Was Wuzhou, Guangxi Province the birthplace of vernacular?

Cantonese originated in ancient Guangxin - today's Wuzhou, Guangxi

In early 1995, the magazine <> published an article by two linguists, Professor Ye Guoquan of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangdong The paper "An Examination of the Origin of Cantonese" by Luo Kangning, associate professor of the provincial government, disclosed for the first time his research results that "Cantonese originated in ancient Guangxin - today's Wuzhou, Guangxi, and Fengkai, Guangdong", causing a sensation in the linguistic community. In that year and the following year, the Pearl River Cultural Research Association organized two multi-disciplinary expert demonstration meetings to reach a consensus on this and reached a unanimous conclusion. After that, Xinhua News Agency's telegram reporting the news spread all over the world, causing shock among Chinese people around the world.

As we all know, Cantonese originated from ancient Guangxin. Ancient Guangxin is today's Wuzhou in Guangxi, and Fengkai in Guangdong is the jurisdiction of Guangxin County, not the administrative seat; the earliest "capital" of Lingnan was located in today's Wuzhou; only the Lijiang River, which connects to the Yangtze River system through the Ling Canal, could become an ancient water " Silk Road". Basis: "Book of the Former Han Dynasty" says: "Cangwu... has Lishui Pass"; "There is Lishui Pass southeast to Guangxin". Traditional accounts, including the authoritative "Ci Hai", "Ci Yuan" and famous classics as well as modern and contemporary experts and scholars, all refer to ancient Guangxin as the present-day Wuzhou City in Guangxi under the jurisdiction of Cangwu County. Although some ancient books have pointed out that Guangxin was in Fengkai (Fengchuan, Fengzhou) in present-day Guangdong, this is not accepted by most rigorous ancient historians and modern scholars. For example, Du You, who once served as the governor of Lingnan in the Tang Dynasty, was called by Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty to be "well-informed and knowledgeable, and knew the key to the evolution of the past dynasties." In his famous historical work "Tongdian", when talking about "Fengchuan" and "Fengzhou", They all start from the Jin Dynasty, and the previous evolution is not mentioned at all.

The talented Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty put down the Lujia Rebellion in the South Vietnam Kingdom 2115 years ago, completed the unification of South China to the Han Dynasty, rewarded the meritorious soldiers, and ordered the division of Lingnan, the land of the Southern Barbarians, into The nine counties of Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin, Hepu, Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, Rinan, Dan'er and Zhuya were under the jurisdiction of today's Guangdong and Guangxi. Five years later, in the fifth year of Yuanfeng (106 BC), the Jiaozhi Governor's Department, which governed the entire nine counties in Lingnan, was located in Guangxin, the capital of Cangwu County, making it the capital and political, economic, and cultural center of the entire South China. After 309 AD, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty established Jiaozhou, and the Jiaozhou Mu and Jiaozhou Assassins were established in Guangxin, Cangwu County. At that time, there was no name for Guangzhou.

Cangwu County is located in the center of the current territory of Guangdong and Guangxi, and its jurisdiction is equivalent to the three regions of Wuzhou, Zhaoqing and Hezhou today. In the north, there is the Guijiang River (Lishui River), which leads to the Xiangjiang River via the Lingqu Canal and connects to the Yangtze River water system. The main stream of the Pearl River, the mother river of Lingnan that crosses Guangdong and Guangxi, is the Xijiang River, which passes through the county. The status of Guangxin, the capital of this large area of ??southern China, is obviously very important.

What’s so great about Cangwu Ancient County and Guguangxin? During the more than 400 years of the Han Dynasty, a group of political, economic, cultural, academic and religious elites led by the "Three Chens and Six Scholars" emerged successively. Especially the "Three Chens and Six Scholars" were well-known throughout the country. They were first-class and worthy of being leaders. , pioneer, core figure. "The Zuo family is far away in Cangwu" was the unanimous comment from the national academic circles at that time, which fully demonstrated the lofty status of Lingnan, a land of southern barbarians, in the national academic circles. At that time, Cangwu County was not only the birthplace of Lingnan culture, but also the center and pinnacle of national academic culture. It was truly brilliant!

Today’s study of Lingnan culture cannot be separated from the ancient county of Cangwu and Guangxin.

It is generally accepted that Cangwu County is now Wuzhou, Guangxi, and there is no doubt in ancient and modern times.

Han culture and language gradually spread from Guangxin to the east, and Cantonese gradually became the common language from the Xijiang River Basin to the Pearl River Delta. After Cantonese developed its own characteristics and a certain circulation range, it stopped accepting further assimilation of northern Chinese and even resisted such assimilation. The Central Plains Chinese is influenced by the language of the northern nomads, and is far away from Cantonese, which retains more of the Central Plains Chinese before the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

When Cantonese was spread from Guangxin to the east, it was relatively stable and had stopped accepting further assimilation of Chinese from the Central Plains. This is particularly reflected in its attitude towards Hakka. The Hakka people entered Lingnan from the Central Plains, and reached its climax at the end of the Tang Dynasty and when Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty crossed south. At that time, the original Han immigrants in Lingnan were already very powerful and controlled economically developed areas such as the Pearl River Triangle and the plains on both sides of the Xijiang River. Therefore, the newly arrived Hakka people could only settle in the Lingnan Mountains. Originally, Hakka was considered a relatively standard Chinese language in the Central Plains at that time, but after being introduced to Lingnan, it was unable to assimilate Cantonese, which had formed its own characteristics. On the contrary, according to the principle of "poor learning and rich" in cultural transmission, Hakka in some areas has been penetrated by Cantonese and has become a "double language" and even a Cantonese-speaking area. According to the investigation. There are three cities in the world where Cantonese is the most standard. They are Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Wuzhou~~

It is also said that Cantonese dialects are divided into three levels: the first level is Cantonese as the center, and Cantonese as the center. Based on the discourse of cities and counties in the Pearl River Delta and both sides of the Xijiang River, including Wuzhou City, as well as Hong Kong and Macau, this is the most popular Juche dialect in the Cantonese system. The second level is the peripheral or remote areas belonging to the Pearl River or Xijiang River Basin, including Dongguan, Zengcheng, Conghua, Qingyuan, Yunfu, Luoding, Jiaozhou, Huazhou, as well as Cenxi, Yulin, Nanning and other places. Comparing the dialects in these places with Cantonese, although they have various different characteristics, they still have many similarities in pronunciation and vocabulary, with minor differences.

The third level is Cantonese films that are not from the Pearl River or Xijiang River Basin, including Yangshan, Lianxian, etc. in western Guangdong, Xinhui, Taishan, Yangjiang, etc. in central Guangdong, and Hepu, Lingshan and other places in Guangxi. This Cantonese film is not from the Xijiang River Basin, Both in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary, it is quite different from Cantonese.