2010 controversy over proposed increase of adoption of Standard Mandarin by Guangzhou Television
Encyclopedia
In July 2010, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Guangzhou Committee, in a written proposal to mayor of Guangzhou
Wan Qingliang
, suggested increasing Standard Chinese
(Putonghua) programming in the General Channel and News Channel of Guangzhou Television
(GZTV). The proposal sparked widespread controversy, met with fierce criticism in Cantonese
-speaking cities including Guangzhou and Hong Kong
and eventually triggered a protest in Guangzhou. In a formal response, GZTV rejected the proposal, citing “historic causes and present demands” as reasons for Mandarin-Cantonese bilingualism.
that the state promotes nationwide use of the language.
(SARFT). Permission from state or provincial authorities is required for using a dialect as the primary programming language at radio and television stations.
In 1988, the Ministry of Radio, Film, and Television, predecessor of the SARFT, approved the use of Cantonese by Guangdong Television (GDTV) in its Pearl River Channel and Guangzhou Television
as a countermeasure against the influence of Hong Kong
television in the Pearl River Delta
region. The Satellite Channel of Southern Television Guangdong (TVS) is another major channel in China offering Cantonese programming and is the only Cantonese channel permitted to be broadcast worldwide via satellite.
In elementary and secondary schools, the medium of instruction
is mandated by law to be Mandarin. Use of Mandarin is also ubiquitously promoted in schools. In contrast, most, if not all, local schools do not offer classes on Cantonese, although this is not explicitly forbidden by law.
In the past few years, there have been a number of newspaper reports about students in Guangzhou being punished for speaking Cantonese in school and even outside the classroom. One elementary school in Yuexiu District
, Guangzhou reportedly requires students to speak Mandarin not only in classes but also during their spare time, and threatens to deduct points from their records if they fail to comply. This has caused some children to become reluctant to learn and use Cantonese or unable to understand or communicate in Cantonese at times.
Also contributing to the decline is the influx of migrant population
into Guangzhou as a result of the city’s economic and developmental advantages in the country. Increase of non-Cantonese-speaking population in the city leads to an increased number of non-Cantonese-speaking teachers in schools, forcing students to speak Mandarin on more occasions than Cantonese.
. Following the transition, viewership of the channel plummeted from 0.34 to 0.09. The channel’s noontime news program reverted to Cantonese in January 2010 due to low ratings.
Soft Environment to Guangzhou mayor Wan Qingliang , which explicitly voiced that GZTV should increase Mandarin programming by either adopting Mandarin as its primary programming language or converting all prime-time programs into using Mandarin and serving reruns in Cantonese.
named by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, GZTV is the only one whose main channel is not broadcast nationwide via satellite, because the majority of its programs are in Cantonese, while Mandarin programming is one of the requirements of SARFT approval for satellite broadcasting. The CPPCC Guangzhou Committee also asserted that only if GZTV achieved satellite broadcasting would Guangzhou live up to its status as a National Central City, and it would also facilitate more people to know about Guangzhou.
s; only a minority of reactions were positive. In response to media interviews, local citizens expressed concerns about the possibility of Cantonese being lost, particularly in the younger generations, although there were also more optimistic and neutral opinions.
Netizens created artworks that satirized the proposal and promoted Cantonese. Some made a sarcastic poster mimicking that of the movie Echoes of the Rainbow
. The title of the poster, Cantonese-breaking Thief , has the same pronunciation as that of the movie in both Cantonese and Mandarin. Some others made a poster taking the style of propaganda posters that were popular before the 1990s, with text reading “Cantonese
speak Cantonese; go home if you cannot understand it”.
On July 11, 2010, a group of Guangzhou youngsters carried out a flashmob
-style gathering in the People’s Park in Guangzhou to promote Cantonese, singing Boundless Oceans Vast Skies and Glorious Years, two famous Cantonese works by Hong Kong-based band Beyond
, and the Cantonese adaptation of the theme song from Japanese anime
Dr. Slump
, known to many born in the 1980s.
