Changing Hierarchies in Chinese Language

Chapter 2

Changing Hierarchies in Chinese Language Education for the British Chinese Learners Li Wei and Zhu Hua

Introduction Globalization, as a historical process, is by no means new. Yet the globalization process we are experiencing at present is unprecedented in scale and intensity, and driven by a complex combination of political, economic and technological factors, rather than simply by the flow of people, ideas and practices. Globalization affects the world in many different ways. The ongoing worldwide debate about climate change and the so-called credit crunch are just two of the examples. In this chapter, we aim to investigate the effect of globalization on language, with particular reference to the Chinese language. We will take as example the changing hierarchies among the varieties of Chinese within the overseas Chinese diasporas, especially the Chinese community in Britain. The effect of globalization on language can be considered from a number of perspectives, for example, cultural, informational, political, economical and ideological. Globalization has created more opportunities for contacts between different cultural groups and increased individual’s access to cultural diversity. There is the potential for the spread of multilingualism as a result of global contacts, although there is also evidence of rapid language shift towards national and international varieties at the expense of minority and indigenous languages. Nevertheless, the growth of crosscultural contacts has facilitated the advent of new categories of consciousness and identities which can be explored through discursive practices of individuals and groups. The ever-emerging new global communication technologies provide the opportunity, in principle, to transmit information in different languages. Whatever language one may speak, there should be increased access to information and knowledge to all. In practice, however,

LTsung_02_Fpp.indd 11

5/13/2010 5:17:05 PM

12

Teaching and Learning Chinese in Global Contexts

this may not always be the case, as some languages, hence communities, are advantageous over others. Politically, globalization makes more visible any abuse of individual’s rights, including the right to use whatever language one wishes. There are intergovernmental and international bodies offering support and protection of endangered languages and regulating language policies and practices, especially the policies and practices concerning the education and welfare of minority languages users. The economic effect of globalization on language can be seen through an increased awareness that languages are like currencies and different languages have different values and symbolic power on the global market. Ideologically, globalization has also changed the beliefs among language users of standard languages versus regional varieties, norms of using a language, and what a particular language can do for its users in terms of cost and benefit. We will consider in this chapter the effects of globalization on the Chinese language from these different but closely related perspectives. We will focus in particular on language education of the Chinese children in Britain. The structure of the chapter is as follows. We first outline some key background information of the Chinese language and the British Chinese community. We then describe the methods used for collecting the data for the present study. The main body of the chapter is devoted to discussions of data under three thematic headings: language as culture, not all varieties of Chinese are equal and the standard national language ideology. We conclude the chapter with a summary of the key findings of our study and by highlighting the points and directions for future research.

The Chinese Language and the British Chinese Community Chinese is often said to have over 1.3 billion native speakers, making it the world’s largest language. These 1.3 billion speakers are mainly in China, Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, but also in Chinese diasporas as far as Canada, New Zealand, Peru and South Africa. Yet, when we look at the specific languages and language varieties these people speak, we immediately realize that the Chinese-speaking communities are extremely multilingual and multicultural. Indeed, the Chinese language has always been distinguished by its high level of internal diversity, although all spoken varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. In mainland China, there are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of Chinese, depending on classification scheme, of which the most spoken, by far, is Mandarin (about 850 million), followed by Wu (90 million), Min (70 million) and Cantonese (70 million).


