Sinitic Branch

Mandarin is spoken by 3/4 of Chinese people, and is the most used language in the world. It's the official language of Peoples Republic of China and Taiwan. Mandarin is being imposed by China's government countrywide.
Other Sinitic branch languages are spoken by 10s of millions in China, mostly southern and eastern parts of the country.
Chinese languages based on 420 one syllable words, and they use them to mean more than one thing. Most Chinese characters are ideograms.
Chinese government reports 16% of the population over 16 are unable to read or write more than a few characters.