178-623: Jiaozhi ( standard Chinese , pinyin : Jiāozhǐ ), or Vietnamese : Giao Chỉ , was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties , corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam . The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Commandery ( Chinese : 交趾 郡 , 交阯 郡 ; Vietnamese : Quận Giao Chỉ , chữ Hán : 郡交趾) an administrative division centered in the Red River Delta that existed through Vietnam's first and second periods of Chinese rule. During
356-675: A Chancellor of the Tang dynasty . With this victory, the Turks accepted Taizong as their khagan , a title rendered as Tian Kehan in addition to his rule as emperor of China under the traditional title " Son of Heaven ". Taizong was succeeded by his son Li Zhi (as Emperor Gaozong ) in 649. The Tang engaged in military campaigns against the Western Turks , exploiting the rivalry between Western and Eastern Turks in order to weaken both. Under Emperor Taizong , campaigns were dispatched in
534-725: A differential gear was reproduced in several models for Tenji in 666, as recorded in the Nihon Shoki (720). Japanese monks also visited China; such was the case with Ennin (794–864), who wrote of his travel experiences including travels along the Grand Canal . The Japanese monk Enchin (814–891) stayed in China from 839 to 847, and again from 853 to 858, landing near Fuzhou , Fujian and setting sail for Japan from Taizhou, Zhejiang during his second trip to China. The Sui and Tang carried out successful military campaigns against
712-432: A lingua franca to facilitate communication between speakers of mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese and non-Sinitic languages . The name Putonghua , or 'common speech', reinforces this idea. However, due to Standard Chinese being a "public" lingua franca, other Chinese varieties and even non-Sinitic languages have shown signs of losing ground to the standard dialect. In many areas, especially in southern China, it
890-681: A "restored" Tang dynasty, the Later Tang , before toppling the Later Liang dynasty the same year. However, southern China remained splintered into various small kingdoms until most of China was reunified under the Song dynasty (960–1279). Control over parts of northeast China and Manchuria by the Liao dynasty of the Khitan people also stemmed from this period. In 905, their leader Abaoji formed
1068-607: A Buddhist memorial service for the casualties of war; in 629, he had Buddhist monasteries erected at the sites of major battles so that monks could pray for the fallen on both sides of the fight. During the Tang campaign against the Eastern Turks , the Eastern Turkic Khaganate was destroyed after the capture of its ruler, Illig Qaghan by the famed Tang military officer Li Jing (571–649), who later became
1246-418: A broad variety of texts. The jinshi tested a student's literary abilities in writing essays in response to questions on governance and politics, as well as in composing poetry . Candidates were also judged on proper deportment, appearance, speech, and calligraphy , all subjective criteria that favoured the wealthy over those of more modest means who were unable to pay tutors of rhetoric and writing.Although
1424-479: A disproportionate number of civil officials came from aristocratic families, wealth and noble status were not prerequisites, and the exams were open to all male subjects whose fathers were not of the artisan or merchant classes . To promote widespread Confucian education, the Tang government established state-run schools and issued standard versions of the Five Classics with commentaries. Open competition
1602-513: A few hours each week in Taiwan starting in the mid-1990s. With an increase in internal migration in China , the official Putonghua Proficiency Test (PSC) has become popular. Employers often require a level of Standard Chinese proficiency from applicants depending on the position, and many university graduates on the mainland take the PSC before looking for a job. The pronunciation of Standard Chinese
1780-579: A form of the Japanese language dubbed kokugo ( 国語 ). Reformers in the Qing bureaucracy took inspiration and borrowed the term into Chinese, and in 1909 the Qing education ministry officially proclaimed imperial Mandarin as Guoyu ( 国语 ; 國語 ), the 'national language'. After the Republic of China was established in 1912, there was more success in promoting a common national language. A Commission on
1958-551: A golden age of economic prosperity and pleasant lifestyles within the imperial court. Xuanzong was seen as a progressive and benevolent ruler, having abolished the death penalty in 747. Previously, all executions had to be approved by the emperor; in 730, there were only 24 executions. Xuanzong bowed to the consensus of his ministers on policy decisions and made efforts to staff government ministries fairly with different political factions. His staunch Confucian chancellor Zhang Jiuling (673–740) worked to reduce deflation and increase
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#17327657614232136-564: A greater vocabulary scheme and a more archaic and "proper-sounding" pronunciation and vocabulary. Distinctive features of the Beijing dialect are more extensive use of erhua in vocabulary items that are left unadorned in descriptions of the standard such as the Xiandai Hanyu Cidian , as well as more neutral tones. An example of standard versus Beijing dialect would be the standard mén (door) and Beijing ménr . While
2314-697: A lesser extent. Much of the Taiwanese Aboriginal population spoke their native Formosan languages . During the period of martial law between 1949 and 1987, the Taiwanese government revived the Mandarin Promotion Council , discouraging or in some cases forbidding the use of Hokkien and other non-standard varieties. This resulted in Standard Chinese replacing Hokkien as the country's lingua franca, and ultimately,
2492-558: A local root * trawʔ , which is associated with taro , is ancestral to various Austroasiatic lexical items such as "Monic (Spoken Mon krao or Nyah-kur traw ), Palaungic (Tung-wa kraɷʔ or Sem klao ), or Katuic (Ong raw or Souei ʰraw < proto-Katuic * craw )", and possibly evoked "a particular (most probably tuber-based) cultivation practice used by small Mon-Khmer horticultural communities—as opposed to more complex and advanced cereal-growing (probably rice-based) societies" Meanwhile, James Chamberlain claims that Jiao originated from
2670-454: A major state". Even after the power of the central government was in decline after the mid-8th century, it was still able to function and give out imperial orders on a massive scale. The Old Book of Tang (945) recorded that a government decree issued in 828 standardised the use of square-pallet chain pumps for irrigation throughout the country. The last ambitious ruler of the Tang was Emperor Xianzong ( r. 805–820 ), whose reign
2848-755: A military alliance with Li Keyong against Zhu Wen but the Khitans eventually turned against the Later Tang, helping another Shatuo leader Shi Jingtang of Later Jin to overthrow Later Tang in 936. Taizong set out to solve internal problems within the government which had constantly plagued past dynasties. Building upon the Sui legal code, he issued a new legal code that subsequent Chinese dynasties would model theirs upon, as well as neighbouring polities in Vietnam , Korea , and Japan . The earliest law code to survive
3026-469: A monopoly of this trade to the Buddhist clergy. The Tang government attempted to create an accurate census of the empire's population, mostly for effective taxation and military conscription. The early Tang government established modest grain and cloth taxes on each household, persuading households to register and provide the government with accurate demographic information. In the official census of 609,
3204-464: A political backlash in the 1990s. Starting in the 2000s during the administration of President Chen Shui-Bian , the Taiwanese government began making efforts to recognize the country's other languages. They began being taught in schools, and their use increased in media, though Standard Chinese remains the country's lingua franca. Chen often used Hokkien in his speeches; later Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui also openly spoke Hokkien. In an amendment to
3382-480: A rebellion by Huang Chao (874–884) devastated both northern and southern China, took an entire decade to suppress, resulted in the sacking of both Chang'an and Luoyang. In 878–879, Huang's army committed a massacre in the southern port of Guangzhou against foreign Arab and Persian Muslim, Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian merchants. A medieval Chinese source claimed that Huang Chao killed 8 million people. The Tang never recovered from Huang's rebellion, which paved
3560-655: A revolt against the Han in Hepu and Jiaozhi. Liang Long spread his revolt to all northern Vietnam, Guangxi and central Vietnam as well, attracting all non-Chinese ethnic groups in Jiaozhi to join. In 181, the Han empire sent general Chu Chuan to deal with the revolt. In June 181 Liang Long was captured and beheaded, and his rebellion was suppressed. In 192, Cham people in Xianglin county led by Khu Liên successful revolted against
3738-514: A school to prepare candidates for Taoist examinations. In 726, he called upon the Indian monk Vajrabodhi (671–741) to perform tantric rites to avert a drought. In 742, he personally held the incense burner while patriarch of the Shingon school Amoghavajra (705–774) recited "mystical incantations to secure the victory of Tang forces". Emperor Xuanzong closely regulated religious finances. Near
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#17327657614233916-548: A screen. When Empress Wu's eldest son, the crown prince, began to assert his authority and advocate policies opposed by Empress Wu, he suddenly died in 675. Many suspected he was poisoned by Empress Wu. Although the next heir apparent kept a lower profile, Wu accused him of plotting a rebellion in 680; he was banished and later obliged to commit suicide. In 683, Emperor Gaozong died and was succeeded by Emperor Zhongzong , his eldest surviving son by Wu. Zhongzong tried to appoint his wife's father as chancellor: after only six weeks on
