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Up until 1949, Mandarin was spoken by very few Chinese. Since most of the elder Chinese people in California were descendants of laborers literally shanghaied to work as coolies digging mines for Caucasian gold miners or building the transcontinental railroad, Papa Elf and I never knew any Chinese who didn't speak Cantonese. (Chop suey and chow mein are Cantonese--the former meaning "garbage".) When Papa Elf and I were planning our tour of China in about 2003, we assumed that everyone in China knew Cantonese. After all, didn't we learn in school (from books printed in the late 1930's) that about 85% of Chinese spoke Cantonese? So I carefully studied helpful phrases for travelers--in Cantonese. Completely useless.
Little did we know until we reached Shanghai, that everyone, without exception, spoke Mandarin--by law. Seems that "peerless leader" Chairman Mao spoke only Mandarin (How's that for irony? The reddest Communist leader of all was raised speaking the language of the old Imperial court of China!) In 1948, 85% of Chinese still spoke Cantonese, with the other 15% speaking one of 14 different dialects, including Mandarin. In 1949, when Mao took over, the official language became Mandarin overnight. All other languages were forbidden, except for English, which was a requirement for all children to learn. (So if you ever travel to China and need a translator, find a six-year-old. They're all fluent.) I did devise one valuable tip for travelers, though, which will work in any language:
If you can't find a restroom, open your mouth in a gritty grin, cross your legs, put both hands together--uh, below your waist--and dance up and down. When everyone stops laughing, they'll happily show you the way to the facilities.
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