The written language is uniform throughout the country. The standard form of spoken Chinese is based on a northern dialect. In China, it is normally referred to as "putonghua" (common speech) or because of its region of origin as "Beijinghua" (Peking speech). The term "Mandarin" is used abroad but not generally in the PRC. There are many different forms of spoken Chinese particularly in southeast China. The differences may be compared with the differences in the Latin group of languages in Europe. Cantonese is the best known to foreigners because it is spoken by most Chinese in Hong Kong and most of those who have settled in Western countries. The Chinese often refer to themselves and their language as "Han". Most other ethnic groups have languages quite distinct from Chinese. Simplified forms of many Chinese characters have been introduced. A phonetic script with the Latin alphabet (pinyin) is used for some purposes, but is not intended to replace characters in the foreseeable future.
AN SHAN
Turpan
Basin
Tarım Basin Lop Nur
TANGGULATRANGE!
PLATEAU OF
TIBET
Qinghai Hu
DESERT
Hulun
Nur
Heilongjiang
Little Hinggan
Mts
GREAT HINGGAN MTS.
PEKING
Liaohe
MANCHURIAN
PLAIN
NORTH
CHINA
PLAIN
H
M
Nam
Qomolangma Feng (Mt Everest)
LAY AS
0-3000 feet
3000-9000 feel
Over 9000 feet
Sichuan Basin
Changla
Changlang
YUNGUI PLATEAU
The People's Republic of China physical regions
nb Frontier representation is not necessarily authoritative
Dongling Hu
Poyang Hu
SOUTH-EASTERN UPLANDS
Guangzhou
Shanghai
Taiwan
0
200
400
Hainan
4
600 miles