’s Jiangnanxi Station
in a protest to criticize the CPPCC Guangzhou Committee’s proposal and support Cantonese. Organizers of the activity had informed local police in advance, but were forced by the authorities to cancel it. People, however, gathered regardless.
During the gathering, the crowd shouted slogans promoting Cantonese, including the battle cry of a famous Cantonese
general, Yuan Chonghuan
, and mocking at Ji Keguang, who was believed to be the most active supporter in the CPPCC Guangzhou Committee; they also sang Glorious Years by Beyond. Despite its size, the crowd stayed peaceful and maintained order.
Local police were dispatched to the scene and exercised restraint throughout, and there was no physical clashes between the protesters and the police. The crowd was dispersed at 6:30pm, when dusk fell and it started to rain.
, and the mother tongue of Guangdong people; it is also a bond connecting overseas Chinese
, for most of them speak only Cantonese." He further suggested introducing a new Mandarin satellite channel instead of reducing Cantonese programming.
Zeng Zhi , director of GZTV’s General Editor Office, questioned satellite broadcasting as a motivation for GZTV shifting to Mandarin, saying that satellite broadcasting was a complicated and difficult issue, and might not be attained even if Cantonese was ditched.
Chen Yang , who is celebrated by local television audience for his blunt criticism of government policies and behaviors when hosting News Eyes for GZTV since the show’s inception in February 2004 until being forced to leave in December 2008, sighed, "Cantonese is in degeneracy… Behind a dialect forced into extinction there must be a weakened culture."
Zhan Bohui , honorary director of Jinan University
’s Chinese Dialect Research Center, defended the proposal, declaring that increasing Mandarin was to cater to the migrant population in Guangzhou, to whom Cantonese was unintelligible.
Ji Keguang , the most prominent proponent of the proposal, when requested for comment on the 90% agreement to Cantonese programming in the online survey, responded with "They need guidance", which eventually put him at the center of criticism from local citizens and netizens. Ji also downplayed the feasibility of introducing a new Mandarin channel as he believed that a new channel would be very costly and lack time to mature before the 2010 Asian Games.
, secretary of the Communist Party of China
(CPC) Guangdong
Committee, noted in a session of the committee on July 16, 2010 that the important upcoming work was “education, to enlighten and culture the people with education”. The remark was interpreted by the Hong Kong-based Apple Daily
as the authorities maintaining a hard-line stance against popular calls to protect Cantonese.
Su Zhijia , deputy secretary of the CPC Guangzhou Committee, explicitly denied the existence of “popularizing Putonghua while abolishing Cantonese” in an interview with GZTV on July 20, 2010, saying that the government had no intentions to abandon or weaken Cantonese. Meanwhile, he still encouraged local citizens to master Mandarin and use the language on formal occasions and in public places, reflecting the government’s policy of promoting it.
with surname Yu
(余) was arrested for instigating the event with ulterior motives.
, two from Cable TV and one from Reuters
. Others gave the figure at 3000 people attending the Guangzhou rally with 7 journalists arrested. A protester asked a police officer why he was carried away for protecting his own culture as he was not breaking any laws. Another person in the rally said he has never seen that many police in his entire life. About 200 people attended another rally in Hong Kong at the same time in Southorn Playground
in Wan Chai
.
At the end of August a 24-year old female from native Guangzhou named Deng Xiaoying (鄧XX) was revealed to have started the campaign with her friends on July 11 asking Cantonese speakers to sing Cantonese songs. Government officials called her home and warned her not to take part in any campaign. At the time she believe the campaign should continue.
On 18 and 19 September 2010, famous Hongkong activist Cai Shufang (蔡淑芳) and famous blogger Zhong Shuangyu (鍾雙羽) led the global Cantonese supporting assembly. However, because of the preparation by the Chinese government, the assembly only been held on time in Hongkong and United States.
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
Wan Qingliang
Wan Qingliang
Wan Qingliang is a Chinese politician who is the current Mayor of Guangzhou, China. He was appointed in 2010.-Biography:...
, suggested increasing Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
(Putonghua) programming in the General Channel and News Channel of Guangzhou Television
Guangzhou Television
Guangzhou Broadcasting Network , also known as GZBN, is a commercial television network in Guangzhou . It made its first broadcast on January 1, 1988.-Channel listing:All the following channels can be viewed in Guangzhou and Foshan ....
