Standard Mandarin (Putonghua) is the official language of China.
It is based on the Beijing dialect and was formally adopted as the national lingua franca in the 1950s, later enshrined in the constitution. This standardization promotes unity across China's diverse dialects and ethnic groups, with over 80 dialects spoken regionally.
While Mandarin serves as the primary language in education, government, and media on the mainland, some autonomous regions recognize additional official languages like Uyghur or Tibetan. China remains linguistically diverse, but Mandarin dominates as the common spoken language for the Han majority.
