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SOME FACTS
CHINESE: a language of China SIL code: CHN ISO
639-1: zh ISO 639-2(B): chi ISO 639-2(T): zho Population 867,200,000 in China (1999), 70%
of the population, including 8,602,978 Hui (1990 census). Other
estimates for Hui are 20,000,000 or more. 1,042,482,187 all
Han in China (1990 census). Population total all countries
874,000,000 first language speakers, 1,052,000,000 including
second language speakers (1999 WA). Region Covers all of mainland China north of
the Changjiang River, a belt south of the Changjiang from Qiujiang
(Jiangxi) to Zhenjiang (Jiangsu), Hubei except the southeastern
corner, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, the northwestern part of
Guangxi, and the northwestern corner of Hunan. Also spoken
in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia (Java and Bali), Laos, Malaysia
(Peninsular), Mauritius, Mongolia, Philippines, Russia (Asia),
Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, USA, Viet Nam. Alternate names MANDARIN, GUANHUA, BEIFANG FANGYAN,
NORTHERN CHINESE, GUOYU, STANDARD CHINESE, PUTONGHUA
Dialects HUABEI GUANHUA (NORTHERN MANDARIN), XIBEI GUANHUA (NORTHWESTERN MANDARIN),
XINAN GUANHUA (SOUTHWESTERN MANDARIN), JINGHUAI GUANHUA (JIANGXIA GUANHUA,
LOWER YANGZE MANDARIN). Classification Sino-Tibetan, Chinese.
Comments Wenli is a literary form. Written Chinese is based on the Beijing
dialect, but has been heavily influenced by other varieties of Northern Mandarin.
Putonghua is the official form taught in schools. Hezhouhoua is spoken in
the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture and Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
of southern Gansu Province, and in neighboring areas in Qinghai Province.
The grammar is basically Altaic or Tibetan, while the vocabulary and phonology
is basically Northwestern Mandarin, or a relexified variety of Tibetan. More
investigation is needed. Putonghua is inherently intelligible with the Beijing
dialect, and other Mandarin varieties in the northeast. Mandarin varieties
in the Lower Plateau in Shaanxi are not readily intelligible with Putonghua.
Mandarin varieties of Guilin and Kunming are inherently unintelligible to
speakers of Putonghua. Taibei Mandarin and Beijing Mandarin are fully inherently
intelligible to each other's speakers. The Hui are non-Turkic, non-Mongolian,
Muslims who speak Mandarin as first language. Hui is a separate official
nationality. The Hui correspond ethnically to 'Khoton', 'Hoton', or 'Qotong'
in Mongolia, 20,000 Muslim Chinese in Taiwan, and the Hui in Thailand. Several
hundred Chinese Jews in Kaifeng city, Henan Province are largely assimilated
to the Han or Hui Chinese, and speak Mandarin. They are officially recognized.
Investigation needed: intelligibility with varieties in Loess Plateau in
Shaanxi, varieties in Guillin and Kunming. Official language. Dictionary.
Grammar. SVO, SOV. If literate, they read Chinese. A few read Arabic. Chinese
characters. Official language taught in all schools in Han China and Taiwan.
Hui: agriculturalists (rural), traders (urban). Traditional Chinese religion,
Buddhist, Muslim (Hui), Jewish, Christian, secular. Bible 1874-1983. Also spoken in:
Brunei Language name CHINESE, MANDARIN
Population 15,000 in Brunei, 29.7% of ethnic Chinese (1979).
Comments Bible 1874-1983. See main entry under China. Indonesia (Java and Bali) Language name CHINESE,
MANDARIN
Population 460,000 speakers (1982 CCCOWE).
Comments Of the five to six million ethnic Chinese in Indonesia (1979 CCCOWE;
5,500,000 in 1976 or 4% of total population according to United Nations), 65%
(3,500,000 to 4,000,000) speak Indonesian in the home, 35% (2,000,000) speak
5 Chinese languages in the home. Bible 1874-1983. See main entry under China. Malaysia (Peninsular) Language name CHINESE,
MANDARIN
Population 417,070 in Malaysia (1970 census).
