What is the Language of China?

The official language of China is Chinese Mandarin.

How many dialects in the Chinese Language?

China is a vast country with a huge number of different languages and dialects, as a result of its huge and diverse population. There isn’t an official number for the amounts of dialects spoken in China, but its certainly 100 or more.

Official classification and categorisation of these dialects is an extremely complex topic and varies widely based on opinion and linguistic criteria. The Chinese language dialects typically fall into 10 major language families:

Dialect	Region
Mandarin Chinese	The official language of China
Cantonese	Southern China and Hong Kong
Shanghainese	Shanghai
Hokkien	Fujian and Taiwan
Hakka	Various parts
Tibetan	Tibet Autonomous Region
Uighur	Xinjiang
Mongolian	Inner Mongolia
Tibeto-Burman	Yunnan, Sichuan, Other parts
Korean / Manchu / Others	Various Parts

Chinese Ethnic Groups

There are 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China.

Name	Simplified Chinese	Pinyin	% of Population
Han	汉族	Hàn zú	91.11%
Zhuang	壮族	Zhuàng zú	1.38%
Uygur	维吾尔族	Wéi wú’ěr zú	0.84%
Hui	回族	Huí zú	0.81%
Miao	苗族	Miáo zú	0.79%
Man	满族	Mǎn zú	0.74%
Yi	彝族	Yí zú	0.70%
Tujia	土家族	Tǔ jiā zú	0.68%
Zang	藏族	Zàng zú	0.50%
Mongol	蒙古族	Měng gǔ zú	0.45%
Kazak	哈萨克族	Hā sà kè zú	0.41%
Bouyei	布依族	Bù yī zú	0.25%
Dong	侗族	Dòng zú	0.25%
Yao	瑶族	Yáo zú	0.23%
Bai	白族	Bái zú	0.15%
Hani	哈尼族	Hā ní zú	0.12%
Chosŏn	朝鲜族	Cháo xiǎn zú	0.12%
Li	黎族	Lí zú	0.11%
Dai	傣族	Dǎi zú	0.09%
Lisu	傈僳族	Lì sù zú	0.05%
She	畲族	Shē zú	0.05%
Dongxiang	东乡族	Dōng xiāng zú	0.06%
Gelao	仡佬族	Gē lǎo zú	0.05%
Lahu	拉祜族	Lā hù zú	0.04%
Sui	水族	Shuǐ zú	0.04%
Wa	佤族	Wǎ zú	0.03%
Naxi	纳西族	Nà xī zú	0.02%
Qiang	羌族	Qiāng zú	0.02%
Tu	土族	Tǔ zú	0.02%
Mulao	仫佬族	Mù lǎo zú	0.02%
Kirgiz	柯尔克孜族	Kē’ěr kè zī zú	0.01%
Xibe	锡伯族	Xī bó zú	0.01%
Salar	撒拉族	Sā lā zú	0.01%
Jingpo	景颇族	Jǐng pō zú	0.01%
Daur	达斡尔族	Dá wò’ěr zú	0.01%
Blang	布朗族	Bù lǎng zú	0.01%
Maonan	毛南族	Máo nán zú	0.01%
Tajik	塔吉克族	Tǎ jí kè zú	0.00%
Pumi	普米族	Pǔ mǐ zú	0.00%
Achang	阿昌族	Ā chāng zú	0.00%
Nu	怒族	Nù zú	0.00%
Ewenki	鄂温克族	È wēn kè zú	0.00%
Gin	京族	Jīng zú	0.00%
Jino	基诺族	Jī nuò zú	0.00%
Bonan	保安族	Bǎo’ān zú	0.00%
Deang	德昂族	Dé’áng zú	0.00%
Russ	俄罗斯族	É luó sī zú	0.00%
Yugur	裕固族	Yù gù zú	0.00%
Uzbek	乌孜别克族	Wū zī bié kè zú	0.00%
Monba	门巴族	Mén bā zú	0.00%
Oroqen	鄂伦春族	È lún chūn zú	0.00%
Derung	独龙族	Dú lóng zú	0.00%
Hezhen	赫哲族	Hè zhé zú	0.00%
Lhoba	珞巴族	Luò bā zú	0.00%
Tatar	塔塔尔族	Tǎtǎ’ěr zú	0.00%
Gaoshan	高山族	Gāo shān zú	0.00%
Uncategorised	未识别民族	Wèi Shìbié Mín zú	0.06%
Foreigners	外国人加入中国籍	Wài guó rén Jiā rù Zhōng guó jí	0.00%

The History of the Language of China

Today the language of China, Mandarin, boasts the top spot for the most natively spoken language in the world, resulting from the vast population in modern day China. It is large enough and important enough to be one of six official United Nations languages.

Ancient Chinese

The Language of China, Chinese Mandarin, has an ancient history. It is currently the old written language in the world, with a 6000 year history. The modern day characters can be traced back to their ancient origins, usually showing a pictographic style character with a close connection to the meaning.

Classical Chinese

During the Han Dynasty (200 BC) classical Chinese became the literary and administrative language of China, being used as the base for formal documents, poetry and texts. It continued to be the official language for centuries to come, including the famous works of Confucious.

Through the years, it developed and evolved over time, spreading and emerging as various dialects of Chinese Mandarin all over China. It is thought that the northern dialect became pivotal in the development of modern day Chinese Mandarin.

Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties

During the Yuan Dynasty (circa 1300 AD), the Man Chu empire spread the use of the northern dialect of Chinese Mandarin. This was further re-inforced by the succeeding Ming Dynasty (circa 1500 AD).

The Qing Dynasty (circa 1600-1900 AD) expanded into territories already speaking a Chinese Mandarin dialect. In order to unify China, the northern Dialect of Chinese Mandarin was marked as the official language of China.

Modern Day Chinese Mandarin – The Language of China

In the early 20th century, especially after the fall of the Qing dynasty the Republic of China made efforts to establish “Guo Yu”, the national language of China.

The peoples republic of China officially adopted a new standard in 1955, known as “Pu Tong Hua” or “The Common Speech”. This still carries large element of the original northern dialect of the classical Chinese dialect. This is the language of China in the modern day.

Pinyin

As the globalisation came in, the important of China on the world stage grew in importance. The Pinyin system was then introduced to facilitate literacy and the studying of Chinese Mandarin as a foreign language.

Pinyin is a form of Chinese Mandarin by where the characters can be represented by Roman lettering.

Conclusion

Although an ancient language, the language of Chinese (Chinese Mandarin) is still very relevant on the global scene. With the rapidly growing economy of China and the growing interesting in all things Chinese, the language will continue to be relevant and useful for those brave enough to study it as a foreign language.

If you are interested in learning to read and use Chinese characters, check out this article: Study Chinese Characters: 6 Easy Points to Start Today or https://discover.hubpages.com/education/learning-chinese-characters

If you are more interested in grasping the Chinese language as a whole, and learning to speak Chinese Mandarin, check out this article: How To Speak Chinese – 8 Critical Starting Points