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Can we talk about how the narrative that Mandarin was corrupted by Manchu/Mongolian influences so isn't the "true Chinese" but instead Hokkien or Cantonese is the "true Chinese" isn't just wrong, but extremely racist and Han supremacist? 1/6
As if Hokkien and Cantonese don't have non-Sinitic vocab substrata. And even if Mandarin was a mixed language or creole with heavy Manchu or Mongolian influence, that wouldn't make it any less valid of a language. 2/6
But according to this narrative the influence of languages spoken by non-Han people is "corrupting" and makes Mandarin a lesser language. Which is racist. And the Manchu language is almost extinct bc of similar racism. 3/6
For people who want to distinguish themselves from China, Hokkien/Canto nationalists love using alleged proximity to Chineseness as a way of asserting superiority. Basically rehashing the same shit the PRC does except replacing Mandarin with another Sinitic language. 4/6
This is why such narratives about Hokkien/Canto having more "pure" pronunciation or allegedly was the language of some silly imperial court should have no place in the Taiwan independence or HK movements. 5/6
We don't deserve self-determination bc somehow we are closer to a nationalist conception of "Chinese". We deserve it bc we are people. Let's stop using nationalism as a response to another nationalism. 6/6
