Cantonese under renewed threat
When Great Britain handed Hong Kong over to the PRC in 1997, the communist government promised to maintain the status quo of the colony's laws, educational system, human rights, language policy, and so forth for half a century, until 2047. It has only been a little over twenty years, and already virtually all aspects of government, society, and culture are being reshaped along the lines that are operative in the PRC. Naturally, the aspect of Hong Kong life that concerns us at Language Log most are policies governing language norms and usages.
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