5/13/2010 5:17:05 PM

Changing Hierarchies for the British Learners

13

Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible. The international Organization for Standardization classifies Chinese as a macrolanguage with 13 sublanguages (ISO 639-3). Language standardization, which in the Chinese context includes the creation of a national language, has been one of the most significant nation building efforts ever since the First Emperor (221 BC–206 BC). In the early part of the twentieth century, a common language was created, based on the northern varieties of Chinese, especially that of the capital city of Beijing. Since the founding of the People’s Republic on mainland China, more efforts have been given to the promotion of Putonghua, or the common language, a standardized variety that has become the official language of China. The language standardization effort reached certain degree of maturity by the 1970s, with the widespread use of simplified characters in mainland China and the use of pinyin, the Romanization system, to teach Putonghua to learners. Nevertheless, diglossia, or even polyglossia, remains a common feature among Chinese speakers: it is common for a Chinese to be able to speak two or more varieties of regional Chinese together with standard Putonghua. In many English language publications, the terms Mandarin and Putonghua are sometimes used interchangeably. In fact, Mandarin refers to a broad category of northern varieties of Chinese, whereas Putonghua is the standardized variety that does not have a specific geographical affinity. Putonghua’s pronunciation and grammar are very similar to those of Mandarin, especially the variety spoken in and around the capital city of Beijing. As far as the overseas Chinese diasporas are concerned, the vast majority happen to be from three coastal provinces of mainland China, that is, Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan. These provinces are traditionally Cantonese-, Hokkien- and Hakka-speaking, hence the prominence of these varieties among the overseas Chinese communities. The use of Chinese in the Chinese diasporas is determined by a large number of factors, including the migrant ancestors’ origin and time of migration, assimilation through generational changes and official policies of their country of residence. The degrees of language maintenance (of regional and local varieties of Chinese) and language shift (to the standard and national languages) vary greatly from one community to another. One noticeable change in the past 20 years has been the increase of Putonghua-speaking Chinese among the new arrivals and of Putonghua classes for overseas Chinese children across the globe. In Britain, the Chinese are one of the largest and longest-established immigrant communities. The British Chinese community website (www. dimsum.co.uk) reports that the Chinese community is the fastest growing


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM

14


non-European ethnic group in the United Kingdom. It has an annual growth of approximately 11%. In 2006, the estimate was 400,000 Chinese people in total. The majority of the British Chinese have close connections with former British colonies, especially Hong Kong, and other Southeast Asian countries where there are large concentrations of Chinese people. People from mainland China and Taiwan and their descendants constitute a relatively minor proportion of the British Chinese community, although the most recent and ongoing growth of the British Chinese community is largely due to the increased number of mainlanders. As a result, the vast majority of the British Chinese use Cantonese as first or home language. According to the website ethnologue.com, Cantonese is spoken by 300,000 British Chinese as a primary language, while 10,000 speak Hakka and 6,000 speak Hokkien. Approximately 12,000 are believed to be Mandarin Chinese speakers, although the number may be significantly more if the Chinese students and other professionals who are in the United Kingdom temporarily are also included. Many of them speak Mandarin as a second or third, rather than the first, Chinese variety. The proportion of British Chinese people who speak English as a first or secondary language is unknown (Li, 2007). Compared to most ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom, the Chinese tend to be more widespread and decentralized. However, significant numbers of British Chinese people can be found in major cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast. Chinese community organizations are often found in these large urban Centres. Most of them are townsmen associations. A significant community organization is the Chinese complementary schools. They are voluntary organizations, run by and for the Chinese communities whose principal objective is to transmit the Chinese language and culture to the British-born generations. They are similar to the heritage language schools in the United States. According to the UK Federation of Chinese Schools and the UK Association for the Promotion of Chinese Education, the two largest national organizations for Chinese complementary schools, there are over 200 Chinese complementary schools in the United Kingdom. They are part of a major socio-political and educational movement in the United Kingdom for nearly half a century, which sought to complement mainstream schooling with weekend sessions on specific topics, mostly language and literacy related, for children of minority ethnic and disadvantaged communities. Complementary schools have attracted public debates vis-àvis government’s involvement in educational management, and challenged


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM


15

the dominant ideology of uniculturalism in Britain. Elsewhere, we discussed the history and ideologies concerning the complementary schools in the country (Li, 2006).

