subject: Echineselearning --the Best Online Mandarin Chinese School [print this page] The current form of Chinese language, which is known as "pu tong hua" to people in China and "mandarin" to other Chinese, developed out of the different ways in which dialects of Old Chinese and Middle Chinese evolved. Out of these dialects, there were generally 7 major dialects that showed the most significant change from dialect to Mandarin.
Most Chinese living in northern and south-western China are native speakers of a dialect of Mandarin. The prevalence of this linguistic homogeneity in northern China is largely the result of geography: much of northern China is covered by plains and is flat. In contrast to this, the mountains and rivers of southern China have promoted linguistic diversity.
Chronologically, there is no clear line to mark where Middle Chinese ends and Mandarin begins; however, the Zhngyun Ynyn, a rhyme book from the Yuan Dynasty, is widely regarded as a milestone in the history of Mandarin. In this rhyme book we see many characteristic features of Mandarin, such as the reduction and disappearance of final stop consonants and the reorganization of the Middle Chinese tones.
Until the mid-20th century, most Chinese people living in southern China spoke only their local language. Beijing Mandarin became dominant during the Manchu-ruling Qing Dynasty, and from the 17th century onward, the empire established orthoepy academies in an attempt to make local pronunciations conform to the Beijing standard so that the Emperor could communicate with all officials directly.
From an official point of view, there are two versions of Standard Mandarin, since the PRC government refers to that on the Mainland as Putonghua, whereas the ROC government refers to their official language as Kuo-y.
Technically, both Putonghua and Guoyu base their phonology on the Beijing accent, though Putonghua also takes some elements from other sources. Comparison of dictionaries produced in the two areas will show that there are few substantial differences. However, both versions of "school" Standard Mandarin are often quite different from the Mandarin dialects that are spoken in accordance with regional habits, and neither is wholly identical to the Beijing dialect. Putonghua and Guoyu also have some differences from the Beijing dialect in vocabulary, grammar, and usage.
It is important to note that the terms "Putonghua (Common Language)" and "Guoyu (National Language)" refer to speech, and hence the difference in the use of simplified characters and traditional characters is not usually considered to be a difference between these two concepts.
Cantonese is mainly spoken in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces and most of the overseas Chiinese communities in Autralia, Europe, North America and other parts of the world. But the number of Mandarin-speaking overseas Chinese people is increasing rapidly in recent years as more Taiwanese, people from Northern China emmirgrated have been playing a more active role in the world economy and culture exchange. Cantonese is the most extensively spoken Chinese dialect after Mandarin because of the strong influence of Hong Kongs economy and culture( pop songs, TV programs and movies) and also because more Cantonese people went abroad in the early years.
Interesting enough, BBS of the UK and Voice of America in the US use both Mandarin and Cantonese in their programs oriented to the Chinese listeners (no other Chinese dialect is used). The same is true in California. One broadcasting TV channel has Mandarin programs and another has Cantonese ones in Bay Areas in North California. And similar situation is found with the radio stations there.
