Chinese Sign Language (or CSL or ZGS) is the national signed language of the People's Republic of China. There are two dialacts: Southern (Shanghai) CSL and Northern (Beijing) CSL. Hong Kong Sign Language is the language in Hong Kong. CSL was recognized by the central government in the 1950s.
A national signed language is often developed through schools and Deaf community. The first deaf school was created by Nellie Thompson Mills, the wife of an American missionary C.R. Mills, in Shandong, China in 1887. A second school opened in Shanghai in 1892. CSL was the language of instruction there as well as there were Deaf teachers.
The Chinese National Association of the Deaf (ROC) was created by the Deaf People mostly from the United States, primarily to improve the quality of living, to better education of Deaf and to promote Chinese Sign Language and the Deaf Community in China.
A sample of vocabulary in Chinese Sign Language:
Wikipedia. "Chinese Sign Language." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Sign_Language
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