Hundreds of people in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou rallied Sunday, calling on authorities to preserve their local dialect, Cantonese.

It was the second such demonstration held by Guangzhou citizens, mostly young people, since last weekend after a local political advisory body proposed early last month that Guangzhou TV broadcast more of its news programs in Mandarin or launch a new Mandarin channel.

Citizens in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, had worried that their dialect would be abolished in the promoting of Mandarin.

Sunday's rally took place in People's Park, just outside the municipal government's compound, and police officers were deployed to maintain order.

The rally began at about 2:00 PM and lasted about some two and a half hours.

TV stations in China are required to broadcast in Mandarin. However, since Guangdong is adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao where Cantonese is widely used, Guangzhou TV was approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television in the 1980s to use Cantonese in order to attract viewers from the two regions.

China has eight major dialects, but the number may vary due to different classifications. It is usually difficult for those speaking one language to understand another dialect.

The Guangzhou municipal government has said that local authorities would not abolish use of the Cantonese dialect.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2010)