Editing Mandarin Chinese (section)

===Standard Chinese===
{{Main|Standard Chinese}}
The variant of Mandarin as spoken by educated classes in [[Beijing]] was made the official language of China by the [[Qing dynasty]] in the early 1900s and the successive Republican government. In the early years of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], intellectuals of the [[New Culture Movement]], such as [[Hu Shih]] and [[Chen Duxiu]], successfully campaigned for the replacement of [[Literary Chinese]] as the written standard by [[written vernacular Chinese]], which was based on northern dialects. A parallel priority was the definition of a standard national language ({{lang-zh|t=國語|w=Kuo²-yü³|s=国语|p=Guóyǔ|first=t}}). After much dispute between proponents of northern and southern dialects and an abortive attempt at [[Old National Pronunciation|an artificial pronunciation]], the [[National Languages Committee|National Language Unification Commission]] finally settled on the Beijing dialect in 1932. The People's Republic, founded in 1949, retained this standard, calling it {{zhp|p=pǔtōnghuà|s=普通话|t=普通話|l=common speech}}.{{sfnp|Ramsey|1987|pp=3–15}} Some 54% of speakers of Mandarin varieties could understand the standard language in the early 1950s, rising to 91% in 1984.  Nationally, the proportion understanding the standard rose from 41% to 90% over the same period.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=27–28}}

This standard language is now used in education, the media, and formal occasions in both [[mainland China]] and [[Taiwan]], as well as among the [[Chinese Singaporeans|Chinese community of Singapore]].{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=247}}{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=63–64}} However, in other parts of the [[Sinophone|Chinese-speaking world]], namely [[Hong Kong]] and [[Macau]], the standard form of Chinese used in education, the media, formal speech, and everyday life remains the local [[Cantonese]] because of their colonial and linguistic history.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=62–63}} While Standard Mandarin is now the medium of instruction in schools throughout China, it still has yet to gain traction as a common language among the local population in areas where Mandarin dialects are not native.{{sfnp|Zhang|Yang|2004}} In these regions,  people may be either [[diglossia|diglossic]] or speak the standard language with a notable accent.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=41–46}} However, since the start of the 21st century, there has been an effort of mass education in Standard Mandarin Chinese and discouragement of local language usage by the Chinese government in order to erase these regional differences.<ref>Wong, Wing. [https://www.mironline.ca/the-slow-death-of-chinas-dialects/ The Slow Death of China's Dialects] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812204137/https://www.mironline.ca/the-slow-death-of-chinas-dialects/ |date=2021-08-12 }}, ''McGill International Review'', 21 Feb 2019.</ref>

From an official point of view, the mainland Chinese and the Taiwanese governments maintain their own forms of the standard under different names. The codified forms of both ''Pǔtōnghuà'' and ''Guóyǔ'' base their [[phonology]] on the Beijing accent, and also take some elements from other sources, and deviate from the Beijing dialect in vocabulary, grammar, and [[pragmatics]].{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=136–137}} Comparison of dictionaries produced in the two areas will show that there are few substantial differences. However, both versions of "school-standard" Chinese are often quite different from the Mandarin varieties that are spoken in accordance with regional habits, and neither is wholly identical to the [[Beijing dialect]].{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=37–41, 46–48}}

The written forms of Standard Chinese are also essentially equivalent, although [[simplified Chinese characters|simplified characters]] are used in mainland China and Singapore, while [[traditional Chinese characters|traditional characters]] remain in use in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=162–163}} Singapore has followed mainland China in officially adopting simplified characters.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|p=163}}