of each word is then calcu-
lated. Based on these results, those words which match buzzword criteria are
extracted for analysis. The annual top ten buzzwords (or spring & summer buzz-
words) and the top ten buzzwords from specialist fields and topics are finally
chosen. After analysis of buzzword data when plotted on a graph, as well as
human investigation of particular buzzwords and final authorization, the lists of
the top ten annual, spring and summer, and specialist buzzwords are drawn up.

3 Preliminary Analysis of Buzzwords

From years of buzzword selection results, regular patterns can be seen in the
emergence and the development of these words. New buzzwords appear every
year due to social change, such as: 十六大 (shíliùdà, the 16th National Con-
gress of the Communist Party of China), 三个代表 (sān ɡè dàibiǎo, Three Repre-
sents Theory), CDMA, 反恐 ( fǎnkǒnɡ, counter-terrorism). All of which appeared
in 2002. 非典 ( fēidiǎn, SARS), 银监会 (yínjiānhuì, China’s Bank Regulatory
Commission (CBRC)), and 人类基因图谱 (rénlèi jīyīn túpǔ, the human genome),
were all buzzwords which appeared in 2003. 科学发展观 (kēxué fāzhǎnɡuān, the
scientific concept of development), 智能手机 (zhìnénɡ shǒujī, smart phones), and
人造美女 (rénzào měinǚ, artificial beauty) appeared in 2004. 十一五规划 (shíyī-
wǔ ɡuīhuà, China’s 11th Five-Year Plan), 破冰之旅 (pòbīnɡ zhīlǚ, ice-breaking
visit), 环境友好型社会 (huánjìnɡ yǒuhǎoxínɡ shèhuì, environmentally friendly
society), 超级女声 (chāojí nǚshēnɡ, super girl), 平民偶像 (pínɡmín ǒuxiànɡ,
civilian’s idol), and 福娃 (Fúwá)1 all appeared in 2005. As a barometer of social
change, the annual buzzwords reflect the changing social reality and the con-
comitant change in language. The buzzwords allow people to see which major
events and policies have influenced the nation and its people. They further allow
people to see the changes in lifestyle and paradigm shifts which accompany
such events.
Research has shown that buzzwords continuously change over time. With
the appearance of the words 神舟五号 (shénzhōu wǔhào, Shénzhōu V) in
2003, 神舟六号 (shénzhōu liùhào, Shénzhōu VI) in 2005, and the soon-to-be-
developed 嫦娥工程 (Chánɡ’é gōnɡchénɡ, Chánɡ’é Project), 太空飞行 (tàikōnɡ
fēixínɡ, space flight) and even 载人航天 (zǎirén hánɡtiān, manned space flight)

1 “Fúwá” can be translated literally as “good-luck dolls”, but are known in the West as
“Friendlies”. They were the mascots of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.
 Chinese buzzwords (2002–2006) 299

have grown from a dream into a reality in China. In 2004, international aero-
space saw the historic 火星探测 (huǒxīnɡ tàncè, Mars exploration). This was
then followed by remarkable photographs of the 深度撞击 (shēndù zhuànɡjī,
Deep Impact) comet in 2005. From 克隆 (kèlónɡ, clone) to 人类基因图谱 (rénlèi
jīyīn túpǔ, human genome); from 非典 ( fēidiǎn, “SARS”) and 禽流感 (qínliúɡǎn,
avian flu ) to 非典疫苗 ( fēidiǎn yìmiáo, SARS vaccine) and 禽流感疫苗 (qín-
liúɡǎn yìmiáo, avian flu vaccine), all of these buzzwords reflect the continuous
progress of science and technology. Human civilization is forever writing a new
chapter in its history.
Buzzwords reflect important social events and the focus of attention of the
general public. A number of catastrophic events have occurred since 2002.
Buzzwords, such as 恐怖袭击 (kǒnɡbù xíjī, terrorist attack), 连环爆炸 (liánhuán
bàozhà, series of explosions), 自杀性袭击 (zìshāxìnɡ xíjī, suicide attack), and
人质事件 (rénzhì shìjiàn, hostage-taking incident) have frequently appeared in
major newspapers. Other major incidents, such as war, disease, air disasters,
mining accidents, fires, car accidents, earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural
disasters have also occurred across the world. From this, it can be seen that
there is still a long way for humans to go for in exploring and understanding
nature, and in learning how to protect human life itself.
In 2004, the phrase 食品安全 (shípǐn ānquán, food safety) appeared, with
several major food safety incidents in 2005 increasing the use of the phrase.
Many buzzwords, such as 苏丹红 (sūdānhónɡ, Sudan red (a dye)), 孔雀石绿
(kǒnɡquèshí lǜ, malachite green), 抗生素超标 (kànɡshēnɡsù chāobiāo, antibiotics
exceed quota), 劣质奶粉 (lièzhì nǎifěn, contaminated milk powder), 致癌保鲜膜
(zhì’ái bǎoxiānmó, carcinogenic cling film), and 泡菜风波 (pàocài fēnɡbō,
kimchi2 crisis) have made people pay closer attention to food safety issues.
After a series of fatal accidents in 2004 and 2005, people are now more safety
conscious. As a result, the phrase 安全事件 (ānquán shìjiàn, safety incident)
emerged as one of the spring and summer buzzwords in 2005.
As to the question of how long a buzzword can retain its currency, we
may observe that the use of many spans more than one year. For instance 中法
文化年 (Zhōnɡ Fǎ wénhuà nián, the Year of France in China) was popular in
both 2004 and 2005. After the “Year of France in China” had passed, there was
also the 中国文化年 (美国) (Zhōnɡɡuó wénhuà nián (Měiɡuó), Year of Chinese
Culture (in the U.S.A.)) and 俄罗斯文化年 (Éluósī wénhuà nián, Year of Russian
Culture). 审计风暴 (shěnjì fēnɡbào, Audit storm) blew from 2004 to 2005, expos-
ing a number of major cases of corruption, and sweeping away 问题高管 (wèntí

2 Kimchi is a Korean dish of spicy pickled cabbage.

300 Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)

ɡāoɡuǎn, problem executives) in its path. All of these reflected the government’s
determination to have 廉政公务 (liánzhènɡ ɡōnɡwù, honest administration). The
government increased 反腐倡廉能力 ( fǎnfǔ chànɡlián nénɡlì, anti-corruption
capacity), in accordance with the wishes of the general public. As a conse-
quence, the topic of 廉政专题 (liánzhènɡ zhuāntí, honest administration) emerged
in 2005.
It was in 2004 that 博客 (bókè, Blog) first appeared, but by the following
year, 2005 was already dubbed 博客元年 (bókè yuánnián, the year of the blog).
The expression 和平发展 (hépínɡ fāzhǎn, peaceful development) appeared
in both 2004 and 2005. Member of the Standing Committee of the Political
Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Mr. Wú Bānɡɡuó (吴邦国), stated that
“China is willing to promote the peaceful development of an Asia-Pacific Parlia-
ment with other national parliaments” at the opening ceremony of the 12th
annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum in January 2004. Since
then the expression “peaceful development” has been frequently used in
addresses by China’s leaders, government work reports, national defense white
papers and comments in the media. “Peaceful development” has become the
main theme of the government’s foreign publicity materials and has maintained
a fluctuacting popularity. See Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: “和平发展 (hépínɡ fāzhǎn, peaceful development)” Trends in 2005

 Chinese buzzwords (2002–2006) 301

4 Buzzwords Issued in Recent Years

4.1 Year 2002

Buzzwords Pinyin Meaning

十六大 shíliùdà 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China

世界杯 shìjièbēi World Cup
短信 duǎnxìn Short Message Service
降息 jiànɡxī lower interest rates
三个代表 sān ɡè dàibiǎo Three Represents Theory
反恐 fǎnkǒnɡ counter-terrorism
数字影像 shùzì yǐngxiànɡ digital imaging
姚明 Yáo Mínɡ Yáo Mínɡ
车市 chēshì car market
CDMA CDMA CDMA

Table 1: Buzzwords in Year 2002

4.2 Year 2003

Buzzwords Pinyin Meaning

非典 fēidiǎn SARS
神舟五号 shénzhōu wǔhào Shénzhōu V
伊拉克战争 Yīlākè zhànzhēnɡ Iraq war
全面建设小康社会 quánmiàn jiànshè comprehensively create a well-off society
xiǎokānɡ shèhuì
十六届三中全会 shíliù jiè sānzhōnɡ Third Plenary Session of the 16th CPC
quánhuì Central Committee
三峡工程 Sānxiá gōnɡchénɡ Three Gorges project
社保基金 shèbǎo jījīn social insurance fund
奥运公园 Àoyùn Gōnɡyuán Olympic park
六方会谈 liù fānɡ huìtán six-party talks
新一届中央领导集体 xīn yī jiè zhōnɡyānɡ new central collective leadership
lǐnɡdǎo jítǐ

Table 2: Buzzwords in Year 2003

302 Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)

4.3 Year 2004

Buzzwords Pinyin Meaning

执政能力 zhízhènɡ nénɡlì ability to govern

雅典奥运 Yǎdiǎn Àoyùn Athens Olympic Games
刘翔 Liú Xiánɡ Liú Xiánɡ
审计风暴 shěnjì fēnɡbào auditing storm
零关税 línɡɡuānshuì zero tariff
科学发展观 kēxué fāzhǎnɡuān scientific outlook on development
失地农民补助 shīdì nónɡmín bǔzhù landless farmers subsidies
反分裂国家法 Fǎnfènliè ɡuójiā fǎ anti-secession law
中法文化年 Zhōnɡ Fǎ wénhuà nián Year of France in China
海啸 hǎixiào tsunami

Table 3: Buzzwords in Year 2004

4.4 Year 2005

Buzzwords Pinyin Meaning

保持共产党员先进性教育 bǎochí gònɡchǎndǎnɡyuán Education campaign on

xiānjìnxìnɡ jiāoyù maintaining the vanguard
character of the Communist
Party members

“十一五” 规划 “shíyīwǔ” guīhuà 11th Five-Year Plan

神舟六号 (神六) shénzhōu liùhào (shénliù) Shénzhōu VI

节约型社会 jiéyuēxínɡ shèhuì conservation-oriented society

和平发展 hépínɡ fāzhǎn peaceful development

油价上涨 yóujià shànɡzhǎnɡ rising price of oil

一篮子货币 yìlánzi huòbì a basket of currencies

同一个世界, 同一个梦想 tónɡ yī ɡè shìjiè, tónɡ yī ɡè one world one dream

mènɡxiǎnɡ

连宋大陆行 Lián Sònɡ dàlù xínɡ Lián Zhàn (连战 ) and Sòng
Chǔyú (宋楚瑜)’s visit to
mainland China

取消农业税 qǔxiāo nónɡyèshuì abolition of agriculture tax

Table 4: Buzzwords in Year 2005

 Chinese buzzwords (2002–2006) 303

4.5 Year 2006

Buzzwords Pinyin Meaning

和谐社会 héxié shèhuì Harmonious society

社会主义新农村 shèhuì zhǔyì xīn nónɡcūn socialist new countryside

青藏铁路 Qīnɡzánɡ tiělù Qīnɡhǎi-Tibet railway

自主创新 zìzhǔ chuànɡxīn independent innovation

社会主义荣辱观 (八荣八耻) shèhuì zhǔyì rónɡrǔ- socialist conception of honor

ɡuān (bārónɡ bāchǐ ) and disgrace (eight honors and
eight disgraces)

中非合作论坛 Zhōnɡ Fēi hézuò lùntán China-Africa cooperation forum

长征精神 Chánɡzhēnɡ jīnɡshén spirit of the Long March

消费税 xiāofèishuì consumption tax

非物质文化遗产 fēiwùzhì wénhuà yíchǎn intangible cultural heritage

倒扁 dǎo biǎn anti-Chén Shuǐbiǎn (陈水扁)

Table 5: Buzzwords in Year 2006

Translated by Liú Jiā (刘嘉)

Dublin City University of Ireland
[email protected]
Zhōu Jiàn (周荐)
26 A survey of media neologisms in 2006

1 Survey specification
In the early 1990s, the State Language Commission (SLC) started an annual neo-
logisms research project and then continuously compiled and published four
annual Chinese Neologisms, which observed and recorded the dynamic changes
of neologisms in that period of time. However, this project was interrupted for
some reasons. Later in the second half of 2005, the SLC’s Planning Office of
Scientific Research started again the project of “the Chronicle of Neologisms”
which was substantially carried out by the School of Literature at Nánkāi (南开)
University. What release in this report are the latest research achievements of the
project – an excerpt of Chinese Neologisms in 2006.
Annually surveyed Chinese neologisms include not only newly coined words
and phrases, but also newly emerged meaning or usage of old words and phrases.
Covering texts from various regions and kinds, text materials in the corpus of
the project are collected from the following 31 newspapers and journals: Běijīnɡ
(北京) News, Běijīnɡ Evening News, China Sports, Life Weekly, New Weekly,
Běijīnɡ Youth Daily, Southern Weekend, Southern Daily, Shēnzhèn (深圳) Special
Zone Daily, Guānɡmínɡ (光明) Daily, Workers’ Daily, Yánɡchénɡ (羊城 ) Evening
News, News Daily, Sports Fans, China Youth Daily, Reference News, Writer’s
Digest, Aged Times, Business Daily, Legal Daily, Shēnzhèn (深圳) Evening News,
People’s Daily, Dàhé (大河) Daily, Today’s evening News, Xīnmín (新民) Evening
News, Wénhuì (文汇) Daily, Market Daily, China Comment, Yánɡzǐ (扬子) Evening
News, West China City News, and Rayli (瑞丽). It is worth mentioning that every
project participant, in order to check and confirm the identity of neologisms,
used search engines like Baidu and Google to obtain every neologism’s initial
occurrence time.
The optimal way of obtaining annual neologism items is to automatically
extract them from the National Language Resources Monitoring Corpus using
modern information techniques. However, a “half man, half machine” mode
was adopted in this survey considering some limitations on present Chinese
natural language processing techniques. The procedure is as follows: (1) Members
of the project team searches neologisms from newspapers and the Internet indi-
vidually according to their assigned tasks. This manual and cooperative work
aims at building a list of candidate neologism items. (2) Taking advantage of
the existing 2005 and 2006 National Language Resources Monitoring Corpus,
 306 Zhōu Jiàn (周荐)

the project team search the candidate neologisms one by one in the two corpora
to check and confirm whether they satisfy the conditions of being a neologism.
For each candidate neologism, its frequencies and numbers of occurring texts in
both the 2005 and 2006 corpora are the main determinants of being a proven
neologism.
Using the above mentioned method, the project team obtained a total of 171
Chinese neologisms in 2006. To present to the readers, 20 neologisms are chosen
to release in this report. For a full list and other related information, please refer
to Chinese Neologisms in 2006 published by the Commercial Press.

2 Excerpts from Chinese Neologisms in 2006

【博文】bówén, “blog article”.
【车奴】chēnú, “car slave”, i.e. “a person who buys a car but suffers from various
related taxes and fees”.
【丁宠家庭】dīnɡchǒnɡ jiātínɡ, “DINK pet family”, i.e. “a DINK family who raises
pets as kids”.
【独二代】dú’èrdài, “second-generation only child”, i.e. an only child born by
parents who themselves are only children of the first generation.
【法商】fǎshānɡ, “law quotient”, i.e. “people’s level of law knowledge, legal
consciousness and initiative of acting as the law prescribes, complying with the
order and advocating rules”.
【房奴】fánɡnú, “house slave”, i.e. “a person who buys a house but burdens
with enormous economic pressure”.
【搞怪】gǎoɡuài, “do odd”, i.e. “to spoof”.
【寒促】háncú, “cold promotion”, i.e. “off-season promotion in winter”.
【换客】huànkè, “exchange person”, i.e. “a person who exchanges his/her idle
articles for what he/she needs from others via the Internet”.
【交强险】jiāoqiánɡxiǎn, “accident compulsory insurance”, i.e. “abbreviation
of Motor Vehicle Accident Liability Compulsory Insurance”.
【乐活族】lèhuózú, “happy living tribe”, i.e. “tribe of LOHAS”.
【秒杀】miǎoshā, “second kill”, i.e. “(1) to beat an opponent in a very short
period of time; (2) to beat an opponent in the last second”.
【拼客】pīnkè “shared person”, i.e. “a person who is enthusiastic about shared
consumption”.
 A survey of media neologisms in 2006 307

【群租】qúnzū “group rental”, i.e. “to rent a house by a group of people”.

【晒客】shàikè “bask person”, i.e. “a person who is enthusiastic about exposing
his/her private life in blog or web forum in forms of text or photo”.
【剩女】shènɡnǚ, “leftover girl”, i.e. “unmarried female, usually older than one
who is expected to get married”.
【炫富】xuànfù “to flaunt wealth”.
【医闹】yīnào “medical troublemaker”, i.e. “a medical dispute related trouble-
maker”.
【职粉】zhífěn “professional fans”.
【装嫩族】zhuānɡnènzú, “kidult tribe”, i.e. “adults who look like much younger
than they actually are by concealing the age with behaviors and clothes”.

Translated by Yánɡ Jiānɡ (杨江)

Húnán University of Science and Technology
[email protected]
IV Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan
Wánɡ Huī (王晖)
27 Putonghua in Hong Kong

1 The Status of Putonghua under the

Language-in-education Policy of biliteracy
and trilingualism
Biliteracy and triligualism is often perceived as the language policy of the Hong
Kong SAR Government, though it has never been formally documented in The
Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (hereafter referred to
as The Basic Law). Policy-wise, it is only stated in Chapter I of The Basic Law
that “in addition to the Chinese language, English may also be used as an offi-
cial language by the executive authorities, legislature and judiciary of the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region.” (Article 9) The notion of biliteracy and tri-
lingualism was only introduced after 1997 as educational goals to be achieved
by Hong Kong students from both the school and the tertiary sectors.
Immediately after the handover, the then Chief Executive of Hong Kong
SAR Mr. Tung Chee Hwa (董建华) stated in his first Policy Address delivered
in October 1997 that “confidence and competence in the use of Chinese and
English are essential if we are to maintain our competitive edge in the world.
The Education Commission Report No. 6 has already laid down a framework to
achieve our goal for secondary school graduates to be proficient in writing
English and Chinese and able to communicate confidently in Cantonese, English
and Putonghua. Putonghua will become part of the curriculum in the next school
year starting from Primary 1, Secondary 1 and Secondary 4, and a subject in the
Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examinations by the year 2000.” (Section
84) The importance of Putonghua was highlighted by including it in the school
curriculum and formal assessment system. Then in The 1999 Policy Address,
Tung further stated that “it is the SAR Government’s goal to train our people
to be truly biliterate and trilingual” (Section 69), and introduced a series of
measures in improving the quality of Chinese and English education in schools,
including establishing language benchmarks for English and Putonghua teachers.
Biliteracy and trilingualism was therefore first introduced as a language-in-
education policy, which is different from language policy in a number of per-
spectives. It is only because the notion has been quoted frequently thereafter
in almost all education-and-manpower-related documents, and promoted in
various public occasions that it is gradually taken as the language policy of the
312 Wánɡ Huī (王晖)

Hong Kong SAR Government. While due emphasis has always been given to
English as an international lingua franca on top of Chinese which is the mother
tongue of the vast majority of Hong Kong citizen, Putonghua has become in-
creasingly important to Hong Kong society since the 90s, following expanding
interaction with Mainland China in trading and other activities subsequent
to its adoption of the Open Door Policy. Although the number of people who
claimed Putonghua as their “usual language” remains low1 according to the
record of the Census and Statistics Department, those who consider themselves
able to understand Putonghua grows fast in number, as revealed by a study
conducted by the Lingnan University of Hong Kong in 2002. Promotion of
Putonghua has become an important endeavour of both the Hong Kong SAR
Government and the general public, especially after the handover.

2 The Use of Putonghua in major domains

2.1 Education Domain

2.1.1 School Sector

Since the introduction of the notion of “biliteracy and trilingualism”, the teach-
ing and promotion of Putonghua has received substantial attention in the educa-
tion sector. Putonghua was phased in as a core subject of the school curriculum
in 1998, and has become a subject in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education
Examinations in 2000, marking a start to its rapid expansion in local schools.
According to the Education Bureau, over 90% of both primary and secondary
schools offered Putonghua subject two years after its introduction as a core
subject2, and in 2002, the figures went up to 95.5% for secondary schools and
98.7% for primary schools (Tián 2006). Among them, some went further to using
Putonghua as the medium of instruction (PMI) for some or all subjects except
English. As of August 2001, the Education Bureau recorded 21 schools that opted
for PMI.
However, the PMI issue remains a hot topic for discussion and research.
Albeit voices that call for a stronger push of PMI in the school sector, the

1 The people who claimed Putonghua as their “usual language” remains at 0.9% of the total
population as shown by the 2001 and 2006 census, slightly lower than the figure in 1996,
which is 1.1%.
2 See Curriculum Development Council, (2000). Learning to Learn – Chinese Language
Education Learning Area (Consultation Paper). The Hong Kong SAR Government.
 Putonghua in Hong Kong 313

Government is cautious about the pressure this would assert on schools if con-
ditions for such a move is still unripe. In the policy paper titled A Holistic Review
of the Hong Kong School Curriculum Proposed Reforms published in 1999, pro-
moting PMI was only set by the Curriculum Development Council (CDC) as a
long-term goal with no specific time-frame for implementation. Such a position
was fully endorsed by the Standing Committee on Language Education and
Research (SCOLAR)3 in its Action Plan to Raise Language Standards in Hong
Kong released in 2003. SCOLAR recommended “no firm policy or timetable for
using Putonghua to teach Chinese Language, pending further studies on the
conditions required to ensure a successful switch and prevent possible negative
outcomes”. The Government’s position was again publicly announced by the
then Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li in his 2005 Policy Address
Motion Debate, acknowledging the difficulties faced by a lot of schools in im-
plementing PMI, including mismatch between textbooks and curriculum, lack
of conducive learning environment, motivation of students, and readiness of
schools and teachers. Echoing the views of both CDC and SCOLAR, Li empha-
sized the importance of further study while at the same time exploring ways of
providing support to schools that plan to move in the PMI direction.

2.1.2 Tertiary Sector

For the past two decades, almost all universities in Hong Kong offered Putong-
hua courses at various levels to their students, given that Putonghua was only
introduced to the school curriculum in 1998 in a phased-in manner, and a large
proportion of incoming freshmen were untrained in the language. Universities
are generally more ready to enhance their students’ Putonghua proficiency to
prepare them better for joining the work force that requires genuine trilingual
skills. To quote some examples, the following universities have, among others,
put in much effort in raising the Putonghua standard of their students.
Tertiary Institutions in Hong Kong have their own discretion in deciding the
medium of instruction. While the great majority of them adopt an EMI policy to
tie in with the international norm, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
puts much emphasis on the “bilingual and multicultural dimensions of student
education”, and encourages a free choice of MOI among Cantonese, Mandarin
and English as deemed appropriate by the teaching staff. The Faculty of Educa-
tion of CUHK offers 4 types of professional courses in Putonghua education,

3 SCOLAR is a consultative committee established in 1996 to provide the Hong Kong SAR
Government with advice on language education issues and on the use of Language Fund.
314 Wánɡ Huī (王晖)

among them the MA in Putonghua Education stands out as a unique one in both
Hong Kong and China.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has a comprehensive university lan-
guage policy under which written Chinese and Putonghua are made mandatory
subjects alongside English. Graduating students of the University are also re-
quired to sit for language tests. Its Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies
joined hands with the State Language Commission (SLC) in developing a
Putonghua proficiency test for Hong Kong learners, i.e. the Putonghua Shuǐpínɡ
Kǎoshì (PSK), which was officially pegged to the national Putonghua test in
2003. The first and only Confucius Institute in the territory was also established
in the PolyU campus in 2005.
The Lingnan University advocates liberal arts education which aims to
instill a sense of civic duty in their students. Practical Chinese subject (with
intensive Putonghua training embedded) was made compulsory to all freshmen.
It also requires its students to take part in a Chinese exit test before graduation.
Some of its undergraduate students also sit for the national Putonghua test,
namely the Putonghua Shuǐpínɡ Cèshì (PSC). As of 2005, about 88% of those
test takers achieved a passing grade, a percentage much higher than the average
Hong Kong figure.

2.1.3 Putonghua Teacher Qualification

Teacher qualification is one of the major factors contributing to the success or

otherwise of Putonghua education in Hong Kong. While tertiary institutions are
generally free to recruit qualified teachers from different parts of the world,
enabling most of their Putonghua courses to be taught by native speakers, the
situation in the school sector is less satisfactory. Most Putonghua teachers in
primary and secondary schools are trained locally, with Cantonese as their
mother tongue. There is therefore a high demand in training programmes of
various kinds for school Putonghua teachers. The Institute of Education is a
major player in running teachers’ training courses in this regard. The Institute
at present offers two in-service training courses for Putonghua teachers, one at
primary level, and the other at secondary level. It is also an innovative move
for the Institute to offer a Minor Programme in Putonghua within the newly in-
troduced 4-year BA degree programme. In addition, some other tertiary institu-
tions offered tailor-made courses focusing on specific knowledge or skills for
teachers as commissioned by the Education Bureau. Workshops, seminars and
talks are also organized at regular intervals by the Bureau itself to better prepare
 Putonghua in Hong Kong 315

school teachers for meeting the challenges arising from the expansion of
Putonghua teaching.
Knowing the causal effect of teacher qualification on the outcome of lan-
guage education, the Hong Kong SAR Government has invested much resource
with an aim of building up a strong teaching force equipped with desired pro-
fessional training. Accordingly to Tián (2006), around 900 Putonghua teachers
were provided with in-service training from 1997 to 1998. The number was
increased to 1,900 in the following two years, and by 2006, almost all teachers
have received some sort of training. To ensure that teachers are themselves pro-
ficient enough to deliver teaching in the target language at required levels,
the then CE announced in the 1997 Policy Address that language benchmarks
would be set for all English and Putonghua teachers in 1998–1999; and that all
new teachers of these two subjects would be required to meet the benchmarks
before they join the profession in 2000. Such policy has of course generated
positive impact on the promotion of Putonghua teaching at the school sector,
though the Government has encountered certain resistance from teachers when
the policy was first introduced.
To further assist teachers in meeting the qualification requirements, the
Government has injected large sum of funding in the form of Language Fund to
support teachers’ professional development. A maximum of 10 thousand dollars
subsidy has been provided to each Putonghua teacher who enrolled on any
recognized Putonghua training course and who managed to achieve a passing
grade in Putonghua public examination after the training. EDB and SCOLAR
also provided funding support to those who joined Putonghua immersion courses
offered by some tertiary institutes during summer. In 2006, around 400 Chinese
and Putonghua teachers enrolled on such programmes. Since its inception, the
immersion programme has emerged to become an effective training mode for
in-service teachers.

2.2 Civil Service

It is a usual practice for the Government to hold press conferences and news
release in both English and Cantonese, while internal meetings are normally
conducted in Cantonese alone, unless there is non-Cantonese speaking partici-
pant. Though Putonghua was given official status after 1997, its use is still limited
in public domain. For instance, it is stated in the web-site of the Legislative
Council that a Member may address the Council in either Putonghua, Cantonese
or the English language. But given that only a small number of Council members
are proficient in all three languages, simultaneous interpreting service is provided
316 Wánɡ Huī (王晖)

during the meeting to facilitate mutual understanding and interaction. It is

observed that there is a shift in language use in LegCo meetings from English
to Cantonese after 1997, while the use of Putonghua is still rather rare. However,
government officials tend to use Putonghua in formal speeches when addressing
high-end meetings where representatives from the Central Government or impor-
tant Putonghua-speaking guests are present. Obvious examples would be the
speeches given at the Hong Kong Handover Ceremony, and the Chief Executive’s
speech delivered at Inauguration Ceremony. It is worth noting that Hong Kong
recorded the first case of court trial being processed in Putonghua4 in 29 October
2002. The case was subsequently widely reported in local newspapers. It can
be seen that the use of Putonghua is becoming more common in a number of
official occasions, and the number of civil servants who can communicate with
others in Putonghua is gradually increasing.
The Civil Service Training and Development Institute plays an important
role in promoting the use of Putonghua among civil servants. In the past years,
the Institute has offered numerous Putonghua courses of various kinds and at
different levels to employers from different government departments, in addition
to the development of multi-media materials and software for self-learning
purposes. Individual departments have also planned and conducted their own
training programmes. To name a few examples, the Official Languages Division
of the Civil Service Bureau offers online Putonghua courses to the entire popula-
tion of civil servants; the Home Affairs Department, the Housing Authority, the
Social Welfare Department, the Monetary Authority etc. have collaborated with
universities from Hong Kong or Mainland to provide their staff with training in
Putonghua, and sometimes written Chinese. Some government officials have also
been sent to Mainland China to attend training courses. For instance, the Hong
Kong Police Inspectors’ Association has joined hands with the Jìnán (暨南) Uni-
versity in Guǎnɡdōnɡ (广东) Province to organized several rounds of Putonghua
training courses for the Police Force since September 2001. More than 1,500
members from the Police Force have been trained as of May 2006.

2.3 Sound media

The use of Putonghua was rather limited in traditional sound media channels. It
was estimated that the Putonghua programmes of the two wireless TV channels

4 The Constable who arrested 3 suspects of a fraud case was allowed by the Judge to be
interrogated in Putonghua in order to show that his Putonghua proficiency was sufficient to
allow the suspects, who were Putonghua speakers, to understand him when he told them
their rights of remaining silent when arrested. Report of the case could be found at
http://news3.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2002-10/30/content_613230.htm.
 Putonghua in Hong Kong 317

took up less than 5% of the total air time5. The situation was changed when
the RTHK6 Putonghua Radio was established in 1997. It is the only Putonghua
radio channel in Hong Kong, as well as an important organizer of a number of
territory-wide Putonghua promotional activities. It is also worth mentioning that
the Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority granted a non-exclusive non-domestic
television programme service licence to Phoenix Satellite Television Company
Limited on 17 May 2006. Phoenix started Phoenix Chinese Channel on 31 March
1996. It is a Hong Kong-based Mandarin television broadcaster that serves Hong
Kong and the Mainland alongside other markets with substantial Chinese viewers.
Though it still takes time for Phoenix to gain wider popularity among local audi-
ences, its establishment could be considered as a landmark in the promotion of
Putonghua in Hong Kong. In recent years, SCOLAR has also made use of public
media channels to promote the use of Putonghua in order to arouse wider atten-
tion. For example, it has commissioned the Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB)
to broadcast the Putonghua Festival 2006 via its Chinese Jade channel in order
to publicize experiences and strategies in the learning of Putonghua.

