Author(s)

Yunyang Zhao ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Beijing No. 2 Middle School, Beijing, China

Corresponding Author

Yunyang Zhao

ABSTRACT

This paper traces the historical trajectory of the English language in China from its earliest introduction through maritime trade to its eventual institutionalization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It begins with the Portuguese establishment of trade in South China ports during the Ming dynasty, which gave rise to Chinese Pidgin Portuguese (CPP) as the first lingua franca between China and a Western power. With the arrival of British merchants in the seventeenth century and the gradual decline of Portuguese commercial dominance, Chinese Pidgin English (CPE) emerged as a more efficient trade medium, combining English vocabulary with Cantonese syntax. The paper examines the impact of Qing isolationist policies under the Canton System, the failed British attempts to learn Chinese exemplified by James Flint, and the subsequent development of CPE glossaries and pronunciation guides such as the English Glossary. Following China's defeat in the Opium Wars, the Self-Strengthening Movement prompted the establishment of government-run language schools like the School of Combined Learning, marking the first state-sponsored English education in China. The study further discusses the role of Jesuit missionaries and the indirect influence of English through the creation of a standardized Chinese romanization system in 1958, which used the Latin alphabet to increase Chinese literacy and facilitate global communication. This historical account demonstrates how English in China evolved from a pidgin trade jargon into an indispensable tool for modernization and globalization.

KEYWORDS

English in China; Chinese Pidgin English; Canton System; School of Combined Learning; Language Contact; Foreign Language Education

CITE THIS PAPER

Yunyang Zhao. Origins of the English Language in China: From Pidgin for Trade to Institutionalized English Education. Lecture Notes on Language and Literature (2026). Vol. 9, No. 2, 35-44. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/langl.2026.090205.

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