Vernacular Chinese (pinyin: báihuà; Wade-Giles: paihua) is a style or register of the written Chinese language essentially modeled after the spoken language and associated with Standard Mandarin. This term is not to be confused with the various present-day vernacular spoken varieties of Chinese. Since the early twentieth century, Vernacular Chinese has been the standard of writing for speakers of all varieties of spoken Chinese throughout China, succeeding Classical Chinese, the former written standard used in China since the time of Confucius. The term Standard Written Chinese now often refers to Vernacular Chinese. Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiǎntǐzì; also called 简化字/簡化字, jiǎnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Jump to: navigation, search Pinyin (Chinese: 拼音, pÄ«nyÄ«n) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to... Jump to: navigation, search Pinyin (Chinese: 拼音, pÄ«nyÄ«n) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... Historically, a register was a sign or chalkboard onto which people would write cash transactions for later bookkeeping, often with chalk. ... The Chinese written language consists of a writing system stretching back nearly 4000 years. ... Mandarin   listen[?](Traditional: 北方話, Simplified: 北方话, Hanyu Pinyin: BÄ›ifānghuà, lit. ... Standard Mandarin is the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. ... The vernacular is the native language of a country or locality. ... Spoken Chinese The Chinese spoken language(s) comprise(s) many regional variants. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Spoken Chinese The Chinese spoken language(s) comprise(s) many regional variants. ... Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese (文言, pinyin: wényán, literal meaning: literary language or 古文, literal: ancient written language) is a traditional style of written Chinese prose using grammar and vocabulary very different from any modern spoken form of Chinese. ... A written language is a language that uses a writing system to convey meaning, or more generally the written form of any language that has such written components. ... [edit] Confucius (traditionally September 28 551 BCE–479 BCE) was a famous thinker and social philosopher of China, whose teachings have deeply influenced East Asia for centuries. ...

During the Zhou Dynasty, Old Chinese was the spoken and written form of Chinese, and was used to write classical Chinese texts. Starting from the Qin Dynasty, however, spoken Chinese began to evolve away from the written standard, as is the case in the history of many languages, and the written standard, still based on the Old Chinese of the Zhou Dynasty, was codified and fossilized into Classical Chinese, even as the spoken language evolved further and further away. The difference gradually grew larger with the passage of time. By the time of the Tang and Song dynasties, people began to write in their vernacular dialects in the form of bianwen (变文 [變文] biànwén, "altered language") and yulu (语录 [語錄] yǔlù, "language record"), and the spoken language was completely distinct from the still-maintained written standard of Classical Chinese. Those not educated in Classical Chinese—almost the entirety of the population—could understand only very little of the language. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, vernacular dialects began to be used in novels, but were not generally used in formal writing, which continued to use Classical Chinese. The Zhou Dynasty (周朝; Wade-Giles: Chou Dynasty) (late 10th century BC or 9th century BC to 256 BC) followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. ... Old Chinese, or Archaic Chinese (Simplified Chinese: 上古汉语; Traditional Chinese: 上古漢語; pinyin: ), refers to the Chinese spoken during the Zhou Dynasty (10th century BC – 256 BC). ... Jump to: navigation, search The Qin Dynasty (秦朝 Pinyin Qín, Wade-Giles Chin; 221 BC - 207 BC) was preceded by the Zhou Dynasty and followed by the Han Dynasty in China. ... The Zhou Dynasty (周朝; Wade-Giles: Chou Dynasty) (late 10th century BC or 9th century BC to 256 BC) followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. ... Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese (文言, pinyin: wényán, literal meaning: literary language or 古文, literal: ancient written language) is a traditional style of written Chinese prose using grammar and vocabulary very different from any modern spoken form of Chinese. ... Jump to: navigation, search Also the name of a rock band. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Song Dynasty (Chinese: 宋朝) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Ming Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Qing Dynasty (Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: 清朝; pinyin: qÄ«ng cháo; Wade-Giles: ching chao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories...

