Protests in Guangdong in Regards to Cantonese Language
I’m pretty sure some of you have heard about the Asian Games (亞運) or the Asiad that takes place every four years with competing nations consisting of Asian nations that are part of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Some of the winners of these games in the events such as Basketball or Baseball will directly compete in the Olympics (someone correct me if I am wrong). The event is taking place November 12, 2010 to November 27, 2010 in the Capital of Guangzhou (Canton – 廣州), the capital of Guangdong (廣東). Guangzhou is going to take a major haul in change and upgrade due to the modernization that will be taking place for the city to accommodate the millions of visitors that are to come (similar to how Beijing (北京) was being modernized for the Olympic Games two years ago in 2008. However on July 29th, 2010, one additional move that the Chinese government has taken was trying to convince Cantonese based Guangdong TV news stations to switch their broadcasting from Cantonese (廣東話) to entirely Mandarin (普通話). While their proposal was to reach a wide audience of non-Cantonese speakers, thousands of Cantonese speakers (native and not) saw it as another convenient move by the Chinese government to remove what they see as a regional dialect and further push Mandarin.
For those of you who do not know, Cantonese people are pretty prideful of their culture and even more so towards their language. I am sure some people who think they know Cantonese people or Chinese people in general would say that it would be the last thing they would expect from them, but this video would say other wise…
Thousands of people gathered to protest the idea of banning Cantonese on TV stations
…by the way, 掉那媽 is a very intense curse word in Cantonese along with much of the other stuff they are saying, so the populace is cussing out the government. Do not learn please.
The protesting was intense enough that even foreigners (perhaps from Hong Kong or ex-patriots living in Guangdong) who I believe have learned Cantonese as well participated as well.
With a response this swift and this intensity, I highly doubt that the people will settle for the Cantonese language to be wiped out. Ever since the country placed Mandarin as its official language, there have been many reports that the government is try very hard to suppress the other dialects in the country to promote the Mandarin language in schools and public use. If this is true, then although this language ban on TV may seem like a small nuisance but the ramifications in the future may be drastic.
There has already been a large influx of non-Cantonese people into Guangdong itself. I do not mean foreigners who settle as ex-patriots in the region but Chinese people from differing regions. Guangzhou is a very industrialized and modern bustling city and many of China’s citizens want to take part in that. Since everyone can speak Mandarin but perhaps not Cantonese, the end result can be seen in cities such as Shenzhen (深圳) or Zhuhai (珠海) where most of the people speak Mandarin and not Cantonese. I have heard some friends that it just feels like the rest of China and not Guangdong anymore. Furthermore, a lot of Cantonese media and entertainment needs to cater to BOTH Cantonese and Mandarin in order to survive nowadays. Isn’t that pretty sad? Shouldn’t our proud language and culture be able to stand strong by itself? Cantonese is an official Language anywhere aside from Hong Kong and Macau and those are not even independent countries but rather Special Administrative Regions (特別行政區) of China itself. In 50 years after 1997 when the handover is complete, Hong Kong will be part of China. Who will control what the outcome of Cantonese is to be if the government is not already doing so? The people have to stand up such in times such as now.
Now looking back in retrospect, does the government really need to enforce such a change to the native language of this region? When celebrations like these take place for events of such caliber, would not you agree that the visitors are there to celebrate the very culture of that place? Beijing Olympics for example celebrated Chinese culture… but it was only that of Beijing so the language of Beijingers was used meaning Mandarin. It would only make logical sense that celebrating the Asian games in Canton we should in turn use Cantonese. What other language other than the one native to the land would be best to convey its beauty? You would not use German to describe the beauty of the city of Paris would you? You can argue that they are both European countries but Germany and France would never be the same right? Language is very important to people. A populace that loses its language will inevitably lose its culture as well. The best way to break people’s hopes and will is to break its own culture and language.
On the other hand, if the government was very focused on “allowing non-Cantonese people to understand the games through the stations,” a compromise could be made in place of outright replacing Cantonese with Mandarin on stations. One suggestion is to have the broadcast in Cantonese and subtitles in Mandarin. This is not anything new, Cantonese channels have been doing this for a very long time and this has allowed non-Cantonese people to understand the broadcast (and to some extent learn it too). How do you guys feel about these protests? What are your reactions?
Related Links
Asia Times Online – Cantonese cultural warriors fight back
VOA News – Anger Over Anti-Cantonese Moves in China
New York Times – Move to Limit Cantonese on Chinese TV Is Assailed
Yahoo! News – Southern Chinese oppose ban on Cantonese TV
Related posts:
Second Language? Native Language? Cantonese?
Arguments Over the Cantonese Language
Views of the Cantonese Language Protest
Less Than 100 Days until the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou!
Simplified Characters Might Cause Lost in Pronunciation for Cantonese
Comments
It's sad that the Chinese government isn't trying to preserve the diverse languages that are within the country. I think it's great that so many protesters showed up and showed their support for Cantonese!
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One language to unify all chinese. Regional tongues must be protected.
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HouHou Reply:
January 28th, 2011 at 3:45 am
Chinese… all Chinese can never be truly united. The Southern and Northern view of their own country is just too different. Northerners think the South aren’t real Chinese, while the Southerners say the North is full of brainwashed fools. Mao is worshipped in the North, but the South holds no respect for him.
Yes I am probably generalizing too much here, and I know I shouldn’t be stereotyping the North and the South like I’m having a mild case of “racism”, but ask them yourself. Perhaps we can be friends, but “do you think you are just like them? They are also Chinese.” The answer will likely be “no, we are different from them”.
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easier said than down. it will require work.
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Houhou, I have seen your posts on Cantonese sheik. I have to say, you are pretty entertaining…..cough…cough…mild case of racism….cough….cough. What do you mean by North and South. South as in canton or a bunch of provinces. Whats your definition of North and South. BTW, I have roots in Zhejiang and Mao came from Hunan (pretty damn south if you ask me) and he spoke Xiang. You probably love to see China carved up. Hey, maybe you and the Keefung can continue mouthing off. Pretty entertaining, what you folks can come up with.
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HouHou Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 6:13 am
To be honest I never viewed the Chinese community as Northern and Southern before, until youtube and Yahoo Answers showed me things that are probably left unknown. I have nothing against the North, and would certainly like Chinese people to get along (especially them Taiwanese dudes, gotta stop imagining themselves as Japanese lol), but from some of the media I have seen and the Northerners’ idea of Cantonese and other Southerners, it will be a long while before China can be glued down, rather than carved up.
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Chinastar85 Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
I have always regarded the cantonese as chinese. Back then, I had little knowledge about the so called North South tension. When I say unity, I mean respect. We have to acknowledge our regional differences. My parents speak the wu dialect. I do not give a damn about north or south. I have pride in my regional culture and my country. The central government should make cantonese compulsory in schools. Plus, you cantonese should form a major civil society organization to safeguard and promote Lingnan culture, which is different from North Plain culture. Cultural preservation is a dual responsibility. The government and the people, whom it concerns. If one party or both are not pulling their weight, everyone is screwed.
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MakMak Reply:
April 5th, 2011 at 9:29 pm
That’s the problem… how do we make an organization when the government suppresses everything? Where are we going to get funding for such things?
Yep, they can easily add subs in Mando instead of total replacements of the Cantonese. China should be proud of it's diverse chinese people and if they want ALL chinese to be proud of China too then they'd better not try to dominate too much in the non-Mando regions.
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