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Unlike many other Chinese dialects, such as those found in mainland China or Taiwan, Cantonese (粵語) was able to develop and flourish in British-controlled Hong Kong. Even today, Cantonese is used in daily life, business, government, and, until recently, it was used by teachers in schools.
英屬香港 British Hong Kong
英屬香港 British Hong Kong
At the end of the First Opium War (1839-1842), the Qing Government signed the Nanking Treaty (南京條約) with Great Britain. One of the terms of the treaty was that Hong Kong would become a colony of Britain. Since Hong Kong became a British colony before the Chinese Revolution, Hong Kong was not affected by policies by the CCP or KMT. During the time of British rule, English acted as the official language used for government purposes. Hong Kong is located very close to the Guangdong (formally Canton) Province of China, so the predominant spoken language in Hong Kong at the time was Cantonese (also known as 廣東話, or Guangdong dialect). Even when Chinese became the co-official language in 1974, it was widely interpreted as Cantonese rather than Mandarin. Cantonese became engrained in Hong Kong culture and a part of the Hong Kong identity.
Map showing Hong Kong (香港) and Macau (澳門) relative to Guangdong (廣東省).
香港粤語
Hong Kong Cantonese
香港粤語
Hong Kong Cantonese
Despite both Guangdong Cantonese and Hong Kong Cantonese belonging to the Yue dialect (粤語) and being mutually intelligible, there are some notable differences between the two. Hong Kong Cantonese undoubtedly has a very strong English influence. Many common words such as 巴士, baa1si2 (bus) and 的士, dik1si2 (taxi) are loan words from English. Guangdong Cantonese, on the other hand, has had more influence from Mandarin. The words "bus" and "taxi" would be 公交, gong1gaau1 and 出租車, ceot1zou1ce1. English words have also engrained themselves into Hong Kong Cantonese. For instance, the sentence "Your idea is very good" in Hong Kong Cantonese would be "你嘅idea幾好" while in Guangdong Cantonese it would be "你嘅意見幾好".
黄金年代 Golden Age of Cantopop
黄金年代 Golden Age of Cantopop
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Cantonese pop music became a worldwide sensation. Many people from around the world, including Mainland China and Taiwan, would listen to Cantonese pop music produced in Hong Kong. These songs, especially many of the ballads, used very poetic and sophisticated lyrics. For many, this the first time that they heard a dialect being used in such a manner, and for many more, it was the first time that they had heard a dialect.
一國兩制
One Country, Two Systems
一國兩制
One Country, Two Systems
In 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China (香港回歸祖國) under the "one country, two systems" (一國兩制) agreement. Part of this agreement was that the laws and way of life of Hong Kong would not change for 50 years after the return. In the same year, the Hong Kong government passed the Biliteracy and Trilingualism Policy (兩文三語). The goal of this policy was that students in Hong Kong were to be proficient in two written languages (文), English and Chinese, and three spoken languages (語), Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. This was the first time that Cantonese was officially recognized by the government.
Although Mandarin and Cantonese are equally recognized, this does not always work out in practice. There is undoubtedly a stronger presence of Mandarin in Hong Kong. Although Cantonese remains the dominant language spoken in Hong Kong, the number of Mandarin speakers is on the rise. A number of schools in Hong Kong have adopted 普教中, or the policy of using Mandarin to teach Chinese, despite many people opposing it. In 2022, 抖音 (Douyin), a popular social media platform in China, came under controversy for banning accounts that livestreamed in Cantonese rather than in Mandarin. In 2023, Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis, a group that advocated for the preservation of Cantonese, shut down operations following a raid by the Hong Kong National Security Police Force.
This video shows how the influence of Mandarin has affected the vocabulary used by people in Hong Kong. Although they are still using Cantonese, the slang that many younger people use originates from Mandarin rather than Cantonese. For example, one way to say something is "awesome" in Mandarin is "牛逼/牛B" (niú bī). In Cantonese, however, it is more common to hear "犀利" (sai1 lei6) or “勁” (ging6). This illustrates the growing dominance of Mandarin and mainland culture among youth. However, many of the interviewees recognize the uniqueness and significance of Hong Kong Cantonese, and the importance of protecting Hong Kong culture.
廣東話的未來
The Future of Cantonese
廣東話的未來
The Future of Cantonese
While it does not seem that Cantonese is going anywhere anytime soon, the rise of Mandarin in Hong Kong is alarming to many. Will Cantonese be able to stay prevalent in Hong Kong for the next 50 years? The people of Hong Kong have created a strong and unique identity and culture around Cantonese which has allowed them to resist attempts to promote Mandarin. But as opportunities to use Mandarin continue to increase in Hong Kong, will future generations leave this culture behind and join a new, more homogenized mainland Chinese culture?
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