ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 further discusses Mandarin and Chinese varieties. In the conversation, Joy’s Chinese teacher introduces the main groups of Chinese varieties and the differences between local varieties in the north and those in the south. Joy’s classmate Melinda says that her dad speaks Cantonese, while her mom speaks Sichuanese, and they cannot understand each other’s dialects. She also shares a funny story in which a person from the northeast thought a child fell into a river when he heard a woman say that her “háizi” (meaning “shoes” in Sichuanese but “child” in Mandarin). The teacher shares that Chinese people usually speak Mandarin at schools and on TV, but many still speak local varieties of Chinese daily. Both Melinda and Joy think these varieties of Chinese are interesting and should co-exist with Mandarin. The text of this chapter is a short biography of Zhou Youguang, who is known as the “Father of Hanyu Pinyin”. It introduces some major events of his life, including the compilation of Hanyu Pinyin, and also discusses the contributions of Hanyu Pinyin to Chinese people and learners of Chinese. The text ends with a question of whether Hanyu Pinyin should replace Chinese characters.
