leasing a station to the Chinese Government

[Donna Halper]

On 6/29/2011 6:57 AM, Dan.Strassberg wrote:
> WILD does indeed broadcast Chinese-language lessons. I heard one a
> month or so ago and posted here about having heard it. (Must have been
> a good day; WILD was modulating more than the usual 1 or 2% on
> peaks.) Someone here (Garrett, I think) then posted a long and very
> authoritative-sounding response. The issue was the version (dialect?)
> of Chinese in which these lessons are conducted.

Beijing only permits the teaching and speaking of Mandarin Chinese.  It 
is the "official language" of China.  But most residents of Hong King 
and the provinces of Southern China (including Canton) speak Cantonese 
and they are not terribly pleased about efforts to wipe out their 
ancestral language.  Most eastern US Chinese people come from 
Cantonese-speaking parts of China, based on what I've seen.  Yes, the 
written language is the same for both Mandarin and Cantonese, but the 
two dialects pronounce words entirely differently.  It's kind of like 
Spanish and Portuguese-- there is a relationship, but they are not the same.