The Spread of English in China

Since Hong Kong became a colony and ruled by the British Empire for 99 years before handover to China, the official language has been changed to English. English became the normal language in Hong Kong, its uses in a wide range in public infrastructure, including the mass media, the civil service and the entertainment career. A data showed that the number of people who speak a reasonable command of English rose from 6.6 percent in 1983 to around 33.7 percent in 1993(Bacon-Shone and Bolton, 1998). It shows the use and the demand of English kept on increase since 1898 and it became the official language to maintain the economic development in Hong Kong. English is the key to strengthen the economic activities in Hong Kong. As English is an international language for business and finance sectors, good command of English is necessary for the government official and business professional to communicate and lead to a economic success. Therefore, English is one of the ways to maintain the status as the premier international financial and business center. The language of English may also bring benefits for tourism in Hong Kong. Refer to the tourism performance in 2011, there are 1.7 increase of arrivals from long-haul markets compare with 2010. In particular, the United States remained the largest long-haul market with 1.2 million arrivals in 2011, around 3.5 increase compare with 2010 (Hong Kong Tourism Commission). The huge amount of tourist may creased jobs opportunities for the local market, it encourages the shops served their customers in English. Well communication with tourist can attract more foreign tourist come to travel and also ensure providing the best services for the foreign tourist. Contrary, the use of English helps strengthen the international status of China since the opening up policy was republished in 1979. The opening up policy created a platform for China to communicate with the western countries and also build up a connection between them. The