Standard Chinese

Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese
Standard Mandarin
現代標準漢語; 现代标准汉语
Native to	China, Taiwan, Singapore
Speakers	L1 and L2: 80% of China
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Mandarin Beijing Mandarin Beijingese Standard Chinese; ; ; ; ; ;
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese Eastern Han Chinese Middle Chinese Old Mandarin Middle Mandarin Beijing Mandarin ; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Chinese characters; Mainland Chinese Braille; Taiwanese Braille; Two-cell Chinese Braille;
Signed forms	Signed Chinese
Official status
Official language in	China (de facto, as Putonghua); Taiwan (de facto, as Taiwanese Mandarin); Singapore (as Mandarin); United Nations (as Chinese); Shanghai Cooperation Organisation;
Regulated by	China:; Ministry of Education; Taiwan:; Ministry of Education; Malaysia:; Ministry of Education and Chinese Language Standardisation Council; Singapore:; Ministry of Education; Promote Mandarin Council; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	goyu (Guoyu); huyu (Huayu); cosc (Putonghua);
Glottolog	None
	Global distribution of Standard Mandarin speakers Majority native language Statutory or de facto national working language More than 1,000,000 L1 and L2 speakers More than 500,000 speakers More than 100,000 speakers
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	普通話
Simplified Chinese	普通话
Literal meaning	Common speech
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Pǔtōnghuà
Bopomofo	ㄆㄨˇ ㄊㄨㄥㄏㄨㄚˋ
Wade–Giles	P'u3-t'ung1-hua4
Tongyong Pinyin	Pǔ-tong-huà
Yale Romanization	Pǔtūnghwà
IPA	[pʰù.tʰʊ́ŋ.xwâ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Póutūngwá
Jyutping	Pou2 tung1 waa2
Guoyu
Traditional Chinese	國語
Simplified Chinese	国语
Literal meaning	National language
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Guóyǔ
Bopomofo	ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄩˇ
Wade–Giles	Kuo2-yü3
Tongyong Pinyin	Guó-yǔ
Yale Romanization	Gwóyǔ
IPA	[kwǒ.ỳ]
Huayu
Traditional Chinese	華語
Simplified Chinese	华语
Literal meaning	Chinese language
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Huáyǔ
Bopomofo	ㄏㄨㄚˊ ㄩˇ
Wade–Giles	Hua2-yü3
Tongyong Pinyin	Huá-yǔ
Yale Romanization	Hwáyǔ
IPA	[xwǎ.ỳ]

Standard Chinese (simplified Chinese: 现代标准汉语; traditional Chinese: 現代標準漢語; pinyin: Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ), often colloquially called Mandarin Chinese, is the modern standardized form of the Mandarin Chinese language. It is the national lingua franca of China, one of the official languages of the United Nations and of Singapore, and one of the national languages of Taiwan. It is largely based on the Beijing dialect. Standard Chinese is a pluricentric language with local standards in mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore that mainly differ in their lexicon.

Like other Sinitic languages, Standard Chinese is a tonal language with topic-prominent organization and subject–verb–object (SVO) word order. Compared with southern varieties, the language has fewer vowels, final consonants and tones, but more initial consonants. It is an analytic language, albeit with many compound words.