The style reform that began in the late Qing Dynasty can be divided into three stages: new style, vernacular and popular language. The "new style" in the late Qing Dynasty is colloquial "popular classical Chinese". The "vernacular Chinese" in the May 4th period is like a "record" with a little amplification. In 1930s, "popular language" advocated thorough colloquialism, and the style reform was mature.
There are four main types of China vernacular, namely, Mandarin vernacular (Beijing vernacular), Wu vernacular (Su vernacular, as shown on the right), Cantonese vernacular (white light) and rhyme vernacular. In addition to the following four kinds, there are many vernacular languages. Those who fail to distinguish which dialect they belong to are collectively called "Tubai". The vernacular Chinese we often talk about in our life refers to the vernacular Chinese in Putonghua.
Extended data
The characteristics of vernacular Chinese:
The vernacular is simple and popular, lively, rough and bold, full of life breath and expressive language. Throughout the May 4th vernacular movement, we can see that it absorbed the western vocabulary resources and grammatical structure extensively, and developed in many aspects such as language, writing and thought.
This movement is not only a "self-sufficient change within the language", but also closely related to the innovation of the whole thinking concept and the national modernization movement. The contest between "vernacular Chinese" and "classical Chinese" is also a collision of two different value systems and social ideologies to a great extent.
Baidu encyclopedia-vernacular Chinese