4094-424: A small scale in Sui and Tang times, played a central role in the fashioning of this new elite. The early Song emperors, concerned above all to avoid domination of the government by military men, greatly expanded the civil service examination system and the government school system. From the outset, religion played a role in Tang politics. In his bid for power, Li Yuan had attracted a following by claiming descent from
4272-628: A word also ancestral to Lao , thus meaning Jiao & Lao are cognates. Chamberlain, like Joachim Schlesinger, claim that the Vietnamese language was not originally based in the area of the Red River in what is now northern Vietnam. According to them, the Red River Delta region was originally inhabited by Tai - speakers . They claim that the area become Vietnamese-speaking only between the seventh and ninth centuries AD, or even as late as
4450-493: Is a form of Standard Chinese that is read aloud with the Cantonese reading of characters. Like other Sinitic languages , Standard Chinese is a tonal language with topic-prominent organization and subject–verb–object (SVO) word order. Compared with southern varieties, the language has fewer vowels, final consonants and tones, but more initial consonants. It is an analytic language , albeit with many compound words . In
4628-762: Is a modern standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the republican era (1912–1949). It is designated as the official language of mainland China and a major language in the United Nations , Singapore , and Taiwan . It is largely based on the Beijing dialect . Standard Chinese is a pluricentric language with local standards in mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore that mainly differ in their lexicon . Hong Kong written Chinese , used for formal written communication in Hong Kong and Macau,
4806-518: Is colloquially referred to as simply Mandarin , though this term may also refer to the Mandarin dialect group as a whole, or the late imperial form used as a lingua franca . "Mandarin" is a translation of Guanhua ( 官話 ; 官话 ; 'bureaucrat speech'), which referred to the late imperial lingua franca. The term Modern Standard Mandarin is used to distinguish it from older forms. The word Guoyu ( 国语 ; 國語 ; 'national language')
4984-504: Is common, as the majority of the population continues to also speak the latter as a native language. The stereotypical "southern Chinese" accent does not distinguish between retroflex and alveolar consonants , pronouncing pinyin zh [tʂ], ch [tʂʰ], and sh [ʂ] in the same way as z [ts], c [tsʰ], and s [s] respectively. Southern-accented Standard Chinese may also interchange l and n , final n and ng , and vowels i and ü [y]. Attitudes towards southern accents, particularly
5162-468: Is commonly used for practical reasons, as linguistic diversity is so great that residents of neighboring cities may have difficulties communicating with each other without a lingua franca. The Chinese government's language policy been largely successful, with over 80% of the Chinese population able to speak Standard Chinese as of 2020. The Chinese government's current goal is to have 85% of the country's population speak Standard Chinese by 2025, and virtually
5340-449: Is defined as that of the Beijing dialect . The usual unit of analysis is the syllable, consisting of an optional initial consonant , an optional medial glide , a main vowel and an optional coda, and further distinguished by a tone . The palatal initials [tɕ] , [tɕʰ] and [ɕ] pose a classic problem of phonemic analysis. Since they occur only before high front vowels, they are in complementary distribution with three other series,
5518-420: Is the official language of the mandarins and of the court; it is among them like Latin among ourselves.... Two of our fathers [Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci] have been learning this mandarin language... During the 17th century, the state had set up orthoepy academies ( 正音書院 ; zhèngyīn shūyuàn ) in an attempt to conform the speech of bureaucrats to the standard. These attempts had little success: as late as
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5696-500: Is the primary lingua franca of more recent Chinese immigrants , is rapidly increasing. While Standard Chinese was made China's official language in the early 20th century, local languages continue to be the main form of everyday communication in much of the country. The language policy adopted by the Chinese government promotes the use of Standard Chinese while also making allowances for the use and preservation of local varieties. From an official point of view, Standard Chinese serves as
5874-573: Is thought to have used a dialect known as yayan rather than regional dialects; during the Han dynasty , texts also referred to tōngyǔ ( 通語 ; 'common language'). The rime books that were written starting in the Northern and Southern period may have reflected standard systems of pronunciation. However, these standard dialects were mostly used by the educated elite, whose pronunciation may still have possessed great variation. For these elites,
6052-610: Is used in informal daily life and is heavily influenced in terms of both grammar and vocabulary by local languages such as Cantonese, Hokkien, and Malay. Instances of code-switching with English, Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, or a combination thereof are also common. In Singapore, the government has heavily promoted a " Speak Mandarin Campaign " since the late 1970s, with the use of other Chinese varieties in broadcast media being prohibited and their use in any context officially discouraged until recently. This has led to some resentment amongst
6230-530: Is used in most official contexts, as well as the media and educational system, contributing to its proliferation. As a result, it is now spoken by most people in both countries, though often with some regional or personal variation in vocabulary and pronunciation. In overseas Chinese communities outside Asia where Cantonese once dominated, such as the Chinatown in Manhattan , the use of Standard Chinese, which
6408-508: The Portraits of Periodical Offering , probably painted by Yan Liben (601–673). Having entered Emperor Gaozong's court as a lowly consort, Wu Zetian ultimately acceded to the highest position of power in 690, establishing the short-lived Wu Zhou. Emperor Gaozong suffered a stroke in 655, and Wu began to make many of his court decisions for him, discussing affairs of state with his councillors, who took orders from her while she sat behind
6586-507: The Han dynasty , the commandery was part of a province of the same name (later renamed to Jiaozhou ) that covered modern-day northern and central Vietnam as well as Guangdong and Guangxi in southern China. In 670 AD, Jiaozhi was absorbed into the Annan Protectorate established by the Tang dynasty . Afterwards, official use of the name Jiaozhi was superseded by "Annan" (Annam) and other names of Vietnam , except during
6764-546: The Han dynasty . The Li family founded the dynasty after taking advantage of a period of Sui decline and precipitating their final collapse, in turn inaugurating a period of progress and stability in the first half of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty was formally interrupted during 690–705 when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Wu Zhou dynasty and becoming the only legitimate Chinese empress regnant . The An Lushan rebellion (755–763) led to devastation and
6942-639: The Hexi Corridor and Dunhuang in Gansu ; in 848, the general Zhang Yichao (799–872) managed to wrestle control of the region from the Tibetan Empire during its civil war . Shortly afterwards, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ( r. 846–859 ) acknowledged Zhang as the protector ( 防禦使 ; fángyùshǐ ) of Sha Prefecture, and military governor of the new Guiyi Circuit . In addition to factors like natural calamity and jiedushi claiming autonomy,
7120-671: The Ming dynasty revived the historical name Jiaozhi and created the Jiaozhi Province in northern Vietnam. After repelling the Ming forces, Lê Lợi dismissed all former administrative structure and divided the nation into 5 dao . Thus, Giao Chỉ and Giao Châu have never been names of official administrative units ever since. In 166 CE An-tun ( Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ) of the state of Ta Ch'in sent missinaries from beyond Rinan to offer present of ivory, rhinoceros horn, and tortoise to
7298-606: The Red River Delta near modern Hanoi ]; but few of the inhabitants of these southern frontier states have come to Da Qin. During the 5th year of the Huangwu period of the reign of Sun Quan [AD 226] a merchant of Da Qin, whose name was Qin Lun came to Jiaozhi [Tonkin]; the prefect [ taishou ] of Jiaozhi, Wu Miao, sent him to Sun Quan [the Wu emperor], who asked him for a report on his native country and its people." The capital of Jiaozhi
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7476-462: The Sanskrit word mantrin ('minister')—and was initially used to refer to Chinese scholar-officials . The Portuguese then began referring to Guanhua as "the language of the mandarins". The Chinese have different languages in different provinces, to such an extent that they cannot understand each other.... [They] also have another language which is like a universal and common language; this
7654-610: The Tang Empire , was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period . Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilisation, and a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Tang territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivalled that of
7832-597: The Tibetan Empire had fallen apart in 842, followed soon after by the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho , the Tang were in no position to reconquer Central Asia after 763. So significant was this loss that half a century later jinshi examination candidates were required to write an essay on the causes of the Tang's decline. Although An Lushan was killed by one of his eunuchs in 757, this time of troubles and widespread insurrection continued until rebel Shi Siming
