Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cnforbiddennews Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews Guangdong provincial government has issued new broadcasting language regulations. Starting from March 1, 2012, the province's radio programs, civil service and collective activities must adopt the Mandarin; firms, trade names and signs can not use traditional characters, otherwise they will be subjected to administrative penalties. The Chaoshan dialect would probably not be exempted. Guangdong people rebounded greatly. Analysts think suppressing dialects by the official language may reignite last year 's anger on 'upholding Cantonese.' The Guangdong provincial government has announced that from March 1, 2012, radios, television stations and online programs must use Mandarin. Those using dialects for broadcasting must be first approved by central or provincial radio, film and television department, otherwise they will be penalized. Guangzhou Southern Television' well-known host, Pengpeng, left online messages on December 17, in support of Cantonese. Yu Xiaofei, a Buddhist culture expert, calls for people to make effort to protect dialects, as the authorities promote Mandarin. Tian Li (Guangdong freelancer): "As Cantonese, we speak standard Cantonese. What the authorities do is to simply rub away out local culture. Once the policy is introduced, it would cause opposition from the whole of Guangdong province. We can speak Mandarin outside, but will certainly speak Cantonese locally. Their requirements are against people 's will, and simply unpopular. They will fall down faster this way." Lin Sun is an Assistant professor in Chinese at the Translation and Linguistics Department in City University of Hong Kong. Lin pointed out that Cantonese is widely accepted in the Guangdong region. The Cantonese television channels are relatively more watched, thus affecting the official channel viewing. The authorities may therefore try to completely suppress the Cantonese language. Yuan Weishi, philosophy professor at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, said the provision was too bureaucratic. Last year's "support Cantonese" event has just subsided, and now the authorities introduce such a provision. This is very foolish, as it will most likely cause a lot of public resentment. Last year, the Guangzhou Administration proposed a ban on broadcasting in Cantonese. This has triggered waves of demonstrations in Guangdong and Hong Kong. Tian Li: "Local culture simply can not be eliminated, so the authorities can only put themselves in a mess. Their purpose is to promote the so called culture, which is just the one-party dictatorship culture. It simply did not work for people, and now people lose faith in them." Netizens criticized the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) not leaving a way for local cultures. @ Wenyunchao left a message that the regime seems to exist to create enemies, thus "uphold Cantonese" events start again. Jason Ng said that Guangdong should be independent, now the aggressor even prepares to eliminate Cantonese. "@ Benfilm63 4h" posting said, the Chinese communist regime is afraid of the political and cultural influence of Cantonese, which can make Guangdong another Hong Kong. On the other hand, in Hong Kong CCP has boiling a frog like, transforming policies. Isn 't this a two-pronged approach? Some users call for a new round of "uphold Cantonese," and "swear to defend Cantonese" actions. Netizens announced on Twitter of 'upholding Cantonese' activities in both Guangzhou and Shenzhen, on the afternoon of December 18. Tian Li: "In Wukan, now this is in full swing. If the authorities ban the Cantonese, I believe it will cause bigger and stronger movement than the last one in Guangdong. The loss outweighs the gain for the authorities." When Cantonese restrictions were announced, Xinhua posted an article of former president Jiang Zemin on December 17. The article emphasizes that the leading CCP cadres must strive to learn foreign languages. Tian Li said, Chinese officials learn foreign languages well, in order to help them flee abroad. In addition, Chinese officials were driven away from Wukan village. Without the CCP, Chinese people will have greater freedom and happiness. NTD reporters Chen Zishan, Xu Wen and GeLei 《神韵》2011世界巡演新亮点 http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/

• published: 19 Dec 2011
• views: 1658