Many standard speakers of Mandarin are not in Beijing. (Photo : Getty Images)
The country's capital, Beijing, does not have the most standard speakers of Mandarin. A study revealed that most of these standard Chinese speakers are found in the county of Luanping in Chengde, Hebei Province.
According to the People's Daily report, two linguists from the Chinese central government were sent to Luanping to conduct field research among the villagers early in the 1950s. They were surprised when they asked Bai Fengran to read alone and read in perfect pronunciation.
This made the county famous for having more Mandarin native speakers. The numbers even exceeded that of Beijing.
It is a common notion for many who want to learn Mandarin that Beijing is the place to go. However, most standard speakers are not found here.
There is still a big number of non-Mandarin or Putonghua speakers in China, according to Li Weihong, director of the State Language Commission.
"About 70 percent of the total population can speak Putonghua, and 95 percent of the literate population knows how to use standard Chinese characters. However, only 10 percent [of that 70 percent] can speak standard Putonghua fluently," he said.
China has seven major dialects. These are Cantonese, Hokkien, Xiang, and Wu, as well as thousands of smaller ones. Mandarin was named by the Chinese Communist Party as "common speech based on Beijing pronunciation" in 1955.
China's Law on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language states, "The standard spoken and written the Chinese language shall be used in such a way as to be conducive to the upholding of state sovereignty and national dignity, to unification of the country and unity of the nationalities, and to socialise material progress and ethical progress."
The government is advocating this and has required all media personalities to learn how to speak in Mandarin.
