Language

It is not surprising that with such a large country and diverse people there are many different languages and a variety of regional dialects spoken in China, some related and others mutually unintelligible. The written language, however, was first standardized in the 3rd century B.C.E., during the reign of China's first emperor, and standard spoken Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect was first promoted in the early twentieth century at the end of the last dynastic period. Called Putonghua by the mainland Chinese since 1955, standard Mandarin is spoken by 70% of the population. Today Chinese is spoken by more native speakers than any other in the world.

Since 2003, China boasts the second largest economy in the world (after the United States) on a purchasing power parity basis and is now the fastest growing major economy in the world, currently growing at an annual rate of almost 10% and expected to soon surpass that of the United States. Already the largest economy in Asia, there is a strong indication that China is positioned to become the next world economic superpower, and with Chinese already the largest demographic in the world, it is no wonder the British language researcher, David Graddol, predicts that in terms of increasing job opportunities "in the next decade the new 'must learn' language is likely to be Mandarin" (Associated Press, 2004).

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