Hi Penguin:
In Chinese language,the "mother" word can be wrotern as "母亲"
both in Cantonese and mandarin in China.the difference between
Cantonese and mandarin is only on pronunciation."母亲" (mother) is a
formal usage.and the oral language is"妈妈",equal to "Mom" in English.
we usually use "妈妈".
"妈妈" or"母亲" is used in mainland China,included
Beijing,Shanghai and Canton,etc. they are Chinese simplified
characters.
on the other hand."媽媽"(Mom) or"母親"(mother) is used by
Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan,which are Chinese traditional characters.
I don't know whether you understand?
By the way, It is said that Japanese stealled our Chinese
characters.lol.so the Kanji are very similar with Chinese,but much
more different. They envy our Chinese flourishing and great culture.
So they invaded our country when we are weakness,especially during
1937-1945,the Japanese militarists and fascists killed millions and
thousands of Chinese people.they made monstrous crimes to Chinese People.
It is really really inhuman.
However .now everything had gone,we all Chinese consider that is not the faults of Japanese common people ,but Japanese militarists and fascists that time.China is a friendly and peaceful country from ancient to now. I just hope The Japanese can envisage history,just like German, having a good peccaries attitude. Do not hurt the feelings of Chinese any more.
we hope the world can be peaceful forever!