The seesaw of using Cantonese or Putonghua as the medium of instruction for teaching the Chinese language subject in the post-colonial Hong Kong context: A storm in a teacup?

Putonghua as the medium of instruction for teaching the Chinese Language Subject (PMIC) was first mentioned in 1999 as the long-term policy goal, but the changes in language policies and the promotion of other initiatives throughout the recent two decades have undermined Cantonese-medium instruction (CMI) covertly rather than effectively maintained. In other words, such shifts are allowed under the flexibility of this long-standing policy whilst relatively less attention has been given to the relative status of Cantonese, English, and Putonghua, especially the maintenance of Cantonese in this triadic relationship. Besides, the critiques of PMIC remain while evidence supporting the purported education benefits remains inconclusive and it has not been abandoned. Meanwhile, the rising social and political tensions also triggered the unfavourable status of Cantonese in the post-colonial Hong Kong context, even though the biliteracy and trilingualism policy (BTP) is still upheld. Against this backdrop, the paper will examine the tug-of-war between PMIC and CMI and explore how PMIC has possibly threatened the dominant status of Cantonese. This paper concludes the importance of balanced development of the three languages because it can support the linguistic development of multilingual learners and build up a more multilingual-friendly environment in Hong Kong by normalizing multilingual communication in daily life creating a "translanguaging-friendly space". Copyright © 2025 selection and editorial matter, Weixiao Wei and Der-lin Chao. All rights reserved.