Why I Choose to Defend Instead of Run
Sheep?
As many of you already know, my purpose for this website is to defend, promote, and protect Cantonese culture and language; it is a primary goal that I have decided to take upon and I do not intend on giving up. This is essentially my life and what essentially defines me. I am very sure that many of you out there who are Cantonese will feel the same way. I am also sure sometimes you would envy others such as Koreans, Japanese, or Vietnamese people who are our fellow Asian neighbors that enjoy recognition and have something grand and great for their people to be proud of. They also have institutions or groups that allow them to band together and unite because they have their language, their culture, and a nation that supports that. If you are like, you’d envy that. You’d envy the fact that people will never see you as Cantonese, only as Chinese. Yes, we are Chinese, but we see ourselves as Cantonese more, and the only people other than ourselves who tend to recognize that are Northern Chinese people who on average many would see us as “not as great as Mandarin speaking Chinese.” You would also feel that your language has no importance because they make it that way and you’re compelled to learn Mandarin even though it’s completely foreign to you no matter how much you learn it.
Map of China
However, before going on, I wish to firmly restate that the purpose of my website is to ONLY defend, promote, and protect Cantonese culture and language. I do NOT under ANY circumstances want to get into extra unnecessary affairs that do not concern this. I also believe that the approach with government of Mainland China (大陸) should not be to secede Canton (廣東) and related areas from the rest of the nation. I know this will anger many of you out there who are just as passionate as me in this language and culture but please before the flames and insults begin please hear me out.
Tell me, what makes you think that secession is even vaguely possible? Look at how small we are compared to the rest of Mandarin speaking China. If we were to secede, not only could China go to war with us, but they could also eliminate our newborn “Nation” economically as well. In addition, why must we foster hate? An eye for an eye right? They hated on our culture and suppressed our language first so we must retaliate! … and what in the slightest sense do you believe that will work? All this hatred towards Mandarin the language and dissing it will get us nowhere; in fact that will just waste our valuable time. What makes you think that if were cursing, throwing insults or violent assaults that we will get the rest of the world to believe that “We are Civilized people! Please help us save our language!” I believe we should be doing things the opposite way. So you guys tell me what you think.
Cantonese Protests
We have to first be united in our voice; the Cantonese Language protests these past months have demonstrated that our brothers and sisters in Guangdong and Hong Kong are capable of uniting, so now it’s our turn to do so as well on the internet. This is the main reason I created this website, to inform everyone and to eventually teach everyone Cantonese too until the day where Cantonese languages classes exist at an extensive amount. I also want to inform the people out there in the world that Cantonese to Chinese culture and language-wise can be comparable to British English to the rest of Europe. Things are different I want people to know, appreciate and learn them too. I hope there are many of you that feel this way as well.
So I’m sure you will all begin to ask “If we don’t retaliate the way that you said not to above, then what method or procedure to you expect us to act in?” Our generation of Cantonese people are facing one of the most tough times because of this language and cultural attack. However, at the same time, we are in one of the most easiest times to organize ourselves with the internet. I want to be able to teach Cantonese to people who are not even Chinese and give them incentives to do so such as movies, music, pop culture, interesting history stories, legends, etc. The ability to love is much easier than to hate. The government of China can possibly be harsh, we don’t know for sure what goes through their minds, but I certainly doubt they are stupid. They cannot crush something as vocal as a united non-violent front against Cantonese as a whole. I however, cannot do this alone. I require all the assistance I need.
Help from abroad
Aside from Cantonese, I know many other cultures such as Shanghainese, and Minnan, Xiang, Gan, etc. perhaps even some that are not even Chinese or eastern that are the brink of destruction or just threatened. Just like for Cantonese, I would encourage you to go out and make a difference and wish you the best of luck. Power does not stem from violence and fear; power stems from the people. Without the support of the people, no governing body whether it be as large as a nation or as small as a website can survive. Therefore I need all your support to support this website, this cause, and this language and culture. I have currently just released the forums/bbs for my cause. Please join and discuss (don’t be afraid if it’s empty, I just released it!) http://forums.canton168.com
In closing, my thoughts simply stated are: I do not wish to grow up in a world without Cantonese. A world where my children and grandchildren ask me “Why don’t we know Cantonese?” If you yourself are Cantonese, how would you respond to that? “Cantonese became useless and no one taught or used it anymore” like this? Then what if they ask you “How come it became useless?” I never wish to be the one who will say to them “Because your father did not do anything to prevent it.”
