Recent discussions on the number of speakers recorded for various languages got me thinking about Cantonese. When "Chinese" is mentioned, Mandarin is normally meant, but I read once, somewhere in the mid-80s, that Cantonese may, then at least, have had more speakers. Of the four main actors in Crouching Tiger, only one spoke classical Mandarin before filming began, which might also suggest that the official language of the PRC and the ROC is not necessarily the most common form of spoken Chinese. Once more into the breach, my dear Sinophiles.