Languages

Languages

Main articles: Languages of China and List of endangered languages in China

1990 map of Chinese ethnolinguistic groups

There are as many as 292 living languages in China.^[409] The languages most commonly spoken belong to the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, which contains Mandarin (spoken natively by 70% of the population),^[410] and other Chinese varieties: Yue (including Cantonese and Taishanese), Wu (including Shanghainese and Suzhounese), Min (including Fuzhounese, Hokkien and Teochew), Xiang, Gan and Hakka. Languages of the Tibeto-Burman branch, including Tibetan, Qiang, Naxi and Yi, are spoken across the Tibetan and Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. Other ethnic minority languages in southwest China include Zhuang, Thai, Dong and Sui of the Tai-Kadai family, Miao and Yao of the Hmong–Mien family, and Wa of the Austroasiatic family. Across northeastern and northwestern China, minority ethnic groups speak Altaic languages including Manchu, Mongolian and several Turkic languages: Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Salar and Western Yugur. Korean is spoken natively along the border with North Korea. Sarikoli, the language of Tajiks in western Xinjiang, is an Indo-European language. Taiwanese aborigines, including a small population on the mainland, speak Austronesian languages.^[411]
Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as a lingua franca in the country between people of different linguistic backgrounds.^[412]
Chinese characters have been used as the written script for the Sinitic languages for thousands of years. They allow speakers of mutually unintelligible Chinese varieties to communicate with each other through writing. In 1956, the government introduced simplified characters, which have supplanted the older traditional characters in mainland China. Chinese characters are romanized using the Pinyin system. Tibetan uses an alphabet based on an Indic script. Uyghur is most commonly written in a Perseo-Arabic script. The Mongolian script used in China and the Manchu script are both derived from the Old Uyghur alphabet. Modern Zhuang uses the Latin alphabet.

Urbanization

See also: List of cities in China, List of cities in China by population, and Metropolitan regions of China

Map of the ten largest cities in China (2010)

China has urbanized significantly in recent decades. The percent of the country's population living in urban areas increased from 20% in 1980 to over 50% in 2014.^{[413][414][415]} It is estimated that China's urban population will reach one billion by 2030, potentially equivalent to one-eighth of the world population.^[413][414] As of 2012, there are more than 262 million migrant workers in China, mostly rural migrants seeking work in cities.^[416]
China has over 160 cities with a population of over one million,^[417] including the seven megacities (cities with a population of over 10 million) of Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and Wuhan.^{[418][419][420]} By 2025, it is estimated that the country will be home to 221 cities with over a million inhabitants.^[413] The figures in the table below are from the 2010 census,^[3] and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban and rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;^[421] the figures below include only long-term residents.

v t e Largest cities or towns in China Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (2010)
	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
Shanghai Beijing	1	Shanghai	Shanghai	20,217,700	11	Chengdu	Sichuan	6,316,900	Chongqing Guangzhou
	2	Beijing	Beijing	16,446,900	12	Nanjing	Jiangsu	6,238,200
	3	Chongqing	Chongqing	11,871,200	13	Shenyang	Liaoning	5,718,200
	4	Guangzhou	Guangdong	10,641,400	14	Hangzhou	Zhejiang	5,578,300
	5	Shenzhen	Guangdong	10,358,400	15	Xi'an	Shaanxi	5,399,300
	6	Tianjin	Tianjin	9,562,300	16	Harbin	Heilongjiang	5,178,000
	7	Wuhan	Hubei	7,541,500	17	Suzhou	Jiangsu	4,083,900
	8	Dongguan	Guangdong	7,271,300	18	Qingdao	Shandong	3,990,900
	9	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	7,055,071	19	Dalian	Liaoning	3,902,500
	10	Foshan	Guangdong	6,771,900	20	Zhengzhou	Henan	3,677,000

Education

Main articles: Education in the People's Republic of China and List of universities in China

Beijing's Tsinghua University, one of the top-ranked universities in China^[422]

Since 1986, compulsory education in China comprises primary and junior secondary school, which together last for nine years.^[423] In 2010, about 82.5 percent of students continued their education at a three-year senior secondary school.^[424] The Gaokao, China's national university entrance exam, is a prerequisite for entrance into most higher education institutions. In 2010, 27 percent of secondary school graduates are enrolled in higher education.^[425] Vocational education is available to students at the secondary and tertiary level.^[426]
In February 2006, the government pledged to provide completely free nine-year education, including textbooks and fees.^[427] Annual education investment went from less than US$50 billion in 2003 to more than US$250 billion in 2011.^[428] However, there remains an inequality in education spending. In 2010, the annual education expenditure per secondary school student in Beijing totalled ¥20,023, while in Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces in China, only totalled ¥3,204.^[429] Free compulsory education in China consists of primary school and junior secondary school between the ages of 6 and 15. In 2011, around 81.4% of Chinese have received secondary education.^[430] By 2007, there were 396,567 primary schools, 94,116 secondary schools, and 2,236 higher education institutions in China.^[431]
As of 2010, 94% of the population over age 15 are literate,^[432] compared to only 20% in 1950.^[433] In 2009, Chinese students from Shanghai achieved the world's best results in mathematics, science and literacy, as tested by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a worldwide evaluation of 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic performance.^[434] Despite the high results, Chinese education has also faced both native and international criticism for its emphasis on rote memorization and its gap in quality from rural to urban areas.