2.4 Trading and Social Services

The economic cooperation and integration between the Mainland and Hong
Kong is becoming even closer after the handover, and in particular, after the
signing of The Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrange-
ment (CEPA) in June 2003. It was reported by the Shēnzhèn (深圳) Special Zone
Daily7 that 30% of corporations in Hong Kong and Shēnzhèn were of cross-
border nature. At least 400 thousand Hong Kong citizens live or work across
the border. The number is bound to increase further as a result of Hong Kong’s
opening up of education opportunities (especially higher education and research
postgraduate education) to Mainlander and the development of Chinese entities
in Hong Kong. According to the Mainland Graduate Development Review in Hong
Kong 2006, a survey report prepared and released by the Hong Kong Association
of Mainland Graduates, as of 2005, around 5,000 Mainland students pursued their
study in Hong Kong annually. By the end of 2005, there were about 20 thousand

5 This is an estimation presented in an article titled “Language Situation and Language Policy
of Hong Kong”. In The Language Situation in China 2005 (Vol. 1), Běijīnɡ: The Commercial Press.
6 Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is a public broadcasting organization in Hong Kong
that is operated as an independent department in the government under the Broadcasting
Authority.
7 The figure was reported in an article discussing about employment opportunities in
Shenzhen issued on 1 July 2006 of Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.
318 Wánɡ Huī (王晖)

Mainlanders studying or working in Hong Kong. In order to foster further eco-

nomic development in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong SAR Government has intro-
duced a number of policies to attract talents to join the work force. Among
them, an important fundamental policy is the “Admission Scheme for Mainland
Talents and Professionals” introduced in July 2003. It was reported by the Chief
Executive Mr. Donald Tsang in his 2006–2007 Policy Address that “over the past
three years, more than 11,000 talented people from the Mainland have come to
work in Hong Kong under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Pro-
fessionals. In June this year, we also introduced the Quality Migrant Admission
Scheme to allow talented people meeting certain criteria to settle in Hong Kong
without having to secure an offer of local employment beforehand. Since its
inception, we have received hundreds of applications. A deep pool of talent
will boost our economic development and create more jobs.” (Section 33) In
addition, the “Individual Visit Scheme” was first introduced in four Guǎnɡdōnɡ
cities, i.e. Dōnɡɡuǎn (东莞), Zhōnɡshān (中山), Jiānɡmén (江门), Fóshān (佛山),
in 28 July 2003 as a liberalisation measure under the Closer Economic Partner-
ship Agreement. The Scheme allows residents of these cities to visit Hong Kong
in their individual capacity. The Scheme was later extended to cover 49 Main-
land cities in 2007. Such policy, together with other positive factors such as the
increasing affluence of Mainland residents and the appreciation of rénmínbì, led
to a tremendous growth in Mainland arrivals in the years that followed. It is
reported in the Hong Kong Tourism Board Annual Report 2006–2007 that “Main-
land China provided more than half of Hong Kong’s total visitors in 2006. The
13.59 million arrivals represented a moderate increase of 8.4% over 2005. The
share of visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) rose to almost
half of Mainland arrivals (49%) as more cities were opened for the IVS while
consumption visitors under the scheme, particularly those from neighbouring
Guǎnɡdōnɡ cities, surged significantly.”
To accommodate for the changes brought forth by the influx of Mainland
visitors, retail companies and the service sector have invested much resources
to prepare their staff for coping with the challenges. For example, the Hong
Kong Tourist Association has offered practical Putonghua courses for local tourist
guides, tour escorts and members of the management team of travel agents.
Public transportation corporations in Hong Kong were also aware of the need
in raising the Putonghua standard of their staff in entertaining the request of
increasing Mainland passengers. Starting from September 2009, a Putonghua
broadcast system was being installed in MTR stations and on trains by the
Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation. Service counters were set up in certain
MTR stations to provide tourists with information about Hong Kong, and MTR
ambassadors proficient in Putonghua were trained to serve the visitors. The
 Putonghua in Hong Kong 319

Kowloon Motor Bus Co., one of the three motor bus companies in Hong Kong,
has names of stops broadcasted in Cantonese, English, and Putonghua, on top
of providing self-learning Putonghua CDs to drivers of the company. Besides,
leading corporations in the public services sector such as the Hong Kong Inter-
national Airport, Hong Kong Disneyland, Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd.,
HSBC have all launched new service plans in Putonghua. The expansion of
Putonghua is probably the fastest in business and service industry among all
sectors. The level of Putonghua standard of employers from such industries is
also improving rather rapidly. Putonghua proficiency is gradually becoming
an entry requirement to positions in occupations such as retailing, hotel and
tourism industry.

3 Putonghua examination in Hong Kong

Examination has a special role to play in assessing the quality of education and
those being educated. Much emphasis has been placed on examination in the
Hong Kong education system for certification of the ability and quality of candi-
dates. As far as Putonghua examination is concerned, four major tests are on
offer by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA),
namely the HKCEE Putonghua Examination for Form 5 school leavers, Test
of Proficiency in Putonghua and Test of Advanced Proficiency in Putonghua
for the general public, and the Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers
(Putonghua).
As mentioned before, Putonghua has become a subject in the Hong Kong
Certificate of Education Examinations in 2000. Some 2,000 students took the
examination each year. However, the HKCEE Putonghua subject will no longer
be offered following the implementation of the new Senior Secondary Curricu-
lum in 2009. With no Putonghua public examination in place subsequently,
SCOLAR recommended in 2003 in the Action Plan to Raise Language Standards
in Hong Kong that a Putonghua proficiency test be developed and implemented
in 2007 to assess the learning outcome of the Form 3 leavers of that year, who
were the first batch of pupils to undergo 9 years of Putonghua training when it
was first introduced as a core subject in the school curriculum. It could become
a formal assessment afterwards if proved appropriate. As for teachers, it was
stipulated in the 1997 Policy Address that new teachers of both English and
Putonghua subjects were required to meet the language benchmarks set by the
Government before joining the profession. The Language Proficiency Assessment
for Teachers (Putonghua) Handbook was issued in April 2000, and in September
320 Wánɡ Huī (王晖)

of the same year, the Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers (Putonghua)
was formally introduced.
For the general public, the Test of Advanced Proficiency in Putonghua will
have its last sitting in 2008 owing to decrease in candidate number. This is perhaps
due to introduction of new tests, such as the more prestigious Putonghua Shuǐpínɡ
Cèshì (PSC) developed by the SLC. PSC was originally designed to test the pro-
nunciation accuracy level of professionals such as broadcasters, actors and
actresses, language teachers, and students of teacher training programmes. It
was later being expanded to include candidates from the civil service in the
Mainland. The test was being introduced to Hong Kong in 1996, firstly to stu-
dents enrolled on Putonghua training programmes of the Faculty of Education
of University of Hong Kong. As of 2007, six other universities have also intro-
duced the test to their students, alumni and staff members. Some universities
also opened the test to the general public. It was reported by the Commission
that a headcount of 6,000 candidates took the test annually since 2004, and
that the total number of test takers from Hong Kong has reached 35,242 by the
end of 2006. PSC has attracted the largest number of candidates as compared to
other tests of similar nature. It is also widely accepted by the Hong Kong society,
as recognized qualification for granting exemption to major papers of Language
Proficiency Assessment for Teachers (Putonghua), and for gaining financial
support from the Continuing Education Fund. Because of its high currency, a
number of private organizations have included PSC test contents in their train-
ing programmes.

4 Distinct Features of Putonghua Promotion in

Hong Kong
4.1 Societal Level
The motivation behind Hong Kong’s Putonghua promotion comes from society
and the people within; there are many organizations in Hong Kong that promote
and offer Putonghua training, many of which are government registered non-
profit companies. For example, the Xiānɡɡǎnɡ Putonghua Yánxíshè, founded in
1976, has proved to be one of the most important organizations in the promotion
of Putonghua in Hong Kong. For the past 30 years (until 2006), the organization
has offered a total of 16,700 Putonghua classes at different levels, and trained up
to 301,500 learners. In 2001, they also started a “Xiānɡɡǎnɡ Putonghua Yánxíshè
Primary School of Science and Creativity”, which uses Putonghua as its primary
 Putonghua in Hong Kong 321

medium of instruction and school language, hence implementing the group’s

aim to promote Putonghua onto the basic level of education.
Adhered to the “Hong Kong spirit”, local Putonghua promoting organiza-
tions advocate diversity, practicality, and flexibility in teaching methods. Outside
of the curriculum, Putonghua-promoting networking events are innovative, edu-
cational and interesting, intimately coordinating with Hong Kong’s popular
artistic city culture and business culture, and with distinct feature. For example,
the RTHK Putonghua Channel initiated a “Hong Kong Putonghua Promotion Union”
in 2001, gathering all Putonghua-promoting organizations together (number of
members already exceeded 150 in 2002). The union hosted a huge Putonghua
promoting event in 2001 – the “Putonghua Day”. From 2002 SCOLAR also joined
in hosting the event and expanded it to a “Putonghua Week”. In 2003, it was
developed to an even bigger “Putonghua Festival”.
Up to 2006, “Putonghua Festival” has already been successfully held 4
rounds, releasing 40 odd large activities, involving a total of 28,0000 participants.
The festival, through their many events, has created a Putonghua-speaking envi-
ronment and atmosphere, and had spread the message of promoting Putonghua
to all corners of the society. “Putonghua Festival” also connected society to
schools, since many schools have become a member of the union as it sets up
numerous activities for students and teachers, such as the ‘Student Putonghua
Broadcast Training Class’, ‘Learning Putonghua Through Music’ and many
more. Previous events have invited popular artists and performers to be the
ambassador of “Putonghua Festival”; and organized up to a thousand shops to
participate in “Putonghua Shopping Discount Plan”. The festival have now
become Hong Kong’s largest scale, longest lasting (2 months in 2003, over 3
months in 2006) and the most organized Putonghua promoting event in plan-
ning, and is currently developing into one of Hong Kong’s long-term language
activities.

4.2 Government effort

In 1997 after the handover, the HKSAR Government has adopted steady and
pragmatic approaches to support the promotion of Putonghua. On one hand
the government values language education by introducing the language-in-
education policy of “biliteracy and trilingualism”. Under the policy, the signifi-
cant role of Putonghua in language is being identified. On the other hand, the
Government actively puts in resources, through establishing the Language
Fund, Continuing Education Fund and Quality Education Fund. It has provided
substantial support to Putonghua education and promotion. Triggered primarily
322 Wánɡ Huī (王晖)

by pragmatic needs, Putonghua promotion in Hong Kong has never resorted in a

top-down manner. Instead, the government has made use of the momentum
gathered by the handover and the economic development, to promote Putong-
hua learning in an implicit and gradual manner, in response to the upsurge of
learning Putonghua from all levels in the society.
The Hong Kong Government is tactful in formation of its language related
policies. In terms of establishment, it has the Education Bureau to coordinate
Language-in-education policy. In addition, it formed SCOLAR in 1996 as a policy
advisory entity, with prominent personage amongst different sectors of the
society as its members. The Government also empowered SCOLAR to oversee
the use of the Language Fund. By August 2006, the Language Fund has provided
support to 54 “Putonghua” and “Chinese and Putonghua” projects, with total
allocation amounting to 77.7 million dollars. In recent years, the “Putonghua
Festival” hosted by SCOLAR has helped to build a bridge between the govern-
ment, the media, the education and the business sector to promote Putonghua
together. The Hong Kong government’s way of promoting Putonghua is pro-
mising and practical, matching Hong Kong’s particular trait and language
condition.

4.3 Non-governmental Level

The success or otherwise of language promotion has a lot to do with people’s
attitude towards the language concerned. As citizens of an economically highly
developed society, people in Hong Kong tend to connect language learning with
pragmatic considerations. Economic value always out-weighted political or
linguistic value when learning a language, be it English or Putonghua. “Training
Hong Kong people to speak Putonghua here is definitely one of the most valu-
able investment projects.” Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hang
Seng Bank Limited Raymond Or said, when attending the first Hong Kong
“Putonghua Festival”.
Putonghua is being considered by the business sector as a language that can
generate profit and revenue. Numerous companies have already provided their
employees with Putonghua training. A survey conducted by Youth Hong Kong
shows that 27% of the survey subjects considered it as the language they most
wanted to learn, being on top of the 10 favorite things that teenagers picked.8
Learning and promoting Putonghua have become Hong Kong people’s common

8 See “Putonghua ranked top on value-added programme. Wish to enhance language for a
better grasp of HK-China business opportunity” (青年增值最爱学普通话 希望改进语文抓紧
中港商机). Apple Daily, 16 June 2006.
 Putonghua in Hong Kong 323

need. Its value has induced the people, society and government to willingly put
in resources onto its learning and promotion.
Considering the language life of Hong Kong after 1997, Cantonese, Putong-
hua and English develop in coexisting manner. The situation of “biliteracy and
trilingualism” has become one of the important features of Hong Kong society.
The use and promotion of Putonghua has become a need in the development of
Hong Kong. Putonghua has gained unprecedented developing momentum and
room for expansion in Hong Kong.

References
Hong Kong Tourism Board. 2006. Annual Report 2006/07.
Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR). 2003. Action Plan to Raise
Language Standards in Hong Kong – Final Review Report.
The HK SAR Government. 1997. The 1997 Policy Address.
The HK SAR Government. 2006. The 2006–07 Policy Address.
Tian Xiaolin. 2006. “Review of Chinese Language Education Policy in Hong Kong”
(香港中文教育政策述评). China Times, 2006: 8.

Translated by Chan, Shui-Duen (陈瑞端)

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
[email protected]
Wong Pui Kwong (王培光)
28 Language and language policy in
Hong Kong

1 Language in Hong Kong

The use of language has generally remained unchanged in Hong Kong since the
handover of sovereignty from the British Government to mainland China. One of
the main reasons is that Hong Kong’s previous capitalist system and lifestyle
must remain unchanged for 50 years according to the Basic Law 1. Zōu (1984)
pointed out that ‘while Mandarin (i.e. Putonghua) has certain status, the High
variety is English and the Low variety is Cantonese’ in the diglossic Hong
Kong. The High variety is relatively formal language, whereas the Low variety is
comparatively less formal. According to an investigation on the use of languages
amongst Hong Kong people with high income, English was the dominant lan-
guage at work and Cantonese was usually employed in the domestic domain
(Zōu and Yóu 2004: 240–242). Although the study was published 29 years ago
(ibid), English continues to be the High variety and the preference for English
has not changed in Hong Kong.
The language domains can be differentiated into three categories: the family,
work, and others (Zōu and Yóu 2004: 16). The use of spoken language is usually
further divided into nine domains: (1) the family, (2) friends, (3) the playground,
(4) school, (5) conversations between colleagues, (6) meetings between collea-
gues, (7) conversations between civil servants, (8) civil service meetings, (9) TV
or radio broadcasting. Cantonese is usually employed in most of these domains,
except that English is often used in civil service meetings. Therefore, Cantonese
is the language that is widely used, yet its status is lower than that of English.
According to the 2001 Population Census in Hong Kong, 89.2% of the
population aged 5 or over employ Cantonese as the ‘usual language’, 0.9% of
them use Putonghua, 5.5% use other Chinese dialects and 3.2% use English (see
Table 1). Almost 90% of the total population in Hong Kong speak Cantonese,

1 The full name of the law is ‘The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’.
It consists of the basic policies of the People’s Republic of China regarding Hong Kong that
were agreed between the Chinese and British Governments on 19 December 1984, when the
Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed. It is based on the principle of ‘One Country, Two
Systems’ and it guaranteed that nothing would change in Hong Kong for 50 years according to
the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau.
326 Wong Pui Kwong (王培光)

which is the dominant dialect in the Pearl River Delta (Zhān and Zhānɡ 1990: 5).
Cantonese is also the medium of instruction for the Chinese subjects in primary
and secondary schools in Hong Kong, as well as the Chinese programmes in ter-
tiary institutions. As shown in Table 1, the percentage of Cantonese speakers has
stayed similar, with a minor increase of 1.5% between 1991 and 2001. The users
of Putonghua have dropped by 0.2% and the speakers of other Chinese dialects
have decreased by 1.5%, whereas the number of English speakers has risen
by 1.1%.

Usual Language 1991 1996 2001

Cantonese 88.7% 88.7% 89.2%

Putonghua 1.1% 1.1% 0.9%
Other Chinese Dialects 7.0% 5.8% 5.5%
English 2.2% 3.1% 3.2%
Others 1.0% 1.3% 1.2%
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
Total Population 5,168,909 5,860,541 6,417,739

Table 1: Population aged 5 and over by usual language, 1991, 1996 and 2001
Note: The figures exclude mute persons.
Source: http://censtatd.gov.hk/major_projects/2001_population_census/main_tables/population_
aged_5_and_over_by_usual_language_1991/index.jsp.

The percentage of different language users remains constant when the sta-
tistics from Table 1 are compared with those collected earlier, which also show
that there has not been any significant change in the language use of Hong
Kong. In the 1966 Population Census in Hong Kong, 0.8% of people chose
English as the usual ‘domestic language’, 81.43% of them used Cantonese.
Similarly, the 1977 Population Census shows that 1.0% employed English as the
‘domestic language’, whereas 88.1% used Cantonese. Although the ‘domestic
language’ is phrased differently from ‘usual language’, the general concept
behind these two terms is the same and therefore it would affect the validity to
compare the data from two censuses. Please note that neither of these censuses
investigated the users of Putonghua as the ‘domestic language’ in Hong Kong.

2 English in education
As stated earlier, English continues to be the High variety in Hong Kong since
the handover in 1997. Although the use of English has been decreasing in the
 Language and language policy in Hong Kong 327

Hong Kong Legislative Council and HKSAR,2 the official documents from the two
organisations are generally in English. In the domains of business and
academia, English remains the prestige language. However, there has been a
significant drop in the employment of English as the medium of instruction in
education. The English-instructed secondary schools are allowed to use English
as the medium of instruction (EMI) to teach all subjects except for Chinese Lan-
guage and Chinese History, which are taught in Cantonese. There was a decrease
in the number of secondary schools allowed to continue to use English as the
medium of instruction, from around 400 schools in 1997 to 112 in 1998. It has
often been proposed recently that the subject of Chinese Language should be
taught in Mandarin. The Chinese-instructed secondary schools employ Cantonese
as the medium of instruction (CMI) to teach all subjects except for English Lan-
guage, which is mainly taught in English.
There has been a strong tendency for an overwhelming majority of parents
to send their children to the EMI schools. The possible explanations for the
popularity of these schools are: (1) the consequence of being under the rule of
the UK before 1997; (2) English continues to enjoy high prestige and serves
a range of irreplaceable functions in business, trading, academia and other
professional domains; (3) the structure of population and the economic charac-
teristics of Hong Kong; (4) EMI schools are usually founded and sponsored by
educational bodies with good reputation; (5) EMI schools are believed to be
able to improve their students’ English proficiency.3 There were 23 EMI and 30
CMI schools in 1952. However, the number of EMI schools reached 400 in 1997,
while there were only tens of CMI schools at this time. Hong Kong parents put
their focus on the English education of their children in order to provide the
necessary linguistic background for access to prestigious jobs; for example,
English was the dominant language in the Hong Kong government before 1997.
High English proficiency was a must-have for Hong Kong people to enter a job in
the government or in business.
Zhènɡ (1973) pointed out that most students cannot adapt to English as
the medium of instruction at the secondary level since they were taught in
Cantonese in the primary schools. The majority of students are not able to
understand the content of the course taught in English, or raise any question or

2 The government of Hong Kong. The official name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region (HKSAR) of China.
3 Apart from the five explanations, So (2000) also proposed a sixth, which refers to the
parents’ attitudes; but this is a result derived from the other five.
328 Wong Pui Kwong (王培光)

discussion in their first year of the EMI secondary school.4 The employment of
English as the medium of instruction also leads to students’ lower competence
in maths compared to those in CMI schools. In addition, it is difficult to promise
students improvement in their English due to the uneven English competence
amongst the teachers in EMI schools. In some EMI schools, the teachers usually
translate the English textbooks into Cantonese rather than employ English as
the medium of instruction in general. Another disadvantage of EMI schools is
that the dominant use of English might affect the students’ ways of thinking,
which would not benefit the development of their cultural identity and feeling
of belonging.
Therefore, in comparison with the CMI schools, EMI schools, while improv-
ing students’ English proficiency, have their disadvantages. In fact, mother-
tongue education may be more appropriate for the majority of Hong Kong
students; previous studies (Zhānɡ 1974; Siu 1979; Poon 1979; HKEC 2005) have
indicated that mother-tongue education would benefit far more students in
general. The vast majority of secondary students can indeed reach better aca-
demic achievement when Chinese is used as the medium of instruction, according
to their results. After the long and thorough discussion and preparation for
a new language policy,5 HKSAR eventually decided to implement Chinese-
instructed education in Forms 1–3 amongst all the public secondary schools
from 1997; a school needs the government’s permission in order to become an

4 Please note that there are five years in secondary school in Hong Kong, which are not
divided into junior or senior school.
5 The policy of ‘allowing the secondary schools that meet the criteria’ to become EMI has been
proposed after a long period of discussion: (1) In 1982, Perspective on Education in Hong Kong –
Report by a Visiting Panel suggested that ‘Cantonese should be the medium of instruction
between Form 1–Form 3’. (2) In 1984, Education Commission Report No. 1 also proposed that the
secondary schools should adopt Chinese as the medium of instruction. (3) In 1986, Education
Commission Report No. 2 further confirmed the previous proposal. (4) In 1990, Education
Commission Report No. 4 proposed to establish the objective evaluation framework in order to
distinguish students who should be taught in English from those who are more suitable to be
taught in the mother-tongue. (5) Since 1994, the government has been providing information
regarding ‘Medium of Instruction Grouping’ in secondary schools in order to evaluate if the
students should be taught in English or in mother-tongue. (6) In 1996, Education Commission
Report No. 6 pointed out that it should be up to the government to decide which language can be
adopted as the medium of instruction in secondary schools. In September 1997, Medium of
Instruction Guidance for Secondary Schools, issued by the government, claims that ‘schools must
employ mother-tongue as the medium of instruction for all the subjects since Form 1 in 1998/
1999, and gradually extend the mother-tongue education to other grades’. Schools which intend
to adopt English as the medium of instruction should meet three criteria: students’ academic
ability, teachers’ English language ability, and whether the school has in place programs and
strategies to help students to switch from learning through Chinese to learning through English.
 Language and language policy in Hong Kong 329

EMI school.6 Therefore, the secondary schools are still generally classified into
EMI and CMI post-1997.7
The government laid down three criteria to evaluate if a school can adopt
EMI: (1) students’ academic ability, in order to see if they are capable of being
taught through English; (2) teachers’ English language capability, in order to
evaluate if they are able to teach effectively through English; (3) support mea-
sures – whether the school has in place programs and strategies to help stu-
dents to switch from learning through Chinese to learning through English. The
report by Hong Kong Medium of Instruction Guidance for Secondary Schools
Appeals Committee indicates that ‘it is a shame’ for Hong Kong people to have
a strong preference for English-medium schools, and provides the following
advice (HKEC 1998):

It is more effective to employ Chinese rather than English in the study for most Hong Kong
secondary students. They can fully develop their coping skills and critical analysis com-
petence in a Chinese-speaking environment. It is indeed a shame that the majority of
Hong Kong parents prefer EMI secondary schools due to the current economic and socio-
cultural environment in Hong Kong. Since it is time to provide a high quality of education
to the young generation, we should try our best to raise awareness of the advantages
of CMI.

Whether CMI or EMI is adopted, the effectiveness of students’ study depends

largely on how competent a teacher is in the employment of such a language in
teaching. Therefore, it is essential to implement assessment criteria in order to
make sure that the teachers are capable of using the language in place as the
medium of instruction.
The Report on Review of Secondary School Places Allocation and Medium of
Instruction for Secondary Schools, issued by HKSAR in December 2005, maintains
its perspectives on the medium of instruction at junior secondary levels as
follows: ‘Principally, all the secondary schools should adopt the mother-tongue
teaching at the junior secondary levels; they should also make efforts to improve
students’ English proficiency at the same time’ (HKEC 2005). HKSAR is not

6 Some educational bodies disagree that English should be the medium of instruction from
F1–F3. Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union believes that ‘the current policy . . . is a
compromise of the reality’. The Union, as well as the Chinese Language Society of Hong Kong,
suggests implementing mother-tongue education (Cantonese or Putonghua) from the primary
to junior secondary levels.
7 Except for the CMI and EMI, there are international schools in Hong Kong. An international
school usually has its own primary and secondary levels, and usually adopts a foreign
curriculum; for instance, the American International School adopts the American curriculum
and the medium of instruction is English.
330 Wong Pui Kwong (王培光)

against any secondary schools employing English as the medium of instruction,

but they have to fulfil the three criteria mentioned earlier and are further speci-
fied as follows:
1. Students’ ability: ‘At most about 40% of Form 1 students will be taken as
having the ability to learn through EMI’. ‘A school wishing to adopt EMI
teaching must have no less than 85% of its Form 1 intake belonging to the
top 40% group’ (HKEC 2005: 20).
2. Teachers’ capability: “Teachers should ‘be able to communicate the subject
content to students intelligibly in English and that their use of English
should have no adverse impact on students’ acquisition of the English
language”. The specific requirements are: Basic requirement (a) Grade C
or above in English Language (Syllabus B) of the HKCEE (Hong Kong Certi-
ficate of Education Examination) or other recognized qualifications, e.g.
Band 6 or above in the International English Language Testing System
(IELTS) (academic domain). (b) Serving EMI teachers who have not attained
the recognized qualifications may opt for classroom observation by subject
experts and language experts’ (HKEC 2005: 29).
3. Support measures: Schools using English as the medium of instruction
should purposefully and strategically provide a language environment condu-
cive to learning English. They should set out the related support strategies
and specific measures in their school development plans and annual reports.
The related strategies include: (a) strengthening the teaching and learning
of English as a subject with a view to enhancing students’ English profi-
ciency, and in so doing better facilitate their learning of the other subjects
through English; (b) creating an English-rich environment to increase stu-
dents’ exposure to English inside and outside the classroom; (c) devising
well-designed bridging programmes to help S1 students switch from CMI
to EMI learning. The Education and Manpower Bureau would assess and
monitor the implementation of the support measures under the existing
framework of quality assurance and schools’ self-evaluation (HKEC 2005: 34).

EMI schools should also: (a) strengthen the learning of English through
language-across-the-curriculum by promoting collaboration between English
Language teachers and content subject teachers, so that students can master
the vocabulary, terms and expressions in each subject to support their learning
through English; and (b) adopt English as the medium of instruction in non-
academic subjects as far as possible (HKEC 2005: 36).
A school must fulfil the prescribed three criteria in order to adopt EMI. The
above plan with specific new details should be implemented starting from the
2010/2011 school year. Hong Kong applies bilingual education since the EMI
 Language and language policy in Hong Kong 331

schools employ both English and Cantonese as the medium of instruction. This
bilingual education is similar to language maintenance bilingual education
(Faltis and Hudelson 1998: 26–33; Hornberger 1991: 215–234), which pays atten-
tion to both the first and second languages of students. In other words, the first
and second languages are always used as the medium of instruction. As a result,
students are able to maintain the language ability of the mother-tongue and
develop cultural identification with it. Nevertheless, if the EMI schools employ
English for around 80% of lesson time, it would not be considered as language
maintenance bilingual education since it does not place the same emphasis on
the first and second languages. In December 2005, HKSAR allowed CMI schools
to devote approximately 25% of lesson time to EMI if they fulfil the relevant
criteria. Therefore, bilingual education can be demonstrated in CMI schools to
some extent. It also shows that this new plan is flexible and encouraging since
it admits that students from CMI schools also need to further improve the study
of English. Since both EMI and CMI schools employ English as the medium of
instruction to a certain extent, the terms EMI and CMI should no longer be
used to label a school. The removal of these labels might be helpful to eliminate
preconceptions of the prestige of EMI schools.

References
Faltis, C. and S. Hudelson. 1998. Bilingual education in elementary and secondary school
communities: toward understanding and caring. Boston: Allyn and Boston.
HKEC (Hong Kong Education Commission). 1998. Report on Hong Kong Medium of Instruction
Guidance for Secondary Schools Appeals Committee. Hong Kong: The Printing Department
of HKSAR.
HKEC (Hong Kong Education Commission). 2005. Report on Review of Secondary School Places
Allocation and Medium of Instruction for Secondary Schools. Working Group on Review of
Secondary School Places Allocation and Medium of Instruction for Secondary Schools,
Hong Kong.
Hornberger, J. 1991. Extending enrichment bilingual education: revisiting typologies and
redirecting policy. In: Ofelia Garcia (ed.), Bilingual education: Focusschrift in honor
of Joshua A. Fishman on the occasion of his 65th birthday, 215–234. Amsterdam/
Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.
Poon, S.K. 1979. An investigation of the language differences experienced by Hong Kong
primary school leavers in learning Mathematics through the medium of English. M.A.
Dissertation, University of Hong Kong.
Siu, P.K. (萧炳基). 1979. The effects of the medium of instruction on student cognitive
development and academic achievement: final report. Hong Kong: School of Education,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
So, W.C. (苏咏昌). 2000. Achieving Biliteracy and Trilingualism Without MOI-based Bifurcation
of the Schools: A Pea for Thrid-alternatives. In: David C.S. Li, Angel Lin and Wai King Tsang
(eds.), Language and Education in Postcolonial Hong Kong, 9–33. Hong Kong: Linguistic
Society of Hong Kong.
332 Wong Pui Kwong (王培光)

Zhān Bóhuì (詹伯慧) and Zhānɡ Rìshēnɡ (张日升). 1990. A Survey of Dialects in the Pearl River
Delta. Guǎnɡzhōu (广州): Guǎnɡdōnɡ (广东) Publishing House.
Zhānɡ Mǐnhuì (张敏惠). 1974. A Comparison Study of the Comprehension of Texts by Hong
Kong Secondary Students Taught in Cantonese or English. M.A. dissertation, Chinese
University of Hong Kong.
Zhènɡ Àilún (郑艾伦). 1973. The Price of English: The Report of the Medium of Instruction and
Education in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Zōu Jiāyàn (邹嘉彦). 1984. How Chinese language education adapts to the changing society of
Hong Kong. Journal of Chinese Language 12.
Zōu Jiāyàn (邹嘉彦) and Yóu Rǔjié (游汝杰). 2004. Sociolinguistics. Shànɡhǎi (上海): Fùdàn
(复旦) University Press.

Translated by Zhānɡ Qǐ (张绮)

Dublin City University
[email protected]
Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳) & Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)
29 Language situation and language policy
in Macao
According to Population Census of Macao in 2001 (Macao SAR Government
2002a), Chinese, Portuguese and English are three major languages used by local
residents. What characterizes the language situation there is a bilingual group
speaking both Portuguese and Chinese as their mother tongues. In that group,
only a very few speak Patuá, also known as Macanese, a Creole deriving from
Portuguese. In the case of Chinese dialects used in Macao, various dialects such
as Cantonese (粤), Mǐn (闽) Dialect, Hakka (客家) and Wú (吴) Dialect coexist.

1 Chinese
Chinese, used by residents of Chinese nationality, the majority of Macao’s popu-
lation, enjoys an official language status together with Portuguese since 1992.
After Macao’s handover to China in 1999, the Basic Law of the Macao Special
Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China stipulates the official
language status of vernacular and written Chinese.

1.1 Cantonese
Cantonese is the most commonly spoken Chinese variety in Macao, followed by
Mǐn Dialect, Wú Dialect, Hakka and some dialectical varieties of Putonghua. In
Macao, Cantonese speakers, making up 87.86% of the total population in 2001,
are the largest group of local residents. See Table 1 below for dialect-speaking
populations in Macao.
1991 1996 2001
Population Percentage Population Percentage Population Percentage

Residents of Chinese 325,530 96.52 381,885 96.00 411,482 97.00

Nationality
Cantonese speakers 289,297 85.77 346,082 87.20 372,696 87.86
Mandarin Speakers 4016 1.19 4955 1.25 6660 1.57
Speakers of other 32,217 9.55 30,848 7.76 32,125 7.57
dialects

Table 1: Chinese Dialect speakers in Macao in 1991, 1996 and 2001

Source of information: The 13th Population Census and the 3rd Housing Census, Census 1991,
Page 71, Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR Government; Global Results of By-Census
2006, Page 114, Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR Government; Census 2001, Statistics
and Census Service, Macao SAR Government Page 153.
334 Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳) & Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)

Cantonese, as the main language of Macao residents, is a must for migrant

Chinese if they want to gain a footing in Macao. Similar to the dialectical varieties
of Putonghua in Mainland, Cantonese of migrants varies as well. Among all the
Cantonese varieties used at Macao, Shànɡhǎi-accented Cantonese, Cantonese
of the Northern Dialect accent and Mǐn-accented Cantonese are mostly heard.
In their daily communications, the Shanghainese and Northerners speak their
mother tongue within their community, but use Cantonese that they feel com-
fortable about outside the community. The language use of Hokkiens (福建方言)
is slightly different in that they speak their mother tongue when talking with
their country fellows but switch to Cantonese when interlocutors change.