Jin Shengtan, who edited several novels in vernacular Chinese, is widely regarded as the pioneering champion of literature in the vernacular style. However, it was not until after the May Fourth Movement in 1919 and the promotion by scholars and intellectuals such as Hu Shi, Lu Xun, Chen Duxiu, and Qian Xuantong that Vernacular Chinese, or Bai hua, gained widespread importance. Classical Chinese became increasingly viewed as an archaic fossil hindering education and literacy, and, many suggested, social and national progress. The works of Lu Xun and other writers of fiction and non-fiction did much to advance this view. Vernacular Chinese soon came to be became viewed as mainstream by most people. Along with the growing popularity of vernacular writing in books in this period was the acceptance of punctuation, modeled after that used in Western languages (traditional Chinese literature was entirely unpunctuated), and the use of Arabic numerals. Jin Shengtan (金聖歎, pinyin: Jīn Shèngtàn) (1608-1661) was a Chinese editor, writer and critic, who has been called the champion of the bai hua (vernacular) Chinese literature. ... DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... Open Directory Project: Literature World Literature Electronic Text Archives Magazines and E-zines Online Writing Writers Resources Libraries, Digital Cataloguing, Metadata Distance Learning Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Classicism in Literature The Universal Library, by Carnegie Mellon University Project Gutenberg Online Library Abacci - Project Gutenberg texts matched with Amazon... Students in Beijing rallied during the May Fourth Movement. ... 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline. ... An intellectual is a person who uses his or her intellect to study, reflect, or speculate on a variety of different ideas. ... Hu Shih (Simplified: 胡适, Traditional: 胡適, Pinyin: Hú Shì), (December 17, 1891-February 24, 1962) was a Chinese philosopher and essayist. ... Lu Xun (Traditional: 魯迅; Simplified: 鲁迅; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Lu Hsün) or Lu Hsün (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936), the pen name of Zhou Shuren (Traditional Chinese: 周樹人; Simplified Chinese: 周树人; pinyin: ), has been considered the most influential Chinese writer of the 20th century and is seen as the founder of... Chen Duxiu (October 8, 1879 - May 27, 1942) played many different roles in Chinese history. ... Qian Xuantong (錢玄同 in pinyin: Qián Xuántóng) (1887-1939) was a Chinese phonetician who promoted vernacular Chinese (baihua). ... Punctuation marks are written symbols that do not correspond to either phonemes (sounds) of a spoken language nor to lexemes (words and phrases) of a written language, but which serve to organize or clarify written language. ... Jump to: navigation, search The term Western world or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ... Arabic numerals (also called Hindu numerals or Indian numerals ) are the most common set of symbols used to represent numbers. ...

Since the late 1920s, nearly all Chinese newspapers, books, and official and legal documents have been written in Vernacular Chinese. However, the tone/register and the choice of vocabulary may be formal or informal, depending on the context. Generally, the more formal the register of Vernacular Chinese, the greater the resemblance to Classical Chinese. Since the transition, it has been, however, extremely rare for a text to be written in predominantly Classical Chinese. Only educated speakers have full reading comprehension of Classical texts, and very few are able to write proficiently in Classical Chinese. Look up book on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An official (from the Latin Officialis, person -or object- related to an officium, see that article) is, in the primary sense, someone who holds an office (i. ... This article is about law in society. ... Historically, a register was a sign or chalkboard onto which people would write cash transactions for later bookkeeping, often with chalk. ... Jump to: navigation, search A vocabulary is a set of words known to a person or other entity, or that are part of a specific language. ... Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese (文言, pinyin: wényán, literal meaning: literary language or 古文, literal: ancient written language) is a traditional style of written Chinese prose using grammar and vocabulary very different from any modern spoken form of Chinese. ...

See Chinese grammar for the grammar of the modern standard written language, which is Vernacular Chinese. This article or section uses Ruby annotation. ...

Some other vernacular variants of Chinese, notably Cantonese, Shanghainese and Hokkien / Taiwanese (Min Nan), utilize particular forms of the Chinese writing system, including additional and adapted characters, for writing texts that reflect the language as spoken. Unlike Vernacular Chinese, these written forms have not been standardized and are used in informal contexts only. They are most commonly used in commercial advertisements and legal records to accurately record dialogue and colloquial expressions. Cantonese (粵語/粤语, lit. ... Shanghainese (上海話; pinyin: Shànghǎihuà, Shanghainese in SAMPA: [ zA~ hE hE wo ]) is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. ... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... Generally speaking, advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. ...

External links

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