Classical Chinese

This article is about a written language. For the canon of literature written in it, see Chinese classics. For the spoken language contemporaneous with its emergence, see Old Chinese. For the set of modern character forms, see Traditional Chinese characters.

"Wenyan" and "Wen Yan" redirect here. For the Tang dynasty Buddhist master, see Yunmen Wenyan. For the film director, see Vivian Qu.

Classical Chinese
Literary Chinese
文言
Region	The Sinosphere: China Japan Ryukyu Islands Korea Vietnam
Era	Originally written c. 5th century BCE – c. 2nd century CE Widely used as a literary language until the 20th century
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Classical Chinese
Writing system	Chinese characters
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lzh
Glottolog	lite1248
Linguasphere	79-AAA-aa

Classical Chinese
Chinese name
Chinese	文言
Literal meaning	literary language
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin wényán Bopomofo ㄨㄣˊ ㄧㄢˊ Gwoyeu Romatzyh wenyan Wade–Giles wen2-yen2 Tongyong Pinyin wúnyán IPA [wə̌n.jɛ̌n] Wu Romanization ven去 ghe Gan Romanization mun4-ngien4 Hakka Pha̍k-fa-sṳ vùn-ngièn Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization màhnyìhn Jyutping man4 jin4 IPA [mɐn˩.jin˩] Southern Min Hokkien POJ bûn-giân Eastern Min Fuzhou BUC ùng-ngiòng Middle Chinese Middle Chinese mjun ngjon Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *mən ŋan
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	古文
Literal meaning	ancient writing
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin gǔwén Bopomofo ㄍㄨˇ ㄨㄣˊ Gwoyeu Romatzyh guuwen Wade–Giles ku3-wên2 Tongyong Pinyin gǔwún IPA [kù.wə̌n] Wu Romanization ku去 ven去 Gan Romanization gu3-mun4 Hakka Pha̍k-fa-sṳ kú-vùn Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization gúmàhn Jyutping gu2 man4 IPA [ku˧˥.mɐn˩] Southern Min Hokkien POJ kó͘-bûn Eastern Min Fuzhou BUC gū-ùng Middle Chinese Middle Chinese kuX mjun Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *kˤaʔ mən
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	Hán văn cổ văn văn ngôn
Chữ Hán	漢文 古文 文言
Korean name
Hangul	한문
Hanja	漢文
Transcriptions Revised Romanization hanmun
Japanese name
Kanji	漢文
Transcriptions Romanization kanbun

Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from c. the 5th century BCE. For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary Chinese, which was used for almost all formal writing in China until the early 20th century. Each written character corresponds to a single spoken syllable, and almost always to a single independent word. As a result, the characteristic style of the language is comparatively terse.

Starting in the 2nd century CE, use of Literary Chinese spread to the countries surrounding China, including Vietnam, Korea, Japan, and the Ryukyu Islands, where it represented the only known form of writing. Literary Chinese was adopted as the language of civil administration in these countries, creating what is known as the Sinosphere. Each additionally developed systems of readings and annotations that enabled non-Chinese speakers to interpret Literary Chinese texts in terms of the local vernacular.

While not static throughout its history, its evolution has traditionally been guided by a conservative impulse: many later changes in the varieties of Chinese are not reflected in the literary form. Due to millennia of this evolution, Literary Chinese is only partially intelligible when read or spoken aloud for someone only familiar with modern vernacular forms. Literary Chinese has largely been replaced by written vernacular Chinese among Chinese speakers; speakers of non-Chinese languages have similarly abandoned Literary Chinese in favour of their own local vernaculars. Although varieties of Chinese have diverged in various directions from the Old Chinese words in the Classical lexicon, many cognates can still be found.

Definition

The Classic of Poetry, a collection of 305 literary works authored between the 11th and 7th centuries BCE in what is generally termed "pre-Classical Chinese"

There is no universal agreement on the definition of "Classical Chinese". At its core, the term refers to the language used by the classics of Chinese literature roughly from the 5th century BCE to the end of the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE). The form of Chinese used in works written before the 4th century BCE, like the Five Classics, is distinct from that found in later works. The term "pre-Classical Chinese" is used to distinguish this earlier form from Classical Chinese proper, as it did not inspire later imitation to a comparable degree despite the works' equal importance in the canon.

After the Han dynasty, the divergence of spoken language from the literary form became increasingly apparent. The term "Literary Chinese" has been coined to refer to the later forms of written Chinese in conscious imitation of the classics, with sinologists generally emphasizing distinctions such as the gradual addition of new vocabulary and the erosion of certain points of Classical grammar as their functions were forgotten. Literary Chinese was used in almost all formal and personal writing in China from the end of the Han dynasty until the early 20th century, when it was largely replaced by written vernacular Chinese. A distinct, narrower definition of the Classical period begins with the life of Confucius (551–479 BCE) and ends with the founding of the Qin dynasty in 221 BCE.

