What is the evolution and development of ancient "Mandarin"?

As we all know, China is a vast country. In ancient times, due to the backward traffic conditions and other factors, many independent local settlements often formed, and each settlement also derived the corresponding language exchange, that is, "dialect" as opposed to "Mandarin". However, with the development of political civilization, dialects are obviously not conducive to the communication between the upper class of the ruling class and local officials. So, how did the ancients solve this problem without popularizing "Mandarin"?

To put it simply, it is to formulate a set of official standard terms according to geographical location, that is, Putonghua. And this geographical location refers to the region where the national political center is located.

During the slave society of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, when Chinese civilization began, their main activity area was near the Yellow River Basin in the Central Plains, and their capitals were in Henan Province outside the Western Zhou Dynasty. Under the influence of two factors, the official standard language at that time (then called "Yayan") was Henan dialect. After Zhou Pingwang moved its capital to Luoyi (now Luoyang, Henan Province) and established the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Luoyang dialect became a relatively fixed and mature official language.

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After the Qin dynasty destroyed the six countries and unified the world, it also ushered in the period of great unification of Chinese civilization. However, under the influence of hundreds of years of separatist forces in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it is difficult to fully realize this unification in a short time, especially in terms of language. At that time, the language differences among regions except the Central Plains countries were still obvious. Therefore, the official standard language at that time was "Guanzhong dialect" in the capital area of Qin Dynasty.

Before the popularization of Guanzhong dialect, the Qin dynasty died in the second year, followed by the Han dynasty, which enjoyed 400 years of national status. The first half of the Han Dynasty is the Western Han Dynasty, and its capital is Chang 'an, which is roughly the same as Xianyang, so the official standard language of the Western Han Dynasty is Guanzhong dialect. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the capital moved from Chang 'an in Guanzhong to Luoyang in the Central Plains, and the official standard language was changed to Luoyang dialect. Therefore, in the 400-year history of Qin and Han dynasties, Shaanxi dialect and Henan dialect based on Guanzhong dialect and Luoyang dialect are the main official standard terms.

After the demise of the Han Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty began to rule the Central Plains briefly. The Jin Dynasty was also divided into two periods, namely the Western Jin Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The capital of the Western Jin Dynasty was built in Luoyang, so the Mandarin at that time also followed the mature Luoyang dialect. The Western Jin Dynasty perished shortly after the Eight Kings Uprising and Hu's invasion, and its royal descendants established the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Jiankang (now Nanjing). Jiankang already has its own language: Wu dialect, while the descendants of the royal family and officials and scholars all speak Luo Yang dialect, so with the exchange and integration of the two languages, a new mandarin-Jinling Yayin, also known as pronunciation, has gradually formed. In the subsequent Southern Dynasties, namely, Song, Qi, Liang and Chen, no matter how the regime changed, Mandarin mainly used the pronunciation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

After the demise of the Han Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty began to rule the Central Plains briefly. The Jin Dynasty was also divided into two periods, namely the Western Jin Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The capital of the Western Jin Dynasty was built in Luoyang, so the Mandarin at that time also followed the mature Luoyang dialect. The Western Jin Dynasty perished shortly after the Eight Kings Uprising and Hu's invasion, and its royal descendants established the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Jiankang (now Nanjing). Jiankang already has its own language: Wu dialect, while the descendants of the royal family and officials and scholars all speak Luo Yang dialect, so with the exchange and integration of the two languages, a new mandarin-Jinling Yayin, also known as pronunciation, has gradually formed. In the subsequent Southern Dynasties, namely, Song, Qi, Liang and Chen, no matter how the regime changed, Mandarin mainly used the pronunciation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

After the Sui Dynasty unified the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Chang 'an was its capital, and the official revised a book reflecting the pronunciation of Chinese at that time: Qieyun, with Luoyang Yayin and Jinling Yayin as the orthography, and the official pronunciations of the Southern and Northern Dynasties merged to form three (official pronunciations of Chang 'an). After the death of Sui Dynasty II, the Tang Dynasty was established on this basis, basically following the rules and regulations of the previous dynasty, including Mandarin, without much change.

In the Song Dynasty, the capital of the Han ruling regime in the Central Plains returned to Henan, so Luoyang dialect was the main mandarin at that time. The Yuan Dynasty overthrew the Song Dynasty and established a unified regime with the Mongols as the ruling class. Therefore, the lingua franca within the ruling class is mainly Mongolian, while the Han people, including bureaucrats and scholars, mainly communicate in Chinese, that is, the "world theory".

When the Ming Dynasty overthrew the Yuan Dynasty, the sovereignty of the Central Plains returned to the Han people. Due to the short reign of the Yuan Dynasty, and the fact that many Zhongyuan people crossed the south during the turmoil at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and when Zhu Yuanzhang made Nanjing his capital, the "Chinese pronunciation" in this area was relatively pure, so the government adopted Nanjing dialect as the official standard language. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Wen Jian succeeded to the throne and was usurped by Judy. Soon after Judy ascended the throne, she made a major decision: to move the capital from Nanjing to Beijing. Because the population of Beijing decreased sharply during the war at the end of Yuan Dynasty, this move was also an immigration activity. Among them, Nanjing people account for the highest proportion of foreign population, accounting for about half of Beijing's total population. After that, Nanjing dialect became the official standard language of the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, and the general scope of Beijing dialect was basically at that time.

In the early Qing Dynasty, although Manchu government defined Manchu as "national language" and Nanjing dialect was still the official standard language, after nearly 300 years of development in Ming and Qing Dynasties, Nanjing dialect gradually gained the accent of Beijing dialect. It was not until the Yongzheng period that the government set up the Andrew Pavilion to promote Beijing Mandarin with Beijing accent as the standard, and Beijing Mandarin gradually replaced Nanjing Mandarin as the official standard language of the Qing Dynasty.