Hong Kong’s recent census report states that Mandarin is the second language most spoken on the island following Cantonese. Cantonese remains dominant with 96% percent. As for Mandarin, 48% of Hong Kong’s population can speak it, compared to 46% of population that can speak English. Previously, English was the second most spoken language.
The report follows recent disputes regarding policies and efforts by the Chinese Communist government to instate Mandarin Chinese as the official language; instances include a spat in a Hong Kong subway and rallies in southern China. There has also been a recent influx of immigrants to Hong Kong from mainland China. One man in the <em>Wall Street Journal </em>disagreed with the results of the census.
“I don’t think it’s true,” said local resident Grover Hung in the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> article. “With lots of mainlanders coming, Putonghua is more useful. Maybe more people just like to say they can speak it.”
