Mainland China thumb|upright=1.15|Distribution of the Chinese dialect groups as of 1987, including Mandarin (light brown) While Standard Chinese was made China's official language in the early 20th century, local languages continue to be the main form of everyday communication in much of the country. The language policy adopted by the Chinese government promotes the use of Standard Chinese while also making allowances for the use and preservation of local varieties. From an official point of view, Standard Chinese serves as a lingua franca to facilitate communication between speakers of mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese and non-Sinitic languages. The name Putonghua, or 'common speech', reinforces this idea. However, due to Standard Chinese being a "public" lingua franca, other Chinese varieties and even non-Sinitic languages have shown signs of losing ground to the standard dialect. In many areas, especially in southern China, it is commonly used for practical reasons, as linguistic diversity is so great that residents of neighboring cities may have difficulties communicating with each other without a lingua franca.
Mainland China thumb|upright=115|Distribution of the Chinese dialect groups as of 1987 including Mandarin (light brown) While Standard Chinese was made China's official language in the early 20th century local languages continue to be the main form of everyday communication in much of the country The language policy adopted by the Chinese government promotes the use of Standard Chinese while also making allowances for the use and preservation of local varieties From an official point of view Standard Chinese serves as a lingua franca to facilitate communication between speakers of mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese and non-Sinitic languages The name Putonghua or 'common speech' reinforces this idea However due to Standard Chinese being a "public" lingua franca other Chinese varieties and even non-Sinitic languages have shown signs of losing ground to the standard dialect In many areas especially in southern China it is commonly used for practical reasons as linguistic diversity is so great that residents of neighboring cities may have difficulties communicating with each other without a lingua franca