(GZTV). The proposal sparked widespread controversy, met with fierce criticism in Cantonese
Standard Cantonese
Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a language that originated in the vicinity of Canton in southern China, and is often regarded as the prestige dialect of Yue Chinese....
-speaking cities including Guangzhou and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and eventually triggered a protest in Guangzhou. In a formal response, GZTV rejected the proposal, citing “historic causes and present demands” as reasons for Mandarin-Cantonese bilingualism.
Mandarin as the official language
Beijing made Mandarin the country’s official language in 1982, leading to bans on other languages at many radio and television stations. This status was confirmed by the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language, which went into effect on January 1, 2001. This law implements the provision in the Constitution of the People's Republic of ChinaConstitution of the People's Republic of China
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the highest law within the People's Republic of China. The current version was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982 with further revisions in 1988, 1993, 1999, and 2004. Three previous state constitutions—those of...
that the state promotes nationwide use of the language.
Use of Cantonese on television
Due to Mandarin’s status as the official language, use of the country’s other languages in television as well as radio and film is rigorously restricted by the State Administration of Radio, Film, and TelevisionState Administration of Radio, Film, and Television
The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television is an executive branch under the State Council of the People's Republic of China...
(SARFT). Permission from state or provincial authorities is required for using a dialect as the primary programming language at radio and television stations.
In 1988, the Ministry of Radio, Film, and Television, predecessor of the SARFT, approved the use of Cantonese by Guangdong Television (GDTV) in its Pearl River Channel and Guangzhou Television
Guangzhou Television
Guangzhou Broadcasting Network , also known as GZBN, is a commercial television network in Guangzhou . It made its first broadcast on January 1, 1988.-Channel listing:All the following channels can be viewed in Guangzhou and Foshan ....
as a countermeasure against the influence of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
television in the Pearl River Delta
Pearl River Delta
The Pearl River Delta , Zhujiang Delta or Zhusanjiao in Guangdong province, People's Republic of China is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea...
region. The Satellite Channel of Southern Television Guangdong (TVS) is another major channel in China offering Cantonese programming and is the only Cantonese channel permitted to be broadcast worldwide via satellite.
Decline of Cantonese in younger generations
Despite having been approved for use in local television, Cantonese still faces restrictions and challenges in other aspects of social activities, which contributes to the decline of the language, particularly in the younger generations.In elementary and secondary schools, the medium of instruction
Medium of instruction
Medium of instruction is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. Where the first language of students is different from the official language, it may be used as the medium of instruction for part or all of schooling. Bilingual or...
is mandated by law to be Mandarin. Use of Mandarin is also ubiquitously promoted in schools. In contrast, most, if not all, local schools do not offer classes on Cantonese, although this is not explicitly forbidden by law.
In the past few years, there have been a number of newspaper reports about students in Guangzhou being punished for speaking Cantonese in school and even outside the classroom. One elementary school in Yuexiu District
Yuexiu District
Yuexiu District is a district in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was located at the west of Tianhe District and the east of Liwan District. It was the commercial, political and cultural centre of Guangdong province. The area is famous for its high quality education. The Guangdong provincial...
, Guangzhou reportedly requires students to speak Mandarin not only in classes but also during their spare time, and threatens to deduct points from their records if they fail to comply. This has caused some children to become reluctant to learn and use Cantonese or unable to understand or communicate in Cantonese at times.
Also contributing to the decline is the influx of migrant population
Migrant worker
The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country...
into Guangzhou as a result of the city’s economic and developmental advantages in the country. Increase of non-Cantonese-speaking population in the city leads to an increased number of non-Cantonese-speaking teachers in schools, forcing students to speak Mandarin on more occasions than Cantonese.
Earlier moves by GZTV in adopting Mandarin
In 2009, GZTV shifted its Economy Channel from Cantonese to Mandarin at a cost of 30 million yuanRenminbi
The Renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China . Renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. It is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of the PRC...
