Multiple Voices: An Introduction to Bilingualism

In contrast, other groups may wish to see themselves as members of one
culture and in that case, they say they speak the same language even if the
dialects making up that language are not necessarily mutually intelligible.
The most commonly cited example is the Chinese language. True, there is only
a single writing system for all of the dialects of China. And there is only one
spoken variety that is recognized as the standard dialect. Based on the dialect
of the capital area, Beijing, this spoken dialect is still called Mandarin by
many, but is called Putonghua in Chinese. But by no means are all the Chinese
dialects mutually intelligible with each other or with Putonghua. That is, if we
are using structural criteria, many of them should be called separate languages.
This is especially true for the southern varieties, such as Cantonese (spoken in
Guangzhou, formerly called Canton).
That there should be linguistic differences in such a wide expanse as China
is understandable; so why do the Chinese want to ignore the differences?
They do recognize a number of minority groups that speak their own separate
languages (e.g. there are a number of Mongolian languages in the northeast).
But by referring to all the varieties spoken by persons from the Han ethnic
group as “Chinese”, the Chinese government instills the notion of national
identity across diverse communities.

If
people want to participate in mainstream society, then fluency in the nation’s
dominant language is expected, but they should forget those other languages.