How Mandarin evolved

Some corrections based on the pronunciation of Beijing dialect.

Putonghua is the common language of the modern Han nationality and the common language of all ethnic groups in the country. Mandarin is based on Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation, northern dialect as the basic dialect, and exemplary modern vernacular writings as the grammatical norm.

The term "Mandarin" appeared as early as the end of the Qing Dynasty. In 1902, scholar Wu Rulun went to Japan to investigate, and the Japanese suggested to him that China should implement Chinese language education to unify the language. The name "Mandarin" was mentioned in the conversation.

In 1904, when Qiu Jin, a modern female revolutionary, was studying in Japan, she organized a "speech contact meeting" with students studying in Japan, and drew up a brochure, in which the name "Mandarin" appeared. In 1906, Zhu Wenxiong, a scholar who studied the phonetic characters, divided the Chinese language into "Guowen" (Wenyanwen), "Putonghua" and "Vulgar Language" (dialect) in his book "Jiangsu New Alphabet".

In the thirties of the last century, Qu Qiubai proposed in the article "The War Beyond the Ghost Gate" that "the task of the literary revolution is not only to create some new style of poetry and drama, but also to establish a modern Mandarin language for China." "The new Chinese language of modern Mandarin should be customarily used in all parts of China, with modern 'human dialect', polysyllabic, and ...... endings”

The standard language of modern Chinese, born in the Central Plains official dialect of the Central Plains (so modern people can generally rhyme when reading Tang poems and Song poems and Yuan songs), from "Tang Rhyme" to Song Dynasty eggplant and Huai "Guangyun" is inherited, set in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, and is the "official dialect" system. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the capital was Nanjing, and the official dialect of Nanjing was respected, with the official dialect of Nanjing as the official language, and the Jinling Yayin (with "Hongwu Zhengyun" as the standard) was established as the standard pronunciation of Chinese as the orthodox descendant of the ancient Central Plains Yayan. Zhu Di seized the throne of Emperor Jianwen and moved the capital to Beiping (changed to Jingshi Kai, called Beijing), mainly from Nanjing, and migrated hundreds of thousands of nobles, wealthy families, and people from all over the country.

Based on the Nanjing official dialect, which influenced the pronunciation of Yuan Dadu, and experienced the entire era of the Ming Dynasty, the Beijing official dialect (different from the Beijing Hutong dialect) was initially formed.

The predecessor of Mandarin is the official dialect of the ancient north, because Beijing has done many dynasties as the capital, and the official dialect is closer to Beijing dialect, and today the Nanjing dialect is not like other southern Jiangsu regions, and because Nanjing has done many dynasties in the capital, it is a bit close to the official dialect.

The term "Putonghua" was first proposed by Zhu Wenxiong in 1906, and later Qu Qiubai and others also put forward the term "Putonghua" and argued with Mao Dun about the actual meaning of Putonghua. Through the vernacular movement, the popular language movement, and the Chinese language movement since May Fourth, the status of Beijing's voice has been established and consolidated.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, at the "National Conference on Character Reform" held in 1955, Zhang Xiruo explained in the theme report of the conference: The common language of the Han nationality has long existed, and it is now named Mandarin, which needs to be further standardized and standardized. What is this common language of the Han people, which has in fact gradually formed?

This is Mandarin with the northern dialect as the base dialect and the Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation. "For the sake of simplicity, this common language of the people can also be called Mandarin. ”

On February 6, 1956, the "Instructions on the Promotion of Putonghua" issued by *** supplemented and improved the meaning of Putonghua, and officially determined that Putonghua "takes Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation, northern dialect as the basic dialect, and exemplary modern vernacular works as the grammatical norms". The term "Mandarin" began to be widely used with a clear connotation.

The term "Mandarin" first appeared in the late Qing Dynasty, in 1902, the scholar Wu Rulun went to Japan to investigate, he mentioned the name "Mandarin", and in 1909, the Qing ** named Beiping phonetics as Chinese. In 1932, after the Ministry of National Education promulgated the "Vocabulary of Common Words of Guoyin", the standard of Chinese was determined. In 2000, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Language of the People's Republic of China established the legal status of Putonghua and standardized Chinese characters as the standard spoken and written language of the State.

Common Lachan dialect is another name for modern standard Chinese, which is a lingua franca with Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation, northern official dialect as the basic dialect, and exemplary modern vernacular writings as the grammatical norms.

Chinese is not the same as Mandarin, and the promotion of Mandarin is not to artificially eliminate dialects, but mainly to eliminate dialect barriers, so as to facilitate social communication, and it is not contradictory to the people's use of inherited dialects.

The main ** of modern Mandarin is the Yuan Dynasty based on the Dadu (Beijing) dialect compiled on the basis of the "Central Plains Rhyme", the former code town is the official dialect of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and in the Yongzheng period, the Qing Dynasty officially established Beijing dialect as the standard official dialect. Compared with the dialects of the southeast, modern Mandarin retains relatively few ancient sounds, and has disappeared from the "into".