. Following the transition, viewership of the channel plummeted from 0.34 to 0.09. The channel’s noontime news program reverted to Cantonese in January 2010 due to low ratings.
Survey
Prior to submission of the proposal to the local government, in June 2010, the CPPCC Guangzhou Committee conducted an online survey on GZTV’s broadcasting on its website. In response to a question concerning increasing Mandarin programming, of the 30,000 respondents, among whom two thirds were Guangzhou natives, a dominating 79.5% opposed the increase in favor of maintaining the current Cantonese-to-Mandarin ratio, while only a meager 19.5% were in support.Proposal
In spite of opposition expressed through the survey, in July 2010, the CPPCC Guangzhou Committee officially submitted a proposal titled Suggestions on Further Enhancing Construction of Asian Games2010 Asian Games
The 2010 Asian Games, also known as the XVI Asiad, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Guangzhou, China from November 12 to November 27, 2010. Guangzhou was the second Chinese city to host the Games, after Beijing in 1990...
Soft Environment to Guangzhou mayor Wan Qingliang , which explicitly voiced that GZTV should increase Mandarin programming by either adopting Mandarin as its primary programming language or converting all prime-time programs into using Mandarin and serving reruns in Cantonese.
Proposal rationale
In explaining the rationale for the proposal, the CPPCC Guangzhou Committee cited allowing satellite broadcasting of GZTV programs, an idea supported by 82.1% of the respondents in the online survey, as the main reason. Among municipal television stations of the five National Central CitiesNational Central City
National central city was a concept proposed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People's Republic of China in 2005 as a first step in reforming urbanization in China. National central cities are described as a group of cities in charge of leading, developing, performing...
named by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, GZTV is the only one whose main channel is not broadcast nationwide via satellite, because the majority of its programs are in Cantonese, while Mandarin programming is one of the requirements of SARFT approval for satellite broadcasting. The CPPCC Guangzhou Committee also asserted that only if GZTV achieved satellite broadcasting would Guangzhou live up to its status as a National Central City, and it would also facilitate more people to know about Guangzhou.
Reactions of local citizens and netizens
Responses to the CPPCC Guangzhou Committee’s proposal were generally negative, especially those from local citizens and netizenNetizen
The term Netizen is a portmanteau of the English words internet and citizen. It is defined as an entity or person actively involved in online communities and a user of the internet, especially an avid one. The term can also imply an interest in improving the internet, especially in regard to open...
s; only a minority of reactions were positive. In response to media interviews, local citizens expressed concerns about the possibility of Cantonese being lost, particularly in the younger generations, although there were also more optimistic and neutral opinions.
Netizens created artworks that satirized the proposal and promoted Cantonese. Some made a sarcastic poster mimicking that of the movie Echoes of the Rainbow
Echoes of the Rainbow
Echoes of the Rainbow is a 2010 Hong Kong drama film directed by Alex Law and starring Simon Yam and Sandra Ng. It won the Crystal Bear for the Best Film in the Children’s Jury "Generation Kplus" category at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival....
. The title of the poster, Cantonese-breaking Thief , has the same pronunciation as that of the movie in both Cantonese and Mandarin. Some others made a poster taking the style of propaganda posters that were popular before the 1990s, with text reading “Cantonese
Cantonese people
The Cantonese people are Han people whose ancestral homes are in Guangdong, China. The term "Cantonese people" would then be synonymous with the Bun Dei sub-ethnic group, and is sometimes known as Gwong Fu Jan for this narrower definition...
speak Cantonese; go home if you cannot understand it”.
On July 11, 2010, a group of Guangzhou youngsters carried out a flashmob
FlashMob
FlashMob is a band formed in Nashville, Tennessee featuring Meghan Kabir. The band signed a record deal with Warner Brothers in spring 2010....
-style gathering in the People’s Park in Guangzhou to promote Cantonese, singing Boundless Oceans Vast Skies and Glorious Years, two famous Cantonese works by Hong Kong-based band Beyond
Beyond (band)
Beyond was a rock band formed in Hong Kong in 1983. The band became prominent in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia. They were also very popular in mainland China. The band was, and still is, widely considered as the most successful and influential Cantonese band from Hong Kong...