8010-529: The Wu . This family controlled several surrounding commanderies, but upon the headman's death Guangzhou was formed as a separate province from northeastern Jiaozhou and Shi Xie's son attempted to usurp his father's appointed replacement. In retaliation, Sun Quan executed the son and all his brothers and demoted the remainder of the family to common status. During the Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam ,
8188-571: The Xuanwu Gate Incident on July 2, 626. Shortly thereafter, his father abdicated in his favour, and Li Shimin ascended the throne. He is conventionally known by his temple name Taizong. Although killing two brothers and deposing his father contradicted the Confucian value of filial piety , Taizong showed himself to be a capable leader who listened to the advice of the wisest members of his council. In 628, Emperor Taizong held
8366-628: The first campaign because they failed to overcome the successful defence led by General Yeon Gaesomun . The Tang entered into the Silla–Tang alliance , the Chinese fought against Baekje and their Yamato Japanese allies in the Battle of Baekgang in August 663, a decisive Tang–Silla victory. The Tang dynasty navy had several different ship types at its disposal to engage in naval warfare , these ships described by Li Quan in his Taipai Yinjing (Canon of
8544-473: The 19th century, the emperor had difficulty understanding some of his ministers in court, who did not always follow a standard pronunciation. Before the 19th century, the lingua franca was based on the Nanjing dialect , but later the Beijing dialect became increasingly influential, despite the mix of officials and commoners speaking various dialects in the capital, Beijing . By some accounts, as late as 1900
8722-592: The Cantonese accent, range from disdain to admiration. Chinese is a strongly analytic language , having almost no inflectional morphemes , and relying on word order and particles to express relationships between the parts of a sentence. Nouns are not marked for case and rarely marked for number . Verbs are not marked for agreement or grammatical tense , but aspect is marked using post-verbal particles. Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty ( / t ɑː ŋ / , [tʰǎŋ] ; Chinese : 唐朝 ), or
8900-956: The Chinese government has not stated its intent to replace regional varieties with Standard Chinese. However, regulations enacted by local governments to implement the national law−such as the Guangdong National Language Regulations —have included coercive measures to control the public's use of both spoken dialects and traditional characters in writing. Some Chinese speakers who are older or from rural areas cannot speak Standard Chinese fluently or at all—though most are able to understand it. Meanwhile, those from urban areas—as well as younger speakers, who have received their education primarily in Standard Chinese—are almost all fluent in it, with some being unable to speak their local dialect. The Chinese government has disseminated public service announcements promoting
9078-537: The Chinese language was unified in Literary Chinese , a form that was primarily written, as opposed to spoken. The term Guanhua ( 官話 ; 官话 ; 'official speech') was used during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties to refer to the lingua franca spoken within the imperial courts. The term "Mandarin" is borrowed directly from the Portuguese word mandarim , in turn derived from
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#17327657614239256-509: The Chinese model, based his state ceremonies on the Chinese model, and constructed his palace at Fujiwara on the Chinese model of architecture . Many Chinese Buddhist monks came to Japan to help further the spread of Buddhism as well. Two 7th-century monks, Zhi Yu and Zhi You, visited the court of Emperor Tenji ( r. 661–672 ), whereupon they presented a gift of a south-pointing chariot that they had crafted. This vehicle employing
9434-597: The Enforcement Rules of the Passport Act ( 護照條例施行細則 ) passed on 9 August 2019, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that romanized spellings of names in Hoklo , Hakka and Aboriginal languages may be used in Taiwanese passports. Previously, only Mandarin names could be romanized. Mandarin is one of the four official languages of Singapore, along with English, Malay , and Tamil . Historically, it
9612-587: The Han court. Hou Han shu records: In the ninth Yanxi year [AD 166], during the reign of Emperor Huan , the king of Da Qin [the Roman Empire], Andun ( Marcus Aurelius Antoninus , r. 161–180), sent envoys from beyond the frontiers through Rinan... During the reign of Emperor He [AD 89–105], they sent several envoys carrying tribute and offerings. Later, the Western Regions rebelled, and these relations were interrupted. Then, during
9790-458: The Han dynasty. Khu Liên found the independent kingdom of Lâm Ấp . Jiaozhi emerged as the economic center of gravity on the southern coast of the Han empire. In 2 AD, the region reported four times as many households as Nanhai (modern Guangdong), while its population density is estimated to be 9.6 times larger than that of Guangdong. Jiaozhi was a key supplier of rice and produced prized handicrafts and natural resources. The region's location
9968-689: The Han, the political center of the former Nanyue lands was moved from Panyu ( Guangzhou ) south to Jiaozhi. The capital of Jiaozhi was first Mê Linh (Miling) (within modern Hanoi 's Me Linh district ) and then Luy Lâu , within Bac Ninh 's Thuan Thanh district . According to the Book of Han ’s "Treatise on Geography", Jiaozhi contained 10 counties : Leilou (羸𨻻), Anding (安定), Goulou (苟屚), Miling (麊泠), Quyang (曲昜), Beidai (北帶), Jixu (稽徐), Xiyu (西于), Longbian (龍編), and Zhugou (朱覯). Đào Duy Anh stated that Jiaozhi's territory contained all of Tonkin , excluding
10146-454: The Han. In the following year, thousand of rebels from Yulin and Hepu besieged Cangwu. Empress Dowager Deng decided to avoid conflict and instead sent attendant censor Ren Chuo with a proclamation to grant them amnesty. In 157, Lac leader Chu Đạt in Jiuzhen attacked and killed the Chinese magistrate, then marched north with an army of four to five thousand. The governor of Jiuzhen, Ni Shi,
10324-463: The Khitans were unsuccessful. He was given great responsibility in Hebei , which allowed him to rebel with an army of more than 100,000 troops. After capturing Luoyang, he named himself emperor of a new, but short-lived, Yan state . Despite early victories scored by the Tang general Guo Ziyi (697–781), the newly recruited troops of the army at the capital were no match for An Lushan's frontier veterans;
10502-587: The Kingdom of Goguryeo was destroyed by 668. Although they were formerly enemies, the Tang accepted officials and generals of Goguryeo into their administration and military, such as the brothers Yeon Namsaeng (634–679) and Yeon Namsan (639–701). From 668 to 676, the Tang Empire controlled northern Korea. However, Silla broke the alliance in 671, and began the Silla–Tang War to expel the Tang forces. At
10680-488: The Lac lord of Mê Linh, led an uprising that quickly spread to an area stretching approximate modern-day Vietnam (Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen , Hepu and Rinan ), forcing Su Ding and the Han army to flee. All of Lac lords submitted to Trưng Trắc and crowned her Queen. In AD 42 the Han empire struck back by sending an reconquest expedition led by Ma Yuan . Copper columns of Ma Yuan was supposedly erected by Ma Yuan after he had suppressed
10858-481: The Song dynasty, when it doubled to 100 million because of extensive rice cultivation in central and southern China, coupled with higher yields of grain sold in a growing market. The 7th and first half of the 8th century are generally considered to be the era in which the Tang reached the zenith of its power. In this period, Tang control extended further west than any previous dynasty, stretching from north Vietnam in
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#173276576142311036-455: The Standard Chinese spoken in Taiwan is nearly identical to that of mainland China, the colloquial form has been heavily influenced by other local languages, especially Taiwanese Hokkien. Notable differences include: the merger of retroflex sounds (zh, ch, sh, r) with the alveolar series (z, c, s), frequent mergers of the "neutral tone" with a word's original tone, and absence of erhua . Code-switching between Mandarin and Taiwanese Hokkien
11214-545: The Taiwanese government introduced two laws explicitly recognizing the indigenous Formosan languages and Hakka as "Languages of the nation" ( 國家語言 ) alongside Standard Chinese. Since then, there have been efforts to redefine Guoyu as encompassing all "languages of the nation", rather than exclusively referring to Standard Chinese. Among Chinese people, Hanyu ( 汉语 ; 漢語 ; 'Han language') refers to spoken varieties of Chinese . Zhongwen ( 中文 ; 'written Chinese') refers to written Chinese. Among foreigners,
11392-411: The Tang capital Chang'an and with it the imperial family. By 903, he forced Emperor Zhaozong of Tang to move the capital to Luoyang, preparing to take the throne for himself. In 904, Zhu assassinated Emperor Zhaozong to replace him with the emperor's young son Emperor Ai of Tang . In 905, Zhu executed the brothers of Emperor Ai as well as many officials and Empress Dowager He . In 907, the Tang dynasty
11570-529: The Tang census of 754, there were 1,859 cities, 321 prefectures , and 1,538 counties throughout the empire. Although there were many large and prominent cities, the rural and agrarian areas comprised 80–90% of the population. There was also a dramatic migration from northern to southern China , as the North held 75% of the overall population at the dynasty's inception, which by its end was reduced to 50%. The Chinese population would not dramatically increase until
11748-444: The Tang dynasty until the end of 755, there were approximately ten Turkic generals serving under the Tang. While most of the Tang army was made of fubing Chinese conscripts, the majority of the troops led by Turkic generals were of non-Chinese origin, campaigning largely in the western frontier where the presence of fubing troops was low. Some "Turkic" troops were tribalised Han Chinese, a desinicised people. Civil war in China
