More wealthy immigrants from mainland China means overseas communities are adjusting to accommodate Putonghua. For proof, one doesn’t have to look any further than the establishment of Confucius Institutes scattered across the globe that promote Putonghua.

The superiority of Putonghua is even apparent in the media. While Chinese actors previously said lines in Cantonese before getting into a kung-fu fight, they now speak Putonghua as seen on Netflix’s Daredevil series. Even flashback scenes from Orange is the New Black show Chinese immigrants in 1980s New York City speaking Putonghua, even though it would have been in Cantonese at the time.

This is all too much for the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, which has had enough. For the first time this September, the Chinese language department is going to offer courses in Cantonese despite all arguments to the contrary.

UBC has turned down four proposals from the Confucius Institute to develop its curriculum, and it was able to do it by accepting a CAD$2 million ($1.5 million) grant from a pair of Hong Kong philanthropists. “When a university can reject money, it’s a subtle form of push back to an overbearing culture,” said Ross King, head of UBC’s Asian-studies program.

Some people think that Cantonese simply does not have a chance against the rise of Putonghua, which is widely understood by a vast majority of China’s 1.3 billion people. However, language is also a way to experience the world through the lens of a particular culture. It’s through Cantonese that we have been blessed with a number of cultural gems that can’t be counterfeited: Cantopop, TVB, Stephen Chow comedic patter, and heroic bloodshed movies among other things.

Of course, you can translate these things into whichever language you’d like. But as Cantonese speakers present and future will know, you’re missing out on a unique way of experiencing the world that other languages can’t replicate, no matter how popular they are.

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Tensions between Mainland China and Hong Kong are at a fever pitch these days following last year’s Occupy movement and recent protests that have targeted Mainland shoppers in the city’s Tuen Mun and Sha Tin neighbourhoods.

While it would take a proper thesis to outline the root causes of Hong Kongers’ discontent, the simplified version is this: they feel their way of life is under threat, and their uniqueness isn’t respected by the Mainland government or people. (This is a vastly simplified explanation, so please go easy on me in the comments).

Enter, then, the latest Chinese New Years greeting by Caroline Wilson, the Consul General of the United Kingdom to Hong Kong and Macau. In it, Wilson pulls off more than three minutes of Cantonese, a language notoriously hard to learn and one few visitors to Hong Kong, from the Mainland or elsewhere, even attempt. One imagines it took a lot of time and practice to put this video together, and her efforts will naturally go over well in Hong Kong. Trying to speak the local language is endearing, after all, and shows a certain level of respect for the local people. As any foreigner in the Mainland knows, this can go a long way.

Wilson has done these videos for a few years now, and last year even her American counterpart joined in with his own greeting in Cantonese. Conversely, many Hong Kongers feel the Mainland has shown little respect for the local culture or language, when even a simple dai ga hou (大家好) would be a nice touch before a speech. It’s not required, but it’s a small sign of acknowledgement and might be a first step towards a bit more understanding.

While Wilson deserves praise for her Cantonese, she has a way to go before being this good.

Related:

• Cantonese Women are the Nation’s Most Desirable
• Cantonese Speakers the Most Susceptible to Nose and Throat Cancer

The post British Consul General Charms Hong Kongers by Speaking Cantonese in New Years Greeting appeared first on The Nanfang.