What organisation in China decides what is "officially" correct in terms of tones?

[Christa]

Is there a national body that decides this? A particular dictionary? A university?

 

What is the most recognised authority on the Mainland?

[Hofmann]

A particular dictionary 切韻.

 

Nevermind, I misread it.

 

From what I can quickly gather, as the standard variety is 普通話, and the definition thereof specifies the Beijing variety as the basis for phonology, it's the people of Beijing. 普通話 dictionaries, then, should be continually updated to reflect their phonology.

[Jim]

国家语言文字工作委员会 AFAIK: http://www.china-language.gov.cn/jg/jgjxx/201704/t20170412_5217.html

[Luxi]

There are several interesting  links in this page:

http://www.china-language.gov.cn/

 

There is an official test for standard putonghua, the 普通话水平测试 (putonghua shuiping ceshi). The readings in this CD are supposed to be a preparation for it:

http://www.ximalaya.com/jiaoyu/2808888/

(note: all 60 readings have transcripts)

 

 

[roddy]

25 minutes ago, Jim said:

国家语言文字工作委员会

Yep. You’ll find their stamp on the 现代汉语规范词典 and the 普通话水平测试.

 

 

[imron]

4 hours ago, Hofmann said:

it's the people of Beijing

They might have been the original basis, but it's most definitely not this that defines the standard.  The Beijing accent is quite distinct from 标准普通话.

[Publius]

4 hours ago, imron said:

9 hours ago, Hofmann said:

it's the people of Beijing

They might have been the original basis, but it's most definitely not this that defines the standard.  The Beijing accent is quite distinct from 标准普通话. 

Absolutely true. But, these are great people. I love the Beijing people. They never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down...

[Luxi]

Tangentially: a timely article from Sixth Tone: the putonghua debate is by no means settled. 

 

"Much Ado About Grandma: Textbook Change Sparks Linguistic Debate"
http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1002489/much-ado-about-grandma-textbook-change-sparks-linguistic-debate  

 

I only just discovered that Sixth Tone is a sister publication of The Paper (my now favourite Chinese newspaper), they even share an office!