11926-571: The Tang exerted a powerful cultural influence over neighbouring East Asian nations such as Japan and Korea . Chinese culture flourished and further matured during the Tang era. It is traditionally considered the greatest age for Chinese poetry . Two of China's most famous poets, Li Bai and Du Fu , belonged to this age, contributing with poets such as Wang Wei to the monumental Three Hundred Tang Poems . Many famous painters such as Han Gan , Zhang Xuan , and Zhou Fang were active, while Chinese court music flourished with instruments such as
12104-411: The Tang government responded effectively to natural disasters by extending the price-regulation granary system throughout the country. The central government was able then to build a large surplus stock of foods to ward off the rising danger of famine and increased agricultural productivity through land reclamation . Although these natural calamities and rebellions stained the reputation and hampered
12282-519: The Taoist sage Laozi ( fl. 6th century BC ). People bidding for office would request the prayers of Buddhist monks, with successful aspirants making donations in return. Before the persecution of Buddhism in the 9th century, Buddhism and Taoism were both accepted. Religion was central in the reign of Emperor Xuanzong ( r. 712–756 ). The Emperor invited Taoist and Buddhist monks and clerics to his court, exalted Laozi with grand titles, wrote commentary on Taoist scriptures, and set up
12460-425: The Turks. As early as the Sui dynasty, the Turks had become a major militarised force employed by the Chinese . When the Khitans began raiding northeast China in 605, a Chinese general led 20,000 Turks against them, distributing Khitan livestock and women to the Turks as a reward. On two occasions between 635 and 636, Tang royal princesses were married to Turk mercenaries or generals in Chinese service. Throughout
12638-404: The Unification of Pronunciation was convened with delegates from the entire country. A Dictionary of National Pronunciation ( 國音字典 ; 国音字典 ) was published in 1919, defining a hybrid pronunciation that did not match any existing speech. Meanwhile, despite the lack of a workable standardized pronunciation, colloquial literature in written vernacular Chinese continued to develop. Gradually,
12816-533: The United Kingdom and Macau's handover from Portugal, their governments use Putonghua to communicate with the PRC's Central People's Government . There has been significant effort to promote use of Putonghua in Hong Kong since the handover, including the training of police and teachers. Standard Chinese is the official language of Taiwan . Standard Chinese started being widely spoken in Taiwan following
12994-478: The Western Regions against Gaochang in 640, Karasahr in 644 and 648, and Kucha in 648. The wars against the Western Turks continued under Emperor Gaozong , and the Western Turkic Khaganate was finally annexed after General Su Dingfang 's defeat of Khagan Ashina Helu in 657. Around this time, the Tang court enjoyed visits by numerous dignitaries from foreign lands. These were depicted in
13172-468: The Western Turks ruled by Ashina Helu. The Tang Empire competed with the Tibetan Empire for control of areas in Inner and Central Asia, which was at times settled with marriage alliances such as the marrying of Princess Wencheng ( d. 680 ) to Songtsän Gampo ( d. 649 ). A Tibetan tradition mentions that Chinese troops captured Lhasa after Songtsän Gampo's death, but no such invasion
13350-618: The White and Gloomy Planet of War) of 759. The Battle of Baekgang was actually a restoration movement by remnant forces of Baekje, since their kingdom was toppled in 660 by a Tang–Silla invasion, led by Chinese general Su Dingfang and Korean general Kim Yushin (595–673). In another joint invasion with Silla, the Tang army severely weakened the Goguryeo Kingdom in the north by taking out its outer forts in 645. With joint attacks by Silla and Tang armies under commander Li Shiji (594–669),
13528-477: The ability to maintain their own armies, collect taxes, and pass their titles on hereditarily. This is commonly recognised as the beginning of the fall of Tang's central government. By 737, Emperor Xuanzong discarded the policy of conscripting soldiers that were replaced every three years, replacing them with long-service soldiers who were more battle-hardened and efficient. It was more economically feasible as well, since training new recruits and sending them out to
13706-492: The administrations that implemented policy, each of which was assigned different tasks. These Three Departments and Six Ministries included the personnel administration, finance, rites, military, justice, and public works—an administrative model which lasted until the fall of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Although the founders of the Tang related to the glory of the earlier Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD),
13884-413: The age of 18, had prowess with bow and arrow, sword and lance and was known for his effective cavalry charges. Fighting a numerically superior army, he defeated Dou Jiande (573–621) at Luoyang in the Battle of Hulao on May 28, 621. Due to fear of assassination, Li Shimin ambushed and killed two of his brothers, Li Yuanji ( b. 603 ) and crown prince Li Jiancheng ( b. 589 ), in
14062-437: The ailing Tang was also challenged when natural disasters led many to believe that the Tang had lost their right to rule. In 873, a disastrous harvest shook the foundations of the empire; in some areas only half of all agricultural produce was gathered, and tens of thousands faced famine and starvation. In the earlier period of the Tang, the central government was able to meet crises in the harvest—from 714 to 719, records show that
14240-470: The basis for much of their administrative organisation was very similar to the previous Northern and Southern dynasties . The Northern Zhou (6th century) fubing system of divisional militia was continued by the Tang, along with farmer-soldiers serving in rotation from the capital or frontier in order to receive appropriated farmland. The equal-field system of the Northern Wei (4th–6th centuries)
14418-727: The beginning of his reign in 713, he liquidated the Inexhaustible Treasury of a prominent Buddhist monastery in Chang'an which had collected vast riches as multitudes of anonymous repentants left money, silk, and treasure at its doors. Although the monastery used its funds generously, the Emperor condemned it for fraudulent banking practices , and distributed its wealth to other Buddhist and Taoist monasteries, and to repair local statues, halls, and bridges. In 714, he forbade Chang'an shops from selling copied Buddhist sutras, giving
14596-687: The brief fourth period of Chinese rule when the Ming dynasty administered Vietnam as the Jiaozhi Province . Chinese chroniclers assigned various folk etymologies for the toponym. According to Michel Ferlus , the Sino-Vietnamese Jiao in Jiāozhǐ (交趾), together with the ethnonym and autonym of the Lao people (lǎo 獠), and the ethnonym Gēlǎo (仡佬), a Kra population scattered from Guizhou (China) to North Vietnam, would have emerged from *k(ə)ra:w . The etymon *k(ə)ra:w would have also yielded
14774-423: The capital. Students of Confucian studies were candidates for the imperial examinations , which qualified their graduates for appointment to the local, provincial, and central government bureaucracies. Two types of exams were given, mingjing ( 明經 ; 'illuminating the classics') and jinshi ( 進士 ; 'presented scholar'). The mingjing was based upon the Confucian classics and tested the student's knowledge of
14952-558: The citizenry was originally borrowed from Japan in the early 20th century. In 1902, the Japanese Diet had formed the National Language Research Council to standardize a form of the Japanese language dubbed kokugo ( 国語 ). Reformers in the Qing bureaucracy took inspiration and borrowed the term into Chinese, and in 1909 the Qing education ministry officially proclaimed imperial Mandarin to be
15130-425: The coda of the base syllable in a rhotacizing process called erhua . Each full syllable is pronounced with a phonemically distinctive pitch contour. There are four tonal categories, marked in pinyin with diacritics, as in the words mā ( 媽 ; 妈 ; 'mother'), má ( 麻 ; 'hemp'), mǎ ( 馬 ; 马 ; 'horse') and mà ( 罵 ; 骂 ; 'curse'). The tonal categories also have secondary characteristics. For example,
15308-521: The conditions for a massive rebellion against Xuanzong. The Tang Empire was at its height of power up until the middle of the 8th century, when the An Lushan rebellion (755–763) destroyed the prosperity of the empire. An Lushan was a half- Sogdian , half- Turkic Tang commander since 744, who had experience fighting the Khitans of Manchuria with a victory in 744, yet most of his campaigns against
15486-406: The context of linguistics , the dialect has been labeled Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin , and in common speech simply Mandarin , more specifically qualified as Standard Mandarin , Modern Standard Mandarin , or Standard Mandarin Chinese . Among linguists, Standard Chinese has been referred to as Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin . It
15664-534: The court fled Chang'an. While the heir apparent raised troops in Shanxi and Xuanzong fled to Sichuan , they called upon the help of the Uyghur Khaganate in 756. The Uyghur khan Moyanchur was greatly excited at this prospect, and married his own daughter to the Chinese diplomatic envoy once he arrived, receiving in turn a Chinese princess as his bride. The Uyghurs helped recapture the Tang capital from
15842-418: The decline of central authority during the latter half of the dynasty. Like the previous Sui dynasty , the Tang maintained a civil-service system by recruiting scholar-officials through standardised examinations and recommendations to office. The rise of regional military governors known as jiedushi during the 9th century undermined this civil order. The dynasty and central government went into decline by
