languages

Hong Kong is an officially bilingual territory. Under the Article 9 of the Hong Kong Basic Law and the Official Languages Ordinance, "English and Chinese" are, of equal status, the official languages of the territory. However, it is not specified which variety of "Chinese" is referred to. While Mandarin written in simplified Chinese characters is used as the standard language in mainland China, Cantonese in traditional Chinese characters is the de facto standard in Hong Kong.