As Cantonese Language Wanes, Efforts Grow to Preserve It

First grade teacher Suzy Tom leads a class and demonstrates the order of character strokes at the Alice Fong Yu school in San Francisco, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The school is the nation's first Chinese immersion public school and provides Cantonese instruction from kindergarten until the 8th grade. While Cantonese may be on a downward trajectory, it's not dying. Online campaigns, independent Chinese schools and Cantonese communities in and outside of Chinatowns are working to ensure future generations can carry it forward. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

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By Associated Press

September 27, 2022 at 2:58 AM UTC

San Francisco (AP) -- Three decades ago, finding opportunities to learn Cantonese in San Francisco wasn't hard. But today in the city that's drawn Cantonese speakers from South China for over 150 years, there's fear that political and social upheaval are diminishing a language that is a cultural touchstone.

The Chinese government's push for wider use of Mandarin— already the national language, spoken by 1 billion people — along with the country's changing migration patterns have contributed to an undeniable shift away from Cantonese. It's a change that has reverberated from East to West.