16020-431: The dental sibilants, retroflexes and velars, which never occur in this position. The [ɹ̩] final, which occurs only after dental sibilant and retroflex initials, is a syllabic approximant , prolonging the initial. The rhotacized vowel [ɚ] forms a complete syllable. A reduced form of this syllable occurs as a sub-syllabic suffix, spelled -r in pinyin and often with a diminutive connotation. The suffix modifies
16198-420: The developing of Han-Viet ruling class while local Lac ruling-class families who had submitted to Ma Yuan were used as local functionaries in Han administration and were natural participants in the intermarriage process. In 100, Cham people in Xianglin county (near modern-day Huế ) revolted against the Han rule due to high taxes. The Cham plundered and burned down the Han centers. The Han respond by putting down
16376-506: The dynasty's end. From its numerous subjects, the dynasty raised professional and conscripted armies of hundreds of thousands of troops to contend with nomadic powers for control of Inner Asia and the lucrative trade-routes along the Silk Road . Far-flung kingdoms and states paid tribute to the Tang court, while the Tang also indirectly controlled several regions through a protectorate system. In addition to its political hegemony ,
16554-566: The earlier Han dynasty, the Tang and their Turkic allies conquered and subdued Central Asia during the 640s and 650s. During Emperor Taizong's reign alone, large campaigns were launched against not only the Göktürks , but also separate campaigns against the Tuyuhun , the oasis states , and the Xueyantuo . Under Emperor Gaozong, a campaign led by the general Su Dingfang was launched against
16732-506: The early Communist leader Qu Qiubai in 1931. His concern echoed within the Communist Party, which adopted the term Putonghua in 1955. Since 1949, usage of the word Guoyu was phased out in the PRC, only surviving in established compound nouns, e.g. ' Mandopop ' ( 国语流行音乐 ; Guóyǔ liúxíng yīnyuè ), or 'Chinese cinema' ( 国语电影 ; Guóyǔ diànyǐng ). In Taiwan, Guoyu is the colloquial term for Standard Chinese. In 2017 and 2018,
16910-435: The effectiveness of the central government, the early 9th century is nonetheless viewed as a period of recovery for the Tang. The government's withdrawal from its role in managing the economy had the unintended effect of stimulating trade, as more markets with fewer bureaucratic restrictions were opened up. By 780, the old grain tax and labour service of the 7th century was replaced by a semi-annual tax paid in cash, signifying
17088-573: The end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, with the relocation of the Kuomintang (KMT) to the island along with an influx of refugees from the mainland. The Standard Chinese used in Taiwan differs very little from that of mainland China, with differences largely being in technical vocabulary introduced after 1949. Prior to 1949, the varieties most commonly spoken by Taiwan's Han population were Taiwanese Hokkien , as well as Hakka to
17266-714: The endonym's initial consonantal cluster); noting that the older two-character combinations 鳩獠 Qiūlǎo , 狐獠 Húlǎo , and 屈獠 Qūlǎo had been pronounced * kɔ-lawʔ , * ɣɔ-lawʔ , and * kʰut-lawʔ respectively in Middle Chinese , she reconstructs the endonym * klao , which is either related to the word klao , meaning "person", in the Kra languages , or is a compound, meaning "our people", of prefix k- for "people" and Proto-Tai first person plural pronoun * rəu "we, us". Even so, Michael Churchman acknowledged that "The absence of records of large-scale population shifts indicates that there
17444-494: The entire country by 2035. Throughout the country, Standard Chinese has heavily influenced local languages through diglossia , replacing them entirely in some cases, especially among younger people in urban areas. The Chinese government is keen to promote Putonghua as the national lingua franca: under the National Common Language and Writing Law , the government is required to promoted its use. Officially,
17622-489: The ethnonym Keo/ Kæw kɛːw , a name given to the Vietnamese by Tai speaking peoples, currently slightly derogatory. In Pupeo ( Kra branch ), kew is used to name the Tay ( Central Tai ) of North Vietnam. jiāo 交 < MC kæw < OC *kraw [ k.raw ] lǎo 獠 < MC lawX < OC *C-rawʔ [C. rawˀ ] Frederic Pain proposes that *k(ə)ra:w means 'human being' and originates from Austroasiatic : he further links it to
17800-568: The first few centuries AD, before being replaced by Guangdong . In terms of archaeological finds, a Republican -era Roman glassware has been found at a Western Han tomb in Guangzhou along the South China Sea , dated to the early 1st century BC. In addition, from a site near the Red River in the northern Vietnamese province of Lao Cai (borders with Yunnan ), a glass bowl dated from late first century BC to early first century AD
17978-611: The frontier every three years drained the treasury. By the late 7th century, the fubing troops began abandoning military service and the homes provided to them in the equal-field system. The supposed standard of 100 mu of land allotted to each family was in fact decreasing in size in places where population expanded and the wealthy bought up most of the land. Hard-pressed peasants and vagrants were then induced into military service with benefits of exemption from both taxation and corvée labour service, as well as provisions for farmland and dwellings for dependents who accompanied soldiers on
18156-544: The frontier. By 742, the total number of enlisted troops in the Tang armies had risen to about 500,000 men. In East Asia, Tang military campaigns were less successful elsewhere than in previous imperial Chinese dynasties. Like the emperors of the Sui dynasty before him , Taizong established a military campaign in 644 against the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo in the Goguryeo–Tang War ; however, this led to its withdrawal in
18334-437: The government had to officially acknowledge the jiedushi ' s hereditary rule without accreditation. The Tang government relied on these governors and their armies for protection and to suppress local revolts. In return, the central government would acknowledge the rights of these governors to maintain their army, collect taxes and even to pass on their title to heirs. As time passed, these military governors slowly phased out
18512-447: The imperial court. From Tang times until the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912, scholar-officials served as intermediaries between the people and the government. The potential of a widespread examination system was not fully realised until the succeeding Song dynasty, when the merit-driven scholar official largely shed his aristocratic habits and defined his social status through the examination system. The examination system, used only on
18690-661: The land on the right bank of the Red River . According to tradition, the Hung kings directly ruled Mê Linh while other areas were ruled by dependent Lac lords. The Van Lang kingdom fell to the Âu under prince Thục Phán around 258 BC. Thục Phán established his capital at Co Loa in Hanoi's Dong Anh district . The citadel was taken around 208 BC by the Qin general Zhao Tuo . Zhao Tuo declared his independent kingdom of Nanyue in 204 and organized his Vietnamese territory as
18868-407: The landed wealth and official positions, was largely destroyed or marginalised. During the last two decades of the Tang dynasty, the gradual collapse of central authority led to the rise of the rival military figures Li Keyong and Zhu Wen in northern China. Tang forces had defeated Huang's rebellion with the aid of allied Shatuo , a Turkic people of what is now Shanxi , led by Li Keyong. He
19046-487: The latter half of the 9th century; agrarian rebellions resulted in mass population loss and displacement, widespread poverty, and further government dysfunction that ultimately ended the dynasty in 907. The Tang capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an ) was the world's most populous city for much of the dynasty's existence. Two censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries estimated the empire's population at about 50 million people, which grew to an estimated 80 million by
19224-450: The lower part of Yangtze 's drainage basin, and nowhere farther than today Anhui province in China (i.e. not in today northern Vietnam ); accordingly, Đào defines Jiao(zhi) as "lands in the south which bordered [ancient Chinese's] territories". The native state of Văn Lang is not well attested, but much later sources name Giao Chỉ as one of the realm's districts ( bộ ). Its territory purportedly comprised present-day Hanoi and
19402-581: The medium of instruction with the standard shared with Singaporean Chinese. Together influenced by the Singaporean Speak Mandarin Campaign and Chinese culture revival movement in the 1980s, Malaysian Chinese started their own promotion of Mandarin too, and similar to Singapore, but to a lesser extent, experienced language shift from other Chinese variants to Mandarin. Today, Mandarin functions as lingua franca among Malaysian Chinese, while Hokkien and Cantonese are still retained in
19580-571: The members of the National Language Commission came to settle upon the Beijing dialect, which became the major source of standard national pronunciation due to its prestigious status. In 1932, the commission published the Vocabulary of National Pronunciation for Everyday Use ( 國音常用字彙 ; 国音常用字汇 ), with little fanfare or official announcement. This dictionary was similar to the previous published one except that it normalized
19758-547: The mid-1960s. Gradually, the term has been re-appropriated to refer specifically to Standard Chinese. The term is mostly used in Singapore , Malaysia , Indonesia , and the Philippines . The Chinese language has had considerable dialectal variation throughout its history, including prestige dialects and linguae francae used throughout the territory controlled by the dynastic states of China. For example, Confucius
