appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Meredith Chen

Speak a few sentences of your hometown dialect into a microphone at a museum in central China, and a machine will pinpoint exactly where you are from.
The interactive voice-recognition booth is among star attractions at a new language resources hall that opened on Monday at the Hunan Museum in Changsha.
The hall showcases recordings and other language materials from Chinese dialects, minority languages and oral culture collected over the past decade. The compilation from more than 1,800 field survey sites nationwide reflects Beijing’s broader initiative to turn the vast digital archive of the country’s linguistic diversity into a public cultural resource.
The recordings represent 10 major Chinese dialects and more than 100 ethnic minority languages, including Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and Zhuang, according to Chen Xuliang, deputy Communist Party secretary for the museum.
More than 30 language-related cultural relics are also on display. “Digital technology is helping to bring the results of language preservation research out of databases and into public cultural spaces,” Chen was quoted as saying by state news agency Xinhua.

Visitors can listen to local dialects, folk songs and recordings of some endangered languages, while interactive exhibits allow them to explore linguistic developments in China.
Materials showcased at the exhibition hall are the result of a decade-long national language survey. The state-led initiative, called the Project for the Protection of Language Resources of China, was launched by the Ministry of Education and the State Language Commission in 2015. It leverages modern technology to collect and document China’s regional languages, dialects and oral heritage into a large, continuously expanding multimedia database.
Beijing has in recent years stepped up efforts to preserve and make greater use of the country’s linguistic and cultural resources.

A policy document issued in December urged stronger support for language museums, calling for efforts to turn linguistic resources into drivers of cultural development and advocating for their integration into everyday life.
A national plan for cultural heritage development followed in July, also calling for greater use of digital technology and wider sharing of digital resources held by museums and cultural institutions.
The policies align with China’s drive under President Xi Jinping to promote “cultural confidence” – one of the “Four Confidences” he introduced in 2016. It refers to confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Beijing sees “cultural confidence” as vital to national cohesion and creativity, as well as a key driver of soft power and global competitiveness.


The Changsha exhibition hall is also serving as a pilot for the planned China Language Resources Museum, expected to be built at the city’s Malanshan Video Cultural and Creative Industrial Park.
While China boasts a highly diverse linguistic landscape of more than 100 languages and numerous dialects, efforts to preserve minority languages have often been at odds with Beijing’s campaign to promote Mandarin as a common language.
Beijing claims the two goals can coexist, while critics argue that the growing emphasis on Mandarin in education and public life risks weakening the use of minority languages and eroding ethnic minority cultures and identities.


China’s corruption investigation procedures

10 years, 1,800 survey sites: inside China’s hi-tech push to map linguistic diversity

Chinese rescuers reach checkpoint destroyed by deadly flash floods along Nepal border

China’s anti-corruption drive by the numbers

Communist Party politics

A visitor listens to different regional dialects at a new exhibition hall showcasing recordings and other language materials from across China at the Hunan Museum in Changsha. Photo: Xinhua

Children perform at the opening ceremony of the hall on August 24, in Changsha, Hunan province. Photo: Xinhua

An interior view of the exhibition hall. Photo: Xinhua

China unveils new ethnic unity and language laws with ‘national security perspective’

Chinese President Xi Jinping pictured on a visit to Lhasa in Tibet earlier this year. Photo: EPA 

China hastens to break down Babel barrier with large language models and wearable tech

The rise of wearable tech is accelerating the push for instantaneous translation hardware, according to a Chinese tech expert. Photo: Shutterstock

Senior officials push use of Chinese language in Xinjiang and intensify focus on religion

Xi Jinping visited the region to mark the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Photo: Xinhua

Beijing to roll out new rules on Chinese language use in ethnic integration drive

Chinese President Xi Jinping waves upon his arrival in Lhasa to mark the 60th anniversary of the Tibet autonomous region’s founding. New rules guiding the implementation of Mandarin usage underline Beijing’s desire for further ethnic integration. Photo: EPA 

News

China

Politics

New Hunan Museum hall showcases major Chinese dialects and more than 100 ethnic minority languages, including Mongolian, Tibetan and Uygur


New Hunan Museum hall showcases major Chinese dialects and more than 100 ethnic minority languages, including Mongolian, Tibetan and Uygur.


Chinese culture

Xi Jinping

Ministry of Education

10 years, 1,800 survey sites: inside China’s hi-tech push to map linguistic diversity

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}New Hunan Museum hall showcases major Chinese dialects and more than 100 ethnic minority languages, including Mongolian, Tibetan and Uygur

New Hunan Museum hall showcases major Chinese dialects and more than 100 ethnic minority languages, including Mongolian, Tibetan and Uygur