There are several hundred languages in the People's Republic of China. The predominant language is Standard Chinese, which is based on the Beijing dialect, but there are hundreds of related Chinese languages, collectively known as Hanyu (), that are spoken by 92% of the population. The Chinese (or 'Sinitic') languages are typically divided into seven major language groups, and their study is a distinct academic discipline. They differ as much from each other morphologically and phonetically as do English, German and Danish, but speakers of different Chinese languages are taught to write in Mandarin (written vernacular Mandarin) at school and often do to communicate with speakers of other Chinese languages. This does not mean non-Mandarin Sinitic languages do not have vernacular written forms however (see written Cantonese). There are in addition approximately 300 minority languages spoken by the remaining 8% of the population of China. The ones with greatest state support are Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and Zhuang, as shown in the banknote of Chinese renminbi.
According to the 2010 edition of Nationalencyklopedin, 955 million out of China's then-population of 1.34 billion spoke some variety of Mandarin Chinese as their first language, accounting for 71% of the country's population.Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin. Asterisks mark the 2010 estimates for the top dozen languages. According to the 2019 edition of Ethnologue, 904 million people in China spoke some variety of Mandarin as their first language in 2017.
Standard Chinese, known in China as Putonghua, based on the Mandarin dialect of Beijing, is the official national spoken language for the mainland and serves as a lingua franca within the Mandarin-speaking regions (and, to a lesser extent, across the other regions of mainland China). Several other autonomous regions have additional official languages. For example, Tibetan has official status within the Tibet Autonomous Region and Mongolian has official status within Inner Mongolia. Language laws of the People's Republic of China do not apply to either Hong Kong or Macau, which have Cantonese, Mandarin (both under the umbrella of "Chinese") and English and Cantonese, Mandarin and Portuguese, respectively, as official languages, unlike the mainland.
Spoken languages The spoken languages of nationalities that are a part of China belong to at least nine families:
The Sino-Tibetan family: 19 official ethnicities (including the Han and Tibetans) The Tai–Kadai family: several languages spoken by the Zhuang, the Bouyei, the Dai, the Dong, and the Hlai (Li people); 9 official ethnicities. The Hmong–Mien family: 3 official ethnicities The Austroasiatic family: 4 official ethnicities (De'ang, Blang, Gin (Vietnamese), and Wa) The Turkic family: Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Salars, etc.; 7 official ethnicities.Western Yugur is a Turkic language, whereas Eastern Yugur is a Mongolic language. The Mongolic family: Mongols, Dongxiang, and related groups; 6 official ethnicities. The Tungusic family: Manchus (formerly), Hezhe, etc.; 5 official ethnicities. The Koreanic family: Korean The Indo-European family: 2 official ethnicities, the Russians and Tajiks (actually Pamiri people). There is also a heavily Persian-influenced Äynu language spoken by the Äynu people in southwestern Xinjiang, who are officially considered Uyghurs. The Austronesian family: 1 official ethnicity (the Gaoshan, who speak many languages of the Formosan branch), 1 unofficial (the Utsuls, who speak the Tsat language but are considered Hui.)
Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Mandarin Chinese Beijing Mandarin Standard Chinese Singaporean Mandarin Malaysian Mandarin Taiwanese Mandarin Northeastern Mandarin Jilu Mandarin Jiaoliao Mandarin Central Plains Mandarin Lan-Yin Mandarin Lower Yangtze Mandarin Southwestern Mandarin Jin Chinese Wu Chinese Shanghainese Suzhounese Wenzhounese Huizhou Chinese Yue Chinese Cantonese Taishanese Ping Chinese Gan Chinese Xiang Chinese Hakka Chinese Min Chinese Southern Min Hokkien Teochew Min Hainanese Leizhou Min Haklau Min Eastern Min Pu–Xian Min Northern Min Central Min Shao–Jiang Min Xiangnan Tuhua Shaozhou Tuhua Ba–Shu Chinese (extinct) Bai Dali language () Dali dialect (Bai: Darl lit) Xiangyun dialect Yitdut language/Jianchuan language () Yitdut dialect (Bai: Yit dut) Heqing dialect (Bai: hhop kait) Bijiang language Bijiang dialect Lanping dialect (Bai: ket dant) Songlin Cai-Long Caijia Tibeto-Burman Tujia Puroik Qiangic Qiang Northern Qiang Southern Qiang Gyalrongic Gyalrong (rGyalrong, Jiarong) Khroskyabs (Lavrung) Horpa (Stau) Prinmi Muya (Munya) Zhaba Choyo (Queyu) Tangut (extinct) Tibeto-Kanauri Bodish Tibetan Central Tibetan (Standard Tibetan) Amdo Tibetan Khams Tibetan Baima Tshangla Zhangzhung (extinct) Lolo–Burmese–Naxi Burmish Achang Chashan Bola Zaiwa Langsu Lashi Loloish Yi Lisu Lahu Hani Jino Nakhi/Naxi Jingpho–Nungish–Luish Jingpho Nungish Derung Nung Nu Nusu Rouruo Mishmi Mijuish Miju (Midzu, Kman, Geman, Kaman) Zakhring (Meyor) Digarish Idu Digaro Tani Damu Bokar
Kra–Dai Be Kra Gelao Kam–Sui Dong Sui Maonan Mulao/Mulam Hlai/Li Tai Zhuang (Vahcuengh) Northern Zhuang Southern Zhuang Bouyei Dai Tai Lü language Tai Nüa language Tai Dam language Tai Ya language
Turkic Karluk Ili Turki Uyghur Uzbek Kipchak Kazakh Kyrgyz Tatar Oghuz Salar Siberian Äynu Fuyu Kyrgyz Western Yugur Tuvan Old Uyghur (extinct) Old Turkic (extinct)
Mongolic Mongolian Oirat Torgut Oirat Buryat Daur Southeastern Monguor Eastern Yugur Dongxiang Bonan Kangjia Tuoba (extinct)
Para-Mongolic Khitan (extinct) Tuyuhun (extinct)
Tungusic Southern Manchu Jurchen Xibe Nanai/Hezhen Northern Evenki Oroqen
Koreanic Korean Yukjin
Hmong–Mien Hmong Mien She
Austroasiatic Pakanic Bolyu Bugan Mang Palaungic Palaung (De'ang, Ta'ang) Riang Angkuic Hu (Angku, Kon Keu) Man Met (Kemie) U (Pouma) Waic Blang (Pulang, Samtao) Wa (Va) Vietic Vietnamese
Austronesian Formosan languages Tsat
Indo-European Russian Tocharian (extinct) Saka (extinct) Pamiri (mislabelled as "Tajik") Sarikoli Wakhi Portuguese (official in Macau) English (official in Hong Kong)
Yeniseian Jie (Kjet) (extinct) (?)