Function

Further information: Adoption of Chinese literary culture

The adoption of Chinese literary culture in the Sinosphere amid the existence of various regional vernaculars is an example of diglossia. The coexistence of Literary Chinese and native languages throughout China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam can be compared to the historical literary use of Latin in Europe, that of Arabic in Persia, or that of Sanskrit in South and Southeast Asia. However, unlike these examples, written Chinese uses a logography of Chinese characters that are not directly tied to their pronunciation. This lack of a fixed correspondence between writing and reading created a situation where later readings of Classical Chinese texts were able to diverge much further from their originals than occurred in the other literary traditions, adding a unique dimension to the study of Literary Chinese.

Literary Chinese was adopted in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature states that this adoption came mainly from diplomatic and cultural ties with China, while conquest, colonization, and migration played smaller roles. Unlike Latin and Sanskrit, historical Chinese language theory consisted almost exclusively of lexicography, as opposed to the study of grammar and syntax. Such approaches largely arrived with Europeans beginning in the 17th century. Christian missionaries later coined the term 文理 (wénlǐ; 'principles of literature', 'bookish language') to describe Classical Chinese; this term never became widely used among domestic speakers.

Transmission of texts

According to the traditional "burning of books and burying of scholars" account, in 213 BCE Qin Shi Huang ordered the historical records of all non-Qin states to be burned, along with any literature associated with the Hundred Schools of Thought. The imperial library was destroyed upon the dynasty's collapse in 206 BCE, resulting in a potentially greater loss. Even works from the Classical period that have survived are not known to exist in their original forms, and are attested only in manuscripts copied centuries after their original composition. The "Yiwenzhi" section of the Book of Han (111 CE) is the oldest extant bibliography of Classical Chinese, compiled c. 90 CE; only 6% of its 653 listed works are known to exist in a complete form, with another 6% existing only in fragments.

Grammar and lexicon

Main article: Classical Chinese grammar

Compared to written vernacular Chinese, Classical Chinese is terse and compact in its style, and uses some different vocabulary. Classical Chinese rarely uses words two or more characters in length.

Classical Chinese can be described as a pro-drop language: its syntax often allows either subjects or objects to be dropped when their reference is understood. Additionally, words are generally not restricted to use as certain parts of speech: many characters may function as either a noun, verb, or adjective. There is no general copula in Classical Chinese akin to how 是 (shì) is used in modern Standard Chinese. Characters that can sometimes function as a copula in specific circumstances include 為 (wéi; 'make', 'do') when indicating temporary circumstances, and 曰 (yuē; 'say') when used in the sense of 'to be called'.

Classical Chinese has more pronouns compared to the modern vernacular. In particular, whereas modern Standard Chinese has one character generally used as a first-person pronoun, Classical Chinese has several—many of which are used as part of a system of honorifics. Many final and interrogative particles are found in Classical Chinese.

Beyond differences in grammar and vocabulary, Classical Chinese can be distinguished by its literary qualities: an effort to maintain parallelism and rhythm is typical, even in prose works. Works also make extensive use of literary techniques such as allusion, which contributes to the language's brevity.

Modern use

A Literary Chinese letter written in 1266, addressed to the "King of Japan" (日本國王) on behalf of Kublai Khan, prior to the Mongol invasions of Japan. Annotations explaining points of grammar have been added to the text, intended to aid Japanese-speaking readers.

Prior to the literary revolution in China that began with the 1919 May Fourth Movement, prominent examples of vernacular Chinese literature include the 18th-century novel Dream of the Red Chamber. Most government documents in the Republic of China were written in Literary Chinese until reforms spearheaded by President Yen Chia-kan in the 1970s to shift to written vernacular Chinese. However, most of the laws of Taiwan are still written in a subset of Literary Chinese. As a result, it is necessary for modern Taiwanese lawyers to learn at least a subset of the literary language.

Many works of literature in Classical and Literary Chinese have been highly influential in Chinese culture, such as the canon of Tang poetry. However, even with knowledge of its grammar and vocabulary, works in Literary Chinese can be difficult for native vernacular speakers to understand, due to its frequent allusions and references to other historical literature, as well as the extremely laconic style. Presently, pure Literary Chinese is occasionally used in formal or ceremonial contexts. For example, the National Anthem of the Republic of China is in Literary Chinese. Buddhist texts in Literary Chinese are still preserved from the time they were composed or translated from Sanskrit. In practice there is a socially accepted continuum between vernacular and Literary Chinese. For example, most official notices and formal letters use stock literary expressions within vernacular prose.

