What is the origin of Putonghua?

The word "Putonghua" appeared as early as the late Qing Dynasty. 1902, Wu Rulun, a scholar, visited Japan, and the Japanese suggested to him that China should carry out Putonghua education to unify the language. The name "Mandarin" was mentioned in the conversation. 1904, when Qiu Jin, a modern female revolutionary, was studying in Japan, she organized a "lecture liaison meeting" with students studying in Japan, and drew up a booklet, in which the name "Putonghua" appeared. 1906, Zhu, a scholar who studied word segmentation, divided Chinese into "Chinese" (classical Chinese), "Putonghua" and "common sayings" (dialects) in his book Jiangsu Xin Xin. He not only put forward the name of "Mandarin", but also gave a clear definition of "Mandarin". In 1930s, Qu Qiubai put forward in the article "War beyond the Gate of Hell" that "the task of literary revolution is by no means limited to creating some new styles of poems, novels and plays. It should establish a modern Mandarin accent for China. " "Modern Mandarin, a new Chinese language, should be used in all parts of China, with modern" people's words ",polyphony and ending ..."

When Putonghua was first popularized, some people had the following explanation for the popularization of Putonghua in New China: Putonghua promoted in New China was different from that used by feudal rulers. The Putonghua we promote is a communication tool that people master and use on the basis of learning their own language well. In the old society, some bureaucrats regarded their established Mandarin as a "privileged language", which was above the language of the masses, and demanded that the masses accept their ruling education and recognize their bureaucratic system. This era will never come again. When our new China cadres go to the south, they should learn the language of the masses, put down their official airs and mingle with the masses. Mandarin is only used as a communication tool, and no administrative order can restrict the people from speaking their own language!