Comments Speakers are primarily urban, in business. Bible 1874-1983. See main
entry under China. Mongolia Language name CHINESE, MANDARIN
Population 35,000 in Mongolia (1993 Johnstone), including 2,000 Qotong (1982
estimate). Alternate names HOTON, QOTONG, HUI-ZU, HUI,
XUI, NORTHERN CHINESE, MANDARIN, HYTAD Comments Bilingualism in Halh Mongolian. Literacy
rate in second language: High in Halh or Mandarin. Those who
are traditionally Sunni Muslim in China (Hui) are known as
'Qotong' (Hoton) in Mongolia, 'Dungan' in Kyrgyzstan, 'Hui'
in Thailand. The majority of Chinese in Mongolia are not Muslim.
Distinct from Khoton (Hoton) of Mongolia. Secular, Maoism,
Confucian, Muslim. Bible 1874-1983. See main entry under China. Philippines Language name CHINESE, MANDARIN
Population 500 to 600 or 0.1% of Chinese population, including Chaochow dialect
of Min Nam (1982 CCCOWE). All ethnic Chinese are 53,273 (1990 censu), or
1.3% of the population (1993 Johnstone).
Comments Bible 1874-1983. See main entry under China. Singapore Language name CHINESE, MANDARIN
Population 201,000 speakers, 7.9% of population, and 880,000 second language
users (literate in Mandarin) in Singapore (1985 estimate).
Alternate names HUAYU, GUOYU
Comments Increasing use. 44% also use other Chinese varieties at home; 12%
use English at home. National language. Taught in schools. Bible 1874-1983.
See main entry under China. Taiwan Language name CHINESE, MANDARIN
Population 4,323,000 in Taiwan (1993), 20.1% of the population. Spoken as a
second language by over 15,000,000.
Alternate names KUOYU, MANDARIN, PUTONGHUA, GUOYU
Dialects TAIBEI MANDARIN.
Comments Fully inherently intelligible with Putonghua in China, but intelligible
with Benjing dialect with some difficulty. Nearly all mother tongue speakers
in Taiwan speak with Min-influenced grammar and various degrees of Min-influenced
pronunciation. Many of the educated strive to cultivate standard pronunciation.
Grammatical differences of the Taiwan variety often appear in writing. Many
of the 30 to 50 year-old generation in Taiwan are also fluent in Taiwan Min.
National language. Putonghua taught in all schools. Traditional Chinese, Buddhist,
Christian, Secular. Bible 1874-1983. See main entry under China. Thailand Language name CHINESE, MANDARIN
Population 5,880 in Thailand, .1% of the Chinese population in Thailand (1984
estimate).
Dialects HO (HAW, CIN HAW, YUNNANESE, WESTERN MANDARIN, HUI, HUI-TZE, HWEI,
PANGHSE, PANTHA, PANTHE, PATHEE).
Comments Chinese folk religion; Hui: Muslim. Bible 1874-1983. Chinese Language Internet Users There are two versions of Chinese (GB and Big5).
Both are the same language, and they are pronounced the same
and written with (more or less) the same characters. GB (Mandarin
Chinese) is the encoding of simplified version of Chinese used
in Mainland China and Singapore, while Big5 is the encoding
of old (traditional) version of Chinese that are still popular
in Taiwan, Hong Kong and overseas Chinese communities. Chinese-speakers live in most every country,
but the highest concentration outside of China is in the U.S.: China. Population 1,273 million (2000 est.;
CIA)
Gross Domestic Product: US$ 4.5 trillion (2000 est.; CIA)
GDP per capita : US$ 3800 (2000 est., CIA) Taiwan. Population 22.2 million
Gross Domestic Product : US$357 billion (1999 est.; CIA)
GDP per capita: US$16,100 (1999 est., CIA)
Hong Kong. Population 7.1 million
Gross Domestic Product : US$158 billion (1999 est., CIA)
GDP per capita : US$23,100 (1999 est., CIA)
U.S. There are 1.3 million Chinese-speakers
living in the U.S. (according to the U.S.Census Bureau, 1990
census). A more recent figure is 2 million.
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