Detail: The exhibition discusses the mechanisms and idiosyncrasies of language, positing that the disappearance of languages endangers human culture as a whole. The Asia-Pacific region has one of highest language diversities in the world, boasting over 1500 languages, about a third of the global total. In the past century, many languages around the world have ceased to exist, and currently there are many more that are endangered or vulnerable. In recent decades, the number of speakers of many languages in mainland China and Taiwan has dramatically dwindled. Cantonese in Hong Kong remains one of the most robust Chinese languages, but Mandarin is becoming ever more present in the city, backed by government policies.