bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...hooksInlinePlusWidgetContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksInlinePlusWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Regina Ip

An article written by a Chinese University consultant, Song Xinqiao, on the implementation of Mandarin education in Hong Kong and uploaded onto the website of the Education Bureau reignited a firestorm on the status of Cantonese as the mother tongue of Cantonese people in Hong Kong. In his article, Professor Song argued that “mother tongue” should be defined as the language of the Han (Chinese) race. By that token, the mother tongue of the Chinese people, including Cantonese in Hong Kong, should be Hanyu, taught in modern China as Mandarin, but also known as Putonghua in Hong Kong. 
Song’s thesis is premised on his vision of a hierarchy of languages in China, with Mandarin, the lingua franca, at the pinnacle, and superior to all dialects. 
Song’s view runs counter to to linguists’ definition of “language”. Under their definition, Cantonese would be regarded as a separate language because it is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin or other dialects of China. However, while technically justifiable, such a view would no doubt be deemed unacceptable by those cagey about the advocacy of Hong Kong as a separate political entity. 
Mandarin may be king, but it can’t sideline Cantonese in Hong Kong
As had happened with the aborted effort in Guangzhou some years ago by then Guangdong party secretary Wang Yang to launch a Mandarin promotion campaign, Professor Song’s nationalist model reopened old wounds about the rising dominance of Mandarin in Hong Kong. At the root of the resentment lies deep-seated fears about the displacement of Cantonese – both the language and the people – by the mighty mainland. 


Both Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung tried to shrug off questions on their mother tongue. But issues relating to the status of Cantonese are likely to rear their ugly head any time debates on languages surface. 
How a Mandarin course caused chaos at Baptist University
The sensitivity surrounding language debates is not hard to understand, as language is closely related to race, culture and identity, and impinges on politics as well as education. In handling these issues, Hong Kong should have taken a leaf from the policy decisions of Singapore. 
Being a multicultural and multilingual society, Singapore has long had to grapple with similar issues, ranging from the technical issue of language acquisition, to the ultra-sensitive political issue of deciding which of the many languages and dialects in Singapore should be “first among equals”, without upsetting the social and ethnic groups closely identified with their different mother tongues. 
Benefits of knowing three languages speak for themselves

The memoirs of the late Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father, show that he had thought hard about these issues, and provided solutions which were politically viable and practically sensible. For Lee, whose mother tongue was English by virtue of the English-language education he received growing up, he found English to be his “stepmother tongue” rather than “mother tongue – “not completely accepting the values of a culture not our own”. 
Deciding that English is the international language of business and commerce, which would connect Singapore to the US, Europe and the English-speaking world after Singapore became independent, Lee decided to adopt a policy of “one language, many tongues”. He designated English as the official or working language, and Malay, Tamil and Chinese as the “mother-tongue languages” of the Malay, Indian and Chinese people of Singapore, leaving the Chinese people to adopt the dialect of their own province or locality as their mother tongue. 
Politics and the English language: why Singapore is ahead of Hong Kong
From 1978 onwards, sensing that the US and China would be the dominant powers in the next 50 to 100 years, Lee launched a campaign to promote Mandarin. The campaign was not without controversy, but it was pushed with such efficiency that the percentage of the population fluent in Mandarin rose from 26 per cent in 1980 to over 60 per cent in 1990, and continued to increase.

Hong Kong faced situations similar to Singapore’s in many respects – the need for children to acquire proficiency in both English and Chinese, but with mixed results. In the public school system, it is hard to find teachers, let alone students, who are truly proficient in both official languages and in speaking Mandarin.
Large numbers of Hong Kong students trail their Singaporean counterparts in their mastery of English and Mandarin
Affluent parents vote with their feet and send their children to international schools to equip their children with better English. Parents pay a premium for international schools that offer rigorous courses in Chinese language and culture, taught in Mandarin. 
Even more troubling was the launch of Hong Kong’s misguided “mother tongue” policy in 1998, which restricted the adoption of English as the medium of instruction to 100-odd schools whose teachers and students were deemed capable of teaching and learning in English. This led to a significant decline in the English standard in schools that taught in Chinese. 
A mounting outcry from parents led the government to “fine-tune” (in effect abandon) this policy in 2008. The irony is that it was the policy’s failure to help children acquire proficiency in languages deemed vital to their future – English and Mandarin – that resulted in a backlash and the ultimate demise of the mother-tongue policy. 


Lifelong benefits of speaking many languages – and the myths
If the success of Singapore’s language policy is to be adopted as a measure of our own efforts, Hong Kong should be regarded as having failed on both the technical and political fronts. In terms of educational attainment, large numbers of Hong Kong students trail their Singaporean counterparts in their mastery of English and Mandarin, the languages on which we increasingly rely for a living. Politically, our government does not seem able so far to wrap its head round all the contentious language and identity issues that continue to simmer in Hong Kong. 
The existence of many tongues should not be an impediment to a unified vision of our future and destiny but, in Hong Kong, a lack of foresight and policy mistakes mean that language debates will continue to engender discord.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is a lawmaker and chairwoman of the New People’s Party


Mother-tongue language policy: how Hong Kong failed where Singapore succeeded

Students read at a pop-up library run by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, in April. Hong Kong parents want their children to be proficient in both English and Chinese, but in the public school system, it is hard to find teachers, let alone students, who are truly proficient in both official languages and in speaking Mandarin. Photo: Jonathan Wong

This photograph provided by the Straits Times and taken on September 14, 2000 shows Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew holding a press conference in Singapore on the launch of Part 2 of his memoirs: From Third World to First. Singapore's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, one of the towering figures of post-colonial Asian politics, died Monday in hospital, the government said. Lee's son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a statement that he is "deeply grieved to announce the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore". "Mr Lee passed away peacefully at the Singapore General Hospital March 23, 2015 at 3.18 am," the statement said. He was 91. AFP PHOTO / GEORGE GASCON/ The Straits Times SINGAPORE OUT ---- EDITORS NOTE ----- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / GEORGE GASCON / THE STRAITS TIMES" NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

epa06741163 A bag, printed with 'Singapore' hangs on a display as pedestrians walk through a shopping mall in Singapore, 16 May 2018. US President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are scheduled to meet for a summit in Singapore on 12 June 2018. North Korea has threatened to boycott the 12 June summit between leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump over South Korea-US military drills. EPA-EFE/WALLACE WOON

Opinion

Comment

Regina Ip says the effectiveness of Singapore’s bilingual education should be credited to Lee Kuan Yew’s foresight and sound policies, which Hong Kong – now caught in a row over the status of Cantonese language – sorely needs


The effectiveness of Singapore’s bilingual education should be credited to Lee Kuan Yew’s foresight and sound policies, which Hong Kong – now caught in a row over the status of Cantonese language – sorely needs.


Education

Education in Hong Kong

Anti-mainland China sentiments

Hong Kong localism and independence