Why don’t people in Chengdu speak Mandarin? Please explain the historical and geographical reasons

In fact, the so-called ordinary definition is: the modern Han nationality homonym with Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation, Northern dialect as the basic dialect, and typical modern vernacular writings as the grammatical standard. Therefore, Mandarin is also an evolution of dialects. China is so big, and the definition of standard accent has been different since ancient times. As the provincial capital of the "Land of Abundance" Sichuan Plain, Chengdu has a very long history. I remember Sanxingdui is from Sichuan! If you look at Longzhong, you will know that Sichuan is a relatively independent region both geographically and culturally. Later, it unified into a unified region, and its culture gradually became more integrated with the outside world. In fact, I have always had a fantasy, if Qin Shihuang did not unify after the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period China, will China be like those small countries in Europe, each speaking his own words and writing his own words?

So the Mandarin spoken now is an evolution and evolution of the northern dialect. Naturally, Mandarin cannot be spoken in Chengdu. To give another example: among countries where English is their mother tongue, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, some African countries, and Singapore all have their own unique accents. Even in a place as small as the UK, the accents are vastly different. But it’s hard to say which one is the best and most standard. Because Mandarin in our Chinese language itself is an artificially defined standard. Sichuan has its own unique development history and cultural background. From the origin, many factors contributed to the current Chengdu accent. Therefore, Chengdu cannot naturally be said to be based on the northern accent. