Language matters in China. It is about power, identity, opportunities, and, above all, passion and nationalism. During the past five decades China's language engineering projects transformed its linguistic landscape, affecting over one billion people's lives, including both the majority and minority populations. The Han majority have been juggling between their home vernaculars and the official speech, Putonghua - a speech of no native speakers - and reading their way through a labyrinth of the traditional, simplified, and Pinyin (Roman) scripts. Moreover, the various minority groups have...

Language matters in China. It is about power, identity, opportunities, and, above all, passion and nationalism. During the past five decades China's language engineering projects transformed its linguistic landscape, affecting over one billion people's lives, including both the majority and minority populations. The Han majority have been juggling between their home vernaculars and the official speech, Putonghua - a speech of no native speakers - and reading their way through a labyrinth of the traditional, simplified, and Pinyin (Roman) scripts. Moreover, the various minority groups have...