Methodology: Observations in Chinese Complementary Schools and Ethnographic Interviews The data we use for the discussion in the present chapter come from structured observations in a number of Chinese complementary schools in London and Newcastle upon Tyne and a series of ethnographic interviews we conducted with teachers, parents and pupils associated with the schools. The main part of the fieldwork was carried out between 2007 and 2008, as a follow-up to a major comparative study of complementary schools in four minority ethnic communities in Britain – Bangladeshi, Chinese, Gujarati and Turkish (see Creese et al., 2008 for summary of the larger study). In the earlier, larger project, we focused on the multilingual practices in these schools. We argued that the complementary schools often promote a monolingual policy that the pupils are not allowed to use their English during the schools hours. We examined in detail how the pupils attending the complementary schools contest the monolingual ideologies through their multilingual practices (Li and Wu, 2009). As a follow-up to the larger study, we visited three Chinese schools in London (one Mandarin/Putonghua school and two Cantonese schools) and two in Newcastle (one Mandarin/Putonghua school and one Cantonese school), observed a variety of activities during school hours, made extensive field notes and interviewed 12 teachers (9 female, 3 male; 7 in London, 5 in Newcastle), 14 parents (8 female, 6 male; 9 in London, 5 in Newcastle) and 11 pupils (6 girls, 5 boys; 7 in London, 4 in Newcastle). Seven of the adults come from regions of China where northern varieties are Chinese are spoken. The interviews were tape-recorded. The recordings were then reviewed and detailed notes on the contents were made. Sections of the interviews were transcribed and translated for the purpose of this chapter. As characteristic of ethnographic interviews (Spradley, 1979), no fixed questions were posed to all the interviewees. Instead, four broad sets of topics were introduced by the interviewers (the authors of the present paper) on (1) the interviewees’ sociolinguistic background and everyday linguistic practices; (2) their views on standard Chinese and the relationship between Putonghua and other varieties of Chinese; (3) the


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM

16


importance of knowing the Chinese language by overseas Chinese children who are born and brought up overseas; and (4) changes in the overseas Chinese communities. In effect, the interviews were open discussions around these topics, and the objective was to obtain some insights into the interviewees’ perspectives on these issues. The interviews with the adults were conducted in Chinese, with occasional code switching into English. The interviews with the children were a mixture of English and Chinese. Below we discuss about the interviews as well as our observations along a number of themes as they emerged from the data.

Language as culture One of the recurring themes in the interviews was the importance of preserving the traditional Chinese culture among the diasporic communities, especially among the new generations of Chinese children. As to what the traditional Chinese culture means, parents, teachers and children alike repeatedly referred to filial piety, extended family and emphasis on learning as core cultural values. With regard to learning, it seems that language has a particular significance to the Chinese, as one of the parents told us: (1) 要懂中国文化就一定要懂中文。中国字都看不懂，怎么能懂中国文化？我们中国人传统上把不懂中文的人叫‘文盲’，就像瞎子一样。也叫他 ‘没文化’。 ‘文盲’当然也就没文化了。 ‘If you want to understand the Chinese culture, you must understand the Chinese language. If you can’t read Chinese characters, how can you understand the Chinese culture? Traditionally we Chinese call those who can’t read “word blind” (illiterate), like blind men. Also call them “uncultured”. Illiterate people are of course uncultured.’(Parent 10) This view is echoed by the teachers, as the following remark illustrates: (2) 中国的文字历史悠久，而且非常有意思。里边有很多文化成分。我们在教的时候，不是只在叫怎么读怎么写，而是要教他们其中的文化成分、典故等等。 ‘The Chinese characters have a very long history and are full of meaning. There is cultural element in them. When we teach, we are not only teaching how to read or write the characters, but also teaching them the cultural elements and allusion.’ (Teacher 6)


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM


17

It is certainly the case that the Chinese complementary schools spend most of the teaching and learning hours on the Chinese characters. The children learn about Chinese history and traditional folk stories through the learning, often by rote, of the written characters. It is also true that the Chinese language, especially the written Chinese characters, is often used as cultural symbols in domestic and public displays and decorations. Nevertheless, the association between language and culture in the view of the Chinese goes much deeper; it is related to the overseas Chinese views of their identity and the position they hold in society. One of the parents we interviewed made the following remark: (3) 华人在这里被看作是少数民族。其实我们不是少数，华人遍地都有。世界上五分之一，甚至四分之一，都是华人，都讲中国话。我们怎么是少数？可是在这里我们是外来的、不一样。我们讲的话和人家不同，写得字也不一样。 ‘The Chinese are seen as a minority here. In fact, we are not minority. The Chinese are everywhere. One in five, even one in four, of the world’s population is Chinese and speaks Chinese. How can we be minority? But we come from outside and are different. The language we speak is different from theirs and the words we write are different too.’ (Parent 7) Comments such as the following are repeated by many of the people, including the children, whom we interviewed: (4) 华人的小孩子应当学中文，不懂中文怎么知道你是华人？ ‘Chinese children must learn Chinese. How can you be Chinese without knowing the Chinese language?’ There is a general feeling among the Chinese that knowing the language is integral to being Chinese. It also marks them out from other social groups in the British society. Our finding is consistent with that of Francis et al. (2009) who discuss the issue of language as identity with reference to Chinese pupils in complementary schools in the United Kingdom.

