Mandarin and Cantonization

Talking about the spread of Mandarin usage in the SEA, I must relate a small story from my parents. Despite the fact that they received merely primary education at about the turn of 1960s, they converse to each other in Mandarin, never mind that they are both Fujianese.

Even until 80s when we went to school, we are reminded to speak more Mandarin and less vernacular. I believe this is true for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, the three former British colony. Even for Indonesian Chinese whom I met in HK, most of whom left Indonesia between 1950s-1960s, Mandarin is still proudly spoken among them.

These show how readily the SEA Chinese accept Mandarin as their own common language. A big credit to all the pioneers and successive generation of chinese educationist who have the foresight to install mandarin as the unifying spoken language for the disapora.

To this, you and I are indebted to.

The major resistance to Mandarin are perhaps among the Cantonese speaking peoples. I am increasingly affirmed of my view that there is a sort of Cantonese Cultural Imperialism. I know this is a big word and controversial. My own experience has been that the Cantonese speaking peoples tend to impose their own as the "lingua franca". This is true in KL and it is true in HK.

The phenomena in KL, I believe, is attributed to the rise of HK pop music and TVB popular dramas from the late 1970s.

It is my observation, maybe controversial, that the Cantonese speaking peoples instinctively regard Cantonese as more sophisticated than Mandarin which maybe true. The often cited evidence is that the Tang's poem is best read out in Cantonese than in Mandarin.

This observation is based on my 19 years (to be exact) experience living in the Cantonese speaking environment both here in HK and KL.

Let's me talk about my observation of HK, my adopted home. Many of the Chinese who lived in HK today are not originally Cantonese. According to the local Fujian organization, there is more than a million or so Fujianese in HK. Personally, I encounter many Chaozhou, Shanghainese and Hakka in my 9 years living in HK. By the way, there are substantial Hakka native in the New Territory.

So, the non-Cantonese number is definitely not small in HK.

However, the second generation are all converted into Cantonese speaking. This in large part is due to the British colonial policy in teaching the local cantonese. There is only one school that teaches Mandarin from the 1950s. Such is the miserable record and state of Mandarin in HK.

Upon the handover, the former Chief Executive advocated and implemented the mother tongue language policy which is right but got it wrong in that the mother toungue is Cantonese. CW Tung hails from Zhejiang.

That's ironic if it is viewed against what was happening in the SEA as KH brilliantly pointed out in the earlier post.

Surely, there must have been waves of "May 4th Chinese" (allow me to use this term for convenience) and nationalist Chinese (many famous scholars including my favorite historian Qian Mu 钱穆 who headed to HK during those difficult years. Yet Mandarin didn't stay as the mainstream.

What I find most amusing is that even the latest arrivals from the mainland after the handover are rushing to be Cantonized. When applying for their ID, they happily swap the pinyin to cantonese spelling for their name. Abandoning pinyin spelling supposedly make them Hong Kongers - this was what I overheard when I was applying for my son's ID. Maybe they are not aware that the local Hong Konger are adopting English names as their own.

Just last Sunday, an elderly couples spoke to me in Cantonese advising me that I should teach my sons "our language".

Of course the social political backdrop between HK and SEA are very different. Retaining Cantonese in post-handover is seen as keeping the "2 systems" in the "one country". Prior to the handover, the local Hong Kongers with memory of constant turmoil and persecution in the mainland from the Great Leap Forward to the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Incident, have their own reservation of anything Mainland and these surely include Mandarin that is seen as imposed top-down.

Only after the handover that the kids are beginning to learn Mandarin. My own observation is that the kids in the primary have better command in Mandarin than the older groups. And only after the SARs that the shopkeepers are beginning to speak Mandarin to the mainland visitors.

Let's wish Mandarin is really putong (universal) to all Chinese everywhere. This will realize one of the original intent of the May 4th pioneers. I hope I am not imputing this.