Hanyu

Hanyu (汉语/漢語, Hànyǔ) is the Chinese language. In linguistic and educational contexts, it denotes the language spoken by the Han Chinese and, more broadly, the Chinese language family used by Chinese‑speaking communities worldwide. It is commonly contrasted with Zhongwen (中文/漢文), a term often associated with written Chinese, and with the major standardized varieties such as Putonghua (普通话) in Mainland China, Guoyu in Taiwan, and Huayu or Mandarin in Singapore.

Hanyu encompasses pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, and is normally written with Chinese characters. In Mainland China and Singapore, simplified characters are standard; in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, traditional characters remain common.

In modern usage, Hanyu Pinyin, 汉语拼音, is the official romanization system for Mandarin Chinese and is widely used to teach pronunciation and to input Chinese text in computing and digital communication.

There are numerous regional varieties within the broader Chinese language family, including Cantonese, Shanghainese, Hakka, and many others. While these are often treated as separate languages in popular usage, they are linguistically part of the same Sino‑Tibetan family and share historical roots with Hanyu.