1.2 Putonghua
Putonghua, a language of high prestige, is widely used on formal social occa-
sions. Of the two types of Putonghua speakers in Macao, the native speakers of
Putonghua used to make up a very tiny percentage in the 1980s, but the speak-
ing population has been increasing in recent years. The other type of speakers
acquire Putonghua later, but their population has been expanding remarkably
these years. As the language for communication in the past, Cantonese used to
be taken as an unwritten criterion for judging an immigrant’s integration into
the local society. Ten years ago, the competence in Cantonese was one of the
requirements in recruiting teachers of primary and second schools at Macao.
Therefore, migrants studied Cantonese very hard from the first day they set
foot in Macao. They had to live by Putonghua temporarily before they acquired
Cantonese, but once they acquired Cantonese they would just switch to it imme-
diately in their daily communications. Only those officials from Mainland China
have long taken no account of Cantonese since the Macao residents tend to
accommodate their Putonghua in conversations. Another variety of Putonghua
is equivalent to the dialectal variety of Putonghua in Mainland. It is chiefly
used by the overseas Chinese from the Southeast Asia to Macao and regarded
as a variety of the lingua franca prevailing among Chinese communities all
over the world.
As an important portion of Macao’s population, returned overseas Chinese
and their family members were estimated to be around 74,700 by the end of
2001. Of them, the Chinese returned from Cambodia accounted for 10% of the
total population of Macao, amounting to about 46,000. Most of Cambodian
Chinese are Hokkien by descent and they speak Mǐn Dialect with country fellows,
Cantonese with Cantonese and Mǐn-accented Putonghua when socializing in
Macao.
 Language situation and language policy in Macao 335

Since the handover of Macao, the status of Putonghua has been rising
gradually as it is widely used as a formal and official language when Chief Execu-
tive of Macao assumes office or reports work to the Central Government, when
senior officials of Macao interact with their counterparts in Mainland, and
when the business and cultural exchanges between Macao, Taiwan and Main-
land flourish. Everyday in newspapers many job advertisements of different
sectors require candidates to speak and understand Putonghua, which gives
further impetus to the rapid increase of Putonghua speakers. Below is a job
advertisement of Sands Macao, a new Casino resort opened in 2004.

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER/SECURITY DEPARTMENT

High school education or equivalent experience preferred

Previous control room experience
Experience in customer service
Computer literacy
Ability to speak and understand English, Mandarin, Cantonese
Flexibility to work all shifts

Table 2: Job Advertisement of Sands Macao

Source of information: Page A5, Macao Daily, Feb. 5, 2005.

1.3 Mǐn (Hokkien) Dialect

2001 Census (Macao SAR Government 2002b) indicates that speakers of Mǐn
(Hokkien) dialect amounted to 18,868 in that year, only next to Cantonese and
Putonghua speakers. See Table 3 below for dialect-speaking populations (with a
total population of 424,203 above the age of 3 years in Macao in 2001) in family
domain.

language population percentage

Chinese 411,482 97.0

Cantonese 372,697 88.0
Putonghua 6660 2.0
Hokkien 18,868 4.4
Other dialects 13,257 3.1
Portuguese 2813 0.7
English 2792 0.7
Philippine 3450 0.8
Other languages 3666 0.8

Table 3: language groups in family domain in Macao, 2001

Source of information: Census 2001, Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR Government,
Page 153.
336 Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳) & Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)

Table 3 demonstrates that Hokkien speakers, three times the number of

Putonghua speakers, are one and a half more than the total population of other
dialects. However, the definitions of Cantonese and Hokkien here are ambiguous
in that Teochew (潮州) dialect, a sub-variety of Mǐn dialect, is the dominant
language in some areas under the jurisdiction of Guǎnɡdōnɡ (广东) Province.
As Cantonese is the major dialect in Guǎnɡdōnɡ Province, it is very difficult for
census enumerators to accurately identify the dialect of the residents in Cháoshàn
(潮汕) area. According to our general knowledge, the Cantonese speakers listed
in this table might well have included some Mǐn speakers while not the other
way around.

1.4 Other dialects

In Table 2, the item of “other dialects” primarily refers to Mǐn dialect, followed
by Wú dialect and Hakka. In addition, of the immigrants from Mainland, about
40,000 were from Jiānɡsū Province, Zhèjiānɡ Province and Shànɡhǎi. They,
together with the immigrants from Fújiàn (福建) Province, speak both Mǐn
dialect and Wú dialect, but they do not always use these two dialects in every-
day communications.1 And the same is the case with the use of Hakka in the
Hakkas community. What needs to be made clear here is that Hokkien dialect
and Cantonese, the two terms employed in population census, are not linguisti-
cally accurate. In this case, Cantonese is adopted to describe exclusively Yuè
(粤) dialect with Guǎnɡzhōu (广州) dialect as the standard variety, and thus
does not include Hakka and Teochew dialect used in Guǎngdōng Province.
Hokkien dialect listed in the table refers chiefly to Mǐn dialect, including Mǐnnán
dialect (dialect used in the south of Fújiàn Province and Táiwān Province),
Mǐndōnɡ dialect (dialect used in the East of Fújiàn province) and Teochew
dialect etc.

2 Portuguese
Portuguese has a history of over 450 years in Macao. Since Portuguese colonists
brought it to Macao in 1553, Portuguese has been on the rise all the time. It
had been the only official language for over 100 years until 1992 when Chinese
was stipulated as the official language and the structure of bilingualism was
formally established. The Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region
of the People’s Republic of China promulgated on 31 March, 1993 stipulates: In

1 Information provided by Yīn Lìmín (殷立民 ), Chairman of Jiānɡsū (江苏) Zhèjiānɡ (浙江)
Fellow-citizen Association.
 Language situation and language policy in Macao 337

addition to the Chinese language, Portuguese may also be used as an official

language by the executive authorities, legislature and judiciary of the Macao
Special Administrative Region.
The census in 2001 reveals that the population of Portuguese speakers
in Macao was on the rise generally from 3,601 in 1910 to 101,245 in 1991. See
Table 4 for more detailed information between 1910 and 2001.

Population of Proportion of
Year Portuguese the total population

1910 3601 4.8

1920 3816 4.5
1927 3846 2.4
1939 4624 1.9
1950 4066 2.2
1960 7974 4.7
1970 7456 3.0
1981 49,007 20.3
1991 101,245 28.5
1996 112,706 27.2
2001 8793 2.0

Table 4: Portuguese in Macao, 1910–2001

Source of information: Five Hundred Years of Macao: A Review of Its Population, Society and
Economy from 1500 to 2000, Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR Government, March
1999, Page 130; Census 2001, Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR Government, July
2002, Page 50.

Since the mid-1990s, as the handover of Macao drew nearer, many Portu-
guese people in Macao planned to return to Portugal. The Macanese community
named “Root in Macao” was perplexed and panic about their uncertain future in
Macao. Consequently, there was a significant decrease in the number of Portu-
guese speakers to 8,793 in 2001, only 2% of the total population. After the hand-
over, the situation became quite clear to Portuguese and Macanese and hence
the population of Portuguese speakers began to stay constant.
Before 1992 Portuguese was the only official language used by government
officials in the administrative, legislative, judicial domains in Macao. Before the
handover, the security staff, workers, assistants and professionals working for
Macao government mainly used Chinese while executive staff and senior admin-
istrative officials used Portuguese in daily routines. However, as depicted in
Figure 1 the populations using the two different official languages have experi-
enced great changes since the handover.
338 Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳) & Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)

Figure 1: Native languages of public servants before and after the handover, 1999–2003
Source of information: 1999 Public Administration Human Resources in Macau, May 2000, Page
120; 2000 Public Administration Human Resources in Macau, April 2001, Page 144; 2001 Public
Administration Human Resources in Macau, April 2001, Page 169–73; 2002 Public Administra-
tion Human Resources in Macau, Page 176; 2003 Public Administration Human Resources in
Macau, June 2004, Page 176, Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau, Macao SAR
Government.

Figure 1 demonstrates that there was a gradual downward trend in the

Portuguese population of in-service functionaries. Conversely the speakers of
Chinese were on the steady rise between 1999 and 2003.
Portuguese is an important language in the world, and a special one at
Macao. Portuguese native speakers, though fewer than Chinese native speakers,
make up a large proportion of government staff at present. Very similar to the
setup before the handover, many native Portuguese speakers take a higher posi-
tion in contrast to native Chinese speakers in subordinate positions. For Example,
as is shown in 2003 Public Administration Human Resources in Macau, 22 of 113,
nearly 20% of directors and deputy directors in Macao SAR government were
native Portuguese speakers. By contrast, “of all the workers and assistants in
the government, 99.5% speak Cantonese, 65.15% speak Putonghua, 99.3% can
write in Chinese while only 20.1% speak Portuguese and 18.7% can write
in Portuguese.” (Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau, Macao SAR
Government 2004)
 Language situation and language policy in Macao 339

Meanwhile, after the handover, Portuguese still enjoys a dominant status in

the legislative domain and most legal documents are drafted in Portuguese. The
legislator Tánɡ Zhìjiān (唐志坚) indicates, “In the public and administrative
domain, the Chinese in notices, graphs and announcements of the Government
is not that accurate and thus brings much difficulty in understanding. The prob-
lem is mainly caused by the translation gap between the original Portuguese
legal documents and the translated Chinese rendition.” (Xīnhuá Macao Daily
2003)

3 English
In the case of English, 95.8% of the UK citizens, 39% of Philippine citizens and a
few foreigners of other nationalities in Macao speak English in their daily life.
(Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR Government, 1999) Those Philippine
residents have acquired English before they come to Macao because it is the
lingua franca and one of the official languages in the Philippines. The rest of
Philippine residents at Macao speak their mother tongue or Cantonese in their
daily life. The table below shows the population of Philippine speakers of
English in Macao.

Year Philippine speakers of English Total English speakers

1991 2170 846

1996 5411 2110
2001 5166 2014

Table 5: Philippines speaking English as their everyday language in 1991, 1996 and 2001
Source of information: The 13th Population Census and the 3rd Housing Census, Census 1991,
Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR Government, Page 57; Global Results of By-Census
2006, Page 87; Census 2001, Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR Government, Page 193.

According to 2001 census, there were 2,813 Portuguese speakers, only 20

more than English speakers (2,792). Both groups made up the same proportion
(0.7%) of the total population.
In Macau, English is not an official language, but a dominant language in
such sectors as financing, business, higher education and high-tech. It is gain-
ing its importance in the social life rapidly. Most bilinguals at Macao speak
English in addition to Chinese, Portuguese or Philippine and thus bilingualism
is a salient characteristic in the practice.
340 Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳) & Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)

4 Other languages
Thai speakers, about 0.54% of Macao’s population (2000 speakers or so), are
a rather stable ethnic group, though over two thirds of them use Cantonese
in their everyday communications. (Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR
Government, 1999)
Another language community, Philippines, use their mother tongue to com-
municate with their fellows while they use English at work or to interact with
non-Philippines. Their English, though greatly influenced by their mother tongue
and thus not that standard, does not cause them too much difficulty in their
daily communication.
Patua, also known as Macanese, referring exclusively to a Creole deriving
from Portuguese, Malaysia and Cantonese, is used by those of a mixed ancestry
of Chinese and Portuguese.

5 Bilingualism
According to 2001 census, monolinguals, defined as the speakers only speaking
their mother tongue, amounted to 236,816, more than half of the Macao’s popu-
lation. Bilinguals or diglossic speakers refer to those who can speak another
language in addition to their mother tongue, such as the aboriginal bilinguals
in Macao, diglossic migrants from Mainland who have acquired Cantonese in
Macao, and diglossic speakers speaking another foreign language. In Census
2001, bilingualism was used to refer to diglossia as well and thus bilingual
population totaled up to 129,793. Similarly, trilingual speakers, speaking two
additional languages besides their mother tongue, amounted to 50,017 and multi-
lingual speakers, speaking over three languages in additional to their mother
tongue, reached 7,577.

6 Gambling language
Gambling, a legal industry in Macao, has been the economic backbone of the
region. However, jargons about gambling are very obscure to ordinary people.

6.1 Classification of gambling language

The prosperity of gambling industry propels the prevalence of gambling lan-
guage in the local gambling groups. The gambling language refers to both the
 Language situation and language policy in Macao 341

jargons known to the public and the argot used only among gambling job-
holders. Due to the extensive influence of gambling industry, gambling lan-
guage has been incorporated into the everyday language and thus become an
important branch of folk language.
The vocabulary of gambling language can be further classified into everyday
expressions, jargon, slang used in certain gambling games, and argot. A survey
reveals that 36% of communications in gambling involves the use of the
particular gambling language which shares the same syntactic and phonetic
systems as Cantonese. (Shào 2003)
In view of the characteristics and context of gambling language, it can be
further categorized into gambling jargon, gambling argot and gambling idioms.
Gambling jargon consists of Chinese gambling jargon, Western jargon and other
jargons.
Chinese gambling games have their own vocabulary. For example, the
traditional Chinese game mahjong is thus called 砌砖 (Qìzhuān, “bricklaying”)
because the pieces look like bricks. Another traditional Chinese raffle tickets
(Báiɡēpiào, “白鸽票”), also known as penny sales, includes such divisions as
Sic Bo (骰宝), Fan Tan (番摊), Pai Gow (牌九), Tien Gow (天九), and Che Den
(斜钉) etc.
In western gambling games, baccarat, the Chinese transliteration of French
word “BACCARAT”, use ten decks of Poker cards (altogether 520 cards). Another
game chop (Dāntiào, “单跳”) can be divided into roulette, show hand, black-
jack, baccarat, dog racing, horse racing, lottery and soccer lottery etc. In addi-
tion to these proper names about particular games, there are some relevant
terms used at casinos. For example, the term “the second uncle” (Èr Shūɡōnɡ,
“二叔公”) means pawnshop, and “big meatus” (Dà Ěrlónɡ, “大耳窿”) refer to
juice dealer.
Argot used at casinos consists of five sub-divisions: nouns, verbs, adjectives,
proper names and numerals. For example, “dark water” (Ànshuǐ, “暗水”) repre-
sents the commissions that casinos take from players; “Clear up” (Sǎohuánɡ,
“扫黄”) means to start a new game by replacing the old cards with the new
ones. “Good feet” ( Jiǎotóu Hǎo, “脚头好”) means to bring good luck to the
people around. “Goose by the pool” (Tánɡbiān Hè, “塘边鹤”) is used to describe
those players who excel at taking advantage of chances and making a good bet.
“A grass leave” (Yī Cǎo, “一草”) is a numeral meaning one hundred at casinos
and meaning ten in ordinary daily communications.
Figures 2, 3, 4 display the proportions of different types of gambling lan-
guage (1,363 words and expressions in total) used in casino games. (Shào 2003)
342 Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳) & Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)

Figure 2: The proportion of gambling language in Macao

Figure 3: Proportion of jargons from Chinese gambling

Figure 4: Proportion of jargons from western gambling

 Language situation and language policy in Macao 343

Figure 5 below demonstrates the relationship between gambling jargon,

argot and idioms in terms of their explicitness and obscurity. The most obscure
type argot takes the central part of gambling while bordering part includes less
opaque gambling language. Gambling jargons and gambling idioms are most
explicit according to this chart.

Figure 5: Classification and Characteristics of Gambling language

6.2 Sources of gambling language

Gambling language in Macao derives from four sources: everyday language,
dialects, other foreign languages and word coinage.
344 Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳) & Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)

6.2.1 Vocabulary adapted from everyday language

Some general words and expressions from everyday communications have been
twisted, mutated and extended in gambling games. For example, the word
“cable” has an association of “being woven and twisted in a spiral way”, and
thus the word is given a connotation in gambling, meaning “to increase chips
in a certain proportion”. Another two words 打钮 (Dǎ Niǔ), 顶钮 (Dǐnɡ Niǔ) in
casino argot derive from Cantonese and one of the key characters in the two
words “Niǔ” originally means 有 (yǒu, “to have money”) in Cantonese. In the
two words, “Dǎ (打)” means “to give money” in gambling while “Dǐnɡ (顶)”
means “to refuse”. The starting salary of casino staff is quite low and they rely
much on tips and bonus from guests. Therefore, for the sake of communication
in such a context, they adapt these two expressions and give them the new con-
notations “to give tips” and “to refuse paying tips” respectively.

6.2.2 Loanwords from dialects

In addition to the corruption of the words and expressions from daily language,
dialects, chiefly Cantonese, are another source of the loanwords in gambling
language. Without changing their original pronunciation and meanings, the
words obtain the new meaning about gambling and are widely used at Casinos.
The borrowing can be further classified into direct borrowing, phonetic tran-
scription and loan blend.
Meaning in
Modes of Meaning in target gambling
borrowing examples source dialect Corruption language

Direct 艇仔 (Tǐnɡzǎi) Small boat People wandering Secret representa-

borrowing at casinos, like tive of dealers or
small boats waiting croupiers at
for passengers casinos, laying
wager on their
behalf
Phonetic 二婶 (Èrshěn) Second aunt Phonetically similar A combination of
transcription to another expres- cards of two and
sions èr sān (二三) three points in Pai
Gow
Loan blend 鬼牌 (Guǐpái) Bad cards “Guǐ” is phoneti- Peeping at others’
cally similar to “kuī cards
(窥)” in Cantonese,
meaning peeping

Table 6: loanwords from dialects

 Language situation and language policy in Macao 345

6.2.3 Loanwords from other languages

When many gambling games were first introduced from the western countries
to Macao, quite a lot of words from foreign languages were employed by the
gamblers who spoke a little English or other foreign languages. Some loanwords
have either lost or twisted their original meanings. There are four types of loan-
words from foreign languages. The first type is phonemic loanwords by translit-
eration, such as “full house” from English (a combination of three cards of the
same points and another two cards of the same points). Another type of borrow-
ing is to maintain the original pronunciation in the source language while to
give a new meaning to the words. For example, “show hand”, a game from
Europe called Suōhā (梭哈), Shìhédān (士和丹), Shāxiè (沙蟹) in Shànɡhǎi in
the past is called “Shāxiè” (ghost crab) by Cantonese at Macao. Vivid and inter-
esting, the Cantonese name for the game reminds people of crab pincers’ move-
ment of pushing sands away forcefully, while the game is to put up all the stakes
at one time. Besides, another type of borrowing, loan blend, is to integrate for-
eign pronunciation with Chinese interpretation. For instance, the term “Dān Q”
in horse racing describes the winning if a better picks two horses that finish first
and second in any single race. Here “Q” is short for “quinella”.
The last type of borrowing is to interpret or paraphrase the words from
source language. For example, the English word “win” means that the horse
gamblers bet on is the first to cross the finish line. In most cases, most terms in
western gambling games are paraphrased when they are introduced into China.
Nowadays casino staff and players prefer to use foreign languages directly,
particularly in foreign-invested casinos.

6.2.4 Word coinage

In gambling, more and more new words have been coined in response to the
emergence of news games and changes of old games.

6.3 Changes in gambling language

The restructuring of Macao gambling industry and the reshuffling of gambling
staff have a great impact on the gambling language.

6.3.1 The decreased use of gambling argots

The changes in gambling staff have resulted in the great fall in the use of gam-
bling argot. In the previous monopolized gambling industry, all the gambling
346 Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳) & Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)

staff worked for Macao Tourism and Recreation Co. Ltd and thus had developed
a special speech community. However, with the entry of foreign casino corpora-
tions, the fierce competition in gambling market has great influence on the pre-
vious speech community. Consequently, casino jobholders use less argot within
their speech community.

6.3.2 The gradually reduced obscurity of gambling argots

With the increasing mobility and coming of new gambling staff, the original
argot is getting less obscure. Researches on gambling and gambling language
also improve the public’s understanding of the previous opaque gambling
language.

6.3.3 The decreased use of gambling vocabulary

The reshuffled gambling industry and sharp competition in gambling market are
the prelude of higher requirements for jobholders in this sector. Despite the
severe shortage of local manpower, the casino staff in Macao work with more
caution in order not to lose their jobs because of the inappropriate use of
language. Therefore, they voluntarily reduce the use of jargon and argot in the
previous speech community, though the new gambling speech community
hasn’t come into being.
The restructuring of Macao gambling industry has brought forth huge
changes in gambling language. And the development in the future still remains
to be seen. The opening of the gambling industry and the increase of casinos
will aggravate the competition among casino staff. The handsome income has
attracted many people to gambling industry which is, therefore, no longer held
in contempt. The media promotion and the increase of game players also help
some gambling vocabulary become part of everyday language in Macao.

7 The development of languages in Macao

A brief review of the history of Macao tells the co-existence of Chinese and
Portuguese since its earliest days as a trading port. As various dialects of
Chinese together with English were adopted later, Macao has become a multilin-
gual society in which different languages and dialects either grow or decline.
 Language situation and language policy in Macao 347

This chapter will review the development of three major languages, Chinese,
Portuguese and English, on this small island.

Total
Bilinguals and multilingual population male female

Bilinguals 129,793 60,621 69,172

mother tongue + Cantonese 12,755 5524 7231
mother tongue + Putonghua 58,625 29,023 29,602
mother tongue + Hokkien 5771 2557 3214
mother tongue + other dialects 19,446 8140 11,306
mother tongue + Portuguese 3418 1947 1471
mother tongue + English 25,390 11,549 13,841
mother tongue + other languages 4388 1881 2507

Trilingual 50,017 24,366 25,651

mother tongue + Putonghua + English 16,926 8030 8896
mother tongue + Cantonese + Putonghua 10,436 5191 5245
mother tongue + Putonghua + other languages 7691 3817 4144
mother tongue + Putonghua + Hokkien 4025 1841 2184
mother tongue + Portuguese + English 2793 1500 1293
mother tongue + the other two languages or dialects 7876 3987 3889

Qualinguals 7577 1068 1052

Mother tongue + Putonghua + Portuguese + English 2120 8030 8896
Mother tongue + Putonghua + English + other 1100 603 497
languages or dialects
Mother tongue + the other three languages or dialects 4357 2506 1851
monolingual 236,816 114,010 122,806

Table 7: Bilingual and multilingual populations in Macao

Source of information: Census 2001, Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR Government.

7.1 The growth of Chinese

The Chinese have been the major population in Macao, but Chinese language
was not an official one until a few years before the handover. The Basic Law
of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China
promulgated on March 31, 1993 stipulates: In addition to the Chinese language,
Portuguese can also be used as an official language by the executive authorities,
348 Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳) & Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)

legislature and judiciary of the Macao Special Administrative Region. Soon after
the former Chief Executive Ho Hau-wah (何厚铧) pointed out in his address at
the opening ceremony of 2004–2005 Judicial Annual Conference, “All the profes-
sionals in academic and legal sectors should help judicial authorities promote
the use of Chinese in the judiciary. All the judicial officers, on the premise of
ensuring judicial fairness and efficiency, should be active in using Chinese so
as to improve current language situation in the judiciary departments.” (Macao
Daily 27 October, 2004) As the most popular and useful language in today’s
Macao, Chinese makes up no less than 96% of the total language use. The hand-
over of Macao has witnessed the development of both Putonghua and Cantonese
in Macao. Before the handover there was an unwritten rule that Cantonese was
an official language. After the return of Macao to Chinese government, people
have reached the agreement that Putonghua is the official language in Macao.
Now Putonghua is being promoted and popularized quickly while Cantonese
continues to play its important role in the daily language use.

7.2 The development of Portuguese

Before the handover, Portuguese was a language leading to a prosperous life
and a successful official career. A legislator once criticized Macao-Portuguese
Government that they appointed and promoted officials based on the language
background, preferably the Portuguese. (Wānɡ 1996) If not for the success in
official career, not so many people would choose to study Portuguese.
After the handover, the language policy highlights the equality between
Chinese and Portuguese. Macao SAR Government has fully implemented the
language policy of using Chinese as an official language. Despite the use of
Portuguese in some official documents, the official status of Chinese language
has already been explicitly and formally established, while Portuguese has lost
its previous unique status.
When Portuguese residents in Macao hesitated about their future before the
handover, people used to think that Portuguese would lose its usefulness and
influence in Macao. However, the “one country, two systems” policy to be
unchanged for 50 years has ensured the peaceful and successful transition of
government and the consistent legal system. In the daily administration of
Macao Government, despite the focus on Chinese use, the local authorities still
maintain the previous administrative mechanics and there is no significant
improvement in the Chinese proficiency of officials. As a result, the use of
Chinese cannot meet the demands in public domains such as legislation and
administration. When people see that Portuguese is still useful, there comes a
sudden rise in the Portuguese learners. This situation will probably continue for
 Language situation and language policy in Macao 349

years until there is substantial improvement in the use of Chinese in legislation,

judiciary and administration of Macao Government.

7.3 The growth of English

In contrast to Portuguese, the past ten years has seen a remarkable rise of
English, with the speakers increasing from 1,777 in 1991 (about 0.5% of total
population at that time) to 2,792 in 2001 (about 0.7% of Macao’s population
then). Now the monolinguals of these two languages are almost the same. How-
ever, if the bilinguals and multilinguals are taken into account, English speakers
far outweigh Portuguese speakers. Only 3,418 bilinguals speak Portuguese and
another language other than English, while the number of bilinguals of English
and another language other than Portuguese has reached 25,390, seven and a
half times of the former group of bilinguals.
Similar to the language use in other international cities, English, as a lingua
franca, is extensively and increasingly used in financing, international business,
higher education, international conferences and so on. American ventures have
just acquired the two newly granted casino licenses, so it is predictable that
there will be more tourists and gambling players from English-speaking coun-
tries to Macao. As a result, English will become even more popular after the
construction and expansion of these casinos.

References
Macao SAR Government. 2002a. Census 2001. Statistics and Census Service.
Macao SAR Government. 2002b. Census 2001. Statistics and Census Service.
Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau, Macao SAR Government. June 2004.
2003 Public Administration Human Resources in Macau, Page 89.
Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳). 2003. A Study on Gambling Language in Macao. Dissertation.
Statistics and Census Service, Macao SAR Government. March 1999. Five Hundred Years of
Macao: A Review of Its Population, Society and Economy from 1500 to 2000.
Wānɡ Zhǎnɡnán (汪长南). March 1, 1996. Public Servants should break old conventions in the
localization – A Review of Prof. Chénɡ Xiánɡhuī’s (程祥徽) Language and Communica-
tions. Taichung (大众 ) Daily.
Xīnhuá (新华) Macao Daily. 2003. Difficulties in Understanding Portuguese Chinese – Tánɡ
Zhìjiān (唐志坚) Is Expecting A Quick Improvement. Xihua Macao Daily. August 25.

Translated by Xī Jié (奚洁)

Nánjīnɡ University
[email protected]
Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) &
Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)
30 The Linguistic situation and language
policy in Taiwan

1 A sociolinguistic overview
1.1 The status and function of languages in Taiwan (台湾)
Today, Mandarin (国语, ɡuóyǔ), the Mǐn Nán (闽南) dialect, Hakka (客家) and
ten other indigenous languages, as well as some foreign languages, coexist in
Taiwan. The majority of Hàn, an Chinese living in Taiwan, use one dialect in
addition to Mandarin, while some indigenous people use Mandarin plus their
own mother tongue.
These languages and dialects have varying status and functions within the
society. In Taipei, Mandarin is the most commonly used language. Measured on
a maximum index of 1.000, the incidence of language use ranks Mandarin first,
with a use rating of 0.985, followed by the Mǐn Nán dialect with a use rating of
0.495, and finally Hakka, a dialect used within the Hakka community, with a use
rating of 0.001.
This makes Mandarin the mostly widely used, or “dominant language,” with
the Mǐn Nán dialect coming second, while Hakka and other provincial dialects
as well as the languages of the indigenous peoples being among the lowest
rated and least used.

1.1.1 Mandarin as the dominant language

Thanks to the promotion of Mandarin for the last fifty years, Mandarin has
become the lingua franca of the various communities within Taiwan, enjoying
the highest rate of use at the same time being the medium of instruction.
According to a survey on language instruction conducted in Taipei in 2004,
39.5% of all interviewed parents expressed satisfaction with the overall language
policy; 51.6% of interviewees considered teaching hours allocated for Mandarin
appropriate; and 82.05% of parents were happy with the use of Mandarin phonetic
symbols in language instruction. (Zēnɡ 2004) Additionally, Mandarin is also
the official language of print journalism, media, publications and government
documents.
352 Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) & Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)

1.1.2 Mǐn Nán dialect as the second most widely used language

The Mǐn Nán dialect originated from Xiàmén (厦门), Quánzhōu (泉州) and
Zhānɡzhōu (漳州) of Fújiàn (福建) province.
Of these, the Quánzhōu variety is prevalent in areas of northern Táiběi
(台北), Jīlónɡ (基隆), Dànshuǐ (淡水), Lùgǎnɡ (鹿港), and the coastal areas
from Gāoxiónɡ (高雄) to Hénɡchūn (恒春). The Zhānɡzhōu variety is used
chiefly in central parts of Taiwan such as Jiāyì (嘉义) and Nántóu (南投), and
can also be heard in the northeastern areas, such as Yílán (宜兰), Luódōnɡ
(罗东) and Sū’ào (苏澳). However, westwards in Táinán (台南) and Táizhōnɡ
(台中), and eastwards in Xīnchénɡ (新城 ) and Huālián (花莲), these two
varieties compete for dominance, though the Quánzhōu variety holds a tenuous
advantage.
Article 21 of the Public Broadcasting Act (1975) had stipulated that: “Radio
stations should mainly use Mandarin . . .” and that “the date for the exclusive use
of Mandarin in public broadcasts will be decided by the Government Information
Office, subject to circumstances.” In 1993, however, the new Radio and Television
Act cancelled the above Act, changing the previous model which had “privi-
leged Mandarin at the expense of other dialects, particularly the languages of
the indigenous mountain peoples.” Accordingly, radio and television stations
on the island started to offer more programs in the Mǐn Nán dialect, which has
now become a growing trend.

1.1.3 Hakka, the “provincial” dialects and the languages of the indigenous
peoples – the least used languages.

Due to the expansion of Mandarin and Mǐn Nán dialect, Hakka, the “provincial”
dialects and the languages of the indigenous peoples are used by a very small
percentage of the population and are in decline, especially the languages of
the indigenous peoples.

