| Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in the numbered blanks by using he information from the passage. Write NO MORE THEAN ONE WORD for each answer. |
| Chinese, unlike many other languages, has a large family of dialects and written forms. Spoken Chinese is specially complex with more than five recognized dialect groups, even the written language with two recognized characters. The written forms of Chinese include a traditional system of characters and a simplified one. The simplified version of characters came into use in 1949. Traditional Chinese characters are still widely used throughout Asia and among Chinese people around the world, while the simplified characters are only found in the People's Republic of China. It is usually accepted that there are five major dialect groups within the Chinese language group. These are Mandarin, Wu, Min, Cantonese and Hakka. Mandarin is the official language on the Chinese mainland and Chinese Taiwan. It is also one of the four official languages of Singapore. Wu is spoken around the lower Yangtze River and its tributaries (支流). Shanghai is a well-known dialect of Wu. Min is commonly spoken by people in Taiwan, Fujian and Hainan. Cantonese is mainly spoken in the province of Guangdong. Cantonese is also spoken in many parts of the Chinese Diaspora (移居地), particularly HongKong and overseas Chinese settlements in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia. Hakka is the least well-known dialect group inside China compared to the above four. Most of the Hakka dialect group is scattered (散居) throughout southeastern China in Guangxi Province. Historically, the Hakka people were northerners who moved south over several hundred years. Their name Hakka means"guest" indicating their immigrant (移民) status in the southern areas to which they moved. |
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