Putonghua

Putonghua, meaning "common speech" in Chinese, is the standardized form of Mandarin Chinese used as the national language of the People's Republic of China. It is commonly referred to as Standard Chinese or Mandarin. In Mainland China, Putonghua serves as the language of instruction in schools, government, broadcasting, and formal communication. The term Putonghua distinguishes the standard form from regional dialects.

Putonghua is based on the Beijing dialect and the phonology of northern Mandarin, with vocabulary drawn from several Mandarin varieties. It has four phonemic tones and uses syllables that combine initials, finals, and tones. The most common romanization method for learning is Hanyu Pinyin. The standard grammar and vocabulary are maintained by authorities and dictionaries to ensure mutual intelligibility across regions.

In writing, Putonghua uses Simplified Chinese characters in Mainland China and Singapore, while Taiwan continues to use Traditional Chinese characters. The standard written language is expressed through the same Chinese characters, though the character sets differ between regions. The Chinese writing system can represent the sounds of Putonghua as well as many regional dialects and languages through a common script.

Putonghua is taught in schools nationwide and is the lingua franca across vast, linguistically diverse regions. It enables communication among speakers of different Chinese varieties and is widely used in media, education, government, and business. Variants and accents persist in everyday speech, and regional languages such as Cantonese, Shanghainese, and others remain important cultural practices alongside Putonghua.