Personal use of Classical phrases depends on factors such as the subject matter and the level of education of the writer. Excepting professional scholars and enthusiasts, most modern writers cannot easily write in Literary Chinese. Even so, most Chinese people with at least a middle school education are able to read basic Literary Chinese, because this ability is part of the Chinese middle school and high school curricula, and is a component of the college entrance examination. Literary Chinese in the school curriculum is taught primarily by presenting a literary work and including a vernacular gloss that explains the meaning of phrases. The examinations usually require the student to read a paragraph in Literary Chinese and then explain its meaning in the vernacular.

Contemporary use of Literary Chinese in Japan is mainly in the field of education and the study of literature. Learning kanbun, the Japanese readings of Literary Chinese, is part of the high school curriculum in Japan. Japan is the only country that maintains the tradition of creating Literary Chinese poetry based on Tang-era tone patterns.

Phonology

Further information: Old Chinese phonology and Middle Chinese

Chinese characters are not phonetic and rarely reflect later sound changes in words. Efforts to reconstruct Old Chinese pronunciation began relatively recently. Literary Chinese is not read with a reconstructed Old Chinese pronunciation; instead, it is read with the pronunciations as categorized and listed in a rime dictionary originally based upon the Middle Chinese pronunciation in Luoyang between the 2nd and 4th centuries. Over time, each dynasty updated and modified the official rime dictionary: by the time of the Yuan and Ming dynasties, its phonology reflected that of early Mandarin. As the imperial examination system required the candidate to compose poetry in the shi genre, pronunciation in non-Mandarin speaking parts of China such as Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian is either based on everyday speech, such as in Standard Cantonese, or is based on a special set of pronunciations borrowed from Classical Chinese, such as in Southern Min. In practice, all varieties of Chinese combine the two extremes of pronunciation: that according to a prescribed system, versus that based on everyday speech. Mandarin and Cantonese, for example, also have words that are pronounced one way in colloquial usage and another way when used in Literary Chinese or in specialized terms coming from Literary Chinese, though the system is not as extensive as that of Min or Wu.

Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese readers of Literary Chinese each use distinct systems of pronunciation specific to their own languages. Japanese speakers have readings of Chinese origin called on'yomi for many words, such as for "ginko" (銀行) or "Tokyo" (東京), but use kun'yomi when the kanji represents a native word such as the reading of 行 in 行く (iku) or the reading of both characters in "Osaka" (大阪), as well as a system that aids Japanese speakers with a Classical word order.

As pronunciation in modern varieties is different from Old Chinese as well as other historical forms such as Middle Chinese, characters that once rhymed may not any longer, or vice versa. Poetry and other rhyme-based writing thus becomes less coherent than the original reading must have been. However, some modern Chinese varieties have certain phonological characteristics that are closer to the older pronunciations than others, as shown by the preservation of certain rhyme structures.

Another particular characteristic of Literary Chinese is its present homophony. Reading Classical texts with character pronunciations from modern languages results in many homophonous characters that originally had distinct Old Chinese pronunciations, but have since merged to varying degrees. This phenomenon is far more common in Chinese languages than in English: for example, each of the following words had a distinct Old Chinese pronunciation, but are now perfectly homophones with a pronunciation of yì [î] in Standard Chinese:

*ŋjajs	議; 'discuss'	*ŋjət	仡; 'powerful'
*ʔjup	邑; 'city'	*ʔjək	億; '100 million'
*ʔjəks	意; 'thought'	*ʔjek	益; 'increase'
*ʔjik	抑; 'press down'	*jak	弈; 'Go'
*ljit	逸; 'flee'	*ljək	翼; 'wing'
*ljek	易; 'change'	*ljeks	易; 'easy'
*slek	蜴; 'lizard'.

The poem Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den was composed during the 1930s by the linguist Yuen Ren Chao to demonstrate this: it contains only words pronounced shi [ʂɻ̩] with various tones in modern Standard Chinese. The poem underlines how language had become impractical for modern speakers: when spoken aloud, Literary Chinese is largely incomprehensible. However, the poem is perfectly comprehensible when read, and also uses homophones that were present even in Old Chinese.

Romanizations have been devised to provide distinct spellings for Literary Chinese words, together with pronunciation rules for various modern varieties. The earliest was the Romanisation Interdialectique by French missionaries Henri Lamasse of the Paris Foreign Missions Society and Ernest Jasmin, based on Middle Chinese, followed by linguist Wang Li's Wényán luómǎzì based on Old Chinese in 1940, and then by Chao's General Chinese romanization in 1975. However, none of these systems have seen extensive use.