Not all Chinese languages are equal While all the interviewees agree that the Chinese language is an important cultural symbol for them, they do not see all varieties of Chinese as equal.


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM


18

Rough dialects A few terms emerged during our interviews referring to regional varieties of Chinese: jiaxiang hua (家乡话), fangyan (方言), tu hua (土话). Jiaxiang hua can be translated literally as ‘hometown speech’; fangyan, ‘regional speech’; and tu hua, ‘rough speech’. While the first two terms link the speech to geographical places, the last one, tu hua is evaluative. In fact, on a number of occasions, our interviewees expressed the view that regional varieties are ‘rough’, ‘uncultured’, and represent rural or old-fashioned values, as the following extract illustrates. (5) 我都很少讲家乡话在外边。家里人可以的，但是在外边我都很少讲。我们的那个家乡话很土的。我要讲给你听你会笑的。反正你也听不懂。很难听的。 ‘I rarely speak hometown language in public. OK with family members, but I rarely speak it outside the family. Our hometown language is very rough. You will laugh if I spoke it to you. Anyway you won’t be able to understand it. It sounds bad.’ (Parent 5) These terms are also used in the classroom where Putonghua is often referred to as the national language or standard language, and regional varieties of Chinese are referred to as jiaxiang tu hua (家乡土话；hometown rough speech), or difang tu hua (地方土话；regional rough speech). Such usage seems to have had some effect on the children attending the Chinese schools, as one of them said, (6) Dialects are not standard. So they shouldn’t be used at school, or at work. It sounds uneducated if you speak dialect. (Child 6) When asked why regional varieties sounded rough and uncultured, our interviewees often evoke the notion of intelligibility. They seem to believe that regional varieties are more difficult to be understood than the standard variety. When it is pointed out to them that one of the reasons why the standard variety is understood by more people is because it is widely taught in schools and used in the media, they still insist that regional varieties are too rough to be used in the general public domain. The following exchange between an adult interviewee (T7) and one of the interviewers (I2) illustrate the point.


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM


19

(7) T7: 在学校里我们不教方言。也很少说。因为我们讲的都不同，听不懂。 ‘Regional languages are not taught in the school. They are rarely spoken. Because we speak different regional languages and don’t understand each other.’ I2:

可是如果你教他们，会不会可以听懂？

‘But if you teach them, wouldn’t it be possible to understand?’ (8) T7: 学校里是不教方言的。方言听起来，怎么说呢，不太有文化。我们的学校要教普通话，不教方言。 ‘Regional languages are not taught in school. They sound, how do I say it, uncultured. Our school teaches Putonghua, not regional languages.’ I2: 那么如果他们在正式的场合说方言怎么办？ ‘So what happens if they use regional languages in formal contexts? ‘ (9) T7: 我们是不鼓励讲方言的。你在家里讲我们当然没办法管了，但在公共场合讲方言不太合适。 ‘We don’t encourage the use of regional languages. We can’t control it if you can use them at home. But in public, it is not appropriate to use regional languages.’ In the Cantonese schools, the language is widely spoken in all domains. Nevertheless, all the Cantonese schools also teach Mandarin or Putonghua and the pupils are encouraged to use them as often as possible. We will return to this point later in the discussion.

‘Better’ Cantonese There seems to be a perceived hierarchy among the different regional varieties of Chinese. Many of the interviewees thought Cantonese is ‘better’ than Hakka or Hokkien. When asked what exactly they meant by ‘better’, pragmatic functions in the Chinese diasporic communities and association with Hong Kong seem to be the main defining factors.


