The Hellenic Sinology Center celebrates the Chinese Language Day
Language Days at the United Nations seek to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organization. Under the initiative, UN duty stations around the world celebrate six separate days, each dedicated to one of the Organization's six official languages.
Why April 20?
The date for the Chinese day was selected from Guyu ("Rain of Millet"), which is the 6th of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars, to pay tribute to Cangjie. Cangjie is a very important figure in ancient China, claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. Legend has it that he had four eyes and four pupils, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet. From then on, Chinese people celebrate the day Guyu in honour of Cangjie. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around April 20.
Chinese at the UN
Chinese was established as an official language of the United Nations in 1946. However, in early years, Chinese was not commonly used in the work of the United Nations. The situation was improved after restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations in 1971. In 1973, the General Assembly included Chinese as a working language, which was followed by the Security Council in 1974. More and more UN offices and staff members work with Chinese language.
Did you know?
- Over 1 billion people speak Mandarin Chinese as their first language, making it the most spoken language globally.
- Chinese was established as an official language of the United Nations in 1946.
- The United Nations celebrates Chinese Language Day annually on April 20, chosen to honor Cangjie, the legendary inventor of Chinese characters.
- Mandarin is a tonal language, meaning the pitch or intonation used when a word is spoken affects its meaning.
- The Chinese writing system is one of the oldest continuously used systems in the world, with roots tracing back over 3,000 years.
- Chinese Language Day is celebrated annually on April 20 to promote multilingualism and cultural diversity.
- Despite their origins in picture-writing, Chinese characters have been simplified over the years. The simplified version of the characters could be described as logographic. Every symbol either represents a word or a minimal unit of meaning.
- Before paper was invented, Chinese used bamboo slips to write on. The bamboo strips were bound together as scrolls. They form one of the earliest kind of books.
