※This article is about the "Language of Han nationality", a language used in China since ancient times. For Sino-Japanese vocabulary, see "Kango".
Overview
In order to facilitate communication among the people, the Central People's Government's standardized language policy in China mainland has resulted in the adoption of "Mandarin", which is based on the pronunciation and vocabulary of northern languages and the grammar of modern colloquial novels, in education and broadcasting, and is considered the standard and lingua franca. Nearly 80% of the population can understand Mandarin, and the younger generation of dialect speakers is often bilingual in Mandarin.
In China mainland, the term "Chinese Han language" (漢語) initially referred to "Chinese language" (中国語), but since "Chinese language" is a very loose term that not only weakens the linguistic attributes of the Han nationality, and also disrespects China's ethnic minorities (For example the Tibetan nationality and Uyghur nationality), "Chinese language" gradually gave way to "Han language", and the original "simplified Chinese / traditional Chinese" (簡体中文／繁体中文) became "simplified Hanzi / traditional Hanzi" (簡体漢字／繁体漢字). Today, only Japan and a few other countries refer to "Chinese Han language" as "Chinese language" in the international arena.
Establishment and spread of Mandarin
In China, the written language had been unified since ancient times, but the spoken language differed from region to region, and the pronunciation of Chinese characters also differed from one dialect to another. This situation, known as "Allophone" (同文異音), has been an issue since ancient times, and although there have been several attempts to correct it, it was not until the end of the Qing dynasty that a common language was seriously attempted to be established.
From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China, a proposal for language unification for educational purposes was considered, and although it was once decided by the Qing Dynasty, it was cancelled following the Wuchang Uprising during the Xinhai Revolution in October 1911. However, the ROC government continued and developed this policy, and by the 1920s, the ROC national language (中華民国国語), which is very close to today's Mandarin, was established.
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the common language was changed from ROC national language to Mandarin (普通話), and the official move toward a unified language began in 1955, with the publication of a new simplified Chinese notation (simplified Hanzi) in the following year. In November 1982, the official promotion of Mandarin was stipulated in Article 19 of The Constitution of the People's Republic of China.
Since the establishment of Mandarin, it has been actively promoted, especially in the southern regions where there are large differences from Mandarin, and in ethnic minority regions where Han languages are not used to begin with.
In ethnic minority areas, the creation of scripts in various ethnic languages and education based on these scripts were stipulated at the time of the founding of the country, and there was no provision for education in Mandarin. Since the 1980s, education in Han language (Mandarin) has been mandatory in addition to ethnic languages.
In southern regions, especially in Fujian, where Minnan differ greatly from Mandarin, and Guangdong, where Cantonese is the main language, the governments of both provinces emphasized the spread of Mandarin. The popularization of Mandarin has been growing in these areas due to such popularization policies and, above all, the fact that Mandarin is mainly used in mass media such as television.