Mixed E (Tai–Pinghua mixed language) Hezhou (Uyghur-Mandarin mixed language or a Uyghur creole) Macanese Patois (Portuguese–Cantonese creole) Tangwang (Mandarin–Santa mixed language) Wutun (Lower Yangtze Mandarin–Amdo–Bonan mixed language)
Unclassified Rouran (Rouran) (extinct) Nam (extinct)
Written languages
The following ethnic minority languages traditionally had written forms that do not involve Chinese characters: Tai Lü language – Tai Lü alphabet Tai Nüa language – Tai Nüa script Dagur language – Manchu alphabet Hmongic languages – Hmong writing (Pollard script, Pahawh Hmong, Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong, etc.) Kazakh language – Kazakh alphabets Korean language – Chosŏn'gŭl alphabet Kyrgyz language – Kyrgyz alphabets Lisu language – Lisu script Manchu language – Manchu alphabet Mongolian language – Mongolian writing Naxi language – Dongba characters Qiang language or Rrmea language – Rma script Santa language – Arabic script Sui language – Sui script Tibetic languages – Tibetan script Uyghur language – Uyghur Arabic alphabet Xibe language – Manchu alphabet Loloish languages – Yi script
Many modern forms of spoken Chinese languages have their own distinct writing system using Chinese characters that contain colloquial variants. These typically are used as sound characters to help determine the pronunciation of the sentence within that language: Cantonese – Written Cantonese Shanghainese – Written Shanghainese Hokkien – Written Hokkien
Some non-Sinitic languages have historically used Chinese characters: Korean language – Hanja Vietnamese language – Chữ Nôm Zhuang languages – Sawndip Bouyei language – Bouyei writing () Bai language – Bai writing () Kam language – Dong writing ()
Other languages, all now extinct, used separate logographic scripts influenced by, but not directly derived from, Chinese characters: The Jurchens (Manchu ancestors) – Jurchen language – Jurchen script The Khitans (Mongolic people) – Khitan language – Khitan large and small scripts The Tanguts (Sino-Tibetan people) – Tangut language – Tangut script
During Qing dynasty, palaces, temples, and coins have sometimes been inscribed in five scripts: Chinese Manchu Mongol Tibetan Chagatai
During the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the official writing system was: 'Phags-pa script
Chinese banknotes contain several scripts in addition to Chinese script. These are: Latin alphabet (for Chinese) Mongolian script Tibetan script Arabic script (for Uyghur) Latin alphabet (for Zhuang)
Other writing system for Chinese languages in China include: Nüshu script Dongba symbols (pictograph) - Naxi language
Ten nationalities who never had a written system have, under the PRC's encouragement, developed phonetic alphabets. According to a government white paper published in early 2005, "by the end of 2003, 22 ethnic minorities in China used 28 written languages."
Language policy
One decade before the demise of the Qing dynasty in 1912, Mandarin was promoted in the planning for China's first public school system. There is a debated myth, prevalent among speakers of Yue Chinese, that Cantonese lost to Mandarin in a narrow vote on the language of the new Republic of China.
Standard Mandarin (Putonghua) has been promoted as the commonly spoken language for the People's Republic since 1956, based phonologically on the dialect of Beijing, grammatically and lexically on various Mandarin varieties, and stylistically on the writings of Mao Zedong and Lu Xun. Pronunciation is taught with the use of the romanized phonetic system known as pinyin. Pinyin has been criticized for fear of an eventual replacement of the traditional character orthography.
Ethnic minority language policy
The Chinese language policy in mainland China is heavily influenced by the Soviet nationalities policy and officially encourages the development of standard spoken and written languages for each of the nationalities of China. Language is one of the features used for ethnic identification. In September 1951, the All-China Minorities Education Conference established that all minorities should be taught in their language at the primary and secondary levels when they count with a writing language. Those without a writing language or with an "imperfect" writing language should be helped to develop and reform their writing languages.
However, in this schema, Han Chinese are considered a single nationality and the official policy of the People's Republic of China (PRC) treats the different varieties of Chinese differently from the different national languages, even though their differences are as significant, if not more so, as those between the various romance languages of Europe. While official policies in mainland China encourage the development and use of different orthographies for the national languages and their use in educational and academic settings, realistically speaking it would seem that, as elsewhere in the world, the outlook for minority languages perceived as inferior is grim. The Tibetan Government-in-Exile argues that social pressures and political efforts result in a policy of sinicization and feels that Beijing should promote the Tibetan language more.