Community interview: is the number of Student learning Cantonese decline?

The Chinese Language Education Council yearly National Chinese Eisteddfod, one of the largest Chinese language events outside China, started last Saturday with the Cantonese and Mandarin non-background speakers group’s poetry and recitation competition. SBS understands this event, although started with Cantonese competition only 28 years ago, but sees Mandarin-speaking students numbers in the rise, now three times bigger than the Cantonese group. What is the reason behind the decline of Cantonese speakers joining the events and learning Cantonese? Ivan has invited Clare Deng, a councilor from The Chinese Language Education Council, to explain the reason why.

The Chinese Language Education Council yearly National Chinese Eisteddfod. Source: SBS