Ha Tien Middle School held a Mandarin competition. The so-called Mandarin is the official language of the Chinese Empire.

China has a vast territory and rich resources, and has many dialects. Since ancient times, the Central Plains dynasties have focused on unifying the official language to achieve nationwide, barrier-free communication.

As early as the Han Dynasty, the imperial court standardized the standard language, which was called "Zhengyin", "Yayan" and "Tongyu". This standard language was based on the "Luo language", which was inherited from the pre-Qin period. The elegance of the times.

The Western Jin Dynasty also used Luo dialect as its official dialect. After the Yongjia Rebellion, Luoyang fell, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty moved its capital to Jiankang (Nanjing). Luoyang Yayin was combined with the medieval Wu dialect to form Jinling Yayin, also known as Wu Yin, which was followed by the Southern Dynasties.

After the Sui Dynasty unified China, they compiled "Qie Yun", using Jinling Yayin and Luoyang Yayin as the basic pronunciation, and the official pronunciation of the Southern and Northern Dynasties merged to form the Chang'an official pronunciation (Qin pronunciation).

In the Tang Dynasty, on the basis of "Qie Yun", "Tang Yun" was formulated as the standard pronunciation of the Tang Dynasty, which stipulated that officials and imperial examinations must use Tang Yun. Tang Yun used Luoyang Dudu pronunciation as the standard pronunciation, which was the standard pronunciation of Luoyang Imperial College at that time. Standard reading pronunciation used in teaching.

The Mandarin of the Song Dynasty was called "Zhengyin" and "Yayin", and the Luoyang reading pronunciation was still used as the standard.

The Yuan Dynasty had the largest territory and the largest number of ethnic groups in history. Since the Han people had the largest population and the most developed culture, the Yuan Dynasty designated Chinese as the common language in the region, known as the "universal language of the world."

The standard Chinese pronunciation of the Yuan Dynasty was still the Central Plains Bianluo pronunciation that had dominated since the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Taizu of the Ming Dynasty came from Jianghuai and made Nanjing his capital. He believed that the Yayin of the Central Plains was the orthodox Chinese language. The "yin of the Central Plains" in the Jianghuai area was relatively pure. Therefore, the Mandarin of the Ming Dynasty was based on Nanjing dialect, and the Nanjing pronunciation was the Ming Dynasty. Standard Chinese pronunciation.

Nanjing pronunciation has a great influence. For a long time, Nanjing pronunciation has been highly praised for its elegance, smoothness, and cadence. From the early Ming Dynasty to the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, Nanjing pronunciation was the Chinese Mandarin.

At that time, China had a strong national power and developed culture, and Chinese became the official language of various East Asian countries. Nanjing's pronunciation also traveled across the ocean and entered neighboring countries such as North Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

To this day, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese are all mixed with a large number of Chinese characters, and their pronunciation is also mixed with a large number of Nanjing pronunciation.

The Mandarin of the above dynasties can all be called ancient Chinese. Ancient Chinese is far more complex than today's Mandarin, with more tones and features such as rhymes.

Modern Hokkien, Cantonese, and Hakka still retain a large number of pronunciations of ancient Chinese. So far, Hokkien has seven tones, Cantonese has nine tones, and six consonant endings.

Modern Mandarin has long lost the ryu sound, while Hokkien, Cantonese, and Hakka still retain the ryu sound. The nyu sound in Japanese actually comes from the ryu sound in ancient Chinese.

Ancient Chinese pronunciation is complex and difficult to learn, which is actually not conducive to popularization.

For example, both the Ming and Qing dynasties implemented a system of official recusal. The Ming Dynasty had stricter regulations, and implemented the official appointment regulations of southerners serving as northern officials, and northerners serving as southern officials, that is, southerners served as officials in the north, and northerners went to the south.

Because Nanjing pronunciation is complicated and difficult to learn, it is actually only popular in officialdom and upper class society, and ordinary people cannot learn it at all.

At that time, local officials reviewed cases and handled disputes among the people. They simply could not understand the local dialect. Whenever there was a lawsuit, they had to arrange for subordinate officials to translate from it. This provided an opportunity for subordinate officials to control the local area and deceive the superiors and conceal the inferiors. .

During the Yuan Dynasty and the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, foreign races ruled China. The Mongols and Manchus could not learn such a complicated language. In fact, since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Chinese pronunciation has been developing towards simplification.

During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng was very hands-on and could not tolerate the dialects of Guangdong and Fujian people. In the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728), Emperor Yongzheng issued a famous imperial edict, saying:

"Many people in Fujian and Guangdong are not proficient in Mandarin, so they are taught by local officials. Court officials have a limit of eight years to appoint people, give birth to members, pay tribute, and supervise students who are not proficient in Mandarin. They are not allowed to take the exam."

