Originally Posted by
lsquare
That's really interesting and I had no idea that by law they can't speak Cantonese. Is the law really enforced though? What if someone from HK asked in Cantonese and the FA can understand and respond in Cantonese out of courtesy? Seems a bit weird to have the FA punished for that. It's not really a problem for me as I have can communicate in both, but your comment got my attention. As for English, yea, I totally agree with you, but it's not unique to CZ. All of the Mainland carriers don't have FAs that can speak decent English. I say that in general terms as there are exceptions.
China has a law to make Mandarin (Pu Tong Hua) the only Chinese language spoken in government and in public, which including service industry and transportation industry. It started few years back, but could be traced to a media celebrity turned politician, Wang Gang, who made it illegal to speak local dialect on TV and Radio. It caused major uproar from Cantonese speaking media. Nowadays in Guangdong province, all school is required by law to speak Mandarin and to teach Mandarin. It is well documented.
Is it enforced? I remember 4 years ago I went to an area where local dialect is rife (i.e. people do not speak Pu Tong Hua as natural choice), I needed something done in China Mobile. The agent had to speak in Pu Tong Hua although the patrons spoke local dialect. It was funny to watch. My local friend told me that the agent would loose her bonus if she failed to speak Pu Tong Hua all the time. It is a different matter if you work on your own or there is no rule in the company that Pu Tong Hua is the only way. So I don't think it is enforced. But if the company you work for is a public facing nature (i.e.Media, Utility, Transport, Telecom...etc.) and is a major SOE, you would expect the company is forcing it through company policies. And in public schools, you do not have a choice.