<p>The difference between vernacular Chinese and literary Chinese is all about written form. It has nothing to do with spoken language (mandarin or other dialects). Therefore we should say vernacular written form and literary written form.</p>

<p>The fact is that the literary written form is not for a natural human language at all. It is just for the official documents.</p>

<p>The vernacular written form is what we call the written form of Chinese language, and it was there in civil society for a long time before the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Culture_Movement" rel="nofollow">New_Culture_Movement</a> in 1920. It was used by normal people for at least 600 years. But it was not used in official documents.</p>

<p>Since after 1920, literary written is used as official written.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-02T01:45:27.957Z
What do you mean “ Since after 1920, literary written is used as official written.”?
IEatMy Pizza
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-06T03:17:49.937Z
2015-03-06T03:24:01.460Z
2015-03-06T03:24:01.460Z
PdotWang
<p>I don't quite get the difference between and relationship of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Written_vernacular_Chinese" rel="nofollow">vernacular Chinese</a> to literary Chinese.</p>

<p>I know that "literary Chinese" does not represents sounds, the way an alphabet does, so it is difficult to use it for anything that must be spoken, like a play or a movie script. Therefore, there are "vernacular Chinese" variants that are deliberately designed to be spoken. My understanding is that the current version of "Mandarin", the standard Beijing language, is such a vernacular variant that was adopted early in the 20th century.</p>

<p>Does this mean that the "Mandarin" currently used is completely different from the Mandarin used during the Qing dynasty prior to 1900?</p>

<p>If so, does this mean that students essentially have to learn two different languages: the current vernacular plus the older Qing Mandarin?</p>

<p>What about older texts, like say the language of the Palace Encyclopedias of the 16th and 17th centuries? Were these basically the same as Qing Mandarin or a different language altogether?</p>

<p>Finally, how does "Classical Chinese" tie into this? Are the Palace Encyclopedias consider classical Chinese?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-06T13:20:07.907Z
Before the New Culture Movement of the early twentieth century, no form of Mandarin was used in official written bureaucracy. The Ming and Qing dynasties would have used literary Chinese for that purpose, although the stylistic influence of the local Mandarin may have been present. Bureaucratic style would have thus been very different from the vernacular written Chinese of the novels at the time.
Michaelyus
<topolect><classical-chinese>
What is the relationship between vernacular and literary Chinese?
# What is the relationship between vernacular and literary Chinese?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-03-05)

I don't quite get the difference between and relationship of [vernacular Chinese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Written_vernacular_Chinese) to literary Chinese.

I know that "literary Chinese" does not represents sounds, the way an alphabet does, so it is difficult to use it for anything that must be spoken, like a play or a movie script. Therefore, there are "vernacular Chinese" variants that are deliberately designed to be spoken. My understanding is that the current version of "Mandarin", the standard Beijing language, is such a vernacular variant that was adopted early in the 20th century.

Does this mean that the "Mandarin" currently used is completely different from the Mandarin used during the Qing dynasty prior to 1900?

If so, does this mean that students essentially have to learn two different languages: the current vernacular plus the older Qing Mandarin?

What about older texts, like say the language of the Palace Encyclopedias of the 16th and 17th centuries? Were these basically the same as Qing Mandarin or a different language altogether?

Finally, how does "Classical Chinese" tie into this? Are the Palace Encyclopedias consider classical Chinese?

**Tags:** topolect, classical-chinese

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Before the New Culture Movement of the early twentieth century, no form of Mandarin was used in official written bureaucracy. The Ming and Qing dynasties would have used literary Chinese for that purpose, although the stylistic influence of the local Mandarin may have been present. Bureaucratic style would have thus been very different from the vernacular written Chinese of the novels at the time.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-03-06. Score: 1

The difference between vernacular Chinese and literary Chinese is all about written form. It has nothing to do with spoken language (mandarin or other dialects). Therefore we should say vernacular written form and literary written form.

The fact is that the literary written form is not for a natural human language at all. It is just for the official documents.

The vernacular written form is what we call the written form of Chinese language, and it was there in civil society for a long time before the [New\_Culture\_Movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Culture_Movement) in 1920. It was used by normal people for at least 600 years. But it was not used in official documents.

Since after 1920, literary written is used as official written.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: What do you mean “ Since after 1920, literary written is used as official written.”?  

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