Mainland, HK students in spat over language in class

The City University of Hong Kong has sent out an e-mail to students and teachers in an attempt to downplay a shouting match that was triggered by language difficulties between mainland students who can't speak Cantonese and local students in the university, which was reported in the Hong Kong-based Apple Daily.

The university said in the e-mail to students and teachers on Sunday that students from both the mainland and Hong Kong had a "negotiation" about the languages used in a course, and said it has not influenced the class schedule.

According to the Apple Daily, local students complained that the use of both Cantonese and Putonghua instead of the designated Cantonese had led to delays in the class, and this was caused by requests from mainland students who can't speak Cantonese.

Footage circulating online shows the students arguing during the incident.

The university said the teacher, Chen Xueran, a vice director of the MA program in the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, did not teach the entire class in a bilingual manner, but was just explaining key points with Putonghua during the lecture because there were many mainland students in the class.

Chen also set up three periods to answer the questions from students using Putonghua, and said that the arrangement had been working well.

The course, Essential Concepts in Chinese Culture - compulsory for studying a Master of Arts in Chinese - is taught in Cantonese in the fall semester and Putonghua in the following term, according to its syllabus.

"I cannot understand why students who cannot speak Cantonese still signed up for the course since the syllabus required it to be taught with Cantonese," a freshman surnamed Lan from the College of Media and Communication at the university told the Global Times.

"The reason why we decided to study in Hong Kong is to experience the different cultures there," said Lan.

It's unnecessary for the students from the mainland and Hong Kong to have disputes over the use of language, Zhang Yiwu, professor of Chinese literature at Peking University, told the Global Times Monday.

He said that as more and more students flood into Hong Kong to take advantage of the local education services, mainland students with problems understanding Cantonese will find it difficult to adapt to the new environment of English and Cantonese, with local students afraid that they will be encumbered by the mainland students in the study, said Zhang, who added that the university should promote communication and tolerance in terms of syllabus design.