The classical Chinese appeared earlier than the vernacular because it was a more ancient way of writing. In the early days of human society, people used hieroglyph to express the shape and characteristics of things by drawing symbols. With the development of human society, people began to use ideograms to express the meaning and concept of things through symbols. In contrast, vernacular was a form of written expression that appeared with the development of modern human society. The vernacular was originally evolved from the Beijing dialect and dialect. This kind of written expression expressed ideas in the form of spoken language, which made it possible for it to spread quickly and adapt to the development of society. Therefore, classical Chinese appeared earlier than vernacular Chinese mainly because classical Chinese needed to use symbols to express the appearance and characteristics of things, while vernacular Chinese only needed symbols to express the meaning and concept of things.
The classical Chinese and the vernacular Chinese were two different ways of writing, each with its own characteristics and development process. The classical Chinese was a form of written expression in ancient China that originated from the pre-Qin period and matured in the Han Dynasty. With its unique grammar and expression, classical Chinese shows a high degree of specialization and rigor. It is often used in ancient academic works, official documents, and literary works. The classical Chinese had gone through many evolutions and gradually developed into a part of modern Chinese. For example, the idioms and two-part sayings in modern Chinese were the variants of the classical Chinese. The vernacular was a form of modern Chinese that originated from the late Qing Dynasty and matured in the early 20th century. The vernacular language, with its unique spoken language and expression, shows a kind of easy-to-understand and flexibility. It is often used in modern novels, prose, poetry and news. The development of vernacular Chinese was influenced by the social background at that time, such as the acceleration of the process of industrialization, modernisation and urban development, as well as the arrival of the cultural revolution. The classical Chinese and the vernacular Chinese are two different ways of writing, each with its own unique characteristics and development process.
The ancient Chinese used classical Chinese to speak in their daily lives. The classical Chinese was the written language of ancient China. It was concise, rigorous, and standardized. The vocabulary and grammar used were very different from modern Chinese. In ancient times, classical Chinese was the official language used to record official documents, books, poems, songs, and so on. It was also used for daily communication. Although the development of modern Chinese has replaced the status of classical Chinese, classical Chinese still plays an important role in Chinese culture and is widely used in literature, history, philosophy and other fields.
In the Dacheng period, classical Chinese novels appeared instead of vernacular novels because they had advantages in inheritance and development. The advantage of classical Chinese novels in terms of inheritance was that they could retain the classic sentences and plots in the novel so that readers could better understand the thoughts and emotions in the novel. These classic sentences and plots could be repeated and quoted in the process of inheritance, thus continuously developing and growing. The advantage of the vernacular novel in terms of inheritance was that it could better transmit information and exchange ideas. Because vernacular novels are usually spread in oral form, they are more likely to be limited by language and cultural background, resulting in some limitations in the transmission and exchange of information. In contrast, classical Chinese novels could be written in classical Chinese to make them more expressive and persuasive, and to better convey information and exchange ideas. Therefore, in the Dacheng period, classical Chinese novels had more advantages in inheritance and development than vernacular novels, so they were more likely to appear.
The Chinese vernacular movement began in the early 20th century, mainly in the field of literature. The purpose of the vernacular movement was to make articles easier to understand and more people could read and understand. In the vernacular movement, some literary masters such as Lu Xun and Hu Shi put forward some new literary ideas such as "literature serves the people", advocating that literature should reflect social reality and let readers better understand society. The vernacular movement had a profound impact on Chinese literature, such as Lu Xun's "Madman's Diary","The True Story of Ah Q" and other works are the representative works of the vernacular. These works caused a sensation at that time and had an important impact on the process of Chinese literature's modernisation.
The difference between classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese was mainly due to their different grammar, vocabulary, and expressions. The grammar of classical Chinese was relatively complex, including the usage and matching of terms, verb, adjectives, etc., all of which had their own unique rules. On the other hand, vernacular Chinese was relatively simple. It used a more oral expression and had a relatively simple grammar structure. The vocabulary of the vernacular is not as rich as that of the classical Chinese. Many of the words in the classical Chinese have been abandoned or used less in the vernacular, so there are relatively fewer commonly used words in the vernacular. There were also differences in the way of expression between classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese. The classical Chinese tended to express abstract concepts and profound meanings, while the vernacular paid more attention to expressing specific meanings and plots. In addition, the expression of classical Chinese was relatively formal while vernacular Chinese was more oral and casual. The differences between classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese are caused by their grammar, vocabulary, and expressions.
The main reason why vernacular Chinese replaced classical Chinese was that the writing and reading of classical Chinese were more cumbersome and difficult, especially in reading and understanding. On the other hand, vernacular was relatively easy to understand and could better convey information. In addition, with the development of modern technology, vernacular has become a more commonly used language form, so it has been more widely used.
Ancient people could not speak classical Chinese or vernacular Chinese. The classical Chinese and the vernacular Chinese were two forms of language that appeared and developed separately in modern China. They were used for written and spoken language respectively. In ancient China, the main forms of language were ancient prose and ancient vernacular. These two forms of language have been stopped in modern China.
Why did classical Chinese appear in ancient China? The classical Chinese was a written language in ancient China, which was very different from modern Chinese. It originated in the Warring States Period, developed in the Han Dynasty, and gradually matured after the Tang Dynasty. The emergence of classical Chinese was related to the politics, economy, culture and other factors of ancient China. In ancient China, the feudal society had a high concentration of power, and literary inquisition also happened from time to time. On one hand, the emergence of classical Chinese was to limit the use of language by officials to avoid the occurrence of literary inquisition; on the other hand, it was to better express ideas and culture. There are great differences between classical Chinese and modern Chinese in terms of language, grammar, vocabulary, etc. Its grammar structure is complex, using many ancient words and idioms, but also has a unique way of expression and rhetoric. These characteristics made classical Chinese have a unique advantage in expressing ideas and transmitting information. The classical Chinese is an important part of the ancient Chinese culture, which has a profound influence on the ancient Chinese literature and culture. It is also the foundation of modern Chinese writing and plays an important role in the development of modern Chinese.
Ancient people usually used classical Chinese to communicate and communicate. The classical Chinese is a kind of ancient Chinese, which is one of the most widely used forms of language in Chinese history. It is very different from modern Chinese in terms of grammar, vocabulary and expression. In ancient times, classical Chinese was an official and academic language used to express ideas, research knowledge, and political exchanges. Therefore, in ancient times, classical Chinese was usually regarded as a high-level language form that could only be mastered by people with high social status or professional qualities. Although modern Chinese is very different from classical Chinese, we can also use the vernacular to communicate in certain situations. The vernacular is a modern Chinese language that is concise and easy to understand and spread. In literature, movies, music and other fields, vernacular plays an important role and has become an important form of language.
Whether the ancient people spoke in the vernacular or in the classical language needed to be analyzed from the historical evolution of the language. Wenyan was a type of written language in ancient China, which was featured by the use of specific vocabulary and grammar structures, as well as strict expressions and sentence patterns. This language had existed in Chinese history until the Qing Dynasty, when it gradually declined and became the representative of modern written language. Baihua refers to a form of modern Chinese language, which is characteristic of the use of simple and clear vocabulary and grammar structure, as well as more oral expressions. This form of language did not exist in Chinese history until the beginning of the 20th century, with the rise of the New Culture Movement, the vernacular movement became popular as the main form of modern written language. Therefore, whether the language spoken by the ancient people was classical or vernacular mainly depended on the era and cultural background. If it was in ancient China, then their language would be classical Chinese, but if it was in modern China, then their language would be vernacular.