19936-403: The money supply by upholding the use of private coinage, while his aristocratic and technocratic successor Li Linfu ( d. 753 ) favoured government monopoly over the issuance of coinage. After 737, most of Xuanzong's confidence rested in his long-standing chancellor Li Linfu , who championed a more aggressive foreign policy employing non-Chinese generals. This policy ultimately created
20114-627: The name used in Taiwan . The forms of Standard Chinese used in China and Taiwan have diverged somewhat since the end of the Civil War, especially in newer vocabulary, and a little in pronunciation. In 1956, the PRC officially defined Standard Chinese as "the standard form of Modern Chinese with the Beijing phonological system as its norm of pronunciation, and Northern dialects as its base dialect, and looking to exemplary modern works in written vernacular Chinese for its grammatical norms." According to
20292-403: The neutral tone. It is common for Standard Chinese to be spoken with the speaker's regional accent, depending on factors such as age, level of education, and the need and frequency to speak in official or formal situations. Due to evolution and standardization, Mandarin, although based on the Beijing dialect, is no longer synonymous with it. Part of this was due to the standardization to reflect
20470-399: The new national language. The term Putonghua ( 普通话 ; 普通話 ; 'common tongue') dates back to 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate the standard vernacular Mandarin from Literary Chinese and other varieties of Chinese . Since 2000, the Chinese government has used the term "Countrywide common spoken and written language" ( 国家通用语言文字 ), while also making provisions for
20648-428: The northern part and central part of Peninsular Malaysia respectively. In some regions controlled by insurgent groups in northern Myanmar, Mandarin serves as the lingua franca. In both mainland China and Taiwan, Standard Chinese is taught by immersion starting in elementary school. After the second grade, the entire educational system is in Standard Chinese, except for local language classes that have been taught for
20826-545: The northwest military aristocracy prevalent during the Sui dynasty . According to official Tang records, they were paternally descended from Laozi , the traditional founder of Taoism (whose personal name was Li Dan or Li Er), the Han dynasty general Li Guang , and Li Gao , the founder of the Han-ruled Western Liang kingdom. This family was known as the Longxi Li lineage, which also included
21004-508: The official definition, Standard Chinese uses: Proficiency in the new standard was initially limited, even among Mandarin speakers, but increased over the following decades. A 2007 survey conducted by the Chinese Ministry of Education indicated that 53.06% of the population were able to effectively communicate using Standard Chinese. By 2020, this figure had risen to over 80%. In both mainland China and Taiwan, Standard Chinese
21182-491: The older generations, as Singapore's migrant Chinese community is made up almost entirely of people of south Chinese descent. Lee Kuan Yew , the initiator of the campaign, admitted that to most Chinese Singaporeans, Mandarin was a "stepmother tongue" rather than a true mother language. Nevertheless, he saw the need for a unified language among the Chinese community not biased in favor of any existing group. In Malaysia, Mandarin has been adopted by local Chinese-language schools as
21360-517: The original forms after her death. Arguably the most important part of her legacy was diminishing the hegemony of the Northwestern aristocracy, allowing people from other clans and regions of China to become more represented in Chinese politics and government. There were many prominent women at court during and after Wu's reign, including Shangguan Wan'er (664–710), a poet, writer, and trusted official in charge of Wu's private office. In 706,
21538-478: The palace with a few followers and slew Empress Wei and her faction. He then installed his father Emperor Ruizong ( r. 710–712 ) on the throne. Just as Emperor Zhongzong was dominated by Empress Wei, so too was Ruizong dominated by Princess Taiping . This ended when Princess Taiping's coup failed in 712, and Emperor Ruizong abdicated to Emperor Xuanzong . The Tang reached its height during Emperor Xuanzong's 44-year reign, which has been characterized as
21716-496: The popular pipa . Tang scholars compiled a rich variety of historical literature , as well as encyclopaedias and geographical works. Notable innovations included the development of woodblock printing . Buddhism became a major influence in Chinese culture, with native Chinese sects gaining prominence. However, in the 840s, Emperor Wuzong enacted policies to suppress Buddhism , which subsequently declined in influence. The House of Li had ethnic Han origins, and it belonged to
21894-417: The population was tallied at 9 million households, about 50 million people, and this number did not increase in the census of 742. Patricia Ebrey writes that nonwithstanding census undercounting, China's population had not grown significantly since the earlier Han dynasty , which recorded 58 million people in 2 AD. Adshead disagrees, estimating about 75 million people by 750. In
22072-462: The position of Taishang Huang ('retired emperor'), and acted as regent to the puppet child-emperor Yang You . On the news of Emperor Yang's murder by General Yuwen Huaji on June 18, 618, Li Yuan declared himself emperor of the newly founded Tang dynasty. Emperor Gaozu ruled until 626, when he was forcefully deposed by his son Li Shimin , the Prince of Qin. Li Shimin had commanded troops since
22250-491: The position of the Nanjing dialect was considered by some to be above that of Beijing; the postal romanization standards established in 1906 included spellings that reflected elements of Nanjing pronunciation. The sense of Guoyu as a specific language variety promoted for general use by the citizenry was originally borrowed from Japan; in 1902 the Japanese Diet had formed the National Language Research Council to standardize
22428-404: The practice of selling merchants the rights to buy monopoly salt, which they transported and sold in local markets. In 799, salt accounted for over half of the government's revenues. S. A. M. Adshead writes that this salt tax represents "the first time that an indirect tax, rather than tribute, levies on land or people, or profit from state enterprises such as mines, had been the primary resource of
22606-479: The primary spoken language, alongside a local form of Standard Chinese ( 書面語 ; syu1 min6 jyu5 ; 'written language') used in schools, local government, and formal writing. Written Cantonese may also be used in informal settings such as advertisements, magazines, popular literature, and comics. Mixture of formal and informal written Chinese occurs to various degrees. After the Hong Kong's handover from
22784-407: The prominence of civil officials drafted by exams, and became more autonomous from central authority. The rule of these powerful military governors lasted until 960, when a new civil order under the Song dynasty was established. The abandonment of the equal-field system also meant that people could buy and sell land freely; many poor fell into debt because of this and were forced to sell their land to
22962-400: The prominent Tang poet Li Bai . The Tang emperors were partially of Xianbei ancestry, as Emperor Gaozu of Tang 's mother Duchess Dugu was part-Xianbei. Apart from the traditional historiography, some modern historians have suggested the Tang imperial family might have modified its genealogy to conceal their Xianbei heritage. Emperor Gaozu (born Li Yuan) was the founder of the Tang. He
23140-509: The pronunciations for all characters into the pronunciation of the Beijing dialect. Elements from other dialects continue to exist in the standard language, but as exceptions rather than the rule. Following the end of the Chinese Civil War , the People's Republic of China (PRC) continued standardisation efforts on the mainland, and in 1955 officially began using Putonghua ( 普通话 ; 普通話 ; 'common speech') instead of Guoyu , which remains
23318-514: The rebellion, executed their leaders and granting Xianglin a two-year tax respite. In 136 and 144, Cham people again launched another two rebellions which provoked mutinies in the Imperial army from Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen, then rebellion in Jiaozhi. The governor of Jiaozhi, according to Kiernan, "lured them to surrender" with "enticing words." In 115, the Wuhu Li of Cangwu district revolted against
23496-479: The rebels, but they refused to leave until the Tang paid them an enormous sum of tribute in silk. Even Abbasid Arabs assisted the Tang in putting down the rebellion. A massacre of foreign Arab and Persian Muslim merchants by Tian Shengong happened during the An Lushan rebellion in the 760 Yangzhou massacre . The Tibetans took hold of the opportunity and raided many areas under Chinese control, and even after
23674-665: The regions upstream of the Black River and Ma River . Southwestern Guangxi was also part of Jiaozhi. The southwest area of present-day Ninh Bình was the border of Jiuzhen. Later, the Han dynasty created another commandery named Rinan ( Nhật Nam ) located south of Jiuzhen, stretching from the Ngang Pass to Quảng Nam Province . One of the Grand Administrators of Jiaozhi was Su Ding . In AD 39, two sisters Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị who were daughters of
23852-512: The release of enslaved Chinese prisoners who were captured during the transition from Sui to Tang from the northern frontier; this embassy succeeded in freeing 80,000 Chinese men and women who were then returned to China. While the Turks were settled in the Ordos region (former territory of the Xiongnu ), the Tang government took on the military policy of dominating the central steppe. As during
24030-820: The same time the Tang faced threats on its western border when a large Chinese army was defeated by the Tibetans on the Dafei River in 670. By 676, the Tang army was expelled out of Korea by a unified Silla . Following a revolt of the Eastern Turks in 679, the Tang abandoned its Korean campaigns. Although the Tang had fought the Japanese, they still held cordial relations with Japan. There were numerous Imperial embassies to China from Japan, diplomatic missions that were not halted until 894 by Emperor Uda ( r. 887–897 ), upon persuasion by Sugawara no Michizane (845–903). The Japanese Emperor Tenmu ( r. 672–686 ) even established his conscripted army on that of