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM

20


(10) 讲广东话的人很多呀！这里大部分华人都是广东人，会讲广东话。都是从香港过来的，都讲广东话啦。 ‘There are many Cantonese speakers. Most of the Chinese here are Cantonese and speak Cantonese. They come from Hong Kong and all speak Cantonese.’ (Parent 14) (11) 中餐馆和商店都讲广东话。会广东话比较方便。 ‘In most Chinese restaurants and shops, Cantonese is spoken. It is very convenient to be able to speak Cantonese.’ (Teacher 2) (12) 这里很多人都是香港来的，香港讲广东话。你要看香港电影、听香港歌，都是广东话的最多啦。 ‘Many people here are from Hong Kong. Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong. If you want to watch Hong Kong films and listen to Hong Kong songs, most of them are in Cantonese.’ (Teacher 4) (13) ‘I quite like Canton pop. We have Hong Kong TV at home. Knowing Cantonese is quite useful.’(Child 1) ‘We used to speak Hakka at my family. Or my mom did. My grandma only spoke Hakka. But when she died, we don’t need to speak Hakka anymore.’(Child 10) Many interviewees, including those who speak Hakka, thought Hakka was ‘not very useful’. Similar attitude was expressed towards Hokkien. But when asked why they felt that way, the following are typical responses: (14) 很少有人讲客家话。客家人很多啦。但是现在都讲或者是广东话或者是普通话。 ‘Very few people speak Hakka. There are many Hakka people. But most people now speak either Cantonese or Putonghua.’ (Parent 3) (15) 电视只有广东话的，也有国语的啦。可是没有客家话的。 ‘TV programs are only in Cantonese. Sometimes also in Mandarin. But nothing in Hakka.’ (Parent 8)


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM


21

(16) 福建人比较少，用处不大。 ‘There are very few people from Hokkien. It’s not been useful.’ (Teacher 5)

There seems to be a high level of self-censorship as to which variety should or should not be used in public or learned by the young, and people, including speakers of the less favoured varieties themselves, try and find reasons for the censorship when in truth there is no good justification.

Northerners speak standard; Southerners are rich A rather intriguing issue emerged during our discussions which related to the fact that some small groups of Chinese from specific parts of China have managed to maintain their regional languages very well, in contract to the Hakka speakers, for instance. Somehow our interviewees seemed to believe that certain groups were ‘entitled’ to language maintenance more than other groups. The following exchange refers specifically to people from Shanghai. (17) P12: 上海人不愿意讲别的话，就要讲上海话。特别有意思。 ‘People from Shanghai don’t like to speak other languages. They only want to speak Shanghainese. Very interesting.’ I2: 你觉得那是为什么？ ‘Why do you think that is the case?’ P12: 上海摩登啊！大都会嘛。上海人就比较自豪。别的人也觉得上海好。 ‘Shanghai is modern. It’s cosmopolitan. Shanghai people are very proud of themselves. Others also think Shanghai is good.’ I2: 那么广州不是也很摩登吗？ ‘But isn’t Guangzhou (Canton) modern too?’


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM

22

Teaching and Learning Chinese in Global Contexts P12: 可是比起上海还是不行啦。连香港人现在也都要到上海去做生意。

‘But not as modern as Shanghai is. Even people from Hong Kong want to do business in Shanghai now.’ There seems to be a general perception of the hierarchy among the different varieties of Chinese, with the northern varieties being closer to the national standard and southern varieties representing urban, modern values, as the following exchange summarizes:

AQ: Replaced `national standard national' with `national standard'.

(18) P1: 北方人讲话比较标准，更接近普通话。南方话不行。 ‘Northerners speak fairly standard, closer to Putonghua. Southern varieties are not.’ I1: 但也有人要学上海话或者是广东话。 ‘But there are people who want to learn Shanghai dialect or Cantonese.’ P1: 那是要赚钱嘛！你要想到上海、广东做生意就要学上海话、广东话啦。总的来说南方发展的快一些，有钱人多一些。 ‘That’s because they want to make money! If you want to do business in Shanghai or Canton, you need to learn Shanghainese or Cantonese. Generally speaking the south develops faster and there are more people with money.’ The differentials in economic and social development in China seem to have influenced people’s attitudes towards the languages spoken in different parts of the country, which in turn affected people’s attitudes towards language maintenance, language shift and language transmission across generations.