Coming Soon:
Cantonese Language and Culture Wiki
Cantonese Language and Culture Website Network (if you have a blog or website dedicated to it, please leave it here in the comments, this is the best way to spread the message around the world, not only do we need the help from those in Guangdong 廣東 and Hong Kong 香港 but also those of our brothers and sisters abroad)
Related posts:
Second Language? Native Language? Cantonese?
Qingming Festival Along With Useful Terms
Simplified Characters Might Cause Lost in Pronunciation for Cantonese
Differences between Mandarin and Cantonese; Written and Spoken
Chopsticks Taboo: Don’t Stab Your Rice!
Comments
Mak, honestly, I do not envy the Japanese, Koreans or Vietnamese in any way related to institution protecting their languages. I am only concerned about the future of Cantonese.
And I want to tell you mate, YOU HAVE MY SUPPORT ALL THE WAY!!! Thank you Mak
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Very well written, was a pleasure to read!
I wish the Chinese gov. would someday embrace the different languages/dialects that the country’s enriched with. Mandarin would be like English in Europe for communication with other regions. With the local language/dialect for communication within the local province.
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Don’t worry. We will win. There’s no use waiting for the government to come and rescue Cantonese. It’s up to us to keep it alive and growing, by exposing more and more people to it. That is my life goal.
So it would GREATLY help if Chinese people, when foreigners like me and my students address them in Cantonese, don’t answer in English or Mandarin or any other language BUT Cantonese.
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MakMak Reply:
September 12th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
I know we will, so long as we have the support of all Cantonese people in the whole world and all Cantonese speakers of any ethnicity in the world such as yourself. The forums part of this website, I want to turn into an international Cantonese community. Yes it is being used in English right now, but I have people from Guangzhou and HK and other places ready to assist. And I will make separate parts of the forum for other languages. Cantonese people may not have a country to call its own, but as long as we have a place to call home for each other, our culture and language will survive.
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As a mandarin speaker, I give you cantonese speakers props. You guys are standing up for your culture and heritage. However, I feel uneasy that cantonese people might differ themselves entirely from the rest of China. After all ,we han chinese belong to the same nation. Our ethnic group is diverse and should be celebrated. Hakka, fujianese, shanghainese, wu, gan, xiang, etc. we are all chinese. Cantonese people have every right to be proud of who they are. I like to think back to dr. Sun Yat Sen who unified the han people into a modern nation. We have our differences and regional stereotypes but we must be united.
PS: Check out rocantonia on youtube.
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MakMak Reply:
December 24th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Perfect! Exactly!
True, I do not disagree with that. All those types of Chinese (ethnic minorities aside) should recognized yes. At the same time, we’re all Chinese so I firmly state I do NOT advocate any type of secession or anything nonsensical in the sense of HK or Canton or anything.
Unification gives us power, but at the same time I believe that our differences make us strong as well.
We are not affiliated with ROCANTONIA. Not all Cantonese supporting people want secession. All of us want are language and culture preserved and not oppressed. Some may take passive means whereas some make radical moves. I prefer the middle road.
On a side note: It’s usually a 50/50 chance a native Mandarin speaker would look at us in some positive light. I thank you for that.
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Actually, cantonese people have a country. Its called China. If you seccede, you will suffer the consequences. I wont let you. The previous username houses a vietnamese, vocally urging seccession.