24208-453: The second and the fourth Yanxi years in the reign of Emperor Huan [AD 159 and 161], and frequently since, [these] foreigners have arrived [by sea] at the frontiers of Rinan [Commandery in modern central Vietnam] to present offerings. The Book of Liang states: The merchants of this country [the Roman Empire] frequently visit Funan [in the Mekong delta], Rinan ( Annam ) and Jiaozhi [in
24386-521: The shift to a money economy boosted by the merchant class. Cities in the southern Jiangnan region such as Yangzhou , Suzhou , and Hangzhou prospered the most economically during the late Tang period. The government monopoly on salt production , weakened after the An Lushan rebellion, was placed under the Salt Commission , which became one of the most powerful state agencies, run by capable ministers chosen as specialists. The commission began
24564-494: The south, to a point north of Kashmir bordering Persia in the west, to northern Korea in the north-east. Some of the kingdoms paying tribute to the Tang dynasty included Kashmir , Nepal, Khotan , Kucha , Kashgar , Silla , Champa , and kingdoms located in Amu Darya and Syr Darya valley. Turkic nomads addressed the Tang emperor as Tian Kehan . After the widespread Göktürk revolt of Shabolüe Khan ( d. 658 )
24742-560: The steppe nomads. Chinese foreign policy to the north and west now had to deal with Turkic nomads, who were becoming the most dominant ethnic group in Central Asia. To handle and avoid any threats posed by the Turks, the Sui government repaired fortifications and received their trade and tribute missions. They sent four royal princesses to form heqin marriage alliances with Turkic clan leaders, in 597, 599, 614, and 617. The Sui stirred trouble and conflict among ethnic groups against
24920-522: The submission of the Nanyue commanders in Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen , confirming them in their posts and ushering in the " First Era of Northern Domination " in Vietnamese history . These commanderies were headed by grand administrators ( taishou ) who were later overseen by the inspectors ( 刺史 , cishi ) of Jiaozhou or "Jiaozhi Province" ( Giao Chỉ bộ ), the first of whom was Shi Dai . Under
25098-456: The tenth century, as a result of immigration from the south, i.e., modern north-central Vietnam . According to Han - Tang records, east of Jiaozhi and the coast of Guangdong , Guangxi was populated by Tai-Kadai speakers (whom Chinese contemporaries called Lǐ 俚 and Lǎo 獠). Catherine Churchman proposes that the Chinese character 獠 transliterated a native term and was shortened from older two-character combinations (which were used transcribe
25276-480: The term Hanyu is most commonly used in textbooks and Standard Chinese education, such as in the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) test. Until the mid-1960s, Huayu ( 华语 ; 華語 ) referred to all the language varieties used among the Chinese nation . For example, Cantonese , Mandarin , and Hokkien films produced in Hong Kong were imported into Malaysia and collectively known as " Huayu cinema" until
25454-447: The third tone is long and murmured , whereas the fourth tone is relatively short. Statistically, vowels and tones are of similar importance in the language. There are also weak syllables, including grammatical particles such as the interrogative ma ( 嗎 ; 吗 ) and certain syllables in polysyllabic words. These syllables are short, with their pitch determined by the preceding syllable. Such syllables are commonly described as being in
25632-701: The throne, he was deposed by Empress Wu in favour of his younger brother, Emperor Ruizong . This provoked a group of Tang princes to rebel in 684. Wu's armies suppressed them within two months. She proclaimed the Tianshou era of Wu Zhou on October 16, 690, and three days later demoted Emperor Ruizong to crown prince . He was also forced to give up his father's surname Li in favour of the Empress Wu. She then ruled as China's only empress regnant . A palace coup on February 20, 705, forced Empress Wu to yield her position on February 22. The next day, her son Zhongzong
25810-490: The two commanderies of Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen ( Vietnamese : Cửu Chân ; present-day Thanh Hóa , Nghệ An , and Hà Tĩnh ). Following a native coup that killed the Zhao king and his Chinese mother, the Han launched two invasions in 112 and 111 BC that razed the Nanyue capital at Panyu ( Guangzhou ). When Han dynasty conquered Nanyue in 111 BC, the Han court divided it into 9 commanderies, one commandery called Jiaozhi
25988-606: The uprising of the Trưng Sisters in AD 44. Ma Yuan followed his conquest with a brutal course of assimilation, destroying the natives' bronze drums in order to build the column, on which the inscription "If this bronze column collapses, Jiaozhi will be destroyed" was carved, at the edge of the Chinese empire. Following the defeat of Trưng sisters, thousands of Chinese immigrants (mostly soldiers) arrived and settled in Jiaozhi, adopted surname Ma, and married with local Lac Viet girls, began
26166-437: The use and protection of ethnic minority languages. The term is derived from the title of a 2000 law which defines Putonghua as the "Countrywide Common Spoken and Written Language". Use of the term Putonghua ('common tongue') deliberately avoids calling the dialect a 'national language', in order to mitigate the impression of coercing minority groups to adopt the language of the majority. Such concerns were first raised by
26344-559: The use of Putonghua on television and the radio, as well as on public buses. The standardization campaign has been challenged by local dialectical and ethnic populations, who fear the loss of their cultural identity and native dialect. In the summer of 2010, reports of a planned increase in the use of the Putonghua on local television in Guangdong led to demonstrations on the streets by thousands of Cantonese -speaking citizens. While
26522-450: The use of Standard Chinese is encouraged as the common working language in predominantly Han areas on the mainland, the PRC has been more sensitive to the status of non-Sinitic minority languages, and has generally not discouraged their social use outside of education. In Hong Kong and Macau , which are special administrative regions of the PRC, there is diglossia between Cantonese ( 口語 ; hau2 jyu5 ; 'spoken language') as
26700-607: The various regions of the empire, it was recorded in 845 that bandits and river pirates in parties of 100 or more began plundering settlements along the Yangtze River with little resistance. In 858, massive floods along the Grand Canal inundated vast tracts of land and terrain of the North China Plain , which drowned tens of thousands of people in the process. The Chinese belief in the Mandate of Heaven granted to
26878-417: The way for the later overthrow of the Tang. Large groups of bandits in the size of small armies ravaged the countryside in the last years of the Tang. They smuggled illicit salt, ambushed merchants and convoys, and even besieged several walled cities. Amid the sacking of cities and murderous factional strife among eunuchs and officials, the top tier of aristocratic families, which had amassed a large fraction of
27056-488: The wealthy, which led to the exponential growth of large estates. With the breakdown of the land allocation system after 755, the central Chinese state barely interfered in agricultural management and acted merely as tax collector for roughly a millennium, save a few instances such as the Song's failed land nationalisation during the 13th-century war with the Mongols . With the central government collapsing in authority over
27234-475: The wife of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, Empress Wei ( d. 710 ), persuaded her husband to staff government offices with his sister and her daughters, and in 709 requested that he grant women the right to bequeath hereditary privileges to their sons (which before was a male right only). Empress Wei eventually poisoned Zhongzong, whereupon she placed his fifteen-year-old son upon the throne in 710. Two weeks later, Li Longji (the later Emperor Xuanzong) entered
27412-445: Was a brief end to the hereditary jiedushi , as Xianzong appointed his own military officers and staffed the regional bureaucracies once again with civil officials. However, Xianzong's successors proved less capable and more interested in the leisure of hunting, feasting, and playing outdoor sports, allowing eunuchs to amass more power as drafted scholar-officials caused strife in the bureaucracy with factional parties. The eunuchs' power
27590-798: Was a fairly stable group of people in Jiaozhi throughout the Han–Tang period who spoke Austroasiatic languages ancestral to modern Vietnamese." Jiaozhi, pronounced Kuchi in the Malay , became the Cochin-China of the Portuguese traders c. 1516 , who so named it to distinguish it from the city and the Kingdom of Cochin in India, their first headquarters in the Malabar Coast . It
27768-570: Was aided by the fiscal reforms of the 780s, including a government monopoly on the salt industry. He also had an effective and well-trained imperial army stationed at the capital led by his court eunuchs; this was the Army of Divine Strategy, numbering 240,000 in strength as recorded in 798. Between 806 and 819, Emperor Xianzong conducted seven major military campaigns to quell the rebellious provinces that had claimed autonomy from central authority, managing to subdue all but two of them. Under his reign, there
27946-517: Was almost totally diminished by 626, along with the 628 defeat of the Ordos warlord Liang Shidu ; after these internal conflicts, the Tang began an offensive against the Turks. In 630, Tang armies captured areas of the Ordos Desert, modern-day Inner Mongolia province, and southern Mongolia from the Turks. After this military victory, On June 11, 631, Emperor Taizong also sent envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to persuade