, and the Cantonese adaptation of the theme song from Japanese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Dr. Slump
Dr. Slump
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was serialized in Shueisha's anthology comic Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984 which were collected into 18 tankōbon volumes...
, known to many born in the 1980s.
July 25, 2010 mass assembly
On July 25, 2010, a crowd of about 10,000 gathered at 5pm in the surroundings of Guangzhou MetroGuangzhou Metro
Guangzhou Metro is the metro system of the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province of China. It is operated by the state-owned Guangzhou Metro Corporation and was the fourth metro system to be built in mainland China, after those of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai.The earliest effort of preparation...
’s Jiangnanxi Station
Jiangnanxi Station
Jiangnanxi Station is a station of Line 2 of the Guangzhou Metro. It started operations in 29 December 2002. It is located at the underground of Jiangnan Avenue Middle in Haizhu District, the main shopping area in the district....
in a protest to criticize the CPPCC Guangzhou Committee’s proposal and support Cantonese. Organizers of the activity had informed local police in advance, but were forced by the authorities to cancel it. People, however, gathered regardless.
During the gathering, the crowd shouted slogans promoting Cantonese, including the battle cry of a famous Cantonese
Cantonese people
The Cantonese people are Han people whose ancestral homes are in Guangdong, China. The term "Cantonese people" would then be synonymous with the Bun Dei sub-ethnic group, and is sometimes known as Gwong Fu Jan for this narrower definition...
general, Yuan Chonghuan
Yuan Chonghuan
Yuan Chonghuan was a famed patriot and military commander of the Ming Dynasty who battled the Manchus in Liaoning. A commander of Cantonese origin, Yuan Chonghuan was known to have excelled in artillery warfare and successfully incorporated Western tactics with those of the East...
, and mocking at Ji Keguang, who was believed to be the most active supporter in the CPPCC Guangzhou Committee; they also sang Glorious Years by Beyond. Despite its size, the crowd stayed peaceful and maintained order.
Local police were dispatched to the scene and exercised restraint throughout, and there was no physical clashes between the protesters and the police. The crowd was dispersed at 6:30pm, when dusk fell and it started to rain.
Reactions of notable personalities
Han Zhipeng , a member of the CPPCC Guangzhou Committee, expressed his opposition after release of the proposal, saying, "Cantonese is the carrier of Lingnan cultureLingnan culture
Lingnan culture refers to the culture of Guangdong and the nearby provinces in southeastern China, consists of Cantonese culture, and Teochew culture,Hakka culture. It is the subject of research at institutions such as the Center for Lingnan Culture...
, and the mother tongue of Guangdong people; it is also a bond connecting overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
, for most of them speak only Cantonese." He further suggested introducing a new Mandarin satellite channel instead of reducing Cantonese programming.
Zeng Zhi , director of GZTV’s General Editor Office, questioned satellite broadcasting as a motivation for GZTV shifting to Mandarin, saying that satellite broadcasting was a complicated and difficult issue, and might not be attained even if Cantonese was ditched.
Chen Yang , who is celebrated by local television audience for his blunt criticism of government policies and behaviors when hosting News Eyes for GZTV since the show’s inception in February 2004 until being forced to leave in December 2008, sighed, "Cantonese is in degeneracy… Behind a dialect forced into extinction there must be a weakened culture."
Zhan Bohui , honorary director of Jinan University
Jinan University
Jinan University is a public research and comprehensive university based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China. It is one of the oldest universities established on mainland China tracing back to the Qing Empire...
’s Chinese Dialect Research Center, defended the proposal, declaring that increasing Mandarin was to cater to the migrant population in Guangzhou, to whom Cantonese was unintelligible.
Ji Keguang , the most prominent proponent of the proposal, when requested for comment on the 90% agreement to Cantonese programming in the online survey, responded with "They need guidance", which eventually put him at the center of criticism from local citizens and netizens. Ji also downplayed the feasibility of introducing a new Mandarin channel as he believed that a new channel would be very costly and lack time to mature before the 2010 Asian Games.
