Many foreigners think that Cantonese is the standard Chinese. Why do they think so?

In English, Chinese is collectively called Chinese, but what we don't know is that Chinese is divided into two branches in English. When we set the language of the mobile phone and the language of the APP, the system will divide Chinese into Cantonese and Mandarin, which refer to Cantonese and Mandarin respectively. So why do many foreigners think Cantonese is the standard Chinese? The following author talks about his own views.

1. In the late Qing Dynasty 1840 During the Opium War, Cantonese people flowed into the United States in large numbers. Britain opened the door to China with its guns, and the Opium War forced China to sign the treaty of nanking, which designated five cities in China as trading ports. In the process of China being forced to open its doors, a large number of Cantonese people saved the United States. In the United States, they helped the United States build railways as laborers, so in this process, the so-called Cantonese gradually began to have an impact in the United States, so Americans at that time would think that standard Mandarin was Cantonese.

Secondly, Fuzhou dialect is also very popular overseas. In fact, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, as one of the earliest trading ports in China, the popular Chinese overseas is Fuzhou dialect except Cantonese. In new york and Boston, Fuzhou dialect also has a great influence in the United States, because there are many Fuzhou immigrants there.

3. Most foreigners know that Putonghua is the standard Chinese, but in the end, in essence, most foreigners know that Putonghua is the standard Chinese, which is like the difference between simplified Chinese characters and traditional Chinese characters, although the country simplified traditional Chinese characters in the 1950s to reduce the illiteracy rate in China. In fact, after the simplification of Chinese mainland, Chinese-speaking countries such as Singapore and Malaysia have further simplified, so China's international influence is growing, and few foreigners will think Cantonese is the standard Chinese.

Cantonese and Putonghua are treasures in Chinese culture, and we should not artificially oppose them.