See also

• Classical Chinese poetry
• Gugyeol
• Sino-Xenic vocabulary
  • Sino-Japanese vocabulary
  • Sino-Korean vocabulary
  • Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary
• Brushtalk

References

Works cited

• Barnes, A. C.; Starr, Don; Ormerod, Graham (2009). Du's Handbook of Classical Chinese Grammar. York: Alcuin. ISBN 978-1-904623-74-8.
• Baxter, William H. (1992). A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-012324-1.
• ———; Sagart, Laurent (2014). Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-994537-5.
• Brandt, J. J. (1936). Introduction to Literary Chinese (2nd ed.). H. Vetch – via Google Books.
• ——— (1973). Wenli Particles. Vetch and Lee – via Google Books.
• Branner, David Prager (2006). "Some composite phonological systems in Chinese". In Branner, David Prager (ed.). The Chinese Rime Tables: Linguistic Philosophy and Historical-Comparative Phonology. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory. Vol. 271. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 209–232. ISBN 978-90-272-4785-8.
• Chao, Yuen Ren (1976). Aspects of Chinese Sociolinguistics: Essays by Yuen Ren Chao. Stanford University Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-8047-0909-5 – via Google Books.
• Chen, Ping (1999). Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64572-0.
• Creel, Herrlee Glessner; Chang, Tsung-ch’ien; Rudolph, Richard C., eds. (1948). Literary Chinese by The Inductive Method: The Hsiao Ching. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press. OCLC 4372662 – via Google Books.
• ———; ———; ———, eds. (1952). Literary Chinese by The Inductive Method: Selections from the Lun Yü. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-608-18227-8 – via Google Books.
• Dawson, Raymond Stanley (1984). A New Introduction to Classical Chinese (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-815460-0.
• Denecke, Wiebke; Nguyen, Nam (2017). "Shared Literary Heritage in the East Asian Sinographic Sphere". In Denecke, Wiebke; Li, Wai-Yee; Tian, Xiaofei (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature (PDF). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199356591.013.33. ISBN 978-0-19-935659-1.
• Kin, Bunkyō (2021). King, Ross (ed.). Literary Sinitic and East Asia: A Cultural Sphere of Vernacular Reading. Language, Writing and Literary Culture in the Sinographic Cosmopolis. Vol. 3. Translated by King, Ross; Burge, Marjorie; Park, Si Nae; Lushchenko, Alexey; Hattori, Mina. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-43730-2.
• King, Ross, ed. (2023). Cosmopolitan and Vernacular in the World of Wen 文. Language, Writing and Literary Culture in the Sinographic Cosmopolis. Vol. 5. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-43769-2.
  • Denecke, Wiebke. "A Model for Premodern East Asia?". In King 2023.
• Li, Yu (2020). The Chinese Writing System in Asia: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-90731-7.
• Norman, Jerry (1988). Chinese. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29653-3.
• Peyraube, Alain (2008). "Ancient Chinese". In Woodard, Roger (ed.). The Ancient Languages of Asia and the Americas. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-68494-1.
• Pulleyblank, Edwin George (1995). Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-0541-4.
• Saitō, Mareshi (2021). King, Ross; Laffin, Christina (eds.). Kanbunmyaku: The Literary Sinitic Context and the Birth of Modern Japanese Language and Literature. Language, Writing and Literary Culture in the Sinographic Cosmopolis. Vol. 2. Translated by Bussell, Sean; Felt, Matthieu; Lushchenko, Alexey; Park, Caleb; Park, Si Nae; Wells, Scott. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-43346-5.
• Tsao, Feng-fu (2000). "The Language Planning Situation in Taiwan". In Baldauf, Richard B.; Kaplan, Robert B. (eds.). Language Planning in Nepal, Taiwan, and Sweden. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 978-1-85359-483-0.
• Vogelsang, Kai (2021). Introduction to Classical Chinese. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-198-83497-7.
• Zetzsche, Jost Oliver (1999). The Bible in China: The History of the Union Version or the Culmination of Protestant Missionary Bible Translation in China. Monumenta Serica. ISBN 3-8050-0433-8 – via Google Books.

External links

• Lewis, Mark Edward (2014). Chinese Philosophical Texts. University of Stanford.
• Eno, Robert (2010). Wenyanwen Primer. Indiana University. hdl:2022/23480.
• Kieschnick, John (2015). A Primer in Chinese Buddhist Writings. University of Stanford.