In this classic episode of Barbarians at the Gate from 2020, David Moser and I examine Putonghua (普通话), the spoken language most people refer to as Mandarin, and ask the question: What is the point of Putonghua?

We look at the question of what constitutes a dialect, and what defines a language, especially in a country as diverse as China? We look at the historical evolution of standardized speech in China, tracing a line from the Mandarin as spoken during the dynastic period, to "Guoyu 国语" (National Speech) in the Republican Period, and finally to Putonghua in the PRC. We also receive assistance from Zhang Yajun, who discusses with David the differences between the spoken language of Northern China, particularly around Beijing, and "Standard" Putonghua.

Recommendations:

A Billion Voices: China's Search for a Common Language by David Moser (Penguin, 2016)

Dialect and Nationalism in China, 1860–1960 by Gina Anne Tam (Cambridge University Press, 2020)