28124-483: Was also filled with incredible amounts of riches and resources to spare. When the Chinese prefectural government officials travelled to the capital in 643 to give the annual report of the affairs in their districts, Emperor Taizong discovered that many had no proper quarters to rest in and were renting rooms with merchants. Therefore, Emperor Taizong ordered the government agencies in charge of municipal construction to build every visiting official his own private mansion in
28302-447: Was also kept, although there were a few modifications. Although the central and local governments kept an enormous number of records about land property in order to assess taxes, it became common practice in the Tang for literate and affluent people to create their own private documents and signed contracts. These had their own signature and that of a witness and scribe in order to prove in court (if necessary) that their claim to property
28480-650: Was designed to draw the best talent into government. But perhaps an even greater consideration for the Tang rulers was to avoid imperial dependence on powerful aristocratic families and warlords by recruiting a body of career officials having no family or local power base. The Tang law code ensured equal division of inherited property among legitimate heirs, encouraging social mobility by preventing powerful families from becoming landed nobility through primogeniture . The competition system proved successful, as scholar-officials acquired status in their local communities while developing an esprit de corps that connected them to
28658-545: Was different when a servant or nephew killed a master or an uncle than when a master or uncle killed a servant or nephew. The Tang Code was largely retained by later codes such as the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644) code of 1397, yet there were several revisions in later times, such as improved property rights for women during the Song dynasty (960–1279). The Tang had three departments ( 省 ; shěng ), which were obliged to draft, review, and implement policies respectively. There were also six ministries ( 部 ; bù ) under
28836-595: Was ended when Zhu deposed Ai and took the throne for himself (known posthumously as Emperor Taizu of Later Liang). He established the Later Liang , which inaugurated the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period . A year later, Zhu had the deposed Emperor Ai poisoned to death. Zhu Wen's enemy Li Keyong died in 908, having never claimed the title of emperor out of loyalty to the Tang. His son Li Cunxu (Emperor Zhuangzong) inherited his title Prince of Jin along with his father's rivalry against Zhu. In 923, Li Cunxu declared
29014-421: Was established in 653; it was divided into 500 articles specifying different crimes and penalties ranging from ten blows with a light stick, one hundred blows with a heavy rod, exile, penal servitude, or execution. The legal code distinguished different levels of severity in meted punishments when different members of the social and political hierarchy committed the same crime. For example, the severity of punishment
29192-651: Was highly favorable to trade. Well connected to central China via the Ling Canal , it formed the nearest connection between the Han court and the Maritime Silk Road . By the end of the second century AD, Buddhism (brought from India via sea by Indian Buddhists centuries earlier) had become the most common religion of Jiaozhi. During the Three Kingdoms period , Jiaozhi was administered from Longbian ( Long Biên ) by Shi Xie on behalf of
29370-492: Was initially used during the late Qing dynasty to refer to the Manchu language . The 1655 Memoir of Qing Dynasty , Volume: Emperor Nurhaci ( 清太祖實錄 ) says: "(In 1631) as Manchu ministers do not comprehend the Han language, each ministry shall create a new position to be filled up by Han official who can comprehend the national language." However, the sense of Guoyu as a specific language variety promoted for general use by
29548-470: Was killed by his own son in 763. After 710, regional military governors called jiedushi gradually came to challenge the power of the central government. After the An Lushan rebellion, the autonomous power and authority accumulated by the jiedushi in Hebei went beyond the central government's control. After a series of rebellions between 781 and 784 in present-day Hebei, Henan , Shandong , and Hubei,
29726-400: Was killed. The Han general of Jiuzhen, Wei Lang, gathered an army and defeated Chu Đạt, beheading 2,000 rebels. In 159 and 161, Indian merchants arrived Jiaozhi and paid tributes to the Han government. In 166, a Roman trade mission arrived Jiaozhi, bringing tributes to the Han, which "were likely bought from local markets" of Rinan and Jiaozhi. In 178, Wuhu people under Liang Long sparked
29904-491: Was legitimate. The prototype of this actually existed since the ancient Han dynasty, while contractual language became even more common and embedded into Chinese literary culture in later dynasties. The centre of the political power of the Tang was the capital city of Chang'an (modern Xi'an ), where the emperor maintained his large palace quarters and entertained political emissaries with music, sports, acrobats, poetry, paintings, and dramatic theatre performances . The capital
30082-465: Was made a jiedushi , and later Prince of Jin , bestowed with the imperial surname Li by the Tang court. Zhu Wen, originally a salt smuggler who served as a lieutenant under the rebel Huang Chao, surrendered to Tang forces. By helping to defeat Huang, he was renamed Zhu Quanzhong ("Zhu of Perfect Loyalty") and granted a rapid series of promotions to military governor of Xuanwu Circuit. In 901, from his power base of Kaifeng , Zhu Wen seized control of
30260-719: Was not challenged following the Ganlu Incident , where Emperor Wenzong ( r. 826–840 ) failed in his plot to have them overthrown; instead, Wenzong's allies were publicly executed in Chang'an's West Market on the eunuchs' command. Decades after the An Lushan rebellion, the Tang was able to muster enough power to launch offensive military campaigns, including its destruction of the Uyghur Khaganate in Mongolia from 840 to 847. The Tang managed to restore indirect control over former territories as far west as
30438-572: Was previously Duke of Tang and governor of Taiyuan , the capital of modern Shanxi , during the collapse of the Sui dynasty (581–618). Li had prestige and military experience, and was a first cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui (their mothers were both one of the Dugu sisters ). Li Yuan rose in rebellion in 617, along with his son and his equally militant daughter Princess Pingyang ( d. 623 ), who raised and commanded her own troops. In winter 617, Li Yuan occupied Chang'an , relegated Emperor Yang to
30616-401: Was proposed by Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877 to have been the port known to the geographer Ptolemy and the Romans as Kattigara , situated near modern Hanoi . Richthofen's view was widely accepted until archaeology at Óc Eo in the Mekong Delta suggested that site may have been its location. Kattigara seems to have been the main port of call for ships traveling to China from the West in
30794-462: Was put down at Issyk Kul in 657 by Su Dingfang (591–667), Emperor Gaozong established several protectorates governed by a Protectorate General or Grand Protectorate General, which extended the Chinese sphere of influence as far as Herat in Western Afghanistan. Protectorate Generals were given a great deal of autonomy to handle local crises without waiting for central admission. After Xuanzong's reign, jiedushi were given enormous power, including
30972-611: Was recovered along with 40 ancient artifacts including seven Heger type I drums . At Óc Eo, then part of the Kingdom of Funan near Jiaozhi, Roman golden medallions made during the reign of Antoninus Pius and his successor Marcus Aurelius have been found. This may have been the port city of Kattigara described by Ptolemy , laying beyond the Golden Chersonese (i.e. Malay Peninsula ). Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ( simplified Chinese : 现代标准汉语 ; traditional Chinese : 現代標準漢語 ; pinyin : Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ ; lit. 'modern standard Han speech')
31150-423: Was restored to power; the Tang was formally restored on March 3. She died soon after. To legitimise her rule, she circulated a document known as the Great Cloud Sutra , which predicted that a reincarnation of the Maitreya Buddha would be a female monarch who would dispel illness, worry, and disaster from the world. She even introduced numerous revised written characters for the language, though they reverted to
31328-405: Was seldom used by the Chinese Singaporean community , which primarily spoke the Southern Chinese languages of Hokkien , Teochew , Cantonese, or Hakka . Standard Singaporean Mandarin is nearly identical to the standards of China and Taiwan, with minor vocabulary differences. It is the Mandarin variant used in education, media, and official settings. Meanwhile, a colloquial form called Singdarin
31506-475: Was subsequently called " Cochinchina ". Numerous Chinese sources, dated to the Spring & Autumn and Warring States periods, mentioned a place called Jiao(zhi) to the south of Ancient China . Book of Rites is the earliest extant source to associate the name Jiaozhi with the Nanman . However, Vietnamese historian Đào Duy Anh locates Jiaozhi (which was mentioned in ancient texts) only south of Mount Heng (衡山) (aka 霍山 Mount Huo or 天柱山 Mount Tianzhu ), within
31684-485: Was the center of Han administration and government for all 9 areas. Because of this, the entire areas of 9 commanderies was sometime called Jiaozhi. From Han to Tang, the names Jiaozhi and Jiao county at least was used for a part of the Han-era Jiaozhi. In 670, Jiaozhi was absorbed into a larger administrative called Annan (Pacified South). After this, the name Jiaozhi was applied for the Red River Delta and most or all of northern Vietnam (Tonkin). The Han dynasty received
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