For Wang Lining, a linguistics professor at Beijing Language and Culture University and a Guangxi native working far from home, a recent interaction with Doubao, a popular Chinese artificial intelligence chatbot, delivered far more than a technical demonstration. When she spoke to the platform in her native Cantonese dialect and received a seamless, natural response, the moment was less about cutting-edge processing power and more about a long-awaited emotional reconnection to her roots.
“Living in Beijing, few people can talk with me using the hometown language,” she explained, describing the quiet joy of speaking a tongue that carries the memories and cultural identity of her childhood.
This small, personal milestone is part of a much larger national initiative to safeguard China’s extraordinary linguistic diversity and revitalize fading local languages and dialects for the 21st century. Late last year, China’s Ministry of Education joined forces with six other national ministries to release a landmark policy notice focused on deepening the inheritance and innovative development of Chinese language culture, a framework that views regional dialects and ethnic minority languages not as outdated relics, but as living repositories of history, community identity and intangible cultural heritage that stretch from folk oral traditions to local social customs.
Home to 56 ethnic groups, China boasts one of the world’s most linguistically diverse landscapes, encompassing between seven and 10 major dialect groups and more than 130 distinct languages. For decades, however, rapid urbanization and the widespread, necessary adoption of Mandarin as a national lingua franca left many local mother tongues at risk of fading into disuse, as younger generations grew up speaking primarily Mandarin and fewer opportunities remained to pass regional dialects down through families and communities.
Officials from the Ministry of Education’s Department of Language and Writing Information Management note that the new policy aims to drive creative transformation and modern development of Chinese language culture, boost public linguistic and cultural literacy especially among young people, and support national goals of building global leadership in education, culture and talent development. For Wang, the multi-ministerial notice marks the end of more than a decade of exploratory work, turning a long-held vision for language preservation into an actionable, coordinated national strategy.
Since 2012, China has released a series of policy documents guiding the inheritance and protection of Chinese language culture, with the latest framework building on early pilot programs to lay out clear, detailed roadmaps for future action. Wang emphasized that the initiative goes far beyond education alone, tying language preservation to broader economic and social development. “It plays a role not only in school education, but also in urban and rural production and livelihood, cultural tourism and cultural relics conservation. It can unleash great potential in socioeconomic development,” she said.
A key strength of the new policy is its emphasis on cross-sector collaboration, Wang added. In the past, efforts by private enterprises, universities and independent language experts often operated in isolation, lacking coordination to scale successful projects. The participation of multiple national ministries will allow organizers to systematize the scattered successful initiatives from across the country, “stringing them together like beads, thereby ushering in a new era of systematic advancement,” she explained.
The policy outlines seven core priorities for advancing the cause: strengthening scientific research and interpretation of linguistic heritage, expanding inclusive language education, protecting and developing existing language resources, leveraging digital empowerment, cultivating specialized talent, broadening public outreach, and deepening cultural exchange through language. For researchers like Rao Gaoqi, a linguistics researcher at Beijing Language and Culture University, the focus on digital innovation stands out as a game-changing shift.
“Digital technology is extremely helpful for the development of language and culture. Conversely, the growth of language culture also serves as a driving force behind the advancement of digital technology,” Rao explained. Beyond academic research, this digital empowerment delivers tangible benefits for public safety and economic development, most notably in the creation of barrier-free emergency language services. During large-scale natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, the National Language Service Corps partners with the Ministry of Emergency Management to ensure first responders can communicate effectively with elderly residents who may only speak their local dialect. This capability has even been extended internationally: when a devastating earthquake struck Turkiye in 2023, Chinese-developed large language models were deployed to provide real-time translation between Chinese, English and local Turkish languages to support rescue efforts.
“Language and script are fundamental. We learn to write and speak not for their own sake, but to work, to love and to live our lives well. Language itself is a basic resource. The digitization of language is likewise a foundational endeavor that serves to empower everything else,” Rao said.
For more than a decade, Wang has been a core participant in the national Project for the Protection of Language Resources of China, an initiative that originally focused on documenting and archiving fading dialects before shifting to a new, more dynamic goal: moving beyond “saving and recording” to “bringing them back to life and utilizing them” in daily life. Over the course of the project, teams of linguists traveled to nearly 1,800 locations across the country to systematically document local dialects through fieldwork and multimedia recording, building a comprehensive national digital archive of China’s vocal cultural heritage. Today, those collected materials are being transformed into accessible cultural products that are integrated into everyday life.
Under the new policy, qualified local governments and institutions are encouraged to repurpose historic buildings and public spaces to create venues dedicated to preserving and promoting linguistic cultural heritage. Last year, for example, a dialect museum opened in Wuyi County, Zhejiang Province, housed in a restored historic traditional residence. Visitors can view traditional farming tools and vintage household items, and when they touch an exhibit, audio recordings of the local dialect terms for the object play, drawing on language materials collected by the project’s Zhejiang team to help local residents reconnect with their traditional way of life.
Today, local dialects are increasingly appearing in pop culture, from original songs and television dramas to a growing range of creative consumer products. Wang says the goal of the movement is not limited to academic archives or static museum displays. “We want to create offerings that are part of everyday life — practical, engaging and fun — so that people willingly take part in keeping language culture alive and helping it grow,” she explained.
Xing Biqian, a researcher at the China National Academy of Educational Sciences, echoed this focus on lived, daily practice as the key to long-term revitalization. “Language is the carrier of civilization and the root of culture, and practice is precisely the key to activating this root and enabling civilization to take hold,” Xing said. “When we lift the language culture from the pages of textbooks and make it part of everyday life, it begins to take root in hearts and minds. Through lived experience, it shapes not only how we learn and communicate, but also who we become: how we think, what we value, and what we find beautiful. That is where its true power lies.”
