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There are about 100 dialects in China but half of them are having a smaller population, and some are at the brink of extinction, according to a report released earlier this week by the State Language Work Committee.

 

"A growing number of little-used languages in China might wither or vanish with accelerating urbanization and globalization," said Chen Zhangtai, a member of the committee under the Ministry of Education.

 

More than 100 dialects are used by 55 minority ethnic groups nationwide. And over 20 languages are at the verge of extinction with each having less than 1,000 users, according to the report.

 

Manchu, a language of ruling people during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), can be spoken by merely 50 elder people and be understood by about 100 people.

 

The phenomenon of language extinction is not unique in China, the report says.

 

Half of the existing 6,700 languages in the world will die away and another 2,000 languages would be endangered if no efforts were made to save them, according to Li Shenming, a top expert on social science.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2006)