The State Working Committee of Chinese Language has conducted a nationwide survey on the prevalence of putonghua, or standard spoken Chinese, on the mainland. Results of the six-year study were released on Sunday in Beijing.

Just 53 percent of the population can communicate in putonghua, the survey indicated, although the number is on the rise.

Tong Lequan, who headed the survey project, said that more than 470,000 people in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on the mainland responded to the survey, the first of its kind.

The coexistence and different uses of putonghua and dialects are a unique proclivity of the modern Chinese language, said Tong.

Putonghua is widely used as the communication medium during public activities, while people use the dialect native to their areas when communicating within their family or with other locals.

Only 18 percent of those surveyed use putonghua while talking with family members, while 42 percent speak it at school, work or play.

Sixty-six percent of urban residents speak putonghua, a rate 21 percent higher than in rural areas.

Only 31 percent of those aged 60 to 69 able to speak putonghua, but that figure more than doubles among those younger than 29.

Although 87 percent of college graduates are fluent in putonghua, just 10 percent of illiterate citizens can speak it.

Tong said that with the change of generations and the wider dissemination of education, the standard spoken language will gain more ground.

Hu Hongguang, a middle school teacher who uses putonghua in class in central China's Hubei Province, said there are three criteria to judge the popularization of the spoken language: how it is used in schools, and whether it is used as a working language and as the mainstream tongue on social occasions.

The main challenges to speaking putonghua included "no situation in which it is used" and "hard to change accents."

Many parts of China are now seeing a situation that linguists call diglossia, where one language is spoken in public and a local dialect is used among friends and family.

"I never speak putonghua at home, although I speak it all day in the office," said Yin Yu, 25. "It is so strange when you speak putonghua while everybody else is speaking a dialect."

Moreover, Yin said her dialect gives her a feeling of being at home. However, she does not believe that the use of dialects will decrease the influence and popularity of putonghua. "It is complementary," she said.

Use of dialects may even be strengthening in some areas, said Wang Chengxi, 27.

Growing up in the northern part of the country, Wang spoke putonghua from boyhood but began to learn Cantonese when he started working in Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong Province, in 2001.

He said the prevalence of the local dialect excludes outsiders from social networks. "I am learning Cantonese because I want to integrate better into local society," he said.

(China Daily December 27, 2004)