1.1.4 Foreign languages

English is the dominant foreign language in Taiwan, though the current craze
for learning English is a recent phenomenon. Apart from English, many senior
citizens over the age of seventy speak some Japanese. Foreigners from the Philip-
pines, Indonesia and Vietnam continue to use their own languages, though their
populations are relatively small.
 The Linguistic situation and language policy in Taiwan 353

1.2 Language competence among different communities

There are huge differences in both language use and language competency
across different communities. Research among test subjects has shown that the
younger and better-educated they are the higher their proficiency in Mandarin,
and the more likely they are to use it frequently. Research also shows that males
exhibit greater competency in their mother tongue and dialects, which they tend
to use. (Cáo 1997)
In terms of proficiency in Mandarin, people from the Hakka ethnic group are
the most able, followed by speakers of the Mǐn Nán dialect, and trailed by the
indigenous peoples. On the other hand, in terms of proficiency in mother tongue
and dialects, speakers of the Mǐn Nán dialect rank first, followed by the indige-
nous peoples and then the speakers of Hakka. There is no significant difference
in the Mandarin and dialect competency of Mǐn Nán speakers, while speakers of
Hakka are relatively more proficient in Mandarin than in other dialects. How-
ever, the indigenous peoples are more proficient in their mother tongue than in
Mandarin.
As for the use of languages in different social settings, a study conducted at
railway stations showed that 49% of passengers spoke Mandarin, followed by
speakers of the Mǐn Nán dialect (47%), then followed by speakers of a mix of
Mandarin and Mǐn Nán dialect (1.7%), and lastly speakers of Hakka (1.7%) and
indigenous languages (0.3%), including other languages and dialects (0.3%)
showing the lowest rate of usage. Generally speaking, Mandarin usage is more
prevalent in cities and urban areas, while rural, underdeveloped areas show a
greater frequency of Mǐn Nán dialect usage. (Zhào 2005)

1.3 The use of simplified Chinese Writing

Traditional Chinese characters have always been used in Taiwan. However, with
the increase in economic and cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Straits, the
simplified Chinese writing system has been gaining in popularity. To promote
the learning of simplified characters, a contest to identify these characters had
once been held on the Sānxiá Campus of the Taiwan University. Furthermore,
students at the University have also begun to use books from the mainland,
printed in simplified characters. Although the university does not offer courses
on simplified characters, enthusiastic students have used the internet and other
means to teach themselves. (Wú 2003) The opening of the largest and most com-
prehensive bookstore in Taipei, specializing in books from the mainland printed
in simplified characters, has also caused a stir in the publishing industry. (Tónɡ
2005) In September 2005, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Committee published its
first official document in simplified characters.
354 Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) & Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)

The upsurge in the popularity of simplified characters in Taiwan may be

mainly attributed to the enhancement of China’s status on the world stage. Ac-
cording to the director of a Chinese-language teaching centre, without a mastery
of simplified Chinese, one could hardly survive outside the island of Taiwan,
and would not be able to read Chinese on the mainland. Besides which, the
confusion over the two writing systems has been creating problems for conver-
sions and exchanges on the internet. Of course, he added, the need to be able to
master simplified Chinese is also due to the exigencies of the market.
Nevertheless, the debate over simplified characters and traditional characters
is still raging in Taiwan.

2 Current language policies

Since the Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) took office, authorities have imple-
mented the following language policies.

2.1 The General Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Plan (GCPAP) as

the transcription system for Chinese
The Chinese Phonetic System pinyin was adopted in Taiwan in 1999.1 When the
DDP took office, the reshuffled Languages Committee vetoed the Chinese phonetic
system on 16 September, 2000 and decided to launch GCPAP, which was said to
conform to the customs and indigenous languages of Taiwan, being called the
‘the common phonetic system.’
This decision was met by a storm of protest from both scholars2 and the
public alike. On 25 October, the head of the education authority, (later the Edu-
cation Ministry of Taiwan) Zēnɡ Zhìlǎnɡ (曾志朗), vetoed the GCPAP and sub-
mitted a proposal to the Executive Yuan for a Chinese phonetic system based
on pinyin. At the end of November, the proposal was rejected, and in January of

1 On July 26, 1999, the Teaching Reform Promotion Commission of the Executive Yuan decided
to adopt pinyin as the transcription system when the Kuomingtang (KMT) took office.
2 Four academics from Academy Sinica argued for the adoption of pinyin and the dismissal
of GCPAP as pinyin has been accepted internationally. They held that in view of the current
language situation in Taiwan, pinyin is the only and necessary transcription system of Chinese
if Taiwan wants to play an active role in the world. For further information, please see “Our
Views on Chinese Transcription System” by Zhènɡ Jǐnquán (郑锦全), Dīnɡ Bānɡxīn (丁邦新),
Wánɡ Shìyuán (王士元) and Méi Zǔlín (梅祖麟), the United Daily News, October 18, 2000.
 The Linguistic situation and language policy in Taiwan 355

2001 Zēnɡ Zhìlǎnɡ, a supporter of pinyin, stepped down and was succeeded by
Huánɡ Rónɡcūn (黄荣村). On 10 June, 2002, Huánɡ, after much “deliberation”
proposed GCPAP as the Chinese phonetic system and the proposal was adopted
on 10 July, 2002. On August 22, 2002, the Taiwan Executive Yuan reviewed and
authorized the GCPAP proposal from the education authority. Later, the Taiwan
education authority published a “Practical Guideline for Chinese Transcription,”
which was issued down the line to counties and executive offices. Thus, the pro-
tracted argument over the choice of a Chinese transcription system has ended
up in the forced adoption of GCPAP.
However, some experts have pointed out that the promotion of GCPAP by
the Taiwan authorities was an administrative measure rather than a binding
law. This had resulted in inconsistencies in the transcription of Mandarin in dif-
ferent areas, especially in the use of phonetic systems, creating confusion in the
society at large. (Zhènɡ 2005)
For instance, a metro line running through Taipei City and Taipei County
would carry two different phonetic transcriptions for the same stop: an under-
ground stop transcribed as “CHUNG HSIAO FU HSING (忠孝复兴)” the corre-
sponding signpost above ground transcribed as “ZHONG XIAO FU XING.” In
response to the problem, the Taipei municipal government requested that the
Taipei Metro Corporation standardize all road names on signposts along Metro
lines by December 2003. (Fàn & Chén 2003). However, to this day, the situation
has remained unchanged.

2.2 The Compilation of a List of “Vernacular Chinese

Characters’’ by the Taiwan Education Authority
In March of 2006, several legislators questioned Dù Zhènɡshènɡ (杜正胜),
Taiwan’s Minister of Education, over whether schools should offer courses
teaching simplified characters. Dù made it clear that his ministry would enforce
the traditional writing system and would not offer any courses in simplified
characters.
According to current practice, the Basic Writing Competency Test for Middle
School Students do not accept the simplified characters prevalent on the main-
land, with the exception of vernacular Chinese characters already in common
use. Dù announced that his ministry will compile a list of acceptable vernacular
characters for reference by both teachers and students alike. (Xiè 2006). 11 On
April, 2006, Taiwan’s Education Ministry approved the plan.
Taiwan’s Premier, Sū Zhēnchānɡ (苏贞昌), expressed approval, but empha-
sized that the government would neither identify with, nor approve of, the
356 Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) & Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)

simplified Chinese writing system used on the mainland. (Shī, Chén & Xiè 2006).
On 19 July, 2006, Professor Lǐ Xiǎn (李鍌) of Taiwan Normal University was
invited to speak at a meeting of the KMT Central Standing Committee, his topic
being “An Academic Review of Traditional Chinese Characters Versus Simplified
Characters.” Ma Ying-jeou (马英九) who was present at the meeting, professed
himself to be concerned over the issue, declaring that the current usage of
the terms “complex Chinese characters” and ‘‘simple Chinese characters’’ to be
inaccurate. In his opinion, the correct terms for the writing system adopted in
Taiwan should be identified as “traditional Chinese characters,” the other being
‘simplified Chinese characters’. Ma called for the use of ‘‘traditional Chinese
characters’’ in publications, with ‘‘simplified characters’’ acceptable in handwrit-
ing. On the difference between the two forms of characters, Ma held that since a
platform for exchange across the Straits has been set up and that two forums
had been held over economic and trade issues, he called for a platform to be
set up for cultural and educational exchanges to achieve the ultimate goal of
“a unified script for writing Chinese.’’ (Lǐ 2006)

2.3 World Cultural Heritage Status Application for Taraditional

Chinese Characters
The Symposium of Philologists on Chinese Writing Systems was held at Taiwan
Normal University on 21 April, 2001. The joint statement, “Rescue Traditional
Chinese Characters,” issued at the end of the Symposium, emphasized that tra-
ditional Chinese characters constitute a superb writing system in which script,
pronunciation and meaning are merged in recording China’s long, rich cultural
heritage, thus making this writing system an important asset to human civiliza-
tion, worthy to be upheld by all nations. The symposium advocated the resump-
tion of the use of traditional Chinese characters on the mainland, in order to
uphold the achievements of more than 5000 years of Chinese culture. (Zhānɡ
2006)
On 13 July, 2006, The Association for Rescuing the Instruction of Chinese
organized a conference on the Rectification of the Chinese Writing System, and
sought to apply to the United Nation’s World Cultural Heritage Organization
“world cultural heritage” status for the traditional Chinese writing system.
However, as Taiwan was not a member of the United Nations, it had to seek
the cooperation and support of the mainland. To this end, the Association pro-
posed that all forms of Chinese writing, traditional or simplified, be recognized
as ‘‘Chinese characters,’’ and that people could write in any form they please.
(Chén 2006)
 The Linguistic situation and language policy in Taiwan 357

2.4 Promotion of so-called name rectification of the Chinese

writing system
The so-called rectification movement began at the Rectifying Names and Author-
ing a New Constitution meeting, which was held by the World Congress of
Taiwan Peoples on 18 March, 2002. The ultimate goal of the Congress was to
change the name “Republic of China” to the “Republic of Taiwan.” At present,
the word “Taiwan” is printed after the words “Republic of China” on the cover
of Taiwan passports. The movement to “rectify” gained momentum in 2006,
when the Unification Council was dismissed and the Guidelines for Unification
terminated.
On 24 February, 2006, DDP legislator Lín Dàihuà (林岱桦) proposed the
adoption of the Gregorian calendar to replace the current calendar of the Re-
public of China. President of the Executive Yuan Sū Zhēnchānɡ responded that
the proposal was acceptable for the sake of keeping in step with the rest of the
world and facilitate communications, but he recommended caution, so as to
achieve a positive result and avoid disputes. However, both the KMT and the
People First Party (PFP) objected to the proposal. Lǐ Hónɡ jūn (李鸿钧), the
Secretary General and legislator of the PFP, pointed out that this move was part
of a ‘‘gradual slide towards independence for Taiwan” – first dismissing the
Unification Council and now proposing to change the calendar of the Republic
of China.
In March, the name of the presidential building was “rectified” from “Jièshòu
Hall (介寿馆),” named after Chiang Kai-shek (蒋介石), to “Presidential Office,”
and the airline used by the President, China Airlines, was renamed “Mandarin
Airlines.” The Taiwan media pointed out that such rectifications could not “de-
sinicize” Taiwan, since the word “Mandarin” could mean “Chinese,” “of China,”
“Chinese language,” “official language in China” (Chén, Lín & Wú 2006) and so
on, and that Westerners had used the term for officials in the nine grades of the
imperial service during the Qīnɡ (清) Dynasty.
In May, DDP legislators advocated revising the national anthem while Chén
Shuǐbiǎn (陈水扁) was still in office, since the national flag and the national
anthem were emblems of a sovereign state. They figured that it was easy to issue
an administrative order to change the national anthem, but that it was necessary
to have an open and serious discussion in order to live up to public expecta-
tions. (Chén, Shī & Zōu 2006)
On 13 August, Taiwan leading figures speaking at Ketagalan (凯达格兰)
Academy raised the question whether Jièshòu Road in front of the Presidential
Office should be renamed “Ketagalan Avenue” and whether CKS Airport and
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall had to be renamed as well, since Jièshòu Hall
358 Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) & Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)

had already been renamed “Presidential Office.” On September 5, CKS Airport

was renamed “Táoyuán (桃园) Airport”.
In October, the Executive Yuan declared that it had completed rectification
and de-sinicization as far as treaty countries and diplomatic representative
offices were concerned and as for non-treaty countries, the problem would be
handled depending on circumstances.
With regard to stated-owned businesses, the International Commercial Bank
of China had merged with Bank of Communications and was renamed Mega
Bank Public Co. Ltd. In the near future, according to the Executive Yuan, other
state-owned businesses such as the China Steel Corporation, the China Ship-
building Corporation, and China Airlines would be renamed on a case by case
basis. (Chén, Cài, Lǐ & Lín 2006)
On December 19, 2006, the Taiwan authorities announced that the ‘General
Association for the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement (previously known
as the Chinese Culture Renaissance Movement Promotion Committee) was to be
renamed the Culture General Association in the following year of 2007.
It had been way back on 17 July, 1967 that people, headed by notable figures
such as Sūnkē (孙科) and Wánɡ Yúnwǔ (王云五), had first launched the
Chinese Culture Renaissance Movement Promotion Committee, in opposition to
the Cultural Revolution simultaneously taking place on the mainland, and had
proclaimed November 12 (the Birthday of Dr. Sun Yat-sen) the Chinese Cultural
Renaissance Festival. On 28 March, 1991, the above mentioned Committee was
turned into a non-governmental organization and renamed the “General Asso-
ciation for the Chinese Culture Renaissance Movement.” Later, as mentioned
above, the word “Chinese” was omitted for the purpose of de-sinicization when
the Committee was renamed the “National Culture Association.”
The Taiwan authorities spared no efforts in their aim to “rectify” any names
which included the words Chinese, China or related concepts. However, due to
Taiwan’s inalienable ties to the mainland, these efforts had provoked protests
from Taiwan compatriots, and had come to nothing.

2.5 Enacting the so-called National Language Equality Law

(the Language Development Bill)
On 10 February, 2003, the reshuffled Language Committee, under Taiwan’s educa-
tion authority, approved the Language Equality Law which stipulated that “Tai-
wan’s national languages are comprised of Hakka, Ho-lo (Mǐn Nán), Mandarin,
and the indigenous languages, including Amis (阿美族语), Atayal (泰雅族语),
Paiwan (排湾族语), Bununn (布农族语), Kavalan (噶玛兰族语), Puyuma (卑南
 The Linguistic situation and language policy in Taiwan 359

族语), Rukai (鲁凯族语), Tsou (邹族语), Saisiyat (赛夏族语), Yami (雅美族语),

and Thao (邵族语).”3
According to the bill, “all the languages and scripts used in Taiwan are
equal before the law, and the government should not abuse its authority to
forbid or restrict the use of any of these languages or their texts.” (Chén 2003)
The bill sparked an uproar and was suspended by the Executive Yuan. On
31 March, the Taiwan Council for Cultural Affairs did some revision and on
September 22 issued a draft bill entitled the “National Language Development
Bill.” Unlike the previous “Language Equality Law,” the new draft bill omitted
the specific names of the 14 “national languages.”
What the two bills had in common was the stipulation that all the languages
and dialects used in Taiwan were to be designated as “national languages.’’ The
terms “state language” and “official language” were replaced by the lingua
franca prescribed by the central government and the various levels of local
governments. Local governments, however, tend to reject the lingua franca
proposed by the central government, a situation likely to result in the lack of a
lingua franca for the people in Taiwan.

2.6 Annulment of the Project for Promoting Chinese

In March of 2003, the Taiwan authorities secretly ordered schools at all levels to
annul the Project for Promoting Chinese which had been in practice for over
thirty years.4 The decision, made at the 13th meeting of the Languages Com-
mittee on February 12, was not revealed to the public until 8 March, when it
was introduced quietly but met with strong objections from the public.

2.7 The Languages Committee renamed the Languages

Development Committee
According to The Central Daily News of 8 October, 2000, the vice-Minister of
Education Fàn Xùnlǜ (范巽绿) declared that the new government taking office
in July would reshuffle the Languages Committee and rename it the Languages

3 The term for Chinese used in Taiwan was changed from “national language” (Guó Yǔ) to
“Chinese language” (Huá Yǔ). The term “Mǐn Nán dialect” became taboo as well. Instead of the
use of Chinese characters, the letters “Ho-lo” were adopted to describe the Taiwan indigenous
languages.
4 Chinese Promotion Program is a bill enacted by the Education Ministry in 1973 to promote
the use of Chinese in Taiwan.
360 Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) & Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)

Development Committee, its mission to formulate a comprehensive ‘state’ lan-

guage policy with emphasis on multiculturism, and that ‘state’ language policy
was not to be decided by a handful of sinologists.

2.8 Designating Ho-lo and English as second official

languages
In March 2002, the Justice Alliance of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSA) pro-
posed that the Executive Yuan designate Ho-lo (Mǐn Nán dialect) as the second
official language in Taiwan. The proposal prompted heated debate. The Central
Standing Committee of the TSA met to deal with the situation and passed a
resolution designating the Mǐn Nán dialect, Hakka and the Gāoshān indigenous
languages as secondary official languages.
However, legislators from the indigenous population within the KMT ob-
jected, declaring that they had no argument with promotion of multiculturalism
and multilingualism, but that there should be one common official language.
As the debate went on, Chén Shuǐbiǎn put forward the notion that in view of
its international competitiveness, Taiwan should seriously consider adopting
English as the second official language. President of the Executive Yuan, Yóu
Xīkūn (游锡堃), promised to designate English as the semi-official language
within six years. On 4 February, 2003, Yóu further announced that English was
expected to become the official or semi-official language in the next six to ten
years. He further stipulated that from March 2003 onwards, all important official
documents handed down from the Executive Yuan should be in both Chinese
and English, to nurture an English language environment and meet the demands
of globalization. (Xǔ 2004)

2.9 Research on writing systems for dialects and the

indigenous languages in Taiwan
Traditionally publications in the Mǐn Nán dialect and Hakka use three writing
systems: 1) Chinese characters, some transcribed with Japanese Kana; 2): Roma-
nization, and 3): Chinese-Romanization mixed script. Of these three, publica-
tions using Chinese characters make up the largest proportion, while only a
very small number of publications used the third system.
Publications in Mǐn Nán and Hakka using the second system of Romanized
letters were mostly for religious use in churches, although some were non-
religious, including at least six sets of language textbooks and ten dictionaries.
 The Linguistic situation and language policy in Taiwan 361

A newspaper using the third system of Chinese-Romanization mixed script for

Mǐn Nán and Hakka had been published in the US for over a year. (Zhènɡ 1989)
However, none of the three writing systems had been widely used in Taiwan. To
promote Taiwan’s native languages, researchers are working to create standard
scripts for the Mǐn Nán and Hakka dialects since neither had a writing system.
According to report, the Council for Hakka Affairs of the Executive Yuan had
completed philological research on the ideogramatic characters of 2,148 words
in Hakka (Cáo 2005a). Additionally, the Council of Indigenous Peoples of the
Executive Yuan and the Taiwan education authorities is projected to publish
thirteen writing systems for the languages of the Taiwan indigenous peoples by
the end of 2005. As a result of the above efforts each ethnic group could expect
their own standardized script in the near future. Furthermore, the Council of
Indigenous Peoples also promoted the use of native writing systems by holding
songwriting and literary contests among the indigenous peoples. (Cáo 2005b)

2.10 Writing horizontally from left to right in all official

government documents
There was no uniform standard for handwriting or published text in Taiwan.
Practices vary because writing could be done vertically or horizontally, from
right to left or from left to right. Arabic numbers and alphabetic letters from
foreign language texts are sometimes written vertically and sometimes horizon-
tally. Even within a single text, there could be a confusing lack of consistency.
(Diāo 1998)
On 19 April, 2005, the Procedures Law and Statutes Committee of the Legis-
lative Yuan passed a revised draft of laws concerning procedures and standards
for official documents. It stipulated that in the future, all official documents and
application forms on the internet should be written horizontally from left to
right, instead of vertically from right to left as it was being done at the time,
and the order was expected to be fully implemented within the coming year.5

2.11 The use of Mǐn Nán dialect in examinations for

government officials, police and port staff
In the domain of public administration, special exams for civil service personnel,
recruitment tests for police, as well as promotion exams for port staff were all

5 Taiwan passed regulations on official document manuscript form of writing from left to right
horizontally. Fúzhōu Evening, April 20, 2004.
362 Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) & Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)

set in the Mǐn Nán dialect. As a result, more than half of participants fail the
tests, severely impeding service. Candidates point out that the tests were not
designed to assess their professional competency, but to measure how far they
had ‘gone native.’ (Yánɡ & Zhái 2003)
On 20 May, 2005, the Legislative Yuan passed a number of amendments
to Taiwan’s Immigration and Citizenship law, requiring foreigners – including
spouses – interested in acquiring a Taiwan identification card to demonstrate
basic proficiency in any of the recognized national languages, i.e. Mandarin,
Hakka,6 and other indigenous languages. Proposed as a way to stimulate
foreigners’ interest in learning the languages and dialects of Taiwan, the bill
met with opposition from some communities, and was rejected by the Alliance
for Protecting the Human Rights of Immigrants and Migrants.

3 Language education
3.1 Chinese Language Instruction

3.1.1 A new syllabus undermining Chinese language instruction

arouses dispute

In November 2004, the Taiwan education authorities issued a revised Syllabus

for Chinese Language Instruction in Senior High Schools. According to the new
Syllabus, the weekly hours for Chinese language instruction would be reduced
from five hours per week to four hours and the proportion of classical Chinese
in language instruction to be reduced from 65% to 45%. Besides which, the
course in Basics of Chinese Culture was downgraded from a compulsory course
to an elective. (Mènɡ 2004)
This change to the syllabus was fiercely contested by the public and strongly
rejected by teachers of Chinese in Taiwan. In December, in alliance with forty-
eight other associated departments and institutions, the Chinese Department at
Taiwan Normal University issued a plea to reinstate the previous syllabus.
Soon after, in January of 2005, Taiwan’s scholars, artists, parents and teachers
organized the Rescue Chinese Language Instruction Alliance to oppose the new
syllabus. Facing indifference from the Taiwanese authorities, the Alliance issued
a Declaration of Action on May 4, demanding that the authorities concerned act
immediately to cancel the proposed syllabus.

6 Here Taiwanese means Mǐn Nán Dialect.

 The Linguistic situation and language policy in Taiwan 363

Meanwhile the Alliance held a symposium on “Literature, the Classics and

the Current Situation in Chinese Language Instruction,’’ urging the authorities
not to marginalize Chinese language instruction for political purposes but to
take it seriously. In July of the same year under the rally cry “Strike the Bell
from a High Tower at Break of Dawn – the Current Crisis on Chinese language
Instruction,’’ the leader of the Alliance, Professor Yú Guānɡzhōnɡ (余光中)
denounced the mixing of education with politics. Another symposium held
in September, titled “Confucius’ Tears – Lost Classics and Eroded Morality,”
exposed the authorities for using “de-sinification” to undermine the quality of
education for the next generation. Despite these efforts, the Taiwan authorities
resisted any change to the proposed syllabus.
On 23 February, 2006, Dù Zhènɡshènɡ, then Education Minister, remarked
that the appeals of Yú Guānɡzhōnɡ and other scholars to raise the proportion
of classical Chinese in language instruction were “ridiculously behind the
times’’ and that these scholars seemed never to have read the literary works of
Taiwan. Those remarks, when circulated in the press, were fiercely refuted in
educational circles as well as by a number of legislators. (Lǐ, Chén & Chén,
2006)
Meanwhile, a number of other Chinese scholars in language instruction
opposed to Professor Yú, held a public debate of their own on the amount of
classical Chinese to be included in language instruction in senior high schools.
According to Professor Lǐ Qín’àn (李勤岸) from Taiwan Normal University, too
much classical Chinese was detrimental to students’ writing. He claimed that
this was due to the abstruseness of ancient Chinese prose and its detachment
from modern culture which, he claimed, could hinder the students’ reading in
other disciplines, such as literature and philosophy. Lǐ called for an end to the
control of language instruction in primary and middle schools by professors of
classical Chinese literature. According to him, the indigenous languages and
writings born and bred on native soil should be nurtured, and that in so doing
it was following international trends.
In support of Lǐ Qín’àn, 38 groups clubbed together to form the Alliance
to Rescue the Vernacular. It pushed for promotion of the native languages in
Taiwan and proposed the adoption of a Romanized alphabetical transcription
system. They claimed that this so-called “Taiwan language phonetic system”
was already familiar to old, young and foreigners alike. Furthermore, they
claimed that it was not only upholding nativism but also a positive step towards
advancing globalization and linking up with the world. (Huánɡ 2006, Shēn
2006)
In rebuttal of the above, the Rescue Chinese Language Instruction Alliance
responded that no matter what arguments were put forward, there was no deny-
364 Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) & Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)

ing that students were weak in classical Chinese and it was the objective of the
Alliance to upgrade students’ mastery of the Chinese language by more expo-
sure to classical Chinese. The Alliance pointed out further that students were
able to read the vernacular on their own and carry on discussions in class and
that limited class hours should be reserved for instruction in classical Chinese.
The Alliance proposed additional instruction hours for classical Chinese to lay a
solid foundation for students’ mastery of the language as a whole. (Chén 2006a)

3.1.2 Founding of the “Association for Promoting Chinese Language

Instruction” by education circles in Taiwan

On 6 May, 2006, the Rescue Chinese Language Instruction Alliance, in coopera-

tion with other educational circles, formally established the Association for Pro-
moting Chinese Language Instruction. Professor Yú Guānɡzhōnɡ was elected
Chairman of the Association,” and Professor Wánɡ Kāifǔ (王开府), Director of
the Chinese Department at Taiwan Normal University, was appointed Secretary-
General. The Association commended Professor Yú for his role a year ago in
setting up the Rescue Chinese Language Instruction Alliance and in publishing
the Declaration to Rescue Chinese Language Instruction.
Confronted with the government’s determination to implement the Syllabus
for Chinese Language Instruction in Senior High Schools (Syllabus 95), the Asso-
ciation believed that a non-governmental organization should be set up to carry
on a long-term supervision of the government’s Chinese language instruction
policy. Furthermore, the Association pointed out that their work for the follow-
ing three years should be to supervise the implementation of Syllabus 95 and
rectify any mistakes committed in the process. Furthermore, the Association
would participate in and oversee the drafting of a new syllabus for the 1998
school year, oversee the assessment of language proficiency for middle school
students and continue to promote exchanges in Chinese language instruction
across the Straits and beyond. (Chén 2006b)

3.2 The teaching of native dialects and languages

3.2.1 The issue of a Taiwan Romanization System

Ever since native dialects and languages were being taught in Taiwan, there had
been no consensus on the phonetic symbols for the transcription of the Mǐn Nán
dialect. In addition to the supplementary transcription symbols for the Mǐn Nán
 The Linguistic situation and language policy in Taiwan 365

dialect, there were three kinds of competing Romanization orthography schemes

for the languages in Taiwan: 1) the Taiwan Language Phonetic Alphabet (TLPA);
2) the Church Romanized Writing (otherwise known as the vernacular script, the
Taiwan Roman orthography, the Romanized spelling, or Tairo for short), and 3)
the General Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Plan (GCPAP).
For the last ten years, particularly since 2001 when courses on native lan-
guages were offered, there had been continued debate over the phonetic tran-
scription of the Mǐn Nán dialect. In January of 2003, the reshuffled Languages
Committee decided to adopt Church Romanized Writing to transcribe the Mǐn
Nán dialect, but the decision was met by strong opposition from those in sup-
port of TLPA. Three years later, in September of 2006, the reshuffled Language
Committee passed a resolution to integrate both TLPA and Church Romanized
Writing into the Taiwan Mǐn Nán Romanization System, but it was vehemently
opposed by those in favor of the GCPAP.
On 15 October, 2006, despite fierce opposition from the proponents of the
GCPAP, Taiwan’s Education Ministry issued the Taiwan Mǐn Nán Romanization
System, requiring all primary and secondary schools to adopt the system in text-
books in the Mǐn Nán dialect from 2007 onwards. Additionally, the authorities
planned to publish textbooks at different levels to encourage the learning of
the Mǐn Nán dialect. Thus for the time being, the dust had settled over the
debate concerning the phonetic transcription system for the Mǐn Nán dialect.

3.2.2 Implementing the Native Language Education Policy in Taiwan7

In September of 2000, Taiwan’s education authority published the “Primary to

Middle School Nine Year Curriculum” which required that primary school stu-
dents learn one of three native languages (i.e. Mǐn Nán, Hakka, or one of the
indigenous languages) and that an optional course in native languages was
also available for students at public middle schools. The syllabus also specified
one class hour per week for native languages teaching.
On 22 October, 2002, Taiwan’s education authorities held the 12th meeting of
the National Curriculum Revision Council for primary and middle schools, and
passed a resolution calling for schools to start offering courses in texts and
symbols of the Mǐn Nán dialect and in Hakka starting at third grade, and that

7 The Local Language Education Policy is part of the Local Education Policy. It has been
considered an important language as well as cultural policy when the ex-president Lǐ Dēnɡhuī
(李登辉) was in office. Proposed and passed during the KMT times, the policy was not fully
implemented until the DPP took office.
366 Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) & Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)

depending on students’ readiness, schools were empowered to offer these courses

even earlier and that a syllabus would be published in November.
Furthermore, the Regulation on Indigenous People’s Application to Subsidies
in Taipei City required that starting from 1 September, 2003, indigenous families
applying for education subsidies for their children in Taipei should attach docu-
mentary evidence detailing their children’s experience with ethnic languages, or
the application would be rejected.
On the 4–5 August, 2004, the Council for Hakka Affairs of the Executive
Yuan held a conference on “Development of Community Group and Their
Cultures,”
At the Conference, a sub-topic “Education in Community Mother Tongue
and Nativist Education” elicited great interest. After heated discussions over
the issue, many specific, constructive suggestions for implementation were put
forward including:
a. laws on bilingual education,
b. use of Mother Tongue as the language of instruction,
c. creating an environment conducive to learning Mother Tongue in school, at
home and in communities,
d. issues on how to enhance teaching in the Mother Tongue, and how to
ensure that the teaching of Mother Tongue be better integrated with native
culture education programs so as to preserve the unique native cultures,
e. providing a framework whereby Mother Tongue could be learned simultane-
ously around the island,
f. plan for all courses on Mother Tongue to be conducted at the same class
hour for the whole school,
g. increasing class hours for teaching of the Mother Tongue.

3.2.3 Publication of textbooks of indigenous languages

Indigenous ethnic groups in Taiwan have no uniform writing systems for their
languages. although most have adopted the Romanized transcription system.
After more than ten years’ research, in December of 2005, the Taiwan govern-
ment issued the Romanization-based Writing Systems for Indigenous Languages.
The 13 systems put forward in the project included language transcription sym-
bols for 12 indigenous languages and an additional one for Seediq, a sub-branch
of Atayal. The Textbooks of Indigenous Languages was published in September
2006, which included forty sets of textbooks in thirteen languages and dialects.
Each set consisted of nine levels, with a total of three hundred and sixty text-
books.
 The Linguistic situation and language policy in Taiwan 367

3.2.4 Promoting “Mother Tongue Day”

In June 2006, Taiwan’s Education Ministry issued Guidelines for Promoting

Taiwan Mother Tongue Day in public and private Schools, encouraging activities
that promoted local dialects and languages.
The vice-minister of Taiwan’s Education Ministry, Zhōu Décàn (周德灿),
pointed out that many students were still weak in their command of native lan-
guages despite the fact that language instruction had been part of the curricu-
lum for some time. Thus, Mother Tongue Day was created to encourage students
to practice their Mother Tongue in daily communication on one particular day
each week. Zhōu said that the program had been successfully implemented in
more than 1250 primary schools in Taiwan, all with positive results. As some
junior and senior high schools had also started to adopt the program, he
expected that more schools would join in the effort.8

3.2.5 Implementation of Mother Tongue Counseling

On 28 June, 2006, Taiwan’s Education Minister Dù Zhènɡshènɡ announced that

in order to enhance native language teaching in schools, the government had
decided to implement a program once used in promoting Chinese by the KMT.
Mother Tongue Counseling programs appointed counselors to cities and counties
across the island to promote and supervise the teaching of native dialects and
languages.
According to the program, one to three counselors would be appointed to
each city or county, depending on the number of schools. In principle, 100
schools or less would be assigned one counselor. A county boasting of 100–200
schools would be assigned two counselors. At this rate, forty-eight counselors
would suffice for the twenty-five counties and cities in Taiwan.
These counselors, subordinate to the local education bureaus, would spe-
cialize in promoting and overseeing native language education rather than
undertake any actual teaching. There would also be an association of counselors
providing a platform for consultation and cooperation.9

8 The “Mother Tongue Day” program expected to be implemented in September. The China
Daily News, June 13, 2006.
9 Tutors of Native languages to start work in 2006. The China Daily News, June 28, 2006.
368 Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安), Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华) & Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)

3.3 Promoting the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language

3.3.1 Emphasis on Traditional Chinese characters in teaching

In December of 2003, the National Policy Committee of Chinese Instruction and

Promotion was set up to enhance the teaching of Chinese to overseas students.
The Committee adopted Traditional Chinese characters as the key feature of its
policy. By promoting the use of traditional Chinese characters, Taiwan hoped to
gain an advantage in its self-conceived rivalry with the mainland in the global
Chinese education market.10

3.3.2 Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language (TOCFL)

Taiwan’s Education Ministry entrusted the Chinese Training Centre of Taiwan

Normal University with the task of administering the Test of Chinese as a Foreign
Language. They claimed that the test, similar to TOFEL, would be taken as the
entrance language test for colleges and universities when recruiting foreign
students. In March of 2006 the Test was first administered in Vietnam and
Thailand.
The Test is administered at three levels: beginner, intermediate and
advanced. Each level was further divided into seven grades. All questions were
multiple choice, testing students’ listening, vocabulary, grammar, and reading
comprehension. Foreigners who had taken 360–480 hours (or more) of Chinese
courses in Taiwan or had acquired a vocabulary base of 1500 words were
encouraged to take the test at beginner level. Those who had taken 480–960
hours of Chinese courses in Taiwan or acquired a vocabulary base of 5000
words were eligible for the intermediate test, and those who had taken 960
hours of Chinese courses in Taiwan or acquired a vocabulary base of 8000
words were eligible for the advanced test. (Yù 2006)

3.3.3 Implementation of “Chinese Language Teaching Qualification and

Accreditation”

Hoping to take Taiwan to the top of the global Chinese language education
market, the Taiwan Education Ministry commissioned Taiwan Normal University

10 The Education Minister deems the KMT’s promotion of Chinese education successful. The
China Daily News, March 2, 2006.
 The Linguistic situation and language policy in Taiwan 369

to develop a Chinese language teacher qualification certificate. This would pro-

vide assurance of quality teaching, which Taiwan hoped would enhance its com-
petitiveness in the global market. The test for the certificate was first introduced
in 2006, testing the candidates’ proficiency in Chinese language, Chinese lin-
guistics, mastery of Chinese language teaching, as well as knowledge of Chinese
society and culture.