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Sorry for my rough language earlier. Remember the times when we suffered under the weak qing regime and fought against foreign agressors. The sun yat sen memorial hall in guangzhou resonates chinas pride. I went their last summer to pay my respects. The whampoa military academy off the coast of guangzhou was the breeding ground of Chinas best military officers, who fought Japanese aggression. I remember Yuan Chonghuan, cantonese general during the ming dynasty. He was a fine strategist who fought manchu incursions into our country. I could go on and on but there were many moments when the cantonese and their northern brethren stood united against foreign agression. Trust me, regional bigotry is inevitable but we will stand together when a foreign group unwittingly bashes us. That is a promise
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MakMak Reply:
December 24th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
True, we have China… but what we need is a China that will protect our language instead of “discourage all use of languages aside from 普通话！”
If China protected, encouraged learning of, and supported Cantonese in addition to firmly stating “everyone must know Mandarin.” That I accept. We need the latter, but we can’t forget the former, right?
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Some cantonese advocate radical decisions because they are in the heat of the moment. They are upset with their current developments. They have pride in their identity. This, I can firmly understand.
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My parent came from Hainan island of Hakka/Cantonese ancestry.
We speak Hakka at home and are proud to speak Mandarin in public.
We do not feel that by using Mandarin more extensive will perish our mother tongue.
On the contrary, Mandarin enrich our mother tongue and I believe enrich other Chinese dialects.
There is a Mandarin radio channel in Jakarta despite most of the listeners are of Hokkien/Hakka/Cantonese/Hainanese/Teochiew descents.
We love our mother tongues.
We love Mandarin.
Beware !! non-Chinese peoples who are pretending to help preservation of Chinese dialects.
These peoples are secretly trying to create Republic of Guangdong, Republic of Fujian, Republic of Hakka, etc.
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MakMak Reply:
August 24th, 2011 at 8:44 am
First, I do not advocate any new Republic of anything like that unless by some major debacle that China becomes a Confederacy and the aforementioned Republics are part of.
Regardless, Mandarin (or some language) needs to be the uniting factor between everything. Kinda like how French (now English) united all of Europe (I mean, it WAS called lingua FRANCA for a reason).
Just to be clear, being proud to speak Mandarin in public is good. Being proud to speak Hakka, Cantonese, Hokkien, etc. in public is good too.
I do not support crushing any language over another (this includes Mandarin, I will never advocate its death).
粵語,閩語,客家，普語,共同和其生存.
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In Turino few years ago, to assure completely that one understand I carefully slowly using English asking direction of an address, guy responded in Italian“no inglese”. As you might already aware, to many Europeans such as the French, German, Italian, Spanish, the English language sound awful and annoying. It is use in Europe particularly for bussiness purpose only.
To many overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, the Mandarin language sound awesome, impressive, scholarly and inspiring. In several areas such as Southern Peninsula of Malaysia, Sabah of Malaysia, Southern Sumatera of Indonesia, Mandarin is the mother tongue despite of Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka ancestries. Mandarin is more than lingua franca. English is not the source of the history and culture of European. Mandarin is the sources of many of the history and great culture of Chinese people.
Go ! go ! long live Cantonese dialect, long live Hakka dialect, Hokkien dialect. Go ! go ! worship our mother tongue as high as God but please do not insult our national PUTUNGHUA language no matter how hard it takes for us to learn.
In the event of international contest such as Asian Games Guangzhou 2010, the request from of China government for more Mandarin broadcast and media in Guangzhou should be acceptable.
In the event of provisional contest, the wide usage of local dialect should be tolerance.
We are a Chinese before a Hakka, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hainanese, Teochew, etc. The issue of North-South dialects sould be discussed and solved among the Chinese only. Some non-Chinese peoples are very happy to see China split into pieces.Use our valuable time to promote unity. Prevent Republic of Taiwan
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MakMak - Cantonese Language Reply:
August 25th, 2011 at 8:54 am
China as a whole together. I support.
Erasing Cantonese for Mandarin? Even as TV channels? Unacceptable
There’s already too few Cantonese Channels to begin with.
You might think Mandarin sounds awesome, but you can’t speak for everyone. I think it’s good too. But not everyone thinks so.
Both living together in harmony? I accept.
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Hope you will succeed with your ideas. I love Cantonese not only because is my mother tongue but also it is very interesting language.
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MakMak Reply:
September 14th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Thanks
Thanks for assisting me, 老友
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