China showcases extensive linguistic diversity with 281 languages across nine language families. The distribution of speakers is quite uneven: out of a population exceeding 1.4 billion, 91.11 percent are Han Chinese who communicate in Putonghua and/or other Sinitic languages; the remaining 8.89 percent comprises non-Han Chinese or minority ethnic groups who speak around 200 additional languages. The south-west region, particularly Yunnan province, exhibits the highest linguistic diversity, evidenced by the variety of languages from distinct families, as illustrated in figure 1. This article examines language usage and dominance in Heqing county of Yunnan.
It is typical for individuals in linguistically diverse areas to acquire and use various languages through social and cultural interactions, including formal education, friendships with speakers of different languages, and voicing opinions at official gatherings. Patterns of multilingualism—how individuals employ two or more languages in various contexts—differ among communities. For example, in northern Vanuatu, due to frequent intergroup marriages, extensive trade networks, and cultural rituals, children often learn multiple languages from an early age. None of these languages dominate socially or politically, which linguists refer to as egalitarian multilingualism. Conversely, Yunnan currently demonstrates a pattern of hierarchical multilingualism, where languages are ranked based on their prevalence in different life domains: Standard Chinese (considered the official language encompassing both spoken and written forms) ranks above a local major language, which in turn is ranked above various minority languages.
The prominence of Standard Chinese in Yunnan and throughout China results from decades of national language promotion and linguistic policies. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the government has implemented various policies, including the adoption of simplified characters for writing, the promotion of Hanyu Pinyin as a standardized pronunciation teaching tool, and the establishment of Putonghua as the national spoken language to address the challenges posed by considerable linguistic diversity. These challenges include intergroup communication and high illiteracy rates, which have been persistent issues in China. Putonghua serves as the lingua franca, widely utilized in official settings like education, administration, and media.
The status of minority languages is also intricately connected to language policies. Unlike some provinces, the non-Sinitic languages in Yunnan lack substantial official recognition. While China's constitution acknowledges the right of all nationalities to use their spoken and written languages, in Yunnan, minority groups do not have the option to take the national college entrance examination in their own languages. For instance, Korean students in Jilin province's Yanbian can take the exam in Korean; however, such options are unavailable for Yunnan’s minority nationalities. Consequently, non-Han individuals in Yunnan face barriers to formally studying their native tongues and must learn Standard Chinese in school. Moreover, no minority group in Yunnan enjoys advantages in the college entrance examination despite differences in language intelligibility.
With Standard Chinese taking precedence, minority languages in Yunnan are often viewed as being on an equal footing. However, the community-level reality is complicated. The hierarchy of languages locally depends on the presence of a prominent minority language alongside Standard Chinese and the interactions among different groups. My observations, particularly with the Kua’nsi people in Yunnan, will illustrate this dynamic.
Approximately 5,000 Kua’nsi individuals reside in Liuhe Yizu township, located in Heqing county within the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan. Although the Kua’nsi are part of the Yi nationality, their language is not mutually intelligible with those of other Yi groups. The Kua’nsi identify themselves as the "Kua’nsi subgroup of Yi nationality." While Standard Chinese is prevalent in education and official matters, the Kua’nsi language primarily serves as the medium of communication among Kua’nsi people in their largely homogeneous villages. As Kua’nsi has no written form, they typically write using Chinese. Those who did not attend school rely on others to read and write in Chinese.
In Heqing county, where over 98 percent of the population is Bai, the local version of the Bai language, Heqing Bai, predominates. Kua’nsi individuals frequently interact with Bai communities and more recently with Han people, thus learning to speak or at least comprehend Heqing Bai and the local southwestern variant of Mandarin Chinese for communication beyond their villages. However, Bai or Han individuals rarely learn Kua’nsi to assimilate, with only one Bai man in the village having learned the language after marrying into the community.
Multilingualism patterns within the Kua’nsi have evolved. Older men are often bilingual in Kua’nsi and Heqing Bai, or sometimes even trilingual in both and the local southwestern Mandarin Chinese, while older women tend to be monolingual in Kua’nsi with limited understanding of Bai. Younger generations generally speak Kua’nsi and Putonghua, with some familiarity with Heqing Bai. Although bilingualism is prevalent,
The lives of Africans in Guangzhou have been adversely impacted by China's stringent visa and residency regulations, as well as police oversight. This includes direct visa checks that could result in deportation, and indirect monitoring in shopping malls where Africans conduct business, the hotels they occupy, and the community committees in their residential areas. The majority of African importers possess thirty-day tourist visas or visitor visas that last one to two months, which are inadequate for placing orders, waiting for factory deliveries, and managing shipping processes. Only a small percentage have managed to secure longer residency permits (up to one year) to operate cargo businesses or stores in China. Some individuals are residing there illegally, either on fraudulent visas (sometimes issued by deceitful visa agencies) or by overstaying due to a lack of funds to purchase a return ticket.
China's social credit initiatives originated twenty-five years ago, as officials and companies aimed to address issues such as the prevalence of counterfeit goods, triangular debt situations—where A lends to B, B lends to C, and C lends back to A, resulting in a stalemate of problematic debts that jeopardize financial stability—and a general lack of respect for the nation's laws and regulations. As a result, the central government and multiple ministries dedicated many years to creating data-sharing frameworks among typically segmented governmental bodies, along with establishing blacklists to penalize substantial offenders and incentives to encourage 'trustworthy' conduct.
Thank you for engaging with the China Story. The moment has arrived for us to part ways. The website will cease updates starting February 2025.
Chinese digital nationalism is experiencing a notable rise. A significant indication of this is the increasing public interest in cultural heritage across the nation, particularly among younger generations. They showcase their passion through the enthusiastic purchase of heritage items, such as traditional Hanfu 汉服 fashion, which includes the classic skirt known as mamianqun 马面裙 and the cheongsam, a widely recognized women's dress style from the early 20th century, also referred to as qipao. As reported by Alibaba’s digital marketing platform, in January 2024, sales of mamianqun rose by nearly 25 percent, while cheongsam sales increased by over 31 percent.
A common saying regarding communist regimes is that their leaders tend to overlook the intelligence provided to them. Martin Dimitrov explores the different internal reference materials under Xi and asserts their ongoing importance. In China, similar to other communist regimes, there are two categories of media: one that is publicly available and another that is restricted, accessible solely to regime insiders with the necessary clearances. This second category, referred to as neibu 内部 or 'internal circulation,' has not been as thoroughly examined by scholars.
In April 2024, the Taiwan Constitutional Court conducted a hearing regarding the potential violation of constitutional human rights guarantees by the death penalty. On September 20, it decided to maintain the death penalty, introducing some new safeguards for its application. Although a coalition of abolitionist non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and research institutions, spearheaded by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP), has spent twenty years campaigning for its abolition, numerous polls have consistently shown significant public resistance to eliminating the death penalty.
China boasts a significant level of linguistic diversity, with 281 languages belonging to nine different language families. However, the distribution of speakers among these languages is highly uneven. Of its total population exceeding 1.4 billion, 91.11 percent are Han Chinese who communicate in Putonghua and/or other Sinitic languages; the remaining 8.89 percent comprises non-Han Chinese or minority ethnic groups who speak an additional 200 languages.