At the same time, Emperor Yongzheng also set up the "Zhengyin Pavilion". In the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign in the Qing Dynasty, Nanjing Mandarin was officially abandoned and Beijing Mandarin was used as the standard pronunciation.

The Mandarin Mandarin in Beijing is very close to the contemporary Mandarin. Beijing Mandarin only has four tones, and the pronunciation is not as rich as Nanjing Mandarin. Therefore, the Chinese in Beijing Mandarin has more homophones and the pronunciation is not rhythmic enough.

However, Beijing Mandarin is simple and easy to learn and has a wider audience. Compared with Nanjing pronunciation during the Ming Dynasty, Beijing Mandarin has a wider popularity.

Beijing Mandarin has been in circulation for more than a hundred years and has long been accepted by the Chinese people. Therefore, when Yang Xuanjian proclaimed himself emperor, he had no north-south bias and decided to use Beijing Mandarin as the imperial standard pronunciation and call it "Guoyu".

Compared with the beauty of Chinese pronunciation, Yang Xuan values ​​​​the practicality and versatility of Chinese more. In his view, Chinese serves all Chinese people, not just scholars and officials.

As early as three years ago, Yang Xuan promoted simplified Chinese characters and Roman pinyin in the Lingnan area. Simplified Chinese characters and Roman pinyin are not only powerful tools for eradicating illiteracy, but also important tools for popularizing Mandarin.

Even in remote areas like Ha Tien Province, simplified Chinese characters and Roman pinyin must be vigorously promoted to popularize Mandarin. The prefect, Mo Wen Yuan, has always attached great importance to education and has been very diligent in implementing educational policies.

It happened that Ha Tien Middle School was going to hold a Mandarin recitation competition, so Mo Wen Yuan invited Hu Xueyan and Counselor Guo to the middle school to show the two guests the level of popularization of education in Ha Tien.

At the beginning of the competition, Mo Wenyuan introduced: "Ha Tien House is located at the estuary of Hau River and is the center of maritime trade in the Gulf of Siam. Since our ancestor Jiu Gong established Ha Tien, there have been Chinese, Malays, and Cambodians.

Siamese and other ethnic groups came to vote.

"Today's Ha Tien has a population of more than 400,000, of which nearly half are Chinese, and the rest are mostly Malays and Cambodians. Since ancient times, we in Ha Tien have used Cantonese Hakka as the official language and written official documents in Chinese characters. In recent years,

We also began to promote simplified Chinese characters and Roman pinyin, and advocated the use of Mandarin.

"I am also working hard to learn Mandarin. However, I am not talented. I learn too slowly and my accent is very strong."

Counselor Guo and Hu Xueyan looked at each other and smiled. Both of them were considered to be the upper class of the empire, and they also needed to learn Mandarin to communicate with others.

Fortunately for Hu Xueyan, he went to a private school when he was a child and learned Beijing Mandarin. He does business everywhere, so being able to speak Mandarin is indispensable.

However, even so, Hu Xueyan's Mandarin also has a strong southern accent. This is also one of the characteristics of Mandarin. When northerners speak Mandarin, their pronunciation is relatively standard. When southerners speak Mandarin, they always have some accent.

Counselor Guo is from Mingxiang, Jiaozhi, and he also speaks Cantonese Hakka. In the past few years, he has also been working hard to learn Mandarin. Although his Mandarin is still very poor, he can finally communicate with Hu Xueyan, Mo Wenyuan and others without having to

Use outside translation.

Counselor Guo sighed: "The empire is vast and the accents are different in different places. The three of us have different hometowns and are thousands of miles apart, but we can communicate without hindrance. The Chinese language is indispensable. We also want to set up provinces in Cambodia and Laos.

If we don’t vigorously promote the national language, how can we assimilate these foreign races?”

Hu Xueyan and Min Wenyuan both nodded in praise.

There were more than a dozen contestants participating in the Mandarin recitation competition of Ha Tien Middle School. There were representatives from all grades, including people from Minh Xiang, Chinese immigrants, Cochins, Malays, and Cambodians.

This Mandarin recital competition is based on the theme of patriotism and loyalty to the emperor. The contestants recited content such as Du Fu's "Spring Hope", Lu You's "The Show", Wen Tianxiang's "Crossing the Lingding Ocean", and Su Shi's "Jiangchengzi·Hunting in Mizhou"

…

There was a son of a Chinese immigrant who was creative and recited an article "On the Patriotic Health Campaign" published by Yang Xuan in the People's Daily. What was surprising was that he was able to recite the original text of the article without any pause or stuttering.

It's also quite standard.
Chapter completed!