3.4 Exploring the overseas market for teaching Chinese as a

foreign language
Taiwan has attached a great deal of importance to the exploration of overseas
markets for teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Apart from investing heavily
in the business, they had taken such measures as offering free training for over-
seas teachers, recruiting overseas students, offering free textbooks, supporting
Chinese schools overseas, establishing a global Chinese education network and
promoting distance learning on the internet. Trying to dominate the global
market in offering courses in traditional Chinese characters, they are currently
compiling teaching materials that focus on promoting GCPAP, flaunting Taiwan’s
authoritative position in teaching Chinese. In line with these efforts, the Over-
seas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC) has promoted traditional Chinese
characters and phonetic transcription system, asserting that simplified characters
have lost cultural significance (Shēn 2005a). It is reported that Taiwan Normal
University has been developing the Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language (also
known as the TOCFL) as a computerized test, which is expected to be imple-
mented in October of 2006. (Shēn 2005b)
Following on its initiative ten years ago in setting up the Chinese Education
Research Institute, Taiwan Normal University had been running a doctoral pro-
gram for the last two years. In 2006, other universities followed suit by setting
up similar research centres and programs. While many non-governmental organ-
izations had increased their investment in the lucrative Chinese education
industry, software manufacturers have also sensed business opportunities.

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Zhānɡ Dázhì (张达智). 2006. “Scholars’ Joint statement: Saving the traditional Chinese”.
Central Daily News. 22 April.
Zhào Huìkě (赵会可). 2005. “The Formation of Taiwan Chinese”, Global Times. 11 April.
Zhènɡ Liánɡwěi (郑良伟). 1989. Problems with written language in the bilingual education
system. In Chén Ēn’quán (陈恩泉) (ed.) Bilingualism and Diglossia, 202. Guǎnɡzhōu
(广州): ZhōnɡShān (中山) Sun Yat-sen University Press.
Zhènɡ Mínɡchē (郑名车). 2005. “Taiwan Seeks Independence Through GCPAP”. Xiàmén Strait
Herald. 24 February.

Translated by Xī Jié (奚洁)

Nánjīnɡ University
[email protected]
Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)
31 Internet language use
In recent years the Internet has developed rapidly in mainland China. By
December 31, 2004 the total number of webpages reached 650 million, an
increase of 108.60% since 2003. The total number of bytes also reached 20,537 kb,
an increase of 238.90% compared with 2003.1 By December 31, 2005, China had
111 million Internet users, with 49.50 million computers connected to the Internet,
and a total of 694,200 websites.2

1 Language use on Internet webpages

1.1 Website encoding and character use
According to the Survey Report on Quantities of China Internet Information Re-
sources, 2003 published in April, 2004 by the China Internet Network Informa-
tion Centre (CNNIC) (http://www.cnnic.net.cn/download/manual/
report20030330.doc), webpage encoding and character use is as follows:

Simplified Chinese Traditional Chinese

Character (GB) Character (BIG5) English Other

93.1 3.7 3.2 0.0

Table 1: Webpage encoding and character use (%)

1.2 Website language types

Based on the statistics in the Survey Report on Quantities of China Internet
Information Resources, 2004 published on April 14, 2005 by CNNIC (http://
www.cnnic.net.cn/download/2005/2005041401.pdf), the situation of language
types provided by different categories of websites is shown in Table 2 below.

1 Based on the Survey Report on Quantities of China Internet Information Resources, 2004 by
the CNNIC on April 14, 2005 (http://www.cnnic.net.cn/download/2005/2005041401.pdf ).
2 Based on the Statistical Reports on the Internet Development in China by CNNIC on January
17, 2006.
374 Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

Businesses
Education/
Government research Other Overall
Enterprises institutions Individuals institutions non-profit (weight)

SC3 98.90 95.70 94.80 100.00 98.00 99.10 96.3

TC4 6.00 3.40 4.40 2.10 2.50 3.20 3.50
English 6.60 34.90 25.80 27.50 10.60 12.10 28.30
Japanese 5.30 1.50 2.30 2.00 — — 1.50
Other 4.20 0.60 1.20 — — — 0.60

Table 2: Language types on different categories of websites (%)

1.3 Webpage language and character use

Below is a summary of language and character use on sixty-five websites, includ-
ing the top two mainstream websites in each of China’s thirty-one provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the control of the Central
Government. These findings are based on results obtained using the 百分百好站
(Bǎifènbǎi Hǎozhàn, ‘100% Good Websites’) search engine (http://www.59187.
com)5 and the top three commercial websites as ranked by netizens: www.sina.
com.cn, www.sohu.com, and www.163.com. This ranking was announced by the
‘Blog China’ Internet Lab (Chinalabs.com).

1.3.1 The use of characters

On the main pages of the above sixty-five websites, the use of simplified Chinese
characters is predominant. Generally speaking, traditional Chinese characters
only appear in certain website names. There are eight such cases, which con-
stitute 12.30% of the total number of websites examined.

1.3.2 The general use of language

1.3.2.1 The use of Putonghua and dialects

The main pages of the above sixty-five websites all use Putonghua (the standard
form of the Chinese language). Out of certain needs, some websites occasionally

3 Simplified Chinese.
4 Traditional Chinese.
5 The websites of newspapers and government agencies were not included.
 Internet language use 375

employ dialects. Some ethnically-influenced words and phrases have also been
found on some ethnic minority websites. For example, in one of the columns
below, ‘侬好上海’ (Nónɡhǎo Shànɡhǎi, ‘Hello, Shanghai’), ‘侬好’ (Nónɡhǎo,
‘Hello’) is a Shanghainese expression. And ‘卓玛在线’ (Zhuómǎ Zàixiàn,
‘Zhuoma Online’) possesses a Tibetan flavor, since 卓玛 (Zhuómǎ) is a typical
female name in Tibet.

1.3.2.2 The Mixing of Chinese and English

Different types of code-mixing and non-standard usages of English have also
been found on the main pages of each of the above sixty-five websites. For
column names on homepages, some websites use Chinese alongside English.
In the examples below, a Chinese column name is immediately accompanied
by its English counterpart, although the English usage may not be accurate. For
example, in [推荐 commend], “commend” should be “recommendation”.

[推荐 commend] [最新看点 news] [电影 movie] [音乐 music] [游戏 game]

In the two columns below, the English word “HOT” appears immediately
before its Chinese equivalent ‘热点’ (rèdiǎn, ‘hot topic’) and “NEW” appears
alongside its Chinese equivalent ‘今日’ ( jīnrì, ‘today’).

For website links to hot issues, updates, free giveaways, and more information,
twenty websites mix English with Chinese or use only English. This constitutes
30.80% of the websites examined. See examples below, where the word “hot” is
used extensively.
376 Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

When claiming copyright, on twenty-nine websites, English is used exclusively

or in conjunction with Chinese. This constitutes 44.60% of the websites observed.
Examples are as follows:

English-Chinese-English: Copyright © 1997 重庆热线 All Rights Reserved

English-Chinese: Copyright © 2004 浙江电信有限公司版权所有
Chinese-English: 版权所有 © 1998–2004 Henan info Port. All rights reserved.

1.3.2.3 The use of letters and lettered words

The use of letters and lettered words (most of the acronyms) has been observed
on all sixty-five websites examined, although the frequency and scope of use
vary slightly. The most frequently employed include: IT, CEO, NBA, CBA, BBS,
MP3, MTV, DVD, QQ, MBA, SOS, TV, ADSL, and WTO, which are all very popular
in China today. Certain Internet expressions, such as MM (‘beautiful girl’), appear
frequently on these websites as well.
These letters and lettered words are mostly seen in the columns of the infor-
mation industry (e.g., games, computers), entertainment (e.g., music, movies),
and fashionable living (e.g., automobiles, leisure). They are usually the names
of computer software and hardware, games, foreign movies and television pro-
grams, and makes or models of automobiles.
The letter “E” or “e”, the first letter of the English word “electronic”, is
observed most frequently. It is often found in expressions characteristic of the
electronic or Internet age, such as ‘E 部落’ (E bùluò, ‘E-tribe’), e 信通 (e xìntōnɡ,
‘e-communication’), and e卡 (e kǎ, ‘e-card’). But sometimes “E” or “e” is used
differently and denotes something other than ‘electronic’. It can be the homo-
phone of the Chinese numeral “一” ( yī, ‘one’), such as in ‘灵机E动’, (línɡjī
yīdònɡ, ‘to have sudden inspiration’) and ‘e路通’ (yīlù tōnɡ, ‘(of a passage) to
be clear all the way through’). It can also be the homophone of the Chinese
character ‘驿’ ( yì, ‘post station’), such as in ‘旅游e站’ (lǚyóu yìzhàn, ‘(while
travelling) a base for exploring other places from’). It can be a homophone of
the Chinese character ‘异’ (yì, ‘different’), such as in ‘E 性合租’ (yìxìnɡ hézū,
 Internet language use 377

‘(of an apartment, etc.) a shared rent by a male and female’). It can also be the
homophone for ‘宜’ (yí, ‘suitable’), such as in ‘家家E’ ( jiājiā yī, ‘good for all
homes’). Occasionally “E” or “e” can mean different things within the same
expression as well.

2 The use of special Internet expressions

2.1 The use of special Internet terms on bulletin board
systems
The expressions examined in this section come from “The Most Popular Sites of
China’s BBS Community”, most of which are commercial BBSs, announced as
part of the top one hundred BBS communities in November 2005. Based on
a reply index, 18,383 posts with the most number of replies in the year 2005
have been determined. With reference to published works and literatures, one
hundred commonly used Internet terms have been identified as the target of
analysis. For their frequency of occurrence, frequency of use, and comparison
data, please see Appendix.

2.1.1 The frequency of Internet expression use

For these one hundred Internet usages, their overall frequency of occurrence in
the 18,383 posts range from 0% to 23.02%. Only nineteen expressions have a 0%
frequency of use.
For seventeen of these one hundred Internet expressions, their frequency of
occurrence is above 1%. Among them only one usage, ‘顶’ dǐnɡ ‘support’, fea-
tures a frequency higher than 20%. There is also only one term with a 10%–
20% frequency of use: ‘555’ (wǔwǔwǔ, ‘crying sound; feeling sad’). Two of these
terms feature a 5%–10% frequency of occurrence: ding ‘support’ and ‘mm/MM’
(měiměi, ‘beautiful girl’). There are thirteen expressions with a 1%–5% fre-
quency, including ‘LZ’ (‘person who made the original post or started a BBS
topic’), ‘dd/DD’ (‘younger brother’), ‘偶’ (ǒu, ‘I’), ‘马甲’ (mǎjiǎ, ‘online ID’s’),
‘斑竹’ (bānzhú, ‘moderator or administrator of a discussion board on the Inter-
net’), ‘晕’ (yūn, ‘to express shock’), and ‘灌水’ ( ɡuànshuǐ, ‘to leave messages,
especially tasteless ones, on a message board’).
Twenty-four of these one hundred Internet usages feature a 0.1%–1% fre-
quency of use and there are forty terms with a 0.005%–0.1% frequency rating.
Surprisingly, some of the expressions repeatedly cited in earlier media and
research literatures, which represent classical Internet terms, feature a fre-
378 Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

quency of use no higher than 0.2%. Some terms even have a frequency rating of
lower than 0.005%, such as: ‘大虾 ’ (dàxiā, ‘Internet expert’), ‘表’ (biǎo, ‘don’t’),
‘菜鸟’ (càiniǎo, ‘Internet novice’), ‘青蛙’ (qīnɡwā, ‘ugly guy’), ‘弓虽’ (gōnɡsuī,
‘strong’), ‘94’ ( jiǔsì, ‘indeed’), ‘粉丝’ ( fěnsī, ‘fans’), ‘酱紫’ ( jiànɡzǐ, ‘something
like that’), ‘恐龙’ (kǒnɡlónɡ, ‘ugly girl’), and ‘美眉’ (měiméi, ‘beautiful girl’).
The frequency of occurrence of some Internet usages that emerged early on, for
example, ‘886’ (bā bā liù, ‘bye-bye’, c u ‘see you’), ‘LOL’ (‘laughing out loud’),
‘pmp/PMP’ (‘to behave in an obsequious or sycophantic way’), ‘打铁’ (dǎtiě, ‘to
publish a post of weight online’), and ‘油墨’ (yóumò, ‘humorous’), is all zero.

2.1.2 Results of comparison

(1) Some Internet terms are used more frequently than their everyday off-line
counterparts.

There are sixteen pairs of terms in this category, which only constitute 25.4% of
comparable sets. Among them three groups consist of Chinese characters, which
only represent 18.75%. These pairs are ‘斑竹’ (bānzhú, ‘moderator or administra-
tor of a discussion board on the Internet’) and ‘版主’ (bǎnzhǔ, ‘moderator or
administrator of a discussion board on the Internet’), ‘恩’ (ēn, ‘an interjection
to express agreement or pledge’) and ‘嗯’ (èn, ‘an interjection to express agree-
ment or pledge’), and ‘大虾 ’ (dàxiā, ‘Internet expert’) and ‘大侠’ (dàxiá, ‘Inter-
net expert’).6 ‘斑竹’ (bānzhú, ‘moderator or administrator of a discussion board
on the Internet’) and ‘大虾 ’ (dàxiā, ‘Internet expert’) are two of the most com-
monly used words in online forums. They are representatives of Internet lan-
guage, which function as demarcators of Internet language and daily expres-
sions. Thirteen pairs do not consist of Chinese characters, which constitute
81.25% of comparable sets. Among these, three pairs consist of numerals, and
ten sets are composed of letters. The rate of occurrence of these pairs varies
greatly, with some sets showing very little difference, while others exhibit con-
spicuous disparities.

(2) Many Internet terms are used less frequently than their everyday off-line
counterparts.

There are forty-seven pairs of terms in this category, constituting 74.6% of com-
parable sets. Among them, seven groups consist of numerals, representing
14.9%; nineteen groups consist of letters, constituting 40.4%; and twenty-one
pairs consist of Chinese characters, constituting 45.7% of the comparable sets.
The comparison statistic demonstrates that for some high-frequency, everyday

6 The first term in the pair is Internet expression, and the second is everyday usage.
 Internet language use 379

words, for example, ‘我们’ (wǒmen, ‘we’), ‘不要’ (bùyào, ‘don’t’), ‘喜欢’ (xǐhuān,
‘like’), ‘什么’ (shénme, ‘what’), and ‘很’ (hěn, ‘very’), the frequency of occur-
rence is much higher than their Internet counterparts. For some Internet terms
composed of numerals and letters, their rate of use is even lower, with some
being zero. In contrast, their everyday equivalents feature a relatively high
frequency of occurrence in online forums. This further proves that common
characters and words in modern Chinese are similarly essential components of
Internet language.

2.2 Language use on college BBSs

In this section language use on college BBS sites in mainland China is examined.
Considering factors, such as the number of website visitors and regional balance,
the BBS sites of seven universities, including Tsinghua (清华) University, have
been included in the analysis. 601,336 texts and 176,574,655 characters have
been analyzed.

2.2.1 General situation

A total of 3,678,008 words were used, which can be divided into 758 types.
Among them, 367 consist of Chinese characters, constituting 48.42%; 223 are
composed of letters, constituting 29.42%; and 136 consist of numerals, constitut-
ing 17.94%. There are thirty-two other categories, which only constitute 4.22%.

2.2.2 Characteristics of language use on college BBSs

Language use on college BBSs is characterized by variety and instability, which

is demonstrated in the following ways:
1. One meaning is usually expressed in different written forms. For example,
“thank you” is expressed as ‘39’, ‘3x’, ‘3Q’, ‘3KS’, ‘SNQ’, and ‘THX’. “Good-
bye” can be expressed as ‘88’, ‘886’, ‘3166’, ‘C’, ‘CU’, ‘CUL’, ‘BBN’, ‘BFN’,
and ‘TTYL’.
2. There are large numbers of synonyms. For example, the term ‘水鬼’
(shuǐɡuǐ ), ‘水母’ (shuǐmǔ), ‘水手’ (huǐshǒu), ‘水桶’ (shuǐtǒnɡ), ‘水王’ (shuǐ-
wánɡ), and ‘水仙’ (shuǐxiān) all refer to those who leave messages, espe-
cially tasteless ones, on a message board, but they convey nuances in terms
of gender, rank, or positive/negative connotation.
3. There are many polysemous and homographic words. For instance, the term
‘BB’ can be used to mean ‘baby/child’, ‘sweetheart’, or ‘bye-bye’.
380 Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

Overall, college BBS expressions increased rapidly in the early stages of use but
the growth has slowed down markedly recently. Take as reference the list of
words analysed that consists of 869 Internet terms: five hundred and thirty
appeared between the year 2000 and 2004, which constitutes 60.99%. In con-
trast, in 2005 only seven appeared, which only constitutes 0.81%. Meanwhile,
sixty-four usages emerged between 2000 and 2004 but died out in 2005, which
constitutes 7.36%.

2.3 A comprehensive analysis of the use of common Internet

expressions
Objectively speaking, the use of Internet expressions presented above may not
represent the whole picture of the use of online terms. This is due to the exis-
tence of large quantities of various online forums, where posts are virtually
innumerable and language use varies greatly. Even so, some patterns may still
be drawn.
1. Whether in online forums or live chat, everyday off-line expressions are still
predominant. This shows that the similarities between Internet language
and Putonghua are greater than their differences.
2. Language use in online forums and live chat shares common features but
also differs in certain ways. The disparities demonstrate that in order to
meet different levels of communication needs when online, both the fre-
quency and scope of lexical use vary. This fits the general patterns of
language use.
3. Due to the unique communication mode of online forums, expressions em-
ployed there rather than in live chat, as is commonly believed, are more
representative of Internet language. This is true even given that, to a certain
extent, live chat shares the same characteristics as everyday interpersonal
interaction and mass communication.
4. Given the particularity of online communication, Internet terms created by
netizens that conform with the characteristics of Internet communication
will continue to be employed. But overall the numbers will diminish, while
at the same time new terms will be coined.

3 Issues regarding the use of Internet language

Internet language is a linguistic phenomenon that results from the development
of Internet technology and the extensive application of the Internet. It is an
online variant of off-line language.
 Internet language use 381

The issue of Internet language that is frequently talked about primarily

concerns the potential impact of special online expressions upon the linguistic
behavior of Chinese youth. At present, more than ten books on Internet lan-
guage have been published in mainland China, and over three hundred research
papers have also been published.

3.1 A topic which continues to attract society’s attention

in China
When the key phrase “Internet language” was entered into the Bǎidù (百度)
search engine on March 15 and December 15, 2005, it yielded 109,000 and
468,000 results respectively. According to statistics, the speedy development of
the Internet and the rapid increase in the number of netizens in China, have
caused a year on year increase in reports, introductions, reviews, and even
debates on Internet language since 1999. Much of this interest has been focused
on how Internet language impacts upon the language acquisition and linguistic
behavior of adolescents and the teaching of Chinese. In short, Internet language
has become a hot topic online. The number of reports on Internet language
surged in 2004, which exceeded the combined number of reports from 1999
through 2003. (See the figure below)

Figure 1: Number of reports on Internet language

382 Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

The year 2005 basically continued the trend from 2004. The contents of re-
views, posts and debates on Internet language remained essentially the same.
What deserves special attention is that, among the news reports on Internet
language, forty-two articles covered the fact that some provincial- and city-level
language work and legislation involved Internet language, which constituted
15.6% of the total number of articles examined that year.

3.2 Attitudes towards Internet language

Currently in China there exist three different views of Internet language.

3.2.1 Supportive views

Some scholars argue that “Internet language is a new language which can
reflect modern life and the thoughts of the Chinese people. Its appearance is of
epoch-making significance in language history . . . it will become the language of
the new century.” Others claim that “Internet language represents the trend
of language development in the 21st century.”

3.2.2 Opposing views

The majority of elementary and middle school students, teachers, parents, as

well as a number of scholars, believe that Internet language will pollute the
Chinese language and destroy its purity. They believe this in turn will seriously
affect the language acquisition and Chinese learning of elementary and middle
school students. In a nutshell, Internet language is seen as being all harm/no
benefit, so they oppose students’ acceptance and use of Internet language.

3.2.3 Neutral views

The majority of netizens and a number of scholars believe that people should
maintain a tolerant attitude towards the emergence and employment of Internet
language. On the one hand, the use of Internet expressions is, in a sense, valid
and therefore should not be totally dismissed. On the other, the employment of
Internet language should be guided and limited to prevent its overuse.
 Internet language use 383

3.3 Stipulations regarding Internet language use in local laws

and regulations

3.3.1 Shànɡhǎi (上海) City

On September 27, 2005 Shànɡhǎi Language and Character Working Committee

released the “Draft of Shànɡhǎi City’s Method of Implementing the Law of the
People’s Republic of China on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese” on its offi-
cial website, which had been submitted for consideration.7 The draft included
twenty-three clauses. The 13th item clearly stipulated that Internet terms that
do not follow the standards of the modern Chinese lexicon and Chinese gram-
mar may not be employed in any publication, official government document, or
teaching. It is the first time that standardizing and limiting the use of Internet
terms was included in local laws and regulations in China.
On December 29, 2005, the “Shànɡhǎi City’s Method of Implementing the
Law of the People’s Republic of China on Standard Spoken and Written
Chinese” was reviewed and passed at the 25th meeting of the 12th Shànɡhǎi
City People’s Representative Assembly Standing Committee. The original clause
that Internet terms that do not follow the standards of modern Chinese lexicon
and grammar may not be employed in any publication, official government
document, or teaching was modified as Internet terms that do not follow the
standards of the modern Chinese lexicon and Chinese grammar may not be
employed in official government documents or textbooks. In addition, it was
added that apart from the need of being objective, news reports may not use
Internet expressions that do not follow the standards of the modern Chinese
lexicon and Chinese grammar.8 The bill came into effect on March 1, 2006.

3.3.2 Jiānɡsū (江苏) Province

On November 30, 2005 the Information Department of the Jiānɡsū Province

People’s Representative Assembly Standing Committee reported that on the
29th the “Draft of Jiānɡsū Province’s Method of Implementing the Law of the

7 The Draft of Shànɡhǎi City’s Method of Implementing the Law of the People’s Republic of
China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language (http://www.shyywz.com/page/
jsp/showdetail.jsp?con=dzzw&id=2076).
8 Wánɡ Yījīnɡ: Shànɡhǎi City enacting language laws to standardize the use of Internet
expressions (http://www.spcsc.sh.cn/renda/node3075/node3099/node3100/
userobject1ai54707.html).
384 Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)

People’s Republic of China on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese” entered a

phase of group deliberation. The 11th clause of the draft stipulates that news-
papers, periodicals, books, audio and video products, and electronic publica-
tions in Chinese must all use Putonghua and standard Chinese characters.
Regarding this clause, Committee members also proposed that Shànɡhǎi City’s
practice should be adopted to prohibit the use of Internet language in official
government documents, news media, and textbooks.9

Translated by Gāo Lìwěi (高立伟)

Defense Language Institute (USA)
[email protected]

9 Members of Jiānɡsū Province People’s Representative Assembly Standing Committee

heatedly discuss the Draft of Jiangsu Province’s Method of Implementing the Law of the
People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language
(http://www.jsrd.gov.cn/jsrdportal/html/1/2266/16521.shtml).
Appendix
Comparison of 20 commonly used Internet terms with everyday expressions
Frequency
Number Internet Term Times of Use of Use (%) Comparison Group Times of Use
1 顶 (dǐnɡ, ‘support’)10 4,231 23.02 — —
2 555 (wǔwǔwǔ, ‘crying’) 2,226 12.11 呜呜呜 (wūwūwū, ‘crying’) 0
3 ding (‘support’) 1,031 5.61 — —
4 mm/MM (‘beautiful girl’) 999 5.43 妹妹 (mèimei, ‘beautiful girl’) 178
5 LZ (‘post originator’) 745 4.05 楼主 (lóuzhǔ,‘post originator’) 4,230
6 dd/DD (‘younger brother’) 736 4.00 弟弟 (dìdi, ‘younger brother’) 48
7 88 (bābā ‘bye-bye’) 644 3.50 拜拜/再见 (bāibāi/zàijiàn, ‘bye’) 49/47
8 偶 (ǒu, ‘I’) 631 3.43 我 (wǒ, ‘I’) 47,038
9 马甲 (mǎjiǎ, ‘multiple ID’s’) 628 3.42 — —
10 ID (‘online identity’) 613 3.33 — —
11 斑竹 (bānzhú, ‘moderator’) 601 3.27 版主 (bǎnzhǔ, ‘moderator’) 87
12 恩 (ēn, ‘showing agreement’) 439 2.39 嗯 (èn, ‘showing agreement’) 56
13 汗/寒 (hàn/hán, ‘showing awe’) 298 1.62 — —
14 晕 (yūn, ‘expressing, shock’) 293 1.59 — —
15 ps/PS (‘Photoshop’) 260 1.41 — —
16 灌水 (guànshuǐ, ‘write posts’) 227 1.23 — —
17 ddd (‘support, support, suppot’) 200 1.09 — —
18 bs/BS ‘despise’ 173 0.94 鄙视 (bǐshì, ‘despise’) 155
19 楼猪 (lóuzhū ‘post originator’) 167 0.91 楼主 (lóuzhǔ, ‘post originator’) 4,230
20 163 0.89 99,028/1191
Internet language use

滴 (dī ‘a particle’) 的/地 (de/dì, ‘a particle’)

10 The Internet terms are ordered based on their time and frequency of occurrence in the 18,383 posts. The expressions in the comparison group are
off-line usages with the same or similar meanings.
385
Appendix 1
Order of the President of the People’s
Republic of China
No. 33
The Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written
Chinese Language, adopted at the 18th Meeting of the Standing Committee
of the Ninth National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on
October 31, 2000, is hereby promulgated and shall go into effect as of January 1,
2001.

Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
October 31, 2000

Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written
Chinese Language

(Adopted at the 18th Meeting of Standing Committee of the Ninth National People’s
Congress on October 31, 2000)

Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Use of the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language
Chapter III Administration and Supervision
Chapter IV Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1. This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution for the
purpose of promoting the normalization and standardization of the standard
spoken and written Chinese language and its sound development, making it
play a better role in public activities, and promoting economic and cultural
exchange among all the Chinese nationalities and regions.

Article 2. For the purposes of this Law, the standard spoken and written
Chinese language means Putonghua (a common speech with pronunciation
based on the Beijing dialect) and the standardized Chinese characters.
388 Appendix 1

Article 3. The State popularizes Putonghua and the standardized Chinese

characters.

Article 4. All citizens shall have the right to learn and use the standard
spoken and written Chinese language.
The State provides citizens with the conditions for learning and using the
standard spoken and written Chinese language.
Local people’s governments at various levels and the relevant departments
under them shall take measures to popularize Putonghua and the standardized
Chinese characters.

Article 5. The standard spoken and written Chinese language shall be used
in such a way as to be conducive to the upholding of state sovereignty and
national dignity, to unification of the country and unity of the nationalities,
and to socialist material progress and ethical progress.

Article 6. The State promulgates standard norms of the spoken and written
Chinese language, administers its use in the community, supports the teaching
of and scientific research in the language in order to promote its normalization,
enrichment and development.

Article 7. The State rewards the organizations and individuals that have
made outstanding contribution in the field the standard spoken and written
Chinese language.

Article 8. All the nationalities shall have the freedom to use and develop
their own spoken and written languages.
The spoken and written languages of the ethnic peoples shall be used in
accordance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution, the Law on
Regional National Autonomy and other laws.

Chapter II Use of the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language

Article 9. Putonghua and the standardized Chinese characters shall be used
by State organs as the official language, except where otherwise provided for
in laws.

Article 10. Putonghua and the standardized Chinese characters shall be used
as the basic language in education and teaching in schools and other institu-
tions of education, except where otherwise provided for in laws.
Putonghua and the standardized Chinese characters shall be taught in
schools and other institutions of education by means of the Chinese course.
 Appendix 1 389

The Chinese textbooks used shall be in conformity with the norms of the stan-
dard spoken and written Chinese language.

Article 11. Publications in Chinese shall be in conformity with the norms of

the standard spoken and written Chinese language.
Where foreign languages need to be used in publications in Chinese, neces-
sary explanatory notes in standard Chinese shall be applied.

Article 12. Putonghua shall be used by the broadcasting and TV stations as

the basic broadcasting language.
Where foreign languages need to be used as the broadcasting languages,
the matter shall be subject to approval by the broadcasting and television
administration under the State Council.

Article 13. The standardized Chinese characters shall be used as the basic
characters in the service trade. Where both a foreign language and the Chinese
language are used in signboards, advertisements, bulletins, signs, etc., as is
needed by the trade, the standardized Chinese characters shall be used as far
as the Chinese Language is concerned.
People working in the service trade are encouraged to use Putonghua when
providing services.

Article 14. The standard spoken and written Chinese language shall be used
as the basic spoken and written language in the following circumstances:
(1) spoken and written language for broadcasting, films and TV programs;
(2) written language for the facilities in public places;
(3) written language in signboards and advertisements;
(4) names of enterprises and other institutions; and
(5) packaging and specifications of commodities marketed in the country.

Article 15. The standard spoken and written Chinese language used in infor-
mation processing and information technology products shall be in conformity
with the norms of the State.

Article 16. Where the relevant provisions of this Chapter are concerned, local
dialects may be used under the following circumstances:
(1) when State functionaries really need to use them in the performance of offi-
cial duties;
(2) where they are used in broadcasting with the approval of the broadcasting
and television administration under the State Council or of the broadcasting
and television department at the provincial level;
390 Appendix 1

(3) where they are needed in traditional operas, films and TV programs and
other forms of art; and
(4) where their use is really required in the publishing, teaching and research.

Article 17. Where by the relevant provisions of this Chapter are concerned,
the original complex or the variant forms of Chinese characters may be retained
or used under the following circumstances:
(1) in cultural relics and historic sites;
(2) the variant forms used in surnames;
(3) in works of art such as calligraphy and seal cutting;
(4) handwritten inscriptions and signboards;
(5) where their use is required in the publishing, teaching and research; and
(6) other special circumstances where their use is approved by the relevant
departments under the State Council.

