There was also Mandarin in ancient times, which is the lingua franca equivalent to Mandarin now. It is a language that officials must learn in order to facilitate administrative communication, so it is called Putonghua. If ordinary people have a wide range of activities, they should also use Mandarin to facilitate communication. Of course, we don't understand Mandarin.
As far as written language is concerned, the classical Chinese you speak is a unified written language in ancient times and used by ancient literati. What you may say is that many folk people can't read and write, and literate people record according to their spoken meaning. Let me remind you that ancient historians do not collect history by the people, but only select materials from ancient books. The people you mentioned who are engaged in collecting folk languages may be poetry officials, that is, officials sent by the rulers to collect folk poems. The Book of Songs was written by these poets, and it was basically written in folk natural language, but the possibility of literary processing was not ruled out.
In short, to put it simply, written Mandarin is classical Chinese. In ancient times, there were also works written without Mandarin, such as Biography of Flowers on the Sea written in Wu language.
2. Did ancient people talk in classical Chinese? This question is not easy to find on the Internet. Let me answer from my point of view. I think ancient people also spoke in classical Chinese. It's just that every generation of classical Chinese is different. For example, we can't understand the historical records of the Western Han Dynasty now, but we can understand that some words change with the times. I think the languages of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China should be interoperable. For example, the history books mentioned above are more rigorous. Novels are different. The novel is based on folk materials, which can better reflect the folk customs at that time. As far as the Water Margin we are familiar with is concerned, the dialogue in the Song and Yuan Dynasties is understandable. Some scholars like to summarize the ideas of articles with gorgeous words and concise sentences, so we are particularly tolerant when reading them.
3. Is there any difference between the classical Chinese in Qing Dynasty and the classical Chinese in the previous dynasty? How do I see that Cao Xueqin's classical Chinese is the written language of China, mainly including the written language based on the spoken language in the pre-Qin period. It is commonly known as "almost". During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, no articles were invented to record characters. Bamboo slips and silks were used to record characters, but silks were expensive, bamboo slips were bulky and the number of words recorded was limited. In order to write more things on a roll of bamboo slips, it is necessary to delete unimportant words. It can be said that "classical Chinese" is the earliest "compressed" format of written records in the world. Later, when "paper" was used on a large scale, the habit of using "official documents" between the ruling classes had been finalized. Being able to use "classical Chinese" has evolved into a symbol of reading and literacy. Now let me explain to you that the so-called classical Chinese refers to the grammar used by people to write articles from ancient times to the Qin Dynasty. This grammar is based on people's speaking habits at that time. Later, in the post-Qin era, people's ways of speaking and writing articles became more and more different, that is, speaking and writing articles in different languages. Classical Chinese handed down from the pre-Qin period has been changing. For example, the speeches of the Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty are similar, but the speeches of the Tang Dynasty and the Han Dynasty are far from each other. We modern people estimate that we can understand a little when we return to the Song Dynasty. We were afraid of trouble in the Qing dynasty, but now writing articles is different. Even articles written thousands of years ago, we can basically understand them, such as The Analects of Confucius and The Warring States Policy, because the way of writing articles has remained basically unchanged for thousands of years. There are many kinds of classical Chinese that can be preserved, including strategies, poems, words, songs, stereotyped writing, parallel prose, ancient prose and so on. Unfortunately, it is said that A Dream of Red Mansions is not written in classical Chinese, and there are some lyrics like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Yuanqu, as well as many novels and modern articles in the late Qing Dynasty. Because more consideration is given to the masses, so that ordinary people can understand, so most of them use vernacular, because it is actually the vernacular at that time. A dream of red mansions is only the language spoken by people in Qing dynasty, not the real classical Chinese.
4. Is there any difference between the classical Chinese in Qing Dynasty and the classical Chinese in the previous dynasty? Classical Chinese is a kind of written language in China, which mainly includes the written language based on spoken language in the pre-Qin period. Commonly known as "yes." During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, no articles were invented to record characters, but bamboo slips, silks and other things were used to record characters, and silks were expensive, bamboo slips were huge and the number of words recorded was limited. In order to record more things on a roll of bamboo slips, unimportant words must be deleted. It can be said that "classical Chinese" is the earliest "compressed" format of written records in the world. Later, when "paper" was used on a large scale, the habit of using "official documents" among the ruling classes had been finalized, and the ability to use "classical Chinese" had evolved into a symbol of reading and literacy.
Ok, now let me explain it to you.
The so-called classical Chinese refers to the establishment of grammar used by people in writing articles in the pre-Qin period, from ancient times to the Qin Dynasty, which was based on people's speaking habits at that time. Later, in the post-Qin era, people's ways of speaking and writing articles became more and more different, that is to say, speaking and writing articles in different languages always followed the classical Chinese handed down from the pre-Qin period, but their speeches kept changing. For example, the speech of the Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty must be similar, and the Tang Dynasty and the Han Dynasty must be far apart. It is estimated that if we modern people go back to the Song Dynasty and knew a little before the Five Dynasties, we will be able to speak in the Qing Dynasty.
Writing articles is different, even though we can basically understand articles thousands of years ago, such as The Analects of Confucius and The Warring States Policy, because the way of writing articles has remained basically unchanged for thousands of years, and culture has been preserved.
There are many kinds of classical Chinese, including strategies, poems, words, songs, stereotyped writing, parallel prose and ancient prose.
It is a pity, however, that Dream of Red Mansions is not written in classical Chinese, and there are some lyrics like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Yuan Zaju, as well as many novels and modern articles in the late Qing Dynasty. Because more consideration is given to the masses, so that ordinary people can understand, so most of them use vernacular, because it is actually the vernacular at that time. A dream of red mansions is only the language spoken by Qing people, not classical Chinese.
The real classical Chinese, just read "The View of Ancient Chinese". If you don't understand all the handwriting, you can ask again.
Be urgent ~ (@ _ @) ~