Let the fate of local dialects take its course
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Recently, many people who speak Cantonese as their mother tongue worry that their local dialect and associated culture are on the decline. Some of them have even gone so far as to take radical action on the streets.
Thanks to reform, communication between Chinese people from different parts of the country is getting much easier. Guangdong Province today is no longer an isolated kingdom of the Cantonese language. Even in circles of overseas Chinese, Cantonese is beginning to lose its dominant position. A large number of Cantonese people are getting accustomed to speaking Mandarin in their daily lives. The ability to speak Mandarin is today a symbol of higher education.
Now, in many cities of China, including Guangzhou and Shanghai, where people used to take pride in their local dialects, most children under 10 do not like to communicate in their local dialects with their family, though they can still understand the dialects. That is evidence of our social progress and the success of the central government campaign to promote Mandarin in the past five decades.
Admittedly, China's mainstream culture as a whole is made up of various tributaries of local culture. It's therefore understandable that some people cherish a special liking for their local dialect as a kind of loyalty to their local culture. But people have to recognize that once a mainstream language culture is formed, the decline of local dialects will be inevitable and any effort to preserve them will prove to be useless.
It would be stupid for local governments to abolish local dialects as it will cause resentment among the people who speak them. But it will be wise for governments to accelerate the promotion of Mandarin with moderate measures. Universal use of Mandarin throughout China will contribute to the development of local economy, to the unity of people from different regions, and to enhancing China's soft power.
In Quebec, Canada, where French is spoken by the majority of residents, many people believe their province is different from English-speaking provinces of Canada and hold high the banner of independence from time to time.
In Taiwan, different languages have become a source of conflicts between political parties, social classes and people of different native origins.
The still-expanding European Union brings together a vast array of languages, and each enjoys equal importance. But all EU member states recognize the need to have a limited number of official languages for the sake of efficient communication.
The Chinese government has been supporting local-language education in Xinjiang Autonomous Region and Tibet for 60 years because it thinks doing so will show that it respects human rights and advocates democracy. It was not expected that communication difficulties between the Han and minorities would become the root cause of racial conflicts.
From the above examples, we have much to learn and reflect. Which dialect is the most important one in China, and which language is the most important one in the world? That is determined by the result of long-term and fierce competition among various regions in terms of economic power, cultural influence and military strength and is independent of the will of the people in the regions concerned.
Although competition is ruthless, it is the foundation on which human civilization and development are built. Survival of the fittest is forever the law of nature.
As China's economy is developing rapidly and the Chinese government has been advocating Mandarin not only within but beyond the country, Mandarin has become the fastest expanding language. Many countries have added it to their educational programs. Undoubtedly, Mandarin soon will become an internationally adopted language.
In the same way that the vernacular style of writing has replaced the classic style of writing and the Chinese tunic suit has given way to Western-style clothes, all local dialects are doomed to lose their ground to Mandarin sooner or later because of social evolution. This being the reality, people who speak local dialects should have a placid mindset and let the fate of their local dialects take their course.
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