| Summary/Abstract |
The official list of ethnic groups of the People's Republic of China, begun in the 1950s and completed in 1979, included and still includes 56 groups speaking a total of 54 languages. Extensive field research in recent years has shown that the ethnic and linguistic picture of the country is in fact much more complex and diverse than had been imagined until the late 1970s. China remains one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, but many minority languages and varieties of Chinese dialects, both previously known and newly discovered, are now spoken only by a few thousand, a few dozen, or even a handful of older locals. The most important task set by the Chinese state for linguists is to further study, with electronic preservation, the numerous languages of minority ethnic groups, any Chinese dialects, and, more recently, samples of local spiritual and material culture. From 2015 to 2019, an ambitious China Language Resource Preservation Program was implemented. The materials collected during field research, including those on endangered language varieties, have been presented in numerous publications and used to create a unique online platform available to linguists and partially to ordinary Internet users. The next phase of the study and preservation of China's linguistic and cultural heritage was initiated by the government in 2020. A document devoted entirely to language problems and language policy was published by the Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China in 2021.
|