Article 18. The “Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet” shall be used as
the tool of transliteration and phonetic notation for the standard spoken and
written Chinese language.
The “Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet” is the unified norm of the
Roman letters for transliterating the names of Chinese people and places as well
as Chinese documents and is used in the realms where it is inconvenient to use
the Chinese characters or where the Chinese characters cannot be used.
Chinese phonetic alphabets shall be used in primary education.

Article 19. All staff members who need to use Putonghua as their working
language shall have the ability to speak Putonghua.
The Putonghua level of those who use Putonghua as their working language,
such as broadcasters, program hosts and hostesses, actors and actresses of
films, TV series and plays, teachers and State functionaries shall reach the
respective standards set by the State; those who have not yet reached such stan-
dards shall receive different training, as the case may be.

Article 20. Putonghua and the standardized Chinese characters shall be

taught in classes for foreigners who are learning Chinese.

Chapter III Administration and Supervision

Article 21. The department in charge of the work related to spoken and
written language under the State Council shall be responsible for planning,
guiding, administering and supervising the work related to the standard spoken
and written Chinese language.
The departments concerned under the State Council shall administer the use
of the standard spoken and written Chinese language in their own departments.
 Appendix 1 391

Article 22. Local departments in charge of the work related to spoken and
written language and other departments concerned shall administer and super-
vise the use of the standard spoken and written Chinese language within their
own administrative areas.

Article 23. The administrative departments for industry and commerce under
the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall administer and
supervise the use of spoken and written language in the names of enterprises
and commodities as well as in advertisements.

Article 24. The department in charge of the work related to spoken and
written language under the State Council shall issue standards for the test of
Putonghua at different grades.

Article 25. The department in charge of the work related to spoken and written
language under the State Council or other departments concerned shall make
arrangements for the examination of the translation of the proper nouns like
the names of foreigners and foreign places and the scientific and technical terms
into the standard spoken and written Chinese language.

Article 26. Any citizen may make criticism and put forward suggestions
where the use of spoken and written language is at variance with the norms
of the standard spoken and written Chinese language and is in violation of the
relevant provisions in Chapter II of this Law.
Where persons mentioned in the second paragraph of Article 19 of this Law
use the language in violation of the relevant provisions of Chapter II of this Law,
the units concerned shall, by way of education, criticize the persons who are
directly responsible; anyone who refuses to put it right shall be handled by the
units concerned.
Where the characters used in the facilities and signboards in public places
of cities and in advertisements are in violation of the relevant provisions
of Chapter II of this Law, the administrative departments concerned shall give
orders for them to be corrected; anyone who refuses correct them shall be given
a disciplinary warning and be urged to put them right within a time limit.

Article 27. Anyone who, in violation of this Law, interferes with other persons’
learning and using of the standard spoken and written Chinese language shall be
ordered by the relevant administrative departments to put it right within a time
limit and be given a disciplinary warning.

Chapter IV Supplementary Provisions

Article 28. This Law shall go into effect as of January 1, 2001.
Wèi Dān (魏丹), Dài Hónɡliànɡ (戴红亮) &
Zhènɡ Mènɡjuān (郑梦娟)
Appendix 2
List of Standards for Language and Writing
Planning
(1955–2006)

No. Titles Issue Time Promulgators

1 第一批异体字整理表 1955 The Ministry of Culture, The Text

Series One Organization List of Variant Reform Committee
Characters
2 汉语拼音方案 1958 The National People’s Congress
Scheme of the Chinese Phonetic
Alphabet
3 汉语手指字母方案 1963 The Ministry of the Interior, The
Scheme of the Chinese Finger Sign Ministry of Education, The Text
Alphabet Reform Committee
4 简化字总表 1964, The State Council
Complete List of Simplified Characters republished
in 1986
5 印刷通用汉字字形表 1965 The Ministry of Culture, The Text
List of Character Forms of General Used Reform Committee
Chinese Characters for Publishing
6 少数民族语地名汉语拼音字母音译 1965 State Bureau of Surveying and
转写法 1976 Mapping, The Text Reform
The Regulation of Phonetic Transcription Committee
in Hànyǔ Pinyin Letters of Place Names
in Minority Nationality Languages
7 中国人名汉语拼音字母拼写法 1974, The Text Reform Committee
Spelling of Chinese Names in Pinyin revised
in 1976
8 部分计量单位名称统一用字表 1977 National Bureau of Standard
List of the Standard Characters Used for Measurement
Names of Some Measurement Units
9 GB 2312–1980 信息交换用汉字编码 1980 The National Standard
字符集 基本集 Code of Chinese Administration
Graphic Character Set for Information
Interchange (Primary set)
10 ISO 7098–1991 文献工作 – 中文罗马 1982 The International Organization for
字母拼写法 Standardization
ISO 7098–1991 Literature Work: Spelling
of Characters Names in Roman Letters
394 Appendix 2

No. Titles Issue Time Promulgators

11 汉语拼音字母名称读音 1982 The National Standard Administra-

Pronunciation of Names of Hanyu Pinyin tion, The Text Reform Committee
Alphabet
12 汉字统一部首表 (草案) 1983 The Text Reform Committee, State
The Table of Indexing Chinese Character Publication Bureau
Component (draft)
13 中国地名汉语拼音字母拼写规则 1984 Chinese Toponymy Committee, The
(汉语地名部分) Text Reform Committee, State
Orthographic Rule for Chinese Bureau of Surveying and Mapping
Geographical Names in Pinyin
14 GB 4881–1985 中国语种代码 1985 The State Bureau of Quality Technical
GB 4881–1985 Code of Chinese Supervision
Languages
15 普通话异读词审音表 1985 The State Language Commission,
The Table of the Pronunciation of State Education Commission, State
Polyphonic Words in Putonghua Bureau of Radio and Television
16 GB 6513–1986 文献书目信息交换用数 1986 The State Bureau of Quality
学字符编码字符集 Technical Supervision
Character Set for Bibliographic Informa-
tion Interchange on Mathematical
Coding of Characters
17 现代汉语常用字表 1988 The State Language Commission,
List of Frequently Used Characters in State Education Commission
Modern Chinese
18 现代汉语通用字表 1988 The State Language Commission,
List of Commonly Used Characters in The State Press and Publication
Modern Chinese Administration
19 GB 12050–1989 信息处理 信息交换用 1989 The State Bureau of Quality
维吾尔文编码图形字符集 Technical Supervision
Information Processing – Uygur Coded
Graphic Character Sets for Information
Interchange
20 GB 12052–1989 信息交换用朝鲜文字 1989 The State Bureau of Quality
编码字符集 Technical Supervision
Korean Character Coded Character Set
for Information Interchange
21 GB 12200.1–1990 汉语信息处理词汇 1990 The State Bureau of Quality
01部分 基本术语 Technical Supervision
Chinese Information Processing Vocabu-
lary, Part 01: Fundamental terms
22 GB 3304–1991 中国各民族名称的罗 1991 The State Bureau of Quality
马字母拼写法和代码 Technical Supervision
Names of Nationalities of China in
Romanization with Codes
 Appendix 2 395

No. Titles Issue Time Promulgators

23 GB/T 13134–1991 信息交换用彝文编 1991 The State Bureau of Quality

码字符集 Yi Coded Character Set for Technical Supervision
Information Interchange
24 GB 3259–1992 中文书刊名称汉语拼 1992 The State Bureau of Quality
音拼写法 Technical Supervision
Transliteration Rules of Chinese
Phonetic Alphabet on Titles for Books
and Periodicals in Chinese
25 GB/T 13715–1992 信息处理用现代汉 1992 The State Bureau of Quality
语分词规范 Technical Supervision
Contemporary Chinese Language Word
Segmentation Specification for
Information Processing
26 GB/T 14159–1993 通用键盘汉字编码 1993 The State Bureau of Quality
输入方法评测规则 Technical Supervision
The Evaluation Rule for Universal
Keyboard Chinese Character Coding
Input Method
27 GB/T 14242–1993 信息交换用汉字 1993 The State Bureau of Quality
64 × 64 点阵黑体字模集及数据集 Technical Supervision
64 × 64 Dot Matrix Heiti Font Set and
Data Set of Chinese Ideograms for
Information Interchange
28 GB/T 14243–1993 信息交换用汉字 1993 The State Bureau of Quality
64 × 64 点阵楷体字模集及数据集 Technical Supervision
64 x 64 Dot Matrix Kaiti Font Set and
Data Set of Chinese Ideograms for
Information Interchange
29 GB/T 14244–1993 信息交换用汉字 1993 The State Bureau of Quality
64 × 64 点阵仿宋体字模集及数据集 Technical Supervision
64 × 64 Dot Matrix Fangsongti Font Set
and Data Set of Chinese Ideograms for
Information Interchange
30 GB/T 14245–1993 信息交换用汉字 1993 The national standard administration
64 × 64 点阵宋体字模集及数据集
64 x 64 Dot Matrix Songti Font Set
and Data Set of Chinese Ideograms for
Information Interchange
31 GB/T 14717–1993 信息交换用汉字 1993 The State Bureau of Quality
128 × 128 点阵宋体字模集及数据集 Technical Supervision
128 × 128 Dot Matrix Songti Font Set
and Data Set of Chinese Ideograms for
Information Interchange
396 Appendix 2

No. Titles Issue Time Promulgators

32 GB/T 14718–1993 信息交换用汉字 1993 The State Bureau of Quality

128 × 128 点阵黑体字模集及数据集 Technical Supervision
128 × 128 Dot Matrix Heiti Font Set and
Data Set of Chinese Ideograms for
Information Interchange
33 GB/T 14719–1993 信息交换用汉字 1993 The State Bureau of Quality
256 × 256 点阵宋体字模集及数据集 Technical Supervision
256 × 256 Dot Matrix Songti Font Set
and Data Set of Chinese Ideograms for
Information Interchange
34 GB/T 14720–1993 信息交换用汉字 1993 The State Bureau of Quality
256 × 256 点阵黑体字模集及数据集 Technical Supervision
256 × 256 Dot Matrix Heiti Font Set and
Data Set of Chinese Ideograms for
Information Interchange
35 ISO/IEC 10646.1 信息技术 通用多八位 1993 The International Organization for
编码字符集 Standardization, The International
Information Technology-Universal Electrotechnical Commission
Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set
UCS-Part 1: Architecture and Basic
Multilingual
GB 13000.1-93 ISO/IEC 10646.1-1993
36 GB/T 12200.2–1994 汉语信息处理词 1994 The State Bureau of Quality
汇 02部分：汉语和汉字 Technical Supervision
Chinese Information Processing –
Vocabulary, Part 02: Chinese and
Chinese Character
37 GB/T 15238.1–1994 辞书编纂基本术语 1994 The State Bureau of Quality
第一部分 Technical Supervision
Basic Lexicographical Terminology:
Part 1
38 GB/T 15564–1995 图文电视广播用汉 1995 The State Bureau of Quality
字编码字符集 香港子集 Code of Technical Supervision
Chinese Ideogram Set for Teletext
Broadcasting Hong Kong Subset
39 GB/T 15720 中国盲文 1995 The State Bureau of Quality
Chinese Braille Technical Supervision
40 GB/T 15732–1995 汉字键盘输入用通 1995 The State Bureau of Quality
用词语集 Technical Supervision
General Word Set for Chinese Character
Keyboard Input
41 GB/T 15834–1995 标点符号用法 1995 The State Bureau of Quality Technical
Use of Punctuation Marks 1990 Supervision, The State Language
Commission, The State Press and
Publication Administration
 Appendix 2 397

No. Titles Issue Time Promulgators

42 GB/T 15835–1995 出版物上数字用法 1995 The State Bureau of Quality

的规定 Technical Supervision
General Rules for Writing Numerals in
Publications
43 GB/T 15933–1995 辞书编纂常用汉语 1995 The State Bureau of Quality
缩略语 Technical Supervision
Common Chinese Abbreviations Used in
Dictionaries
44 GB/T 16159–1996 汉语拼音正词法基 1996 The State Bureau of Quality Technical
本规则 1988 Supervision, The State Education
Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Commission, The State Language
Orthography Commission
45 GF 3001–1997 信息处理用 GB 13000.1 1997 The State Language Commission
字符集汉字部件规范 Chinese
Character Component Standard of
GB13000.1 Character Set for Information
Processing
46 现代汉语通用字笔顺规范 1997 The State Language Commission,
The Standards for Stroke Orders of The State Press and Publication
Commonly Used Characters in Modern Administration
Chinese
47 普通话水平测试等级标准 (试行) 1997 The State Language Commission
The Ranks of the Putonghua Proficiency
Test (Trial)
48 GF 3002–1999 GB 13000.1 字符集汉字 1999 The State Language Commission
笔顺规范
Chinese Character Stroke Order
Standard of GF 3002–1999 GB 13000.1
Character Set
49 GF 3003–1999 GB 13000.1 字符集汉字 1999 The State Language Commission
字序 (笔画序) 规范 Chinese Character
Order (Stroke Order) Standard of GF
3003–1999 GB 13000.1 Character Set
50 GF 3004–1999 印刷魏体字形规范 1999 The State Language Commission
The Font Style of Printed Weiti
51 GF 3005–1999 印刷隶体字形规范 1999 The State Language Commission
The Font Style of Printed Official Script
52 GB 177333.1–1999 地名标牌 城乡 1999 The State Bureau of Quality
Place Name Plates – Towns and Villages Technical Supervision
53 一类城市语言文字工作评估指导标准 2000 The Ministry of Education, The State
(试行) Language Commission
Language and Writing Assessment
Standards for the 1st Tier Cities (Trial)
398 Appendix 2

No. Titles Issue Time Promulgators

54 GB/T 4880.2–2000 语种名称代码 2000 The State Bureau of Quality Technical

第二部分：3字母代码 Supervision
Codes for the Representation of Names
of Languages – Part 2: Alpha-3 Code
55 GB/T 11617–2000 辞书编纂符号 2000 The State Bureau of Quality Technical
Lexicographical symbols Supervision
56 GB/T 15237.1–2000 术语工作 词汇 2000 The State Bureau of Quality Technical
第1部分：理论与应用 Supervision
Terminology Work – Vocabulary – Part 1:
Theory and Application
57 GB/T 15238–2000 术语工作 辞书编纂 2000 The State Bureau of Quality Technical
基本术语 Supervision
Terminology Work-Basic Lexicographical
Terminology
58 GB/T 18031–2000 信息技术 数字键盘 2000 The State Bureau of Quality Technical
汉字输入通用要求 Supervision
Information Technology-Generic Specifi-
cation for Chinese Character Input with
Digital Keyboard
59 GB/T 18291–2000 蒙古语术语工作原 2000 The State Bureau of Quality Technical
则与方法 Supervision
Mongolian Terminology Work –
Principles and Methods
60 GF 1001–2001 第一批异形词整理表 2001 The Ministry of Education, The State
(试行) Language Commission
The First Series of Standard Forms of
Words with Non-standardized Variant
Forms
61 GF 2001–2001 GB 13000.1 字符集汉字 2001 The Ministry of Education, The State
折笔规范 Language Commission
Chinese Character Turning Stroke
Standard of GB1300.1 Character Set
62 GF 3006–2001 汉语拼音方案的通用 2001 The State Language Commission
键盘表示规范
Standard for the Scheme of Chinese
Phonetic Alphabet Input with Universal
Keyboard
63 GB/T 20532–2006 信息处理用现代汉 2006 General Administration of Quality
语词类标记规范 Supervision, Inspection and
Contemporary Chinese Language Word Quarantine of the People’s Republic
Segmentation Specification for Informa- of China
tion Processing
64 GF 2002–2006 汉字应用水平等级及 2006 The Ministry of Education, The State
测试大纲 Language Commission
Chinese Character Usage Ability Assess-
ment and Testing Guideline
 Appendix 2 399

No. Titles Issue Time Promulgators

65 公共场所双语标识英文译法 2006 Běijīnɡ General Administration of

English Translation of Public Signs Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine
66 GF 3007–2006 中国通用音标符号集 2006 The Ministry of Education, The State
The Universal Phonetic Symbol Set in Language Commission
China

Edited by Cài Bīnɡ (蔡冰)

Jiānɡsū Normal University
[email protected]
 Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生)
Appendix 3
List of Languages in China*
Language Name Language Family

Chinese Sino-Tibetan Family

Tibetan* Tibetan Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
East Bodish Languages* Tibetan Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Baima Language Tibetan Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Tshangla Language Tibetan Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Nuosu Language* Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Lisu Language* Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Lahu Language* Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Hani Language* Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Jino Language* Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Naxi Language* Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Tanglang Language Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Angmo Language Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Sang-hole Language Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Scholes Language Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Ka Zhuo Language Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Rouruo Language Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Nusu Language Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Tujia Language* Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Bai Language* Yi Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Jingpo Language* Jingpo Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Derung Language* Jingpo Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Midjoueg Jingpo Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Digaroeg Jingpo Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Nung Language Jingpo Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Idu Mishmi Language Jingpo Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Tani Languages Jingpo Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Souloungeg Jingpo Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Bengru Language Jingpo Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Achang Language* Burmese Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Zaiwa Language* Burmese Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Naniwa Language Burmese Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Xiandao Language Burmese Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Bora Language Burmese Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Leqi Language Burmese Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Bu-Nao Language* Miao-Yao Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Pa-Hng Language Miao-Yao Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Jiongnai Language Miao-Yao Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Mien Language* Miao-Yao Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
She Language* Miao-Yao Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Bana Language Miao-Yao Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Uygur Language* Turkic Group of the Altaic Family
Kazakh Language* Turkic Group of the Altaic Family
Salar Language* Turkic Group of the Altaic Family
Uzbek Language* Turkic Group of the Altaic Family
 402 Appendix 3

Language Name Language Family

Kirgiz Language* Turkic Group of the Altaic Family

Tatar Language* Turkic Group of the Altaic Family
Western Yugur Language* Turkic Group of the Altaic Family
Tuvan Language* Turkic Group of the Altaic Family
Ili Turki Language Turkic Group of the Altaic Family
Mongolian Language* Mongolian Group of the Altaic Family
Monguor Language* Mongolian Group of the Altaic Family
Daur Language* Mongolian Group of the Altaic Family
Santa Language* Mongolian Group of the Altaic Family
Bonan Language* Mongolian Group of the Altaic Family
Eastern Yugur Language* Mongolian Group of the Altaic Family
Kangjia Language Mongolian Group of the Altaic Family
Manchu Language* Manchu-Tungusic Group of the Altaic Family
Xibe Language* Manchu-Tungusic Group of the Altaic Family
Evenki Language* Manchu-Tungusic Group of the Altaic Family
Oroqen Language* Manchu-Tungusic Group of the Altaic Family
Hezhen Language* Manchu-Tungusic Group of the Altaic Family
Korean Language* (Unkown)
Adams Amis Language Austronesian Family
Paiwan Language* Austronesian Family
Northern Qiang Language* Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Pumi Language* Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Jiarongic Languages* Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Muya Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Seoul Gong Language Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Ersu Language Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Namz Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Shixing Language Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Zaba Language Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Guiqiong Language Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Raoul Language Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Queyu Language Qiangic Branch of the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Zhuang Languages* Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Buyei Language* Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Dai Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Ong Be Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Biao Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Kam Language* Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Sui Language* Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Język mulam* Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Maonan Language* Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Mo Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Yanghuang Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Lakkia Language* Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Chatong Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Hlai Language* Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Cun Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Gelao Language* Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Buyang Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
 Appendix 3 403

Language Name Language Family

Pubiao Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family

Laji Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Bugan Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Mulao Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Caijia Language Dong-Tai Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Miao Language* Miao-Yao Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Bunun Language* Austronesian Family
Tayal Language Austronesian Family
Saisiat Language Austronesian Family
Pazeh Language Austronesian Family
Shao Language Austronesian Family
Rukai Language Austronesian Family
Zou Language Austronesian Family
Kavalan Language Austronesian Family
Sediq Austronesian Family
Puyuma Austronesian Family
Yami Language Austronesian Family
Shah Rua Language Austronesian Family
Kanakanavu Austronesian Family
Hui-hui Language Austronesian Family
Wa Language* Austroasiatic Family
Deang Language* Austroasiatic Family
Bulang Language* Austroasiatic Family
Kemu Language Austroasiatic Family
Gram smear Language Austroasiatic Family
Jing Language Austroasiatic Family
Mang Language Austroasiatic Family
Buxing Language Austroasiatic Family
Lai Language Austroasiatic Family
Tajik Language* Indo-European Family
Wutun Hua Creole
Tang Wang Hua Creole
Eh Hua Creole
Zha Hua Creole
Dao Hua Creole
Gin language* Austro-Asiatic family (in question)
Lhoba language** the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Nu language** the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Deng languages** the Tibeto-Burman Group of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Russian** Indo-European Family

* A single asterisk in the table indicates that relevant data are also taken from the “Encyclopedia of China”
(Language Volume), which was published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House in 1988. A double
asterisk indicates only the “Encyclopedia of China” (Language Volume) was used.
Note: China’s creole languages are Wutun Hua, Tang Wang Hua, Eh Hua, Zha Hua and Dao Hua. (Sūn Hónɡkāi,
Hú Zēnɡyì and Huánɡ Xínɡ, 2006)
404 Appendix 3

Reference
Sūn Hónɡkāi (孙宏开), Hú Zēnɡyì (胡增益) and Xínɡ Hánɡ (黄行) (eds.). 2006. The Languages
of China (中国的语言). Běijīnɡ: The Commercial Press.

Edited by Cài Bīnɡ (蔡冰)

Jiānɡsū Normal University
[email protected]
Appendix 4
List of Institutions for Chinese Linguistics
and Applied Linguistics
(In pinyin order)

北京大学汉语语言学研究中心 (Centre for Chinese Linguistics at Peking

University), http://ccl.pku.edu.cn

北京大学计算语言学研究所 (Institute of Computational Linguistics at Peking

University), http://icl.pku.edu.cn

北京大学逻辑、语言与认知研究中心 (Centre for Logic, Language and

Cognition at Peking University), http://www.phil.pku.edu.cn/cllc/index.htm

北京师范大学语言学与应用语言学研究所 (Institute of Linguistics and

Applied Linguistics at Běijīnɡ Normal University)

北京师范大学中国文字整理与规范研究中心 (Research Centre for the

Collection and Regulation of Chinese Writing at Běijīnɡ Normal University)

北京师范大学民俗典籍文字研究中心 (Research Centre for Folklore Classics

and Chinese Characters at Běijīnɡ Normal University), http://mdw.bnu.edu.cn/

北京外国语大学中国外语教育研究中心 (National Research Centre for

Foreign Language Education of Běijīnɡ Foreign Studies University),
http://www.sinotefl.ac.cn

北京语言大学对外汉语教学研究中心 (Centre for Studies of Chinese as a

Second Language at Běijīnɡg Language and Culture University),
http://www.dwhyyjzx.com

北京语言大学语言研究所 (Institute of Linguistics at Běijīnɡ Language and

Culture University), http://www.blcu.edu.cn/yys/index.htm

东北大学自然语言处理实验室 (Natural Language Processing Laboratory at

Northeastern University), http://www.nlplab.com

复旦大学中国语言文学研究所 (Institute of Chinese Language and Literature

at Fúdàn University), http://www.fudan.edu.cn/new_dep/zhongwen.htm

广东外语外贸大学外国语言学及应用语言学研究中心 (National Key

Research Centre for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at Guǎnɡdōnɡ
University of Foreign Studies), http://www.clal.org.cn
406 Appendix 4

广东外语外贸大学法律语言学研究所 (Institute for Forensic Linguistics at

Guǎnɡdōnɡ University of Foreign Studies), http://www1.gdufs.edu.cn/chinaflr/
Index.asp

广西大学语言学研究中心 (Research Centre for Linguistics of Guǎnɡxī

University), http://wxy.gxu.edu.cn/news/NewsList.aspx?LMID=167

国家语言资源监测与研究中心教育教材语言分中心 (National Language

Resources Monitoring and Research Centre, Textbook Language Branch),
http://ncl.xmu.edu.cn/

国家语言资源监测与研究中心平面媒体分中心 (National Language

Resources Monitoring and Research Centre, Print Media Language Branch),
http://cnlr.blcu.edu.cn/

国家语言资源监测与研究中心网络媒体分中心 (National Language

Resources Monitoring and Research Centre, Network Media Branch),
http://pop.clr.org.cn

国家语言资源监测与研究中心有声媒体分中心 (National Language

Resources Monitoring and Research Centre, Broadcast Media Branch),
http://ling.cuc.edu.cn/chinese.htm

海外华语研究中心 (Research Centre for Overseas Chinese),

http://www.globalhuayu.com/

黑龙江大学辞书研究所 (Institute of Dictionary at Hēilónɡjiānɡ University),

黑龙江大学俄语语言文学与文化研究中心 (Centre for Russian Language
Literature and Culture Studies of Hēilónɡjiānɡ University),
http://rlls.hlju.edu.cn/

黑龙江大学计算语言学研究所 (Institute of Computational Linguistics at

Hēilónɡjiānɡ University)

黑龙江省满语研究所 (黑龙江大学) (Institute of Manchu Language Studies at

Hēilónɡjiānɡ University), http://www.hlju.edu.cn/2011/institution_department_
manyu.html

华东师范大学ESEC儿童语言研究中心 (Centre for Children’s Language

Studies of ESEC and East China Normal University), http://www.childes.cn

华东师范大学中国文字研究与应用中心 (Centre for the Study and

Application of Chinese Characters at East China Normal University),
http://www.wenzi.cn
 Appendix 4 407

华中师范大学数据库与自然语言处理研究所 (Institute of Database and

Natural Language Processing at Central China Normal University),
http://cs.ccnu.edu.cn/nlp

华中师范大学语言与语言教育研究中心 (Centre for Language and Language

Education of Central China Normal University), http://ling.ccnu.edu.cn

暨南大学华文教育研究所 (Institute of Chinese Language and Culture at Jìnán

University), http://hwy.jnu.edu.cn/hwyanjiu/index.htm

教育部语言文字应用研究所 (Institute of Applied Linguistics under the

Ministry of Education), http://www.yys.ac.cn

南开大学语言研究所 (Institute of Linguistics at Nánkāi University),

http://nkyyx.nankai.edu.cn/nkyyx/index.html

宁夏大学西北方言研究所 (Institute of Northwest Dialect at Nínɡxià

University)

陕西师范大学西北方言与民俗研究中心 (Northwest Dialect and Folklore

Research Centre of Shǎnxī Normal University), http://219.244.184.131/kyjg/xbfy/

上海师范大学语言研究所 (Institute of Linguistics at Shànɡhǎi Normal

University), http://www.shnu.edu.cn/Default.aspx?tabid=2438

首都师范大学外国语言学及应用语言学研究所 (Institute of Foreign Linguis-

tics and Applied Linguistics at Capital Normal University), http://waiyu.cnu.edu.
cn/news_class.asp?nclass=外国语言学及应用语言学研究所

首都师范大学语言研究中心 (Centre for Linguistics of Capital Normal

University), http://www.clscnu.net

西北政法大学法律语言研究中心 (Research Centre for Language and Law of

Northwest University of Politics and Law), http://www.flrchina.com/center/

西南大学外国语言文化研究所 (Institute of Foreign Languages and Culture at

Southwest University), http://foreign.swu.edu.cn/html/65/2007/03-21/43.html

厦门大学中国语言文学研究所 (Institute of Chinese Language and Literature

at Xiàmén University), http://skc.xmu.edu.cn/organ/edu01.htm

江苏师范大学语言研究所 (Institute of Linguistics at Jiānɡsū Normal

University), http://yys.xznu.edu.cn/

浙江大学汉语史研究中心 (Research Centre for Chinese Language History of

Zhèjiānɡ University), http://www.ch.zju.edu.cn/external/news.php?id=45
408 Appendix 4

浙江大学语言与认知研究中心 (Centre for the Study of Language and

Cognition of Zhèjiānɡ University), http://lc.zju.edu.cn/zjulc

中国传媒大学播音主持艺术研究所 (Institute of Broadcast Management Art

at Communication University of China), http://boyin.cuc.edu.cn/

中国传媒大学广播电视研究中心 (National Centre for Radio and Television

Studies of Communication University of China), http://rirt.cuc.edu.cn/

中国传媒大学语言传播研究所 (Institute of Verbal Communication at

Communication University of China)

中国社会科学院民族学与人类学研究所 (The Institute of Ethnology and

Anthropology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), http://iea.cass.cn

中国社会科学院语言研究所 (Institute of Linguistics under the Chinese

Academy of Social Sciences), http://ling.cass.cn

中国外语教育研究中心 (北京外国语大学) (National Research Centre for

Foreign Language Education of Běijīnɡ Foreign Studies University),
http://www.sinotefl.ac.cn/

中国政法大学法律语言研究中心 (Centre for Forensic Linguistics of China

University of Political Science and Law)

Edited by Cài Bīnɡ (蔡冰)

Jiānɡsū Normal University
[email protected]
Appendix 5
Directories of Language Journals and
Newspapers

Name of the Journal Sponsor Website

辞书研究 Lexicographical The Shànɡhǎi (上海) Lexico- http://www.cishu.com.cn/

Studies graphical Publishing House csyj.php
大学英语 (学术版) College Běijīnɡ (北京) College http://www.bjtefl.org.cn
English (Academic Edition) English Research Associa-
tion, Běihánɡ (北航 )
University
当代语言学 Contemporary The Institute of Linguistics http://www.ddyyx.com/
Linguistics under the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences
德语学习 German Study Běijīnɡ Foreign Studies http://de.bfsu.edu.cn/?
University cat=59
俄语学习 Russian Study Běijīnɡ Foreign Studies http://ru.bfsu.edu.cn/eyxx
University
法语学习 French Study Běijīnɡ Foreign Studies http://oldversion.bfsu.edu.
University cn/dpt/08_f_5.htm
方言 Dialect The Institute of Linguistics http://ling.cass.cn/
under the Chinese Academy fangyanweb/index.htm
of Social Sciences
古汉语研究 Study of Húnán (湖南) Normal http://sdwxy.hunnu.edu.cn
Ancient Chinese University
国外外语教学 Foreign The School of Foreign http://www.fl.ecnu.edu.cn/
Language Teaching Abroad Languages at East China
Normal University
海外华文教育 Overseas Xiàmén (厦门) University http://oec.xmu.edu.cn/
Chinese Education Overseas Education College,
Institute of Overseas Chinese
Education at Xiàmén
University
汉语学报 Chinese Central China Normal http://ling.ccnu.edu.cn/web/
Linguistics University 1/jdkw/hyxbjs/hyxbjs.jsp
汉语学习 Chinese language Yánbiān (延边) University http://hyxx.ybu.edu.cn/
learning
410 Appendix 5

Name of the Journal Sponsor Website

汉字文化 Chinese Character Běijīnɡ International Chinese

Culture Character Research
Association
满语研究 Manchu Studies Hēilónɡjiānɡ (黑龙江) http://www.man-tungusics.net
Provincial Manchu Language
Research Institute
民族语文 Minority Institute of Ethnology and http://iea.cass.cn
Languages of China Anthropology under the
Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences
世界汉语教学 Chinese Běijīnɡ Language and Culture http://www.shihan.edu.cn/
Teaching in the World University publications
术语标准化与信息技术 China National Institute of http://www.cnis.gov.cn/cbw
Terminology Standardization Standardization
and Information Technology
外国语 Journal of Foreign Shànɡhǎi International http://jfl.shisu.edu.cn/CN/
Languages Studies University volumn/current.shtml
外语教学与研究 Foreign Běijīnɡ Foreign Studies http://www.fltr.ac.cn:8080/
Language Teaching And University wyjxyj/CN/volumn/current.
Researching shtml
外语界 Foreign Language Shànɡhǎi International
World Studies University
现代外语 Modern Foreign Guǎnɡdōnɡ (广东) University http://202.116.192.73/cn/
Languages of Foreign Studies dqml.asp
修辞学习 Rhetorical Study Institute of Chinese http://www.xiexingcun.com/
Language and Literature at xiucixuexi
Fùdàn (复旦) University, East
China Branch of Rhetoric
Society of China
语言教学与研究 Language Běijīnɡ Language and Culture http://www.blcu.edu.cn/yys
Teaching And Researching University
语言科学 Linguistic Jiānɡsū (江苏) Normal http://yys.xznu.edu.cn
Sciences University
语言文字学 Language Rénmín (人民) University of
Philology China
语言文字应用 Applied Institute of Applied http://www.china-language.
Linguistics Linguistics of the Ministry of gov.cn
Education
 Appendix 5 411

Name of the Journal Sponsor Website

语言研究 Language Studies Central China University of http://yyyj.hust.edu.cn

Science and Technology
语言与翻译 Language and Xīnjiānɡ (新疆) Uygur http://www.xjyw.gov.cn
Translation Autonomous Regional Work-
ing Commitee of Minorities’
Language and Writing, Trans-
lators Association of Xīnjiānɡ
Uygur Autonomous Region
中国翻译 Chinese Centre for Compilation & http://www.tac-online.org.cn
Translators Journal Translation under China
International Publishing
Group, Translators
Association of China
中国科技翻译 Chinese Science & Technology http://www.sttacas.org
Science & Technology Translators Association of
Translators Journal the Chinese Academy of
Science
中国科技术语 China China National Committee http://www.term.gov.cn
Terminology for Terms in Sciences and
Technologies
中国英语教学 CELEA Foreign Language Teaching http://www.fltrp.com
Journal and Research Press, Cultural
And Education Section
British Embassy
中国语文 Chinese Language The Institute of Linguistics http://www.zgyw.org.cn
and Writing under the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences

Newspaper Name Sponsor Website

语言文字报 Language Language Newspaper office http://www.yywzb.zgxjz.cn

Newspaper under the State Language
Commission
语言文字周报 Language Shànɡhǎi Language Work http://www.ewen.cc/
Weekly Committee, Shànɡhǎi sephnew
Education Publishing House

Edited by Cài Bīnɡ (蔡冰)

Jiānɡsū Normal University
[email protected]
Guō Xī (郭熙)
Appendix 6
Distribution of Chinese Population
Worldwide
The exact number of persons of Chinese descent worldwide is not yet known. A
generally accepted number is approximately 50 million by the end of 2004. A
steady increase of Chinese populations has been witnessed in more than 150
countries. The number of Chinese people living abroad is estimated to double
every 10 years. The following are statistics from up to 2005 showing the distribu-
tion of Chinese populations worldwide. The editors will keep updated on rele-
vant data, and make them publicly available regularly in the future.