Standard language ideology Our interviewees expressed a strong sense that there is a need for a standard national language, which can be used as unifying factor for the Chinese communities worldwide. Elsewhere we reported our findings from interviews with Chinese residents in Britain, Australia and Singapore, who,


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM


23

despite the diversity of their historical backgrounds and contemporary social positions, all believe that having a standard language, such as Putonghua, gives the Chinese a clear sense of cultural identity, and that the Chinese language has unique features that may give its users certain cognitive advantage (Li and Zhu, 2009). Our interviews with the parents, teachers and pupils of the Chinese complementary schools confirmed this popular belief, as the following example shows: (19) 英语也有BBC英语，法语也有它标准国语。普通话是我们的标准国语。中国人当然要讲普通话。否则人家怎么知道你是中国人？你可能是广东人、上海人、北京人，但你要是中国人就要讲普通话。 ‘English has BBC English. French has its standard national language. Putonghua is our standard national language. Chinese people certainly should speak Putonghua. Otherwise how can people know that you are Chinese? You may be Cantonese, Shanghainese or Pekingese. But if you want to be Chinese, you need to speak Putonghua.’ (Parent 4) Our interviewees also seem to agree that Putonghua must be learned by the young. The reasons they give all point to the rising politico-economic power of mainland China, as the following two extracts illustrate: (20) 现在很多学校，我是说当地的普通学校，都教中文，普通话。很多英国的孩子要学中文。以后会很有用的。伦敦有许多公司都要会讲普通话的人。你要会讲普通话，找工容易得很。 ‘Now many schools, I mean local ordinary schools, teach Chinese, Putonghua. Many British children learn Chinese. It is very useful in the future. London has many companies who need people speaking Putonghua. If you can speak Putonghua, it is very easy to find a job.’ (Parent 6) (21) ‘I don’t know if I will actually go to China and work there. But in twenty thirty years’ time, China will be very strong. Knowing Chinese will be very useful.’ (Child 8)

Simplified or ‘full’ characters; Pinyin or no pinyin Our interviewees seem to be aware of the differences of the simplified characters (简体字) and the traditional characters, sometimes called ‘full’ characters (繁体字), as well as the existence of the Romanization system,


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM

24


pinyin (拼音), although they seem less concerned with the historical contexts and political connotations of these systems. The simplified characters were introduced in mainland China since the 1950s as part of a language planning and modernization program. They are used in Singapore also. In the Putonghua schools in Britain, simplified characters are taught via using textbooks produced in mainland China. Most schools adopted these textbooks for purely pragmatic reasons, as they are provided by the Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom free of charge. The full characters are still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong and dominate the press of the Chinese diasporic communities. They tend to be taught in the Cantonese schools, although many Cantonese schools also teach the simplified characters, especially in the Putonghua classes. The pinyin system was invented in mainland China to assist the teaching of Chinese especially to foreign learners. Taiwan has a different notation system which is not widely taught outside Taiwan. Other Romanization systems do exist for regional varieties of Chinese, but they are less known outside the academic circles. Our interviews suggest that there is no clear preference for either simplified or full characters, or for pinyin. Different schools decide on their own policies almost entirely on the basis of what is available and what can be done easily. On the whole, simplified characters and pinyin are used in the teaching of Putonghua and full characters in Cantonese. One head teacher of a Cantonese school told us: (22) 我们广东话的教材是从香港买来的，所以没有拼音，也没有简化字。我们的普通话教材是侨办赠送的，有简体字和拼音。还有光盘等等。小孩子比较喜欢多媒体。但我们只有普通话的，没有广东话的。 ‘Our Cantonese teaching material is bought from Hong Kong. It doesn’t have pinyin or simplified characters. Our Putonghua teaching material is given as a gift by the Overseas Chinese Office (of the Chinese government). It has simplified characters and pinyin. It also has CD and other accessories. Young children like multimedia material. But we only have it for Putonghua, not for Cantonese.’ (Teacher 1) As for the parents, most believe that it would be good if the children could learn both the simplified and full characters, as the following illustrates: (23) 简体字繁体字都应当会看。两种都会最好。 ‘They should be able to read both simplified and full characters. It is the best to know both.’ (Parent 9)


5/13/2010 5:17:06 PM


25

This view is shared by parents of the Putonghua schools, who see full characters maintaining some use for reading newspapers and magazines from Hong Kong and Taiwan and historical texts. Surprisingly, nobody expressed the view that the full characters may be too complicated and difficult for the children to learn.

