On 20 April, 1 in 6 people around the globe celebrate UN Chinese Language Day. Chinese is one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations and the most spoken mother tongue in the world, with 1.2 billion people speaking a variation of Chinese as their first language.

• According to myth, Cangjie, a figure from traditional Chinese folklore, invented the Chinese characters 5 000 years ago. 
• The earliest form of Chinese characters was found in the oracle-bone inscriptions, and they were inscribed on the carapaces of tortoises and mammals between 1 600 and 1 046 BC.
• In the Kangxi Dictionary, the standard dictionary, there are 47 035 characters, but don’t worry, you can successfully read a newspaper if you manage to learn 3 000 of them!