Reactions of government officials
Wang YangWang Yang (politician)
Wang Yang is the current Secretary of the Guangdong Committee of the Communist Party of China, the southern Chinese province's top office. He served as the party chief of Chongqing, an interior municipality, from 2005-2007...
, secretary of the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
(CPC) Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
Committee, noted in a session of the committee on July 16, 2010 that the important upcoming work was “education, to enlighten and culture the people with education”. The remark was interpreted by the Hong Kong-based Apple Daily
Apple Daily
Apple Daily is a Hong-Kong-based tabloid-style newspaper founded in 1995 by Jimmy Lai Chee Ying and is published by its company, Next Media. A sister publication carrying the same name is published in Taiwan, Republic of China under a joint venture between Next Media and other Taiwanese companies...
as the authorities maintaining a hard-line stance against popular calls to protect Cantonese.
Su Zhijia , deputy secretary of the CPC Guangzhou Committee, explicitly denied the existence of “popularizing Putonghua while abolishing Cantonese” in an interview with GZTV on July 20, 2010, saying that the government had no intentions to abandon or weaken Cantonese. Meanwhile, he still encouraged local citizens to master Mandarin and use the language on formal occasions and in public places, reflecting the government’s policy of promoting it.
Reactions of GZTV
In a formal response, GZTV rejected the proposal, citing "historic causes and present demands" as reasons for Mandarin-Cantonese bilingualism.Official response
Guangzhou city deputy Ouyang Yongsheng (欧阳永晟) responded by saying "Cantonese dialect is Cantonese people's native tongue and is also Lingnan area's dialect. Guangzhou according to law, according to rule, according to heart, according to reason would never do something to 'promote Putonghua while abolishing Cantonese' (推普废粤)." Other terms which gained popularity among netizens include 'the fall of Cantonese' (粤语沦陷). A suspect from HubeiHubei
' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...
with surname Yu
Yu (Chinese name)
Yu is the Pinyin romanization of several Chinese family names. But in Wade–Giles romanization system, Yu is equivalent to You in Pinyin.The surname "Yu" can represent the Chinese characters: 余, 于, 魚, 鱼, 漁, 渔, 楀, 柳, 劉, 刘, 俞, 喻, 兪, 於, 遇, 虞, 郁, 尉, 禹, 游, 尤, 庾, 娛, 娱, and 茹...
(余) was arrested for instigating the event with ulterior motives.
Post rally
On 1 August 2010 hundreds of people gathered in Guangzhou People's park. About 20 people were taken away by police. Three of them were journalists from Now TVNow TV
Now TV is a 24-hour pay-TV service provider in Hong Kong.It is transmitted through the company's Netvigator broadband network via an IPTV service...
, two from Cable TV and one from Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
. Others gave the figure at 3000 people attending the Guangzhou rally with 7 journalists arrested. A protester asked a police officer why he was carried away for protecting his own culture as he was not breaking any laws. Another person in the rally said he has never seen that many police in his entire life. About 200 people attended another rally in Hong Kong at the same time in Southorn Playground
Southorn Playground
Southorn Playground is a sports and recreational facility in the Wan Chai area of Hong Kong. It comprises a football field, four basketball courts, and a children's playground....
in Wan Chai
Wan Chai
Wan Chai is a metropolitan area situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area north of Gloucester Road is often called...
.
At the end of August a 24-year old female from native Guangzhou named Deng Xiaoying (鄧XX) was revealed to have started the campaign with her friends on July 11 asking Cantonese speakers to sing Cantonese songs. Government officials called her home and warned her not to take part in any campaign. At the time she believe the campaign should continue.
On 18 and 19 September 2010, famous Hongkong activist Cai Shufang (蔡淑芳) and famous blogger Zhong Shuangyu (鍾雙羽) led the global Cantonese supporting assembly. However, because of the preparation by the Chinese government, the assembly only been held on time in Hongkong and United States.
See also
- Linguistic rightsLinguistic rightsLinguistic rights are the human and civil rights concerning the individual and collective right to choose the language or languages for communication in a private or public atmosphere...
- National political concerns of the Frenchification of Belgium