The Top 20 Countries with the Largest Chinese

Populations
1. Indonesia 7,261,984 8. Vietnam 1,220,566 15. British 243,258
2. Thailand 7,254,261 9. Philippines 1,096,169 16. France 227,497
3. Malaysia 6,114,900 10. Myanmar 1,018,074 17. India 180,584
4. U.S.A 2,909,636 11. Russia 998,000 18. Laos 172,933
5. Singapore 2,505,400 12. Australia 573,468 19. Brazil 146,180
6. Canada 1,413,952 13. Japan 487,570 20. the Netherlands
7. Peru 1,300,000 14. Cambodia 321,180 140,182

Primary Data Sources: The website of the Institute of Overseas Chinese Study
at Jìnán University
414 Appendix 6

Distribution of Chinese Population Worldwide

Asia Czech 100 St.Lucia 30

Afghanistan 169 Luxembourg 1300 Saint Vincent and the
The United Arab Emirates 150 Romania 35 Grenadines 10
Amman 80 Malta 15 Trinidad and Tobago 12,000
Pakistan 3600 Norway 2000 Surinam 20,000
Bahrain 48 Portugal 25,000 Guatemala 15,000
North Korea 10,000 Sweden 20,000 Venezuela 20,000
Timor-Leste 10,000 Iceland 100 Uruguay 250
Philippines 1,096,169 Poland 200 Jamaica 20,000
South Korea 30,000 Switzerland 8000 Chile 5000
Cambodia 321,180 Spain 25,000
Kuwait 37 Greece 200 Oceania
Australia 573,468
Laos 172,933 Hungry 10,000
Lebanon 12 Italy 60,000 Papua New Guinea 10,000
Malaysia 6,114,900 The United Kingdom 243,258 FiJi Islands 8000
Marshall Island 12,000
Mongolia 4000
Bangladesh 700 America Nauru 500
Myanmar 1,018,074 Argentina 40,000 Samoa 10,000
Nepal 20,348 Aruba 600 Kiritimati 2605
Netherlands Antilles 700 Solomon Islands 5000
Japan 487,570
Cyprus 720 Barbados 250 Tonga 100
Saudi Arabia 45,000 The Commonwealth of the New Caledonia 1000
Sri Lanka 3500 Bahamas 300 New Zealand 105,060
Paraguay 6000
Thailand 7,254,261 Africa
Turkey 60,000 Panama 150,000
Algeria 2000
Brunei Darussalam 50,000 Brazil 146,180
Bolivia 1023 Egypt 110
Singapore 2,505,400 Ethiopia 55
Belize 7000
Iraq 100 Angola 20
Iran 200 The Dominican Republic
Botswana 30
Israel 100 14,500
Dominica 40 Togo 30
India 180,584 Gambia 150
Indonesia 7,261,984 Ecuador 12,500
Colombia 4200 Republic of the Congo 20
Jordan 200 Democratic Republic of the
Vietnam 1,220,566 Costa Rica 55,000
Grenada 10 Congo 200
Europe Cuba 7,000 Djibouti 5
Ghana 500
Ireland 20,000 Guyana 14000
The Gabonese Republic 100
Austria 40,000 Haiti 2
Denmark 6855 Honduras 2000 Zimbabwe 200
Germany 111,000 Canada 1,413,952 Cameroon 50
Côte d’Ivoire 120
Russia 998,000 Curaçao 600
France 227,490 U.S.A 2,909,636 Kenya 100
Vatican City State 150 Peru 1,300,000 Lesotho 700
Finland 1600 Mexico 20,000 Liberia 4
Libya 500
The Netherlands 140,182 Nicaragua 1000
Bulgaria 25 Salvador 1000 Reunion 25,000
Belgium 23,000 St. Kitts and Nevis 43 Madagascar 20,000
 Appendix 6 415

Malawi 102 Niger 20 Swaziland 240

Mauritius 30,000 Nigeria 500 Sudan 45
Morocco 50 Sierra Leone 20 Tanzania 600
Mozambique 700 Senegal 4 Uganda 100
Namibia 500 Seychelles 650 Chad 6
South Africa 20,000 Sao Tome and Principe 100

Primary Data Sources:

① Distribution of the Overseas Chinese Population, http://overseaschineseconfederation.org/
CH_databases_popdis.html, 2004.
② The Overseas Chinese information & Data Centre, Jìnán University
③ Related News Reports
④ Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission: www.ocac.gov.tw/

Translated by Cài Bīnɡ (蔡冰)

Jiānɡsū Normal University
[email protected]
Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)
A Record of Major Chinese Language Events
(2005)

Introduction
The following is a list of important events affecting the linguistic landscape in
China that took place during the year 2005. Information was primarily taken
from the following journals: Zhōnɡɡuó Yǔwén (中国语文 , Chinese Languages
and Writings), Yǔyán Wénzì Yìnɡyònɡ (语言文字应用, Applied Linguistics),
Yǔyán Wénzì Zhōubào (语言文字周报, Language Weekly), Mínzú Yǔwén (民族
语文, Minority Languages of China), Hànyǔ Xuéxí (汉语学习, Chinese Language
Learning), Hànyǔ Xuébào (汉语学报, Chinese Linguistics), Yǔyán Jiàoxué yǔ
Yánjiū (语言教学与研究, Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies), Shìjiè
Hànyǔ Jiàoxué (世界汉语教学, Chinese Teaching Worldwide), Dānɡdài Yǔyánxué
(当代语言学, Journal of Contemporary Linguistics), Gǔhànyǔ Yánjiū (古汉语研究,
Research on Ancient Chinese), Yǔyán Kēxué (语言科学, Linguistic Sciences) and
Císhū Yánjiū (辞书研究, Lexicographical Studies). Information was also taken
from China’s Linguistics Web (www.china-language.gov.cn).

1 January: The “Regulations of Yúnnán (云南) Province on the Administration

of the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language” came into effect. They
were adopted at the 13th Session of the Standing Committee of the 20th Yúnnán
Provincial People’s Congress on 26 November 2004.

1–9 January: The 1st International Conference on Chinese Anthropological Lin-

guistics took place in Harbin (哈尔滨). It was jointly sponsored by Hēilónɡjiānɡ
(黑龙江) University and the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology under the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

12 January: A press conference on the top ten buzzwords used in China’s major
newspapers in 2004 was held in Běijīnɡ (北京). It was jointly held by the Chinese
National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Centre, Běijīnɡ Lan-
guage and Culture University, the China Association of Press Technicians and
the Chinese Information Processing Society.

3 February: The signing ceremony for the establishment of the National Lan-
guage Resources Monitoring and Research Centre (Network Media) was held in
Wǔhàn (武汉), Húběi (湖北) province. The centre will be jointly supported by
the Division of Language Information Administration at the Ministry of Educa-
tion (MOE) and Central China Normal University.
418 Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)

25 February: The MOE announced the National College English Test (CET)
Reform Program (Trial Proposal).

25 February: The 2005 National Language Work Conference was held in Shěn
yánɡ (沈阳), Liáonínɡ (辽宁) province by the State Language Commission.

27 February: The Commercial Press (CP) Worldwide Chinese Teaching Research

Centre held its inaugural meeting in Běijīnɡ.

1 March: General Administration of Press and Publication of the People’s

Republic of China announced the implementation of the newly revised Publica-
tion Quality Regulations, and its attached Publication Editorial Quality Error
Rate Calculation Method.

16 March: The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television released its
Notification Regarding Strengthening Management of TV Subtitles.

17 March: Chónɡqìnɡ’s (重庆) Municipal Education Commission and Municipal

Language Committee released the city’s Putonghua Proficiency Test Regulations
(Trial Proposal).

31 March–1 April: The First International Symposium on Lexicography for the

Study of Chinese as a Foreign Language was held in Hong Kong. It was hosted
by the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics at the City University
of Hong Kong and was co-organized by the Institute of Applied Linguistics of
the MOE.

9–10 April: The High-Level Forum on Chinese Linguistics Development Strategies

was held in Shíjiāzhuānɡ (石家庄), Héběi (河北) province. The forum was co-
sponsored by the Institute of Linguistics at the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, the Peking University Research Centre for Chinese Linguistics and Héběi
Normal University.

10 April: The Tàiyuán (太原) Municipal Government in Shānxī (山西) province

began the process of replacing nonstandard characters on 8,300 taxis through-
out the city.

12 April: The People’s Government of the Tibet (西藏) Autonomous Region

decided to establish the Tibet Committee on State Language Work.

18 April: The signing ceremony for the establishment of the Overseas Chinese
Research Centre was held in Běijīnɡ. The centre will be jointly supported by the
Division of Language Information Management at the MOE and Jìnán (暨南)
University.
 A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2005) 419

29 April: Two signing ceremonies were held in Běijīnɡ. The first was for the
establishment of the Research Centre for the Collection and Regulation of
Chinese Writing; a cooperative effort on the part of the Division of Language
Information Management at the MOE and Běijīnɡ Normal University. The second
was for the establishment of the Centre for Chinese Font Design and Research,
which is jointly supported by the Division of Language Information Management
and Peking University.

11 May: The Division of Language Information Management at the MOE held a

meeting in Běijīnɡ for the work of the subcommittees under the National Lan-
guage and Script Standardization Technical Committee.

20 May: The Quality and Technology Supervision Bureau of the Xīnjiānɡ (新疆)
Uygur (维吾尔) Autonomous Region announced the implementation of the
regional standard Rules for the Transliteration of Personal Names from Uygur
into Chinese.

28 May–3 June: The Office of Chinese Language Council International (汉办,

Hànbàn1) dispatched 169 volunteers to teach Chinese in Thailand and Philippines.

1 June: The Regulations of Xī’ān (西安) Municipality on the Administration of

Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language (Order of Xī’ān Municipal People’s
Government No. 55) came into effect. It had been adopted on 31 March 2005 at
the executive meeting of the 76th Xī’ān Municipal People’s Government.

9 June: The signing ceremony for the establishment of the Textbook Language
Sub-centre at the National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Centre
was held in Běijīnɡ. The centre was built as a cooperative effort between the Divi-
sion of Language information Management at the MOE and Xiàmén University.

20 June: A ceremony was held in Běijīnɡ for the ratification of the establishment
of five sub-centres of the National Language Resources Monitoring and Research
Centre, specifically the Network Media Sub-centre, the Overseas Chinese Research
Centre, the Research Centre for the Collection and Regulation of Chinese Writing
and the Centre for Chinese Font Design and Research.

20 June: The first Putonghua Training Class for the Tibet Autonomous Region
was held in the region’s capital, Lhasa (拉萨).

1 Hànbàn/Confucius Institute Headquarters is committed to providing Chinese language and

cultural teaching resources and services worldwide. It is committed to meeting the demands of
foreign Chinese learners, contributing to the development of multiculturalism and building a
harmonious world. (See Hànbàn’s website, http://english.hanban.org/node_7719.htm)
420 Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)

Late June: The first group of projects regarding the standardization and devel-
opment of information technologies for minority languages was approved by
the Division of Language Information Management at the MOE.

13–15 July: The 4th ‘Chinese Bridge’ Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign
College Students, organized by the Hànbàn, was held in Běijīnɡ.

16–18 July: The 10th National Conference on Minority Language and Writing
Information Processing was held in Xīnínɡ (西宁), Qīnɡhǎi (青海) province.
The Conference was jointly sponsored by the Chinese Information Processing
Society of China; the Collaborative Leadership Team for Tibetan Education in
Tibet, Sìchuān, Qīnɡhǎi, Gānsù and Yúnnán; Qīnɡhǎi Normal University; and
the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

18 July: A press conference on the Top Ten Buzzwords used in China’s major
newspapers in the first six months of 2005 was jointly held in Běijīnɡ by the
Chinese National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Centre; Běijīnɡ
Language and Culture University; the China Association of Press Technicians;
and the Chinese Information Processing Society .

18 July: The opening ceremony for the Tibetan Language Web (Tibetan Version)
was held in Lhasa. It was the first website administered by the State Language
Commission with support for minority languages.

19 July: The China Radio and Television Association launched an initiative

entitled “A Pact for Discipline Among Chinese Radio and Television Presenters
and Programme Hosts”, which was issued by the State Administration of Radio,
Film and Television on 10 September 2005.

20–22 July: With a theme of ‘The Development of Chinese in a Multicultural

World’, the First World Chinese Conference, sponsored by Hànbàn, was held in
Běijīnɡ by the MOE.

23–25 July: The 8th International Symposium on Chinese Teaching was held in
Běijīnɡ. The symposium was one of the events of the First World Chinese Confer-
ence sponsored by Hànbàn and the International Society for Chinese Language
Teaching, Běijīnɡ Language and Culture University, Běijīnɡ Foreign Studies Uni-
versity and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press were co-sponsors of
the event.

26 July: The forum on the publication of the 5th Edition of the Modern Chinese
Dictionary was hosted by the Institute of Linguistics at the Academy of Social
Sciences and the Commercial Press, in Běijīnɡ.
 A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2005) 421

26 July: The MOE and the State Language Commission held a national meeting
in Urumqi (乌鲁木齐), capital of Xīnjiānɡ province, to discuss the standardiza-
tion and development of information technologies for ethnic minority languages.

July–August: At the request of the Division of Language Application Manage-

ment at the MOE, the provincial education departments of Yúnnán, Tibet and
Xīnjiānɡ organized Putonghua Training Programs for Chinese teachers in their
respective regions.

1 August: The Regulations of Liáonínɡ Province on the Implementation of the

‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese
Language’ went into effect. The Regulations is adopted on 28 May at the 19th
Session of the Standing Committee of the 10th Liáonínɡ Provincial People’s
Congress.

11 August: The appraisal meeting regarding the Information System for the
Management of the National Putonghua Proficiency Test was held in Běijīnɡ.
The meeting was organized by two divisions of the MOE: the Division of
Language Application Management and the Division of Language Information
Management.

13–15 August: The First High Level Forum on Language and Nation sponsored
by the Division of Language Information Management at the MOE and Jìnán
University was held in Guǎnɡzhōu (广州), Guǎnɡdōnɡ (广东) province.

22 August: “Information technology – Tibetan coded character set for informa-

tion interchange (extension sets A and B)” passed expert appraisal. The two
extension sets, which will serve as a national standard for Tibetan writing, were
developed by the Language Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region and
Tibet University.

23 August: The Regulations on Further Promoting Putonghua in Dàlián (大连)

were adopted at the 30th Executive Meeting of Dàlián Municipal People’s
Government. This regulations came into force on the day of promulgation.

31 August: At its 23rd Session, the Standing Committee of the 11th Guìyánɡ
(贵阳) Municipal People’s Congress adopted the Regulations of Guìyánɡ Munici-
pality on the Implementation of the ‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on
Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language’. The regulations, ratified on 28
November at the 18th Session of the Standing Committee of the 10th Guìzhōu
(贵州) Provincial People’s Congress, went into effect on 1 January 2006.
422 Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)

8 September: The Fifth Plenum of China’s National Committee for Terms in

Science and Technology and its 20th Anniversary Conference were held in
Běijīnɡ.

11–17 September: Events for the 8th National Promoting Putonghua Publicity
Week took place around the country. Focus cities for 2005’s publicity week
were Chǔxiónɡ (楚雄) in Yúnnán province (where the opening ceremony was
held), Nínɡbō (宁波) in Zhèjiānɡ (浙江) province and Méizhōu (梅州) in
Guǎnɡdōnɡ province. Wánɡ Xiǎoyā (王小丫), a presenter for the state television
broadcaster, CCTV, continued her position as Image Ambassador of the event.

13–14 September: The World Expo International Forum on Language Environ-

ment was jointly held by the Shànɡhǎi (上海) Civic Enhancement Committee
Office; the Bureau of Shànɡhǎi World Expo Coordination; the Shànɡhǎi Munici-
pal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film and Television; the Shànɡhǎi Press
and Publication Administration; the Shànɡhǎi Education Commission; and the
Shànɡhǎi Language Work Committee.

15 September: The signing ceremony for the establishment of the National

Language Resources Monitoring and Research Centre (audio media) was held
in Běijīnɡ. The centre was jointly established by the Division of Language Infor-
mation Management at the MOE; the Chief Editor’s Office of the State Adminis-
tration of Radio, Film and Television; and the Communication University of
China.

21 September: The People’s Government of the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous Re-

gion released a document titled ‘On Further Regulating Language Use in Society’.

8 October: The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television released

its Notification Regarding Strengthening the Use of Standard Language in TV
Series.

9–12 October: The first meeting for the National Language Resources Monitor-
ing and Research Centre was held by the Division of Language Information
Management at the MOE, in Wǔhàn (武汉).

28 October–1 November: Sponsored by the Research Centre for Chinese Lin-

guistics at Xiàmén University, the 38th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan
Languages and Linguistics was held in Xiàmén.

1 November: The Regulations of Jílín (吉林) province on the Administration of

Standard Spoken and Written Chinese came into effect. It was adopted on 14
September at the 22nd Session of the Standing Committee of the 10th Jílín Pro-
vincial People’s Congress.
 A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2005) 423

4–7 November: Jointly sponsored by the Institute of Linguistics at the Chinese

Academy of Social Sciences, Nánkāi (南开) University and the Commercial Press,
the First Cross-Strait Conference on Modern Chinese was held in Tiānjīn (天津).

12–13 November: The Symposium on the Modernization of Linguistic Research

Tools was held in Běijīnɡ. The symposium was sponsored by the MOE’s Division
of Language Information Management and the Institute of Applied Linguistics.
The Chinese Information Processing Society and the Institute of Computational
Linguistics of Peking University were co-sponsors of the event.

14 November: A core corpus of 20 million processed characters developed by

the State Language Commission was put online, providing a free inquiry service
for the public.

21 November: The “Regulations of Nánchānɡ (南昌) Municipality on the Admin-

istration of Language Use in Society” were adopted at the 38th executive meeting
of Nánchānɡ Municipal People’s Government.

21 November: The Notification Regarding Strengthening the Standardization of

Language and Writing in Financial Institutions was jointly released by seven
government organizations, specifically: the Héběi Bureau of the China Banking
Regulatory Commission; the Héběi Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory
Commission; the Héběi Bureau of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission;
the Héběi Provincial Leading Group Office for Financial Securities; The Shíjiā-
zhuānɡ Central Branch of the People’s Bank of China; the Héběi Provincial Lan-
guage Committee; and the Héběi Provincial Education Department.

21–22 November: The First International Symposium on Xǔ Shèn (许慎)2 and

Native Culture was held in Luòhé (漯河), Hénán (河南) province. The sympo-
sium was sponsored by the Society for the Study of Chinese Characters, the Tra-
ditional Chinese Hermeneutic Association and the Hénán Provincial People’s
Government. The co-sponsors of the event were the Hénán Society for the Study
of Chinese Characters, Luòhé Municipal Committee of the Communist Party and
the People’s Government of Luòhé Municipality.

2 Xǔ Shèn (许慎, ca. 58 CE–ca. 147 CE), a Chinese philologist living in the East Hàn (汉)
Dynasty, was the author of Shuōwén Jiězì (说文解字), the first Chinese character dictionary
which attempted to organize characters by their shared components. The dictionary contains
over 9,000 character entries using 540 radicals, and explains the origins of the characters.
Xǔ Shèn was born in the present-day Yǎnchénɡ (郾城 ) District of Luòhé City, Hénán Province.
See Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Shen).
424 Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)

23 November: The Division of Language Information Management at the MOE

held a high-level expert consultation for the development of the Standardized
Chinese Character List.

23 November: A notice regarding the launching of a Putonghua training pro-

gram for rural migrant workers in the region was jointly released by the Educa-
tion Department, the Agriculture Department and the Language Committee of
the Guǎnɡxī (广西) Zhuànɡ (壮) Autonomous Region.

25–27 November: The International Symposium Commemorating the 25th Anni-

versary of the Rhetoric Society of China was held in Shànɡhǎi.

8 December: The Education Department and the Language Committee of Fújiàn

province held a Putonghua Competition in Xiàmén for students from Hong Kong,
Macao and Taiwan studying at universities in Fújiàn.

9–12 December: The Fourth International Conference on Chinese Sociolinguis-

tics was held in Guǎnɡzhōu (广州). The conference was jointly sponsored by
the Association of Chinese Sociolinguistics, Guǎnɡdōnɡ University of Foreign
Studies, the National University of Singapore and Hong Kong Polytechnic Uni-
versity. The conference was hosted by the Centre for Linguistics and Applied
Linguistics of Guǎnɡdōnɡ University of Foreign Studies.

Early December: The second group of projects regarding the standardization and
development of information technologies for minority languages was approved by
the Division of Language Information Management at the MOE.

14 December: The MOE issued a document announcing implementation of

Several Provisions of the State Council on the Implementation of the Law of the
People’s Republic of China on Regional Autonomy by Ethnic Minorities, stress-
ing the need for further improvements in language and writing work.

15–18 December: The Fourth National Conference on Applied Linguistics was

hosted by Sìchuān, Chénɡdū (成都) University in Chénɡdū. The conference was
sponsored by the Chinese Association of Applied Linguistics (in planning) and
the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the MOE.

21 December: The 62nd Executive Meeting of Chénɡdū Municipal People’s Gov-

ernment passed Measures to Develop a Positive Social Environment in Chénɡdū
for ‘Speaking Putonghua and Writing Standard Characters’.

23–25 December: The International Conference on Endangered Languages was

held in Nánnínɡ, Guǎnɡxī province. The conference was jointly sponsored by
the Central University for Nationalities and Guǎnɡxī University for Nationalities.
 A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2005) 425

29 December: At its 25th Session, the Standing Committee of the 12th Shànɡhǎi
Municipal People’s Congress adopted the Procedures of Shànɡhǎi Municipality
on the Implementation of the ‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on the
Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language’. The procedures went into effect
on 1 March 2006.

January–December: In 2005, the Hànbàn established 40 Confucius Institutes

in 25 countries, trained 10,413 local teachers from 28 countries, and sent 802
Chinese teachers to 348 teaching locations in 48 countries. It also sent 740
volunteer teachers to various locations in 32 countries.

Translated by Cài Bīnɡ (蔡冰)

Jiānɡsū Normal University
[email protected]
Yuán Fǎng (袁舫)
A Record of Major Chinese Language Events
(2006)

Introduction
The following is a list of important events affecting the linguistic landscape in
China that took place during the year 2006. Information was primarily taken
from the following journals: Zhōnɡɡuó Yǔwén (中国语文, Chinese Languages
and Writings), Yǔyán Wénzì Yìnɡyònɡ (语言文字应用, Applied Linguistics),
Yǔyán Wénzì Zhōubào (语言文字周报, Language Weekly), Mínzú Yǔwén (民族
语文, Minority Languages of China), Hànyǔ Xuéxí (汉语学习, Chinese Language
Learning), Hànyǔ Xuébào (汉语学报, Chinese Linguistics), Yǔyán Jiàoxué yǔ Yánjiū
(语言教学与研究, Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies), Shìjiè Hànyǔ
Jiàoxué (世界汉语教学, Chinese Teaching Worldwide), Dānɡdài Yǔyánxué (当代
语言学, Journal of Contemporary Linguistics), Gǔhànyǔ Yánjiū (古汉语研究,
Research on Ancient Chinese), Yǔyán Kēxué (语言科学, Linguistic Sciences) and
Císhū Yánjiū (辞书研究, Lexicographical Studies). Information was also taken
from China’s Linguistics Web (www.china-language.gov.cn).

6 January: The Textbook Language Sub-centre at the National Language Re-

sources Monitoring and Research Centre held its opening ceremony at Xiàmén
(厦门) University.

10 January: At its 20th session, the Standing Committee of the 10th Jiānɡsū
(江苏) Provincial People’s Congress adopted the “Regulations of Jiānɡsū Province
on the Implementation of the ‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on Standard
Spoken and Written Chinese’”. The Regulations went into effect on 1 March 2006.

12 January: A press conference on the top ten buzzwords used in China’s major
newspapers in 2005 was held in Běijīnɡ (北京). It was jointly held by the Chinese
National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Centre; Běijīnɡ Language
and Culture University; the China Association of Press Technicians; and the
Chinese Information Processing Society.

18 January: Results of “Research on the Application of Intelligent Voice Tech-

nology in Assisting Putonghua Study”, one of the prominent research projects
outlined in the 10th National Five-Year Plan for Applied Linguistics, passed
review by a board of experts. The research was carried out by the iFlytek
corporation.
428 Yuán Fǎng (袁舫)

20 January: The China National Committee for Terms in Sciences and Tech-
nologies, the Ministry of Education (MOE), and the State Language Commission
invited experts from the fields of chemistry, physics, and linguistics to a seminar
to select a name for the 111th element.

24 January: The Ministry of Civil Affairs, the MOE, and the State Language Com-
mission jointly announced the acceptance of a decision by the Department of
Civil Affairs, the Department of Education and the Language Commission of
Fújiàn (福建) Province to set the standard pronunciation of the mountain name
‘冠豸山’ to ‘Guànzhài Shān’.

25 January: The Advisory Committee of the State Language Commission held its
sixth meeting in Běijīnɡ.

9 February: The Education Department and the Language Work Committee of

the Tibet Autonomous Region jointly issued its “Recommendations on the
Further Promotion of Putonghua in Schools in the Tibet Autonomous Region”.

10 February: Results of “Research and Development of an ISO 10646-based

electronic publishing system for the Uygur (维吾尔), Kazakh (哈萨克), Kirgiz
(柯尔克孜), and Dai (傣) Languages” (MZ115-004); a State Language Commis-
sion research project on the standardization and development of information
technologies for ethnic minority languages, passed evaluation. The research
was jointly undertaken by the Wéifānɡ (潍坊) Běidà (北大) Jade Bird Huáɡuānɡ
(华光) Imagesetter Corporation, the Ethnic Minority Language Work Committee
of the Xīnjiānɡ (新疆) Uygur Autonomous Region, and the Xīshuānɡbǎnnà
(西双版纳) Newspaper of Yúnnán (云南) Province.

21 February: UNESCO, along with the China Education Association for Interna-
tional Exchange and associated organizations, held its “International Mother
Tongue Day” Academic Seminar and Exhibition in Běijīnɡ.

22 February: The PLA’s first Putonghua Testing Centre was established at the
PLA Nánjīnɡ (南京) Political College.

24 February–8 April: Specialized sub-groups of the Chemistry Terms Subcom-

mittee, a subcommittee of the China National Committee for Terms in Sciences
and Technologies, held meetings to examine and approve terms in their respec-
tive fields. The sub-groups focused on Inorganic Chemistry, Radioactive Chemistry,
Organic Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry.

27 February: The MOE and State Language Commission approved and released
“The Universal Phonetic Symbol Set in China”, which took effect from August 1st.
 A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2006) 429

10 March: The National Food and Drug Administration reviewed and passed
“Drug Specification and Labeling Regulations”, which took effect from June 1st.

22 March: The MOE Press Office held a conference for renowned linguistics
scholars and other relevant figures to meet with reporters. The conference com-
memorated the 50th anniversary of the issuing of “Resolutions Regarding the
Public Announcement of the ‘Chinese Character Simplification Proposal’” and
“Directives for the Promotion of Putonghua” by the State Council.

22 March: The Education Department and the Language Work Committee of the
Tibet Autonomous Region jointly issued the “Notice Regarding Issues Related to
Implementing Putonghua Proficiency Testing for Teachers in Tibet”, launching a
comprehensive program in all schools in the region to bring the Putonghua level
of teachers up to standard.

31 March: The MOE and the State Language Commission held an assembly in
the Great Hall of the People to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the issuing
of “Resolutions Regarding the Public Announcement of the ‘Chinese Character
Simplification Proposal’” and “Directives for the Promotion of Putonghua” by the
State Council.

31 March: The Guānɡmínɡ (光明) Daily published a commentator’s article titled

“Building a harmonious social language life”.

31 March: At its twentieth session, the Standing Committee of the 10th Húnán
(湖南) Provincial People’s Congress adopted the “Procedures of Húnán Province
on the Implementation of the ‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on Standard
Spoken and Written Chinese’”. The procedures went into effect on May 1st.

March 31–April 1: The Language Standardization Work Seminar was held in

Běijīnɡ. This seminar was hosted by the Institute of Linguistics at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences; the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the MOE;
the Chinese Language Society; the Society for the Modernization of Chinese
Language; the Society for the Study of Chinese Characters; the Lexicographical
Society of China; the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching; the
Chinese Dialect Society; and the Association for Newspapers and Periodicals of
Chinese Linguistics.

1 April: The People’s Daily published a commentator’s article titled “Speak

Putonghua, Use Standard Characters”.

18 April: The “Standardized Chinese Character List”, one of the prominent

research projects outlined in the State Language Commission’s 10th Five-Year
Plan for Applied Linguistics Research, successfully passed its final review.
430 Yuán Fǎng (袁舫)

19 April: The Minority Language Committee of the Xīnjiānɡ Uygur Autonomous

Region held an assembly commemorating the 50th anniversary of the issuing
of “Resolutions Regarding the Public Announcement of the ‘Chinese Character
Simplification Proposal’” and “Directives for the Promotion of Putonghua” by the
State Council.

24 April: China’s Hànbàn (汉办) and Belgium’s International University College

Leuven signed a letter of intent to jointly establish the world’s first Confucius
Classroom.

