Protests for preserving Chinese.....or more specifically, Cantonese

United College Library at CUHK.

The pervasiveness of Cantonese throughout Hong Kong was epitomized in a protest at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) on Valentine's Day 2005.

Many students and faculty were protesting against the introduction of more English language-based classes and insisted that most classes should continue to be taught in Chinese.

Many of the protestors invoked the traditions of the university as a haven for Chinese language education as CUHK proclaims in their mission statement to "serve the needs and enhance the well-being of the citizens of Hong Kong, [and] China as a whole..."

As EastSouthWestNorth blogger points out, the irony is that the protestors had narrow-mindedly interpreted the Chinese language as just the Cantonese language and were protesting for more Cantonese classes.

Photo of CUHK courtesy of Brenda

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