Some dialects spoken by perhaps a few hundred, mostly older, locals face extinction. Others are essentially going strong but are slipping from the youth's grasp.

But it's the young whose technological obsession and aptitude may save many.

And while some dialects are rapidly vanishing, others are holding their ground to various extents.

"China was a country of dialects - and still is," Association of Chinese Sociolinguistics president Su Jinzhi says.

Su, who's also a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences professor involved in language surveys, says: "About 90 percent of Chinese spoke a dialect a decade ago, and the same proportion still do. But the number of Putonghua speakers has increased tremendously during that time. People are becoming bilingual."

Su acknowledges urbanization shapes language.

"People from different places gather in cities and have to find a common language," he says.

"That's a fact of city life. But it doesn't have to extinguish dialects."

Chinese University of Hong Kong professor William Wang's research suggests two parlances can coexist in a population with proper education. And bilingualism is beneficial, he finds.

Media enhances this education, Wang says.

"It will expand the language's dissipation if it's on TV," Wang says.

China Radio International broadcasts in many dialects, including Cantonese, Hakka, Minnan and Wenzhou.

Li Jun, director of the department that creates CRI's dialects programs, points to growing consumption among youth.

"They're our online listeners," Li says.

Their favorite shows delve into pop culture and fashion in their own dialects, he says.

Wang, who has studied China's dialects for half a century, says: "Language-preservation is largely a spontaneous bottom-up process."

"(Multimedia) are a healthy and inevitable step. Language is part of cultural identity. Losing it is to lose our roots."

Su explains that Putonghua and dialects are complementary.

"One is the common language. The other offers cultural value," Su says.

"We'll speak and develop both."