Turn on the TV and a variety of dialects and accents -- from Sichuan, Hangzhou, Shaanxi, Guangdong (Cantonese) -- as well as the familiar Putonghua (official Chinese dialect), greet the ear. More and more programs in specific dialects are being produced as they generate ever-higher audience ratings.

The sitcom Night Chats in Chongqing, whose actors speak in the local lingo, has maintained a number one viewing spot over the past 10 years in Chongqing municipality. Another, The Hot Life has also stayed within Chongqing's top three since it was first broadcast.

Aliutou’s News on Hangzhou TV is presented in authentic Hangzhou dialect by anchor Aliutou, which secures it top audience ratings. The program has won many awards, including a place in the National 100 Best TV Programs.

Guangzhou TV’s Reading the Newspapers in Cantonese occupies a record 7 percent of the weekly average ratings, and is the leading news feature in the Guangzhou area.

As for TV drama in dialect, a mini-survey carried out by people.com revealed that 56.4 percent of 374 netizens avidly watch soap operas in localized parlances.

Generally speaking, however, programs in dialect remain in the minority on the TV stage that Putonghua dominates. Even in Chengdu where they are particularly popular, such programs account for just one in forty.

Dialect As Spice

Programs in the Sichuan dialect are the favorite of a group of migrant workers in Beijing, natives of this Southwestern Province. They said that hearing the cadences of their home dialect was the best remedy for homesickness.

A person’s home dialect is actually a very emotive issue. “Dialects encompass the local residents’ bonhomie and hospitality which cannot be expressed in Putonghua,” explains Professor Xu Min from the Media and Communication Department of Zhejiang University, after watching the popular Prime Show in Hangzhou. He is of the opinion that it is the dialect in which it is presented that brings such irresistible vitality to the program, as those watching feel they are among residents of their own neighborhood.

Such programs project a relaxed and lighthearted ambience. Aliutou is the first anchorman in China to broadcast news in local dialect. He stands out from his more formal-mannered peers in this respect. He presents the news, in the Hangzhou dialect, standing, adding a few locally familiar gestures for emphasis. His bold and often ironic comments come as a breath of fresh air to the audience.

Most of the provinces in which programs in the local dialect are popular, it has been noted, are those advanced in economy and culture. Such programs present the chance for locals to bask in the pride their hometown brings them, by virtue of its local culture and commerce.

“The use of dialects does not actually guarantee success. The point is that they give insight into the daily life and culture of common people. Pursuing this line would make these programs even more popular,” says Zhao Qiang, professor at the Chinese Department of the Central University for Nationalities.

Linguistic Legacies

A dialect, as opposed to an accent, is the manner in which a language is spoken in a particular area. It is distinguishable by its pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. China’s various dialects reflect different local cultures and demeanors.

The Han is the largest of China’s 56 ethnic nationalities. Various complex dialects have formed within it because of the country’s diversity of topography, economy and community.

When Chinese radio stations first began making broadcasts, programs and news in dialect were dominant. It was in 1956 that the central government issued the directive that Putonghua - standardized spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect - be popularized. At that point, programs in dialect were withdrawn from the mass media. It was not until the late 1980s that dialects, in tandem with the prosperity of local TV stations, radios and Internet, re-emerged.

But these programs are also a source of controversy. Many are of the opinion that they are too exclusive to promote the appropriate sense of national identity and coherence. Others believe that too many programs in local dialect adversely influence the concept of received TV pronunciation, and go against the policy of “Popularizing Putonghua.”

The Hot Life is a popular Sichuan dialect sitcom. (Image: China Today)In 2004, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued a notice prohibiting TV stations from broadcasting imported films and TV dramas dubbed into dialect. On October 8, 2005, the Administration published a document reaffirming that TV dramas produced in local dialect are forbidden. This was actually an administrative order promulgated by the country in order to strengthen the status of Putonghua in the area of TV. The same year, program presenters were required to use standard Putonghua and to refrain from imitating the Hong Kong and Taiwan accents or using expressions peculiar to local dialects or from abroad.

“We are popularizing Putonghua, but that does not mean we must ignore all other dialects” -- such was the opinion of the many experts and specialists that attended the press conference of the Ninth Putonghua Popularization Week.

“Dialects are a good supplement to Putonghua. Absorbing fresh and vivid expressions, styles of grammar and linguistic applications from various dialects helps the official language to retain its vitality,” says Prof. Zhao Qiang, concluding, “As the carrier of folk knowledge and culture, dialect plays an important role in maintaining a multicultural society.”

There has been a lively debate on this issue among the media. Most of those that have expressed their opinions are in favor of continuing to broadcast programs in dialect.

After 51 years of Putonghua popularization, 53 percent of China’s 1.3 billion population are fluent in the official language. But there has been a call in recent years to preserve and update various dialects.

“Dialects have their natural laws of evolution. Whether programs in dialect should be broadcast is up to the audience. The remote control decides,” Prof. Zhao Qiang pronounces.

Decline Behind the Prosperity

On the other hand, there are specialists that believe dialects are threatened by the Popularization of Putonghua policy.

Sun Man, associate researcher with the Institute of Applied Linguistics of the Ministry of Education points out that the dialect topic is the tip of a profound iceberg. He says that programs in dialect cater to the spiritual and emotional desires of a small percentage of the audience. It is the dialect aspect that succeeds in attracting the attention of this small section of the viewing public, with the help of modern mass media. But the dialect acts as a sprinkling of linguistic spice rather than access to deep cultural roots. In the sense of a cultural phenomenon, therefore, it is fading.

Audiences of such programs comprise mainly middle aged or senior citizens who value their linguistic roots. An audience rating survey conducted by Zhejiang Zhongying Culture Development Co. Ltd reveals that 55 percent of Prime Show in Hangzhou viewers are 45 years of age and more, and that only 27 percent are between 15 and 35.

Shanghai’s The Hot Three-Guy Show once scored record ratings in Shanghai but, sad to say, programs in authentic Shanghai dialect are fewer and fewer. Putonghua has become the accepted lingua franca of government, schools and business. The Shanghai dialect is now heard mainly among middle aged or senior inhabitants of the municipality.

There is a call to revive and protect dialects that run the risk of dying out. In 2006, Shanghai launched its Protecting and Researching the Shanghai Dialect Project. Its function is to keep audio records of the dialect and ensure its inclusion in junior high school textbooks.

During the 2006 National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, delegate Yin Jie from Guangzhou proposed holding a “Cantonese Culture Festival”. CCTV has also shot a documentary called China’s Grassroots that records China’s oral cultural heritage and advocates the preservation of dialects. This would indicate the general sentiment that Putonghua is a communications staple, but that local dialects constitute a cultural mainstay.