Dialects are like a repository for providing rich language resources for writing, Wang Anyi, deputy to the National People’s Congress and associate president of the China Writers Association, told the
Guangming Daily.
Dialects are an inseparable part of local culture and customs. But due to massive outflows of people to urban areas in search of work, few young people are willing to speak in dialect once they leave their homes, in favor of speaking standardized Chinese - Putonghua. However, dialects may be an important reminder of home for migrants, as well as a way to protect traditional culture and preserve folk memories, the report said. Dialects often form the basis of certain art forms, such as local opera.
But there are some local people who try to preserve local dialects, for example, Chen Dayin, who has published a book called Xian’ning Dialect, a dialect spoken in the Xian'ning region of Hubei Province. His meticulous book details more than 10,000 words and phrases, and Chen also provided annotations, examples and sources for each one.
The central government has also realized the importance of protecting dialects, releasing a plan for the reform and development of the national language (2012-2020) in 2013, which stipulates that it is necessary to protect minority languages and dialects. In 2016, Hubei Province launched a Chinese language resources protection project, where teams from several universities aim to study and record 50 Chinese dialects over a three-year period.
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