The controversy over the use of Cantonese in Guangdong province resonates in Hong Kong, where Cantonese is, if anything, even more dominant than in Guangzhou.
In Hong Kong, when people - or even the government - talk about the Chinese language, they mean Cantonese, not Putonghua.
The current controversy is a reaction to a proposal by the provincial advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, that Cantonese news and satellite channels on Guangzhou TV be replaced by shows broadcast in Putonghua.
A subsequent online survey on the advisory body's website showed that 80 per cent of respondents were opposed to the proposal.
A rally in Guangzhou a week ago by up to 1,000 protesters was watched over by a heavy police contingent, and Hong Kong activists have also now joined the rallying cries.
Despite strong emotional support for Cantonese, dialects and minority languages in China have come under pressure as the government's policy of using Putonghua in state media, schools and government inexorably erode the role of other dialects and languages.