Summary and Conclusion In this chapter, we have reported findings from interviews with a sample of parents, teachers and pupils of Chinese complementary school in Britain, and discussed their attitudes towards different varieties of the Chinese language and towards language education of the British Chinese children. There seems to be considerable consistency across the sample in terms of their views on (1) the significance of the Chinese language, especially the written form; (2) the importance of having a national standard language; and (3) the internal hierarchies among the different varieties of Chinese. The Chinese language clearly has a special symbolic value to the Chinese people, perhaps even more so to the diasporic communities as they feel the need to maintain their distinctive cultural identities. This sense of identity may also have led to their strong belief that there needs to be a national standard language and that Putonghua seems to be fulfilling that role well. The adults all seem to be very keen on the children to learn Chinese, especially Putonghua, and the children seem to accept that knowing Chinese may help them in their future career. The most important finding of the present study is the changing hierarchies among the varieties of the Chinese language. Despite the fact that Cantonese speakers are the most dominant group within the diasporic Chinese communities, Putonghua is fast becoming the language that everybody wants to learn. Other varieties receive little popular or institutional support. This change of hierarchy is closely related to the globalization process which is affecting the Chinese communities as much as it affects other diasporic communities across the world. The rising profile of Putonghua as the politically and economically dominating language, coupled with the standard language ideology which seems to be shared by most Chinese people, presents a challenge to the Chinese diasporas, as it will no doubt impact on the communities’ internal cohesion, the education of the younger generations of Chinese overseas, and the future contacts between the diasporas, mainland China and places of origins and ancestry. Whether the future for regional Chinese language varieties is as bleak as some of our


5/13/2010 5:17:07 PM

26


interviewees’ comments seem to suggest is not entirely certain. One thing is sure, though, and that is the dynamics within the Chinese diasporas are changing and they are increasingly influenced by the rising power of mainland China and all the things that represent China, including its standard national language. The language as culture view expressed by some of our interviewees in the present study is one of the areas worthy of further investigation, as it has implications for education policy for the new generations of Chinese children, the development of cultural and ethnic identities of the young, and the cohesion of the Chinese communities. It would be particularly interesting to examine any changes of the view by different generations of overseas Chinese. In the above-mentioned study of multilingual practices in complementary schools of four ethnic minority communities in the United Kingdom, we revealed the tensions and conflicts between the parents and the children in seeing language as representative of traditional values or cultural heritage (Blackledge et al., 2008). The younger generations use their multilingual practices to construct and express their identities as multicultural individuals and contest the monolingual and unicultural ideologies which they see as being imposed on them by both the Englishspeaking and the Chinese-speaking communities separately. This is certainly a topic that invites comparative studies of different communities.

References Blackledge, A., Creese, A., Tas¸kın, B., Arvind, B., Shahela, H., Li, W., Vally, L., Peter, M., Wu, C. and Dilek, Y. (2008), ‘Contesting “Language” as “heritage”: Negotiation of identities in late modernity’, Applied Linguistics, 29, 533–554. Creese, A., Blackledge, A., Li, W., Martin, Peter M. and Lytra, V. (2008), Investigating multilingualism in complementary schools in four communities (ESRC, RES-000–231180), viewed 20 December 2009, http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ esrcinfocentre/viewawardpage.aspx?awardnumber=RES-000–23-1180 Francis, B., Archer, L. and Mau, A. (2009), ‘Language as capital, or language as identity? Chinese complementary school pupils’ perspectives on the purposes and benefits of complementary schools’, British Educational Research Journal, 35, (4), 519–538. Li, W. (2006), ‘Complementary schools, past, present and future’, Language and Education, 20, 76–83. Li, W. (2007), ‘Chinese’, in D. Britain (ed.), Language in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 308–324. Li, W. and Wu, C. (2009), ‘Polite Chinese children revisited: Creativity and the use of codeswitching in the Chinese complementary school classroom’, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 12, (2), 193–211.


AQ: Please check whether the highlighted name is correct

5/13/2010 5:17:07 PM


27

AQ: Authorquery: Please provide volume, issue and page numbers

Li, W. and Zhu, H. (2009), ‘Voices from the diaspora: Changing hierarchies and dynamics of Chinese multilingualism’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language. Spradley, J. (1979), The Ethnographic Interview. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Janovich.


5/13/2010 5:17:07 PM


5/13/2010 5:17:07 PM