Ｓｈｏｕｌｄ Ｎｅｗｓ Ａｎｃｈｏｒｓ Ｓｐｅａｋ Ｏｎｌｙ ｉｎ Ｍａｎｄａｒｉｎ？

Common spoken Chinese language,or Putonghua, is used by 53 percent of thecountry's 1.3 billion population, but theuse of local dialects is still popular in manyregions today. As a result, TV programs inlocal dialects are still much in vogue despitethe language authority setting up regula-tions to standardize the use of the Chineselanguage. The tension between the forms ofexpression in China's media came to a headrecently. Wang Dengfeng, Deputy Directorof the State Language Commission, toldXinhua News Agency that local dialects arenow prohibited from being used by TV orradio news programs.