We are well aware how China hides bad news.
Nothing new.
It is the way a totalitarian regime keeps a grip over its people.
I may not know Chinese (but then Chinese is such a diverse language and there is nothing like a Chinese language since there are many, like Cantonese etc where the script is same, but the language is different) but I sure know what Comrade means i.e. Tongzhi.
Chinese languages:
* Gan Chinese [gan]
* Hakka Chinese [hak]
* Huizhou Chinese [czh]
* Jinyu Chinese [cjy]
* Literary Chinese [lzh]
* Mandarin Chinese [cmn]
* Min Bei Chinese [mnp]
* Min Dong Chinese [cdo]
* Min Nan Chinese [nan]
* Min Zhong Chinese [czo]
* Pu-Xian Chinese [cpx]
* Wu Chinese [wuu]
* Xiang Chinese [hsn]
* Yue Chinese [yue]
Major varieties of Chinese include:
Pŭtōnghuà (Mandarin) Mandarin (pŭtōnghuà/huáyŭ/guóyŭ)
Mandarin is spoken by possibly more people than any other language: over 1 billion. It is the main language of government, the media and education in China and Taiwan, and one of the four official languages in Singapore.
Further details
Wú Wúyŭ
Wú is spoken in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces and in Shanghai and Hong Kong by about 77 million people. Major dialects of Wu include Shanghainese and Suzhou.
Further details of Shanghainese
Yuè (Cantonese) Cantonese (gwóngdùngwá/yuhtyúh)
Cantonese is spoken by about 66 million people in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces and Hainan island in China, and also in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia and many other countries
Further details
Mĭn Nán (Southern Min) mínnánhuà (bân-lâm-oe)
Mĭn Nán is in the south of Fujian province, Guangdong province, southern Hainan Island, in the south of Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, and also in Taiwan, Singapore and many other countries.
Further details
Jìnyŭ jìnyŭ/shānxīhuà
Jinyu is spoken mainly in Shanxi province and also in Shanxi and Henan provinces by about 45 million people. It used to be considered as a dialect of Mandarin, but is now thought to be a separate variety of Chinese.
Hakka hak ga va (kèjiāhuà)
Hakka is spoken in south eastern China, parts of Taiwan and in the New Territories of Hong Kong. There are also significant communities of Hakka speakers in such countries as the USA, French Guiana, Mauritius and the UK.
Further details
Xiāng (Hunanese) xiāngyŭ/húnánhuà
Xiang (Hunanese) is spoken by about 25 million people in China, mainly in Hunan province, and also in Sichuan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces.
Gàn gànyŭ/jiāngxīhuà
Gan is spoken by about 20.5 million people in Jiangxi province and in parts of Hubei, Anhui, Hunan and Fujian provinces.
Mín Bĕi (Northern Min) mínbĕihuà
Mín Bĕi has about 10,3 million speakers mainly in Northern Fujian Province and Singapore. Mín is the Classical Chinese name for Fujian province and Bĕi means 'north' or 'northern'.
Mín Dōng (Eastern Min) míndōnghuà
Mín Dōng is spoken mainly in east central Fujian Province and also in Brunei, Indonesia (Java and Bali), Malaysia (Peninsular), Singapore, Thailand. The approximate number of native speakers is 250,000.
Mín Zhōng (Central Min) mínzhōnghuà
Mín Zhōng is spoken mainly in central Fujian Province.
Dungan (хуэйзў йүян)
Dungan is spoken by the Muslim Hui people in China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. There are approximately 50,000 speakers. Dungan is the only variety of Chinese not with Chinese characters. Instead it is written with the Cyrillic alphabet.
Pŭ-Xián pŭxiánhuà
Pŭ-Xián is spoken by about 6,000 people mainly in east central Fujian Province and in Malaysia and Singapore.
Huīzhōu huīzhōuhuà
Huīzhōu is spoken in southern Anhui and northern Zhejiang provinces. It used to be considered as a dialect of Mandarin, but is now thought to be a separate variety of Chinese.
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chinese_spoken.htm