Government Language Policy
After the handover, the government of Hong Kong adopted the "biliterate and trilingual" (兩文三語) policy. Under this policy, Chinese and English must both be acknowledged as official languages, with Cantonese being acknowledged as the de facto official spoken variety of Chinese in Hong Kong, while also accepting the use of Mandarin.
The Civil Service Bureau monitors the implementation of the government's language policy at the civil level, the Department of Justice governs the legal aspect and the Education and Manpower Bureau monitors the educational aspect.
Read more about this topic: Languages Of Hong Kong
Famous quotes containing the words government, language and/or policy:
“In our governments the real power lies in the majority of the community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of government contrary to the sense of the constituents, but from the acts in which government is the mere instrument of the majority.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“The necessity of poetry has to be stated over and over, but only to those who have reason to fear its power, or those who still believe that language is “only words” and that an old language is good enough for our descriptions of the world we are trying to transform.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Mr. Wiggam, I want you to change the policy of The Clarion. I want you to write a story I should have written myself long ago. I want you to tell the people of San Francisco that no city can exist without law and order. Write a story about that flag, write about what verifies and brings a promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There are some people in this town who don’t seem to know that. Let The Clarion tell them.”
—Ben Hecht (1893–1964)