When we think about what “Chinese” refers to, there are several distinct answers.

The first,
and most common, is Mandarin Chinese, also known as Standard Chinese or Putonghua.
This is the language of government and the most widely spoken dialectal group nationwide.
Secondly, we could also be including the various Chinese dialects. I’m sure some of you
have heard of these, being Cantonese, Min, Hakka, etc. Thirdly, the more that 300 ethnic
minority languages inside of China which account for 8% of the population. These
languages are often completely distinct from Standard Chinese and its dialects, and this
map to the right shows the diversity in language /families/ across China.
So, what is the difference between a dialect of Chinese and an ethnic minority language?
From the outside, the line can seem arbitrary. Both are usually completely mutually
unintelligible with SC, but there are some major differences. Dialects like Cantonese are
usually very similar grammatically to SC as they have common roots in Old or Middle
Chinese. Because ethnic minority languages are unrelated linguistically, they are often
very different from SC.
However, the main difference is cultural. The largest deciding factor as to what is
considered a dialect vs a distinct minority language is whether or not the culture speaking
them considers themselves ethnically Han Chinese. For example, it is clear that Uyghur
and SC are far different languages, but the reason that SC and Cantonese are both
considered dialects of Chinese despite being completely mutually unintelligible is
because the Cantonese-speaking people of Southern China consider themselves (and
are considered by others) to be ethnically Han Chinese.
The Chinese government recognizes 55 ethnic minorities in addition to the 91% Han
population. The most populous are, the Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uyghur, Yi, Tujia,
Mongol, Tibetan, Buyei, Yao, and Korean ethnicities. With all of these minorities, and the
many, many unrecognized minorities only accounting for 8% of the population total, it’s
easy to assume that there must not be that many members. But the truth is, each of the
12 groups highlighted here have over 2.5 million members in China. That is to say, there
are more ethnic Zhuang people in China than the entire population of Ecuador.
Ethnic minorities in China tend to be concentrated in rural regions, where they live as
farmers in their own communities. However, in the past several decades, it has become
more and more necessary for members of minority communities to move into the cities in
order to find jobs in factories, sometimes not being able to return home for years at a
time. Members of these minorities that leave their community are therefore separated
from their culture, and sometimes forced to raise a family away from their culture where
they cannot speak their language. Another issue is that poor schooling and education in
these communities, particularly in the smaller ones, means that opportunities for
economic growth amongst members of ethnic minorities is extremely limited. This is due
a lot to simply being in rural communities, of which even Han ones have poorer
education, however because ethnic minorities are concentrated in the rural areas, it
affects them disproportionately. If a member of a minority community wishes for great
economic prosperity, they have to learn SC and move away. Also, as Han Chinese
economic power continues to rise and rise and rise, minority communities are being
forced to attempt to integrate themselves. And then, the government itself has a fear of
allowing ethnic minorities too much independence, for if they want it, they could wish to
be independent from China entirely. Notably, Uyghurs and Tibetans have had long
standing independence movement, and the government wants to use the spread of
Mandarin as one way to contain and control them.
Here are a few accounts from native minority language speakers in China. Du Mei, an
Evenki from Inner Mongolia, recounts “I can only understand it a little and say a few
everyday expressions, My children don’t understand it at all. They only learn Chinese.”
There are about 30,000 Evenki left in China, and the language is rapidly on the verge of
extinction. Even Du Mei, an advocate for the protection of minority languages as a delegate
in Parliament, is unable to fully understand her own language.
Lei Jinmei, a She from Fujian, represents another common scenario among minority
groups. She purposefully does not teach her children their language, “I speak it fluently,
as can my family members, but my children can only say a few words. I speak to them in
Chinese.” Many parents are afraid that if they speak to their children in their native
language, their Mandarin skills will suffer and then it will be harder for them to find a job.
She has only 1,000 speakers left out of a population of 790,000.
1949 - PRC is formed, and declares initially that they wish to protect and promote minority
cultures and languages

1982 – current constitution of the PRC is ratified, declaring that “all nationalities have the
freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written languages to preserve or reform
their own folkways and customs”

1997 – the government begins publishing Zhōngguó xīn fāxiàn yǔyán yánjiū cóngshū (NFMLCS).
This is a linguistic book series which documents the grammar, phonology, and culture of many, many
minority languages. It is an extension of a project from the 70s and 80s which documented many other
languages.

2000 – The Law on the National Standard Spoken and Written Language is adopted. This
law makes Mandarin the official language and promotes its use it every context. The
adoption of this law symbolizes the shift of policy and law in regard to bilingualism. It is the
turn from the government promoted the use of Mandarin as a lingua franca to the
government promoting the use of Mandarin as the main language for daily communication.

2010 – The National Plan is introduced, which forces all provinces to develop a plan that
teaches everybody Mandarin and phases Mandarin into use in the daily sphere. This led to
policies in Tibet that made every class be taught in Mandarin instead of Tibetan, which
sparked large scale protests from Tibetan communities around China.

2020 – A similar thing happened in 2020 and is ongoing now, where schools in Inner
Mongolia announced that they would switch to teaching entirely in Mandarin instead of in
Mongolian, sparking outrage around the province. Something that raised suspicion from
Mongolians was that the policy was chosen to begin roll out in the most Mongolian speaking
areas of the province first. There are plenty of Han majority cities in Inner Mongolia, but the
Mongolian majority ones were the first to be chosen.
There are many current measures and movements to protect Chinese minority
languages.

Inside China, there are many movements from the minorities themselves and from
sympathetic Han neighbors to promote their cultures. Outside China, work is more
focused on raising awareness of this issue. It is largely led by the Chinese diaspora
community, but finding widespread support is essential. Technology has also given new
breath to these movements. It allows for easy communication between activists, AND
provides a place for speakers of minority languages to engage with each other. For
example, if you’re a Bai man who moved to the city to work, you now have the ability to
call home or message your friends and speak in your native language even if you’re the
only one for dozens of miles around. It also provides incentives for children to learn the
language if they have fun games and resources to learn it, especially if they’re spending
all their time in school speaking Chinese. Government policies are also very important.
As you’ve seen, government policies are largely very antagonistic toward minority
languages, but the positive ones do help a lot, particularly in local governments. Finally,
academic research to document these languages is essential because it provides
something to fall back on should the languages go extinct. It would then be possible to
either revive the language (such as what is happening with Cornish in England) or at
least continue to study it to better understand that culture. There are several universities
in China dedicated mainly or entirely to the study of ethnic minority cultures, and their
research, along with the activism of millions of dedicated people around the world, is
needed in order to save these languages from threat and extinction.