中文 ┃ Chinese ▢𓏺｜appendage｜___｜20260628185154-01-•

Chinese	…
Hànyǔ1 written in traditional (top) and simplified (middle) forms, Zhōngwén2 (bottom)	…
Native to	China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau), Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan
Ethnicity	Han Chinese, Hui
Native speakers	1.39 billion (2017–2024)3
Language family	Sino-Tibetan • Sinitic • Chinese
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan • Old Chinese • Eastern Han Chinese • Middle Chinese 4
Standard forms	• Standard Chinese • Standard Cantonese • Taiwanese Hokkien
Dialects	• Mandarin • Jin • Wu • Gan • Xiang • Min • Hakka • Yue • Pinghua • Huizhou
Writing system	• Chinese characters • Bopomofo • Pinyin • Xiao’erjing • Dungan • Chinese Braille • ʼPhags-pa
Official status	…
Official language in	• China 5 • Taiwan 6 • Singapore
Regulated by	• China: State Language Commission • Taiwan: National Languages Committee , Hakka Affairs Council • Malaysia: Chinese Language Standardisation Council • Singapore: Ministry of Education , Promote Mandarin Council
Language codes	…
ISO 639-1	zh
ISO 639-2	chi (B) zho (T)
ISO 639-3	zho
Glottolog	sini1245
Map of the Chinese-speaking world Majority Chinese-speaking Significant Chinese-speaking population Status as an official or educational language	…
Chinese name	…
Simplified Chinese	汉语
Traditional Chinese	漢語
Literal meaning	Han language
Alternative Chinese name	…
Chinese	中文
Literal meaning	Chinese writing
Second alternative Chinese name	…
Simplified Chinese	汉文
Traditional Chinese	漢文
Literal meaning	Han writing

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. lit. ‘Han language’ ↩

2. lit. ‘Chinese writing’ ↩

3. Chinese language at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025) ↩

4. The colloquial layers of many varieties, particularly Min varieties, reflect features that predate Middle Chinese.${}^{[2]}$ ↩

5. Standard Chinese is an official language throughout China. Cantonese is a co-official language specifically in Hong Kong and Macao. ↩

6. Mandarin, Hakka, and Hokkien ↩