Chinese Sign Language
| Chinese Sign Language | |
|---|---|
| 中国手语, Zhōngguó Shǒuyǔ | |
| Native to | China, Malaysia, Taiwan |
|
Native speakers
|
likely a few million (date missing) 20 million deaf in China |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either: – Chinese Sign – Hong Kong Sign |
| Glottolog | nucl1761 |
Modern Chinese Sign Language (or CSL or ZGS; simplified Chinese: 中国手语; traditional Chinese: 中國手語; pinyin: Zhōngguó Shǒuyǔ) is the deaf sign language of the People's Republic of China. It is unrelated to Taiwanese Sign Language.
The first deaf school using Chinese Sign Language was created by the wife of an American missionary C.R. Mills, Nellie Thompson Mills in the year 1887. Schools, workshops and farms in different areas for the Deaf are the main ways that CSL has been able to spread in China so well. Other Deaf who are not connected to these gathering places tend to use sets of gestures developed in their own homes, known as home sign.
The Chinese National Association of the Deaf (ROC) was created by the Deaf People mostly from the United States. The biggest reason for the organization of the Deaf in China was to raise quality of living for the Deaf which was behind the quality of living standards provided for the other disabled. The members of the ROC worked together to better the welfare of the Deaf, to encourage education of Deaf and Chinese Sign Language, and to promote the Deaf Community in China.
There is a growing awareness about deaf education and care in China. China Disabled Persons’ Federation website reports that China has 21 million people with hearing loss. There is a bilingual-bicultural school for the deaf and a deaf university in Tianjin. For the majority of the last 50 years, CSL has been discouraged, even banned from most classrooms. Instead an oral-only policy has been pushed. The China Disabled People’s Federation runs nearly 1,500 pre-school “hearing rehabilitation centers” established since the 1980s. Less than 10% of the children who attend these schools are able to have an adequate enough grasp on the Chinese oral language to enter public school. The few who enrolled in public school were children with residual hearing or who were able to afford cochlear implants. Chinese is a tonal language, making it very difficult for deaf children to learn to speak, as they are unable to see the changes in tones that drastically change the meanings of words. Most deaf children leave school with an education three grades lower than their hearing peers, presenting few job opportunities available. Only recently have the local authorities in Tianjin with the cooperation of organizations such as UNICEF begun to create new job opportunities to the deaf population. In 2001 the Tianjin school for the Deaf adopted Chinese Sign Language as their main method of communication and made an effort to have deaf employees. The school has had very positive results in education and attitude among the students. The Tianjin Technical College for the Deaf, a partner in PEN-International at the Tianjin University of Technology, is the first technical college for deaf Chinese students. The college was established in 1991 and focuses on computer technology education, giving deaf Chinese students an opportunity to work outside of a factory. Now there are also schools for the deaf in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Kunming, Yantai, and Hong Kong.
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