Why do so many people think that there is an actual language called Chinese?

Answer 1

Mandarin or Putonghua (Chinese) is the official language of China as deigned by the Beijing government. It is designed to compensate for the fact that there are so many regional dialects and therefore provide an overriding language that everyone knows (obviously this hasn't completely worked out).

Chinese people themselves refer to it as 中文，which directly translated is 'Chinese'. Therefore there is an actual language of Chinese.

Answer 2

Many people refer to "Chinese" as a language because it encompasses several related dialects and variations, collectively known as Sinitic languages. Mandarin is the most widely spoken dialect and is often considered the official language of China. Other major dialects include Cantonese, Wu, and Min. However, these dialects are distinct from each other and can be mutually unintelligible, leading some to argue that they should be considered separate languages rather than variations of a single language.