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Chinese
Language Groups
The people who speak Chinese.
Chinese language is
the language of the Han people (Hanyu), it is the
oldest written language in the world with at least 6,000 years of
history.
Chinese belongs to
the standard Sino-Tibetan languages family, it includes variants from
seven main dialect groups. The northern or Mandarin dialect covers
three fourth of China's territory and includes two thirds of its
population. Standard Chinese is also known by its official designation,
Putonghua, literally means "common speech", it is the most widely
spoken of all.
The major Chinese
language group is Chinese people in the People's Republic of China,
which has a population of over 1.3 billion. Approximately 95 percent of
the Chinese population speak Chinese, the rest speak non-Chinese
languages such as Tibetan, Mongolian, Lolo, Miao, and Tai, etc.
Chinese is also used
by substantial numbers of population in other southeast Asia countries,
especially in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Chinese-speaking communities are also growing around the world in North
and South America, Europe and Africa. It is one of the languages the
United Nations uses when conducting official businesses.
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