Cantonese language

A job seeker looks at recruitment advertisements at a labor market in Guangdong province, where most people speak Cantonese.

Beijing has a message for China’s Cantonese speakers — stick to Mandarin!

August 27, 2014Culture

The Cantonese-speaking heartland of southern China is also the country’s most populous region. But Beijing still considers the region’s native language of Cantonese to be a minority dialect, and now it wants Cantonese broadcasters to switch to Mandarin — but why now?

Cantopop singer Corinna Chamberlain, aka Chan Ming Yan.

This blond and blue-eyed singer wows Hong Kongers with her flawless Cantopop

January 30, 2014Arts, Culture & Media

The children of migrant workers are taught Mandarin at a school in Shanghai. Many speak a regional dialect at home, and some don't speak Mandarin at all when they arrive for the first day of class.

China’s linguistic landscape is changing as rapidly as its cities and lifestyles

December 2, 2013Development & Education

Pharaohs, Cantonese and the Gang of Four

August 14, 2013The World in Words

Cantonese: a Dialect in Peril?

August 14, 2013Arts, Culture & Media