EARLIER this month, the government-owned Museum of Lingnan Dialect Culture, with an investment of 14 million yuan (US$2.17 million), opened at the Foshan Library in Foshan City, Guangdong Province.

“Lingnan” generally refers to regions to the south of the Five Ridges in southern China. In different dynasties, however, the term referred to different areas. Today it specifically refers to Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong and Macao. The Lingnan culture is vividly identifiable by its various dialects.

Through interactive devices in the museum, visitors can listen to different dialects, traditional operas and folk music, learn about the three major dialects (Cantonese, Minnan and Hakka) in South China and the culture behind the dialects. Visitors can also learn about the conditions of dialects in Guangdong and the rest of China, the protection of the dialects of Guangdong and how these dialects have been transmitted overseas.

Zhan Bohui, honorary director of the research center for Chinese dialects in Jinan University, said that while Mandarin is being used across China, the promotion and protection of dialects shouldn’t be neglected. He also said that dialects are carriers of local culture and every region should develop their own dialect, adding that he hopes the museum can do a better job to protect dialects and become an outstanding platform for promoting and developing the Lingnan dialects.

The accelerating urbanization and wide use of Mandarin has reduced dialect speakers in China in recent decades. The Chinese Language Resources Protection Project launched by the Ministry of Education in 2015 is the largest language resources protection project in the world. (Lin Lin)