Historic Cantonese school in Vancouver reopens amid rising interest in the language
Vancouver's Mon Keang School in Chinatown had closed in 2011 due to low enrolment
One of Canada's oldest and once-shuttered Cantonese language schools is back by popular demand.
Vancouver's Mon Keang School closed its doors in 2011 due to low enrolment, but its directors say renewed interest in the language allowed them to reopen their doors to adult learning this fall.
It's an intriguing development because, in the last few decades, statistics show that in Canada, the once more common Cantonese language continues to diminish in usage, giving way to the more dominant and official Chinese language of Mandarin.
"There is a growing desire for people to either learn or reconnect with their Cantonese heritage," said Aynsley Wong, one of the directors of the Wong's Benevolent Association, which runs the school.
"[We are] really excited to have students back in the building, to have these classrooms full. And our elders here at the Wongs Association were incredibly excited to have the vibrancy to hear the students walking up the stairs."
It's an encouraging shift for advocates who argue language can also be a carrier of culture.
Cantonese and Mandarin, also called Putonghua, are distinct from each other.
Many people think Chinese is just a single language, says Zoe Lam, a lecturer of Cantonese language at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
People should think of Chinese as an umbrella term, she says, one that includes Mandarin and Cantonese, among others. There are different words, grammar, slang and sayings and they're different enough that speakers can't actually talk to each other, though they can share the same writing systems.
In Canada, the popularity of both languages at different times can be explained through immigration trends.
Historically, in Canada, more Chinese immigrants had originally come from Cantonese-speaking regions, but the movement of people changed, and Mandarin has become more prevalent. It's happening most notably in the cities of Toronto and Vancouver.
But there are also contemporary threats to Cantonese from within China, too. In Guangzhou and neighbouring Hong Kong, more Mandarin-speaking outsiders are moving in, altering the dialect and the fundamental way people interact together, says Chaak Min Lau, an assistant professor of linguistics and modern language studies at the Education University of Hong Kong.
He says there was a time when Cantonese-speaking families would never need to change to Mandarin to communicate with others, but that's evolved.
"Guangzhou residents and their children will switch to Putonghua (Mandarin) when they talk to outsiders, and when outsiders overwhelm them, then they will have to use Putonghua every day, every moment," he said.
Cantonese is still overwhelmingly spoken in Hong Kong, close to 90 per cent of its population speak it, according to the most recent census in 2021.
But the momentum toward Mandarin in a once distinctly autonomous and Cantonese region like Hong Kong has spurred conversations about Cantonese identity and the future of the unique southern and southeastern Chinese language. Especially in the context of the ongoing erosion of political dissent, social freedoms, judicial independence and free media led by Beijing.
Last year, a Hong Kong-based group founded to promote the use of Cantonese was raided by authorities for alleged contravention of a national security law, as reported by the BBC. The Chinese government's obvious preference for Putonghua in education and business is seen by academics like Zoe Lam as an attempt to unify the country under a single language.
But in Canada, it's different, says Raymond Pai, a lecturer of Cantonese Language at UBC. He says most people here perceive Cantonese and Mandarin to be equally valuable languages to learn.
"You can choose which is more important, as significant or meaningful to you," he said.
"Many of them, they choose to learn Cantonese just because, oh, that this has more personal meaning and connection to me."
That was the clincher for siblings Sarah and Miles Wong, who signed up for fall classes at the nearly 100-year-old Mon Keang School to "feel more connected to their roots". Their grandparents came from Hong Kong and Guangzhou, but as kids, they learned French, not Cantonese.
One of the last activities for the class is shopping in Cantonese in Vancouver's Chinatown, filling up their baskets and brains with Cantonese items and phrases while interacting with other speakers.
Miles thinks he picked up "don gua," also known as winter melon; his sister has '"lap cheong," or Chinese dried sausage. Other students like Travis Poor say learning the language is hard but he's motivated to speak Cantonese one day with his daughter.
Their teachers say it's efforts like this, however small, that will keep Cantonese well-used.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Pinki Wong