Cantonese As Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese Vernacular

Based on primary source research, including interviews with publishers and writers who played an important role in the growth of written Cantonese, and original data on the Dialect Literature Movement in the 1940s, the author argues that this move of Cantonese into the realm of written language is closely associated with Hong Kong’s distinct local culture and identity. The growth of the written vernacular also reflects the territory’s evolving cultural autonomy from mainland China, as a British colony, and now as a Special Administrative Region of China.