Monday, October 17, 2016

Topic Exploration: Cantonese, an Endangered Language

1.       What was the protest? If it was part of a larger movement, where are you drawing the boundaries (geographical, chronological, legislative, etc.) around your project?

         The protest was a gathering of locals in the city of GuangZhou, the capital of GuangDong Province (AKA Canton). The particular event in reference took place on Sunday, 25, 2010 and locals held up signs in a public square spreading the discontent over the CPPCC’s proposal suggesting an increase in the use of Mandarin Chinese in television broadcasts in the region. Although this event was relatively small and rather uncovered by media, it is part of a bigger movement that has been responding to the change in cultural distribution and power in the GuangDong Province since Hong Kong’s return to the Chinese government in 1997. Prior to this, Hong Kong was under British and Portuguese control for around 150 years and, as such, was under a different cultural influence (Yu). Over those years, Hong Kong, and the surrounding areas have formed an identity including the prevalence of English, Cantonese, and western influence. Post-1997 Hong Kong and surrounding areas have faced cultural threat as the influence of the Mainland Chinese government has grown. As such, the boundaries of the protest include the province of GuangDong and surrounding areas that have Cantonese influence.


2.       Why do you believe that this identity is tied to this protest in a significant way? For whom is this tie significant?

         The protest is quite clearly a question of cultural and historical identity through the Cantonese language. It is a significant attribute to Cantonese speakers in the GuangDong region who have a sense of culture and heritage tied to this identity. To many people, the language lies in their roots, in their hometown, and hopefully, in their futures. The change with growing Mandarin influence is thus threatening to something so dear as one’s mother tongue.  


3.       How did the group you’re looking at participate in the protest?

          The nature of the participation in the protest was very physical. Locals in support of upholding Cantonese Language and traditional language practices in the media placed their bodies in a physical public space and used their presence as a method of dispersion of their message. This is also the same for similar protest related to this issue, including a demonstration held by gamers outraged over the lack of a unique Cantonese version of Pokémon Sun and Moon (Cooper). The protest in that instance was also a physical stance with locals holding up signs and chanting messages of disapproval.  


4.       When you think about this project, what are you worried or concerned about? Do your worries have anything to do specifically with whether you can tie your identity to the protest clearly? Are there questions that you think it will be hard to answer? Do you have methodological concerns? What part of this project do you think will be the most difficult for you?

          It is clear to me that the protest, as a single object, is speaking out against the threat on the Cantonese language. However, this may be better placed as a component of a bigger protest against central Chinese governmental control over Hong Kong. I am concerned about finding scholarly articles on these smaller protests focused on the language aspect. Most sources that I have encountered thus far have come from popular news sources or translated, vague articles with no details about the location of the demonstrations or details about the effect. This may be accounted for due to the powerful nature of Mainland Chinese censorship of sensitive topics in the media. This will be the greatest obstacle, finding hard evidence and scholarly description of this aspect of the Cantonese language.


Works Cited

Yu, Xin. "Cantonese Protests Spread." Radio Free Asia. Trans. Luisetta Mudie. Rfa.org, 02 Aug. 2010. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.


Cooper, Daniel. "Hong Kong Pokémon Fans Protest over Pikachu Translation." Engaget. AOL Tech Company, 31 May 2016. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.4

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