oblivious

"Chinese" can mean the written OR the spoken language. It can also be used to describe people who are born of this descent.
$ k# k' P9 Q' H3 T. |. Ztvb now,tvbnow,bttvb
; x/ o) b& V0 Qi.e. Can you read Chinese? <-- written8 h: @; r) F5 u4 t4 h; ^6 X
Do you speak Chinese? <-- spoken
  p& E4 h. J3 rAre you Chinese? <-- adjective0 X$ ?5 J& f( [$ b6 P5 f4 O, P) ~1 o

; e* y* y) {- W" `4 V* _Since this series takes place in an era of HK before the late 1990s (before it is officially returned as a part of China), "Chinese" can be loosely used to mean Cantonese, since Mandarin hasn't been established as a common dialect of China yet. On the other hand, Cantonese is the predominant language of the local area. So, I think what 松哥 said is acceptable.