29 April: Chinese president Hú Jǐntāo (胡锦涛) visited students at the Confucius

Institute in Nairobi, Kenya.

11–13 May: The Academic Conference on Cross-Strait Language Policy was held
at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The conference was jointly sponsored by
the Chinese Language Research Centre of Xiàmén University, the Chinese Lan-
guage and Bilingual Department of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the
Ng Tor-Tai (吴多泰) Chinese Language Research Centre of the Chinese Univer-
sity of Hong Kong.

22 May: A press conference for the “Annual Report of the Language Situation in
China 2005” was held in Běijīnɡ. This was the first such annual report released
by the State Language Commission.

26 May: At its twentieth session, the Standing Committee of the 10th People’s
Congress of the Guǎnɡxī (广西) Zhuànɡ (壮) Autonomous Region adopted the
“Regional Regulations on the Implementation of the ‘Law of the People’s Republic
of China on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese’”. The Regulations went into
effect on 1 July.

26 May: At its 23rd session, the Standing Committee of the 10th Fújiàn (福建)
Provincial People’s Congress adopted the “Regulations of Fújiàn Province on the
Implementation of the ‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on Standard Spoken
and Written Chinese’”. The Regulations went into effect on 1 July.

2 June: The Chinese Proficiency Test Centre at Běijīnɡ Language and Culture
University held a press conference in Běijīnɡ announcing the official release of
the HSK Chinese Proficiency Test ( Elementary level).

12 June: The MOE and the State Language Commission established an expert
committee to begin work on a draft version of the “Standardized Chinese Charac-
ter List”.
 A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2006) 431

20 June: The Language Standardization Examination and Approval Committee

of the State Language Commission held a meeting for the finalization of the
“Assessment and Testing Guidelines for Chinese Character Usage Ability”.

26 June: The State Language Commission held its Opening Session for the
2006–2007 term, as well as its 2006 Working Conference in Běijīnɡ.

6–7 July: The Confucius Institute Conference took place in Běijīnɡ.

8 July: The International Centre for Promoting Chinese Language held its found-
ing ceremony in Běijīnɡ. Xǔ Jiālù (许嘉璐), Vice Chairman of the National People’s
Congress Standing Committee, was appointed as head of the centre. State Council
member Chén Zhìlì (陈至立) was invited to unveil the centre. During the cere-
mony, the centre’s “Learn Chinese Online” website officially went online.

20–21 July: The China-Europe Cultural Contact and Exchange Symposium to

Commemorate Bernhard Karlgren took place in Guǎnɡzhōu (广州).

28 July: Běijīnɡ Language and Culture University; the Print Media Sub-centre at
the Chinese National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Centre; the
China Association of Press Technicians; and the Chinese Information Processing
Society jointly published “Top Ten Buzzwords in China’s Major Newspapers,
Spring and Summer 2006”.

31 July–4 August: A training program on improving the language environment

for the Xibe people was carried out in Qapgal (察布查尔) Xibe Autonomous
County in Xīnjiānɡ province.

7 August: The Běijīnɡ Olympic Organizing Committee released a set of graphics

titled “The Beauty of the Seal Script”. These graphics would be used to represent
the various athletics events during the 2008 Běijīnɡ Olympic Games.

19–24 August: The international symposium “Application and Cultural Develop-

ment of Ethnic Minority Languages – Theory and Practice in China” took place
in Lhasa.

25 August: At its 25th session, the Standing Committee of the 10th Ānhuī (安徽)
Provincial People’s Congress adopted the “Regulations of Ānhuī Province on the
Implementation of the ‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on Standard Spoken
and Written Chinese’”. The Regulations went into effect on 1 October.

28 August: The “Assessment and Testing Guidelines for Ability in Using Chinese
Characters”, a language standardization project organized and developed by the
MOE and the State Language Commission, was officially released. Trial imple-
mentation began on 1 February 2007.
432 Yuán Fǎng (袁舫)

10–16 September: Events for the 9th National Promoting Putonghua Publicity
Week took place around the country. Focus cities for 2006’s publicity week
were Tàiyuán (太原), Yùnchénɡ (运城 ), Zūnyì (遵义), Zhàoqìnɡ (肇庆).

12 September: Nánjīnɡ Press and Publication Administration and Nánjīnɡ

Municipal Language Commission jointly released the “Interim Provisions of
Nánjīnɡ Municipality on the Administration of the Use of Language and Writing
in Press and Publication Industries”, the first of their kind within a specific
industry in Jiānɡsū (江苏) province.

14 September: China and German signed eight documents for further coopera-
tion in the fields of youth exchange, education and the economy. The documents
were signed at a ceremony in the German chancellor’s office building, witnessed
by visiting Chinese Premier Wēn Jiābǎo (温家宝) and German Chancellor Angela
Merkel. One of the framework agreements included a decision by both sides to
establish a Confucius Institute in Hannover.

10–15 October: The 4th Cross-Strait Seminar on Terms in Atmospheric Science

took place in Xīnjiānɡ province.

12–13 October: The 4th Cross-Strait Workshop on Tibeto-Burman Languages

and Linguistics took place in Sìchuān (四川) province.

13 October: The Lhasa Municipal Committee of Standard Spoken and Written

Chinese was established.

14–16 October: The 9th Academic Conference of the Society of Chinese Minority
Languages was held at Southwest University for Nationalities.

20 October: The Cross-Strait Seminar on Terms in Information Science took

place in Sūzhōu (苏州), Jiānɡsū province.

1–3 November: The 20th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and
Computing took place in Wǔhàn (武汉).

3 November: The Běijīnɡ Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technology Supervi-

sion released a local standard “English Translation of Public Signs” along with
its supplementary implementation guide. The standard was officially imple-
mented on 1 December 2006.

11 November: The Commercial Press officially began the publication of “The

World of Chinese” magazine.
 A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2006) 433

13 November: The 84th Executive Meeting of the People’s Government of Nínɡ-

xià (宁夏) Huí (回) Autonomous Region adopted the “Regional Regulations on
the Implementation of the ‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on Standard
Spoken and Written Chinese’”. The Regulations went into effect on 1 January
2007.

13–14 November: The 2nd Cross-Strait Conference on Modern Chinese was held
in Macao.

15 November: The Overseas Chinese Research Centre held its opening ceremony
at the Chinese Language Department at Jìnán University. The centre was built as
a cooperative effort between the Division of Language Information Management
at the MOE and Jìnán University.

19–22 November: The Chinese Information Processing Society held its 6th
National General Assembly and 25th Year Anniversary Seminar in Běijīnɡ.

22 November: The first ceremony for the Qián Wěichánɡ (钱伟长) Chinese
Information Processing Technology Award was held in Běijīnɡ.

22 November: The “Uygur-Chinese Dictionary” was published by the Ethnic

Publishing House.

24 November: The 84th Executive Meeting of the Zhèjiānɡ (浙江) Provincial

People’s Government adopted in principle the “Provincial Regulations on the
Implementation of the ‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on Standard Spoken
and Written Chinese’” (Draft version).

24–26 November: The 5th International Symposium on Bilingualism was held

in Nánnínɡ (南宁), Guǎnɡxī (广西) province.

28–29 November: The State Language Commission called together a meeting in

Běijīnɡ to discuss the research work of its 11th Five-Year Plan.

5 December: The General Office of Gānsù Provincial People’s Government en-

dorsed the Provincial Language Commission’s “Opinions Regarding Strengthen-
ing Language Work in Gānsù”.

8–10 December: The 5th International Conference on Chinese Sociolinguistics

and the 5th National Sociolinguistics Symposium were held in Běijīnɡ. The sym-
posia were jointly sponsored by Peking University, the University of Melbourne,
the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the MOE and the Association of Chinese
Sociolinguistics.
434 Yuán Fǎng (袁舫)

10 December: The Shànɡhǎi (上海) Language Workers Association held a

general assembly meeting for the establishment of an experts committee to
discuss the Oral Recitation Achievement Level Test. In addition, the assembly
reviewed and passed the “Syllabus for Shànɡhǎi Oral Recitation Achievement
Level Test (Trial Implementation)”.

14–15 December: The Forum on the Putonghua Proficiency Test was held in
Hong Kong. It was jointly organized by the Chinese University of Hong Kong,
Lǐnɡnán University and the Putonghua Training and Testing Centre of the State
Language Commission.

19 December: The first Putonghua Proficiency Test to be held abroad took place
in Singapore.

20–24 December: A training program on improving the language environment

for the Miáo (苗) people was carried out in Sōnɡtáo (松桃) Miáo Autonomous
County in Guìzhōu (贵州) Province.

Translated by Brian Bies (边斌 )

Jiānɡsū Normal University
Contents (Chinese version 2005 Volume I)
Building a harmonious life in language – Foreword to The Language Situation in
China (2005)

General Remark
Part I Language Work
The language situation in administration and law
The language situation in education
The state of the language in the press and publishing
Use of language in radio and television broadcasting
The language situation in service industry and public facilities

Part II Special Research

The language policies and regulations in China: An overview
The promotion of Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese): An overview
Evaluation of language management in China’s cities
The information management of languages and writing
The information processing of Chinese languages and writing
The standardization and computerization of minority languages and writing
Cross-provincial cooperation in enhancing the development of the spoken and
written languages of the ethnic minorities in China
Ethnic minority bilingual education in China
Standardization of scientific terms in China
Internet language use
A new progress of the State Language Commission’s 10th Five-Year Plan

Part III Language Focuses

The craze for Chinese
Dialect craze
The craze for English
Language endangerment
The translation of the street name in street signs and traffic signs
436 Contents (2005)

Part IV Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan

Language situations in Hong Kong
Language situations in Macao
Language situations in Taiwan

Part V References
The overseas spread of the Chinese language
The language situation and language policy in European Union
Canada 2004–2005 Annual Official Language Report
Distribution of Chinese population worldwide
List of language and culture spread organizations

Appendixes
The MOE’s Notification Regarding the implementation of Several Provisions of
the State Council on the Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic
of China on Regional Autonomy by Ethnic Minorities
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television’s Notification Regarding
Strengthening the Use of Standard Language in TV Series
The Regulations of Shànghǎi Municipality on the Implementation of the ‘Law of
the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese
Language’
List of Regional Regulations on Languages and Writing (1987–2005)
List of Standards for Language and Writing Planning (1955–2005)
List of Chinese Languages
List of Websites on Linguistics
A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2005)

Index of Figures and Tables

Index of Terms

Index of People’s Names

Postscript
 Contents (2005) 437

Contents (Chinese version 2005 Volume II)

Reports
Survey of the Chinese language and characters used in newspaper, radio and
television, and internet (news)
Survey of the Chinese characters, words and phrases used in University BBS
Top Ten Pop phrases in newspaper

Data
Table 1 Glossary of Chinese Characters Used in Newspaper, Radio, Television
and Internet (News)
Table 2 Comparison between top 2500 Chinese characters and the commonly
used Chinese characters of level 1
Table 3 Comparison between top 3500 Chinese characters and the commonly
used character list of modern Chinese
Table 4 Comparison between top 7000 Chinese characters and the general
character list of modern Chinese
Table 5 General characters which do not appear in Glossary of Chinese Char-
acters Used in Newspaper, Radio, Television and Internet (News)
Table 6 Traditional Chinese Charactors
Table 7 Variant form of Chinese Characters
Table 8 Simplified Characters created by analogy which is not in line with the
existing standard
Table 9 The old printed word
Table 10 Characters of old units of measurement
Table 11 Dialect Characters
Table 12 Japanese Kanji
Table 13 High frequency words used in newspaper, radio broadcast and televi-
sion, and internet (news)
Table 14 Characters used in high-frequency words
Table 15 Punctuation
Table 16 Figures
Table 17 Letters
Table 18 Other Symbles
Table 19 Chinese characters, words and phrases used in University BBS in 2005
Contents (Chinese version 2006 Volume I)

General Remark
Part I Language Work
Building a harmonious language life
The situation of language policies, regulations and their implementation
The fifty anniversary of the normalization of the Chinese language
A new progress of the Chinese language work
A latest progress of the ethnic groups’ languages work

Part II Special Research

The language situation of tourism services
The language use in product manuals
The language use for medical documents and pharmaceutical packages
The Language status of migrant workers
The situation of computer fonts and font libraries
Investigation of Tibetan language informationization and software use
Efforts of creating a good language environment for Běijīng Olympic Games: a
brief report
A survey of Shànghǎi students’ use of Putonghua and Shànghǎi dialect
The situation of academic exchanges of language studies across the Taiwan
Strait

Part III Language Focuses

Controversy in Chinese Language Education: Classical or vernacular?
Operation woodpecker: Error correction in language and writing applications
The use of characters for names
The problems in compiling the Chinese language dictionaries

Part IV Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan

Putonghua in Hong Kong
Gaming language in Macau
Today’s language situations in Taiwan
 Contents (2006) 439

Part V References
The overseas spread of the Chinese language
The National Security Language Initiative (NSLI) in the U.S.
The language legislation in affiliated countries to the former Soviet Union

Appendixes
Standardized annotations of Chinese part-of-speech for computational
processing
A syllabus for grading criteria and testing of Chinese characters proficiency
Standardized English translations for bilingual public signs
List of Institutions for Chinese Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Directories of Language Journals and Newspapers
A list of websites on linguistics
A Record of Major Chinese Language Events (2006)

Index of Figures and Tables

Index of Terms

Index of People’s Names

Postscript
440 Contents (2006)

Contents (Chinese version 2006 Volume II)

Survey of the Chinese language and characters used in newspaper, radio and
television, and internet (news)

Appendix
Table 1 Comparison of frequency ratio for top 20 Chinese characters used in
newspaper, radio and television, and internet (news) individually
Table 2 Comparison between top 2500 Chinese characters in 2005 and in 2006,
which do not appear in the commonly used Chinese characters of level 1
Table 3 Comparison between top 3500 Chinese characters in 2005 and in 2006,
which do not appear in the commonly used character list of modern
Chinese
Table 4 Comparison between top 7000 Chinese characters in 2005 and in
2006, which do not appear in the general character list of modern
Chinese
Table 5 Comparison table of general Chinese characters which appear in
commonly used characters list of modern Chinese but do not appear in
2005 and 2006

Survey of alphabetic words used in newspaper, radio and television, and

internet (news)

Appendix
Table 6 List of alphabetic words used in newspaper, radio broadcast and
television, and internet (news)
Table 7 List of high-frequency English words used in newspaper, radio and
television radio, and internet (news)
 Contents (2006) 441

Survey of the Chinese characters, words and phrases used in internet

Survey of the Chinese characters, words and phrases used in blogs

Survey of the Chinese characters, words and phrases used in BBS

Pop phrases in newspaper, radio and television

Survey of Chinese characters, words and phrases, and senses in teaching

Chinese as a second language

Appendix
Table 8 List of top 1500 words
Table 9 List of sense frequency of 100 entries

Annual Chinese new words

Index of Figures and Tables

Postscript
Postscript
The Commercial Press (Běijīnɡ) has been publishing Reports on the Language
Situation in China every year since 2005. Designed and compiled by China’s
Ministry of Education and the State Language Commission and released in the
regular annual press conference of the Ministry, it has been very influential and
considered a cultural landmark.
Last year, upon its fifth anniversary, the Commercial Press and De Gruyter
reached an agreement of copyright transfer for the former to supply the English
version of the reports and for the latter to publish it worldwide, one volume per
year. For this purpose, we rearranged and revised the reports of the years of
2005 and 2006 and changed date from 2005–2006 (according to contents) to
2006–2007 (according to the year of publication). We also organised bilingual
Chinese scholars to prepare the English translation of the original manuscripts,
which are later edited by specialists in both China and overseas.
The current English version is a product of joint efforts by a large number of
people. Dr. Anke Beck, Vice President of Humanities Division of De Gruyter made
many trips to China and played a crucial mediating role, Professor Lǐ Yǔmínɡ
(李宇明), Deputy Director of China State Language Commission and editor-in-
chief of the reports, and Professor Lǐ Wěi (李嵬 ) of the University of London
offered specific academic guidance, Professor Guō Xī (郭熙) of Jìnán (暨南) Uni-
versity, Guǎnɡdōnɡ, Professor Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊) of Guǎnɡzhōu (广州) University,
Associate Professor Xǔ Xiǎoyǐnɡ (许小颖) of Běijīng Normal University, and Dr.
Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波), Editor of the Commercial Press, spent countless hours
of rearranging and revising the Chinese manuscripts, Professor Yáo Xiǎopínɡ
(姚小平) of Běijīnɡ (北京) Foreign Studies University and Mr. Edward Barton
(武广明), a bilingual specialist in the UK, edited the translation, Associate Pro-
fessor Xǔ Xiǎoyǐnɡ of Běijīnɡ Normal University, Associate Professor Cài Bīnɡ
(蔡冰) of Jiānɡsū (江苏) Normal University and Editor Dài Wényǐnɡ (戴文颖) of
the Commercial Press coordinated the work, and the translators worked extremely
hard to meet the tight schedule. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude
to all of them!
The Language Situation in China (English version) is expected to serve as a
window for the world to learn and understand the language situation in China.

Editing Department
The Commercial Press
March 2012

English translation by Liánɡ Xiǎopénɡ (梁晓鹏)

Qīnɡdǎo University of Science & Technology
[email protected]
List of authors of the original Chinese text
Title Author information

Understanding China’s situation through Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)

its language life Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Introduction: Building a harmonious Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)
language life Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Language policies and regulations in China: Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生)
An overview Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
[email protected]
Wèi Dān (魏丹)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
The Promotion of Putonghua (Mandarin Wánɡ Huī (王晖)
Chinese): an overview Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Yuán Zhōnɡruì (袁钟瑞)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Evaluation of language management in Yú Hónɡ (于虹)
China’s cities [email protected]
Ministry of Education
Language standardization in China Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华)
Běijīnɡ Language and Culture University
[email protected]
Chén Mǐn (陈敏)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Wánɡ Cuìyè (王翠叶)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生)
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
[email protected]
446 List of authors of the original Chinese text

Title Author information

Language resource monitoring and applied Chén Mǐn (陈敏)

research on language Ministry of Education
[email protected]
The status of the language in the press and Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)
publishing The Commercial Press
[email protected]
Zōu Yùhuá (邹玉华)
China University of Political Science and Law
[email protected]
Use of language in radio and television Sī Hónɡxiá (司红霞)
broadcasting Comunication University of China
[email protected]
Lǐ Xiǎohuá (李晓华)
Comunication University of China
[email protected]
Standardization of scientific terms in China Liú Qīnɡ (刘青)
China National Committee for Terms in
Science and Technology
[email protected]
Ethnic minority bilingual education in China Dīnɡ Shíqìnɡ (丁石庆 )
Mínzú University of China
[email protected]
Liú Hónɡyǔ (刘宏宇)
Xīnjiānɡ Normal University
[email protected]
Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
The standardization and computerization of Jiānɡ Dí (江荻 )
minority languages and writing Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
[email protected]
Wánɡ Tiěkūn (王铁琨)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Cross-provincial cooperation in enhancing Lǐ Xùliàn (李旭练)
the development of the spoken and written Ministry of Education
languages of the ethnic minorities in China [email protected]
Status quo of language use in medical Guō Lìjūn (郭丽君)
documents and on medicinal packages China Youth University of Political Science
[email protected]
 List of authors of the original Chinese text 447

Title Author information

The Language status of migrant workers Xià Lì (夏历)

Shěnyánɡ Normal University
[email protected]
Xiè Jùnyīnɡ (谢俊英)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Efforts of creating a good language Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生)
environment for Běijīnɡ Olympic Games: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
a brief report [email protected]
Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)
Guǎnɡzhōu University
[email protected]
A survey of Shànɡhǎi students’ use of Sūn Xiǎoxiān (孙晓先)
Putonghua and Shànɡhǎi dialect Shànɡhǎi Yǔyán Wénzì ɡōnɡzuòzhě xiéhuì
[email protected]
Wáng Yíjiā (王颐加)
Shànɡhǎi Yǔyán Wénzì Shuǐpínɡ Cèshì
Zhōnɡxīn
[email protected]
Qiáo Lìhuá (乔丽华)
Shànɡhǎi Yǔyán Wénzì Shuǐpínɡ Cèshì
Zhōnɡxīn
[email protected]
Jiǎng Bīnɡbīng (蒋冰冰)
East China Normal University
[email protected]
Status quo of the Jinuo language Luó Zìqún (罗自群)
Central University of Nationalities
[email protected]
A survey of Chinese characters, words and Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)
phrases used in news media (2005–2006) Běijīnɡ Language and Culture University
[email protected]
Investigation of Tibetan language informa- Zhōu Xuéwén (周学文 )
tionization and software use Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
[email protected]
Jiānɡ Dí (江荻)
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
[email protected]
448 List of authors of the original Chinese text

Title Author information

An investigation into lettered words Hóu Mǐn (侯敏)

Communication University of China
[email protected]
Dialect Craze Lǚ Hé (吕禾)
Hēilónɡjiānɡ University
[email protected]
Zōu Hǎiqīnɡ (邹海清)
Communication University of China
[email protected]
Controversy in Chinese Language Education: Wánɡ Hónɡméi (王红梅)
Classical or Vernacular? GuǎnɡDōnɡ University of Foreign Studies
[email protected]
Language endangerment Xú Shìxuán (徐世璇 )
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
[email protected]
The Craze for English Jí Chuánbō (汲传波 )
Peking University
[email protected]
The use of characters for names Zhānɡ Lí (张黎)
Běijīnɡ Language and Culture University
[email protected]
Zhānɡ Shūyán (张书岩)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Chinese buzzwords (2002–2006) Yánɡ Ěrhónɡ (杨尔弘)
Běijīnɡ Language and Culture University
[email protected]
A survey of media neologisms in 2006 Zhōu Jiàn (周荐)
Macao Polytechnic Institute
[email protected]
Putonghua in Hong Kong Wánɡ Huī (王晖)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Language and Language Policy in Hong Kong Wong Pui Kwonɡ (王培光 )
Hong Kong City University
[email protected]
 List of authors of the original Chinese text 449

Title Author information

Language situation and language policy in Shào Zhāoyánɡ (邵朝阳)

Macao Macao University
[email protected]
Huánɡ Yì (黄翊)
Macao Polytechnic Institute
[email protected]
Linguistic Situation and Language Policy in Xǔ Chánɡ’ān (许长安)
Taiwan Xiàmén University
[email protected]
Lǐ Yànhuá (李艳华)
Běijīnɡ Language and Culture University
[email protected]
Lóu Kāiyánɡ (娄开阳)
Mínzú University of China
[email protected]
Internet language use Wānɡ Lěi (汪磊)
Guǎnɡzhōu University
[email protected]
Law of the People’s Republic of China on
the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese
Language
List of Standards for Language and Writing Wèi Dān (魏丹)
Planning Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Dài Hónɡliànɡ (戴红亮)
Ministry of Education
[email protected]
Zhènɡ Mènɡjuān (郑梦娟)
Rénmín University of China
[email protected]
List of Languages in China Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生)
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
[email protected]
List of Institutions for Chinese Linguistics
and Applied Linguistics
Directories of Language Journals and
Newspapers
450 List of authors of the original Chinese text

Title Author information

Distribution of Chinese Population Guō Xī (郭熙)

Worldwide Jìnán University
[email protected]
A Record of Major Chinese Language Events Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)
(2005) The Commercial Press
[email protected]
A Record of Major Chinese Language Events Yuán Fǎnɡ (袁舫)
(2006) The Commercial Press
[email protected]
Editorial Teams of the English Edition

Editor Lǐ Yǔmínɡ (李宇明)

Ministry of Education
[email protected]
English Editor Lǐ Wéi (李嵬 )
University of London
[email protected]
Associate Editors Guō Xī (郭熙)
Jìnán University
[email protected]
Zhōu Hónɡbō (周洪波)
The Commercial Press
[email protected]
Zhōu Qìnɡshēnɡ (周庆生)
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
[email protected]
Editorial Assistant Xǔ Xiǎoyǐnɡ (许小颖)
Beijing Normal University
[email protected]
Translation Advisors Yáo Xiǎopínɡ (姚小平)
Beijing Foreign Studies University
[email protected]
Edward Barton (武广明)
[email protected]
Brigid O’Connor
[email protected]
Index
a harmonious language life 1–5, 7 – Criticism 274–275
administration 152–154 children’s book 78–79
– language planning 1, 5, 58, 245–247 China National Committee for Terms in
– laws and regulations, on language 23–24, Sciences and Technologies
41, 50, 55, 111, 120, 137, 145–146, (CNCTST) 97–99, 104–105
155–156, 238–239, 275, 383 – list of publications 106–108
applied writing Chinese
– document, medical 145 – Character 1–4, 12–18, 21–23, 62, 67, 72,
– writing, electronic 154 101, 173–174, 203–206, 373, 374, 376,
378, 379
BBS 70, 376, 377, 379, 380 – Word 175, 203–204, 207–211, 227
bilingual 134, 135, 136, 139 – vocabulary 16–17, 58, 60, 138, 155, 195–
– bilingual education 19, 109–111, 113–121, 197, 205, 239, 330, 341–346, 368
272–273, 279–280, 330–331, 366 – Phrase 203–204, 207–211
– Special Classes for Ethnic Minorities – vernacular Chinese 251–253, 258–259
110 – classical Chinese 87, 151, 252–253, 256–
– Chinese Language Proficiency Test for 257, 259, 362–364
Ethnic Minorities (MHK) 114 College English
– bilingual teachers 19, 115, 119–120 – Curriculum Requirements 272
– ethnic minority bilingual environment – Teaching Reform 271, 276
116–117, 118–119 computerization
– opponents’ views 279–280 – Dǎi 123, 127, 131
– proponents’ views 280–281 – Kazak 123, 127–128, 131
– further research 281 – Kirgiz 123, 127–128, 131
bilingualism 110, 117, 119, 195–200, 336, – Korean 123, 127–128, 131
339, 340 – Mongolian 123–124, 127, 130–131
borrowing 199, 201–202, 290, 344–345 – Tibetan 123–125, 127–131
– abbreviation, Latin 149, 225–228, 231– – Uygur 123, 127–128, 130–131
233 – Yí 123–124, 127, 131
broadcasting institutions Confucius 251, 254–255
– number 85–86 Confucius Institute 314, 419, 425
– broadcasting in foreign languages 91 corpus planning 5–6
Buzzword 92, 298–299 coverage rate 204, 207
– Peaceful development 300 craze for English
– 16th National Congress of Communist – brief introduction 271–272
Party of China 301 – hot issues in debate 276–277
– SARS 301 – reasons 283
– Shénzhōu VI 302 – implications and reflections 284
– One World, One Dream 302 Cross-provincial cooperation 133, 135, 137–
141
caption, for television programs 42, 87
CET Dialect 5, 15, 16, 18, 27, 36, 55, 161–162,
– Band 4 271, 274–276 167, 183–185, 237–247
– Band 6 271, 274–276 – Shànɡhǎi dialect 183–185
454 Index

– Hakka 333, 336 Language Policy

– Hokkien 334, 335–336, 347 – biliteracy and trilingualism 311, 312, 321,
– in education 242–243 323
– in media 237–242 – language-in-education Policy 311
– use of Putonghua in radio and/or – Policy Address 311, 313, 315, 318
television broadcasting 87 language protection, projects 266–269
– use in television dramas 88 language resource 3, 5, 67–73, 126–127
diglossia 191 language situation 2–3, 69–73, 203, 237,
271, 317
Education Bureau (EDB) 44, 117, 312–315, – situational needs 284
322 language standardization 1, 20–25, 57–65,
endangered Chinese dialects 262–263 83, 94, 179, 429, 431
endangered Chinese languages 261–262 – awareness 94
error ratio calculation software 77–78 – promotion 87
Ethnic minorities 19, 133, 134, 137, 141 – purity of the Chinese language 87
evaluation and assessment reform 272 – of Putonghua pronunciation 95
– research 86
frequency Law of the People’s Republic of China on the
– high 205–207, 210–211 standard spoken and written Chinese
– sequence ranges 205
language (Law, The Language Law)
function planning 6–7 11–14, 21–24, 59–60, 176, 387
lettered words 221–233, 376
gambling language 340–346
Lisbet Rausing Charitabel Fund 268
– argot 341–344, 345–346
loan words 200, 201
– jargon 340–343, 346
– loanwords 344–345
Mandarin Campaign 251
goal management and quantified
– see also Mandarin Movement
evaluation 28, 36
Ministry of Education 2, 28, 41, 53, 68, 86,
Indigenous 196, 201, 202, 351, 109, 124–127, 164, 206, 244–246,
information processing 264–268, 272–273, 281
– platform 128–129 minority language 16, 19, 75–76, 109, 118,
– standard 129–130 120, 123, 130, 133, 138–141, 202, 420,
international standardization of Chinese 428, 430
characters 62–63 modern Chinese Corpus 67–68, 70
– ISO/IEC 10646 62 mongolian 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 141
Internet expression 377, 378, 380, 382, 383 monolingualism 195, 197
monolinguals 194, 196, 197, 340, 349
Jinuo 193–220 Mother Language Day 265
mother tongue 2–3, 109–112, 116–118, 134,
Korean 133, 137, 138, 141 141, 176, 195–196, 262, 278–281, 312,
314, 328–331, 334, 339–340, 347, 353,
language ability 181, 189, 194, 195, 200, 331 366–367, 428
language attitude 181, 186, 200 National Publicity Week for Putonghua
language behavior 181, 182 Promotion 2, 5–6, 28, 31–37
language education 20–23, 57, 67, 110, 119– national Studies 251–255
120, 178, 251–259, 273, 279, 315, 321, neologism 305–306
362–368 – Media 305
 Index 455

– Chinese 305–306 – system 58–59

– differences between the mainland and – character 59
Taiwan 102–104 – national 63
– Tibetan coding 213
Patuá 333, 340 – Tibetan fonts 213
Pinyin 4, 13, 17, 21–22, 176, 228, 301, 354– – Tibetan keyboard layout 213
355 Standing Committee On Language Education
problems, in use of broadcasting language And Research (SCOLAR) 313, 315, 317,
– caption mistakes 87 319, 322
– imitation of non-standard accent 93–94 State Ethnic Affairs Commission 116, 124–
– language mistakes 94 125, 134, 264
– of Radio and Television Announcers and status planning 5–6
Hosts 87 syllabus redesign 272
– use of letter words and foreign words 91–
93 Taiwan Mǐn Nán Romanization System 365
Putonghua 1–6, 12–16, 18–24, 27, 31–39, teaching modes 272
41, 43, 48–53, 57, 64, 68–72, 86–88, terminology 101, 105, 124–126, 136–141
93–95, 109, 112–113, 123, 160–170, – drug name 150
176, 181–191, 237–247, 374, 380 – transliteration 151–152, 341
– medium of instruction 313 Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language
– Putonghua promotion 27–39, 317, 320– (TOCFL) 368, 369
323 the Church Romanized Writing 365
– Putonghua teaching and training 37 the General Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Plan
– Putonghua proficiency test (Putonghua (GCPAP) 354–355, 365
Shuiping Ceshi) 12, 18, 191, 314, the Taiwan Language Phonetic Alphabet
319–320 (TLPA) 365
– teacher qualification 314–315, 369 Tibetan 133, 138, 139, 140
– civil service 315–316 Tibetan language informationization 213–
– sound media 316–317 220
– trading and social services 317–319 Tibetan language platform 216–220
Tibetan language software 214
Romanization-based Writing Systems for – Plug-in Tibetan Application System 214
Indigenous Languages 366 – Tibetan Computer Typesetting System 214
– Cross-platform Tibetan Information
safeguarding Chinese Processing System 214
– contrastive views 277 Traditional Chinese characters 353, 356,
– and from the third side 278 368, 369
scientific neologism 99
simplified Chinese writing 353–354, 356 Universalities of multilingual calculation 215
Standards 57–63, 213–220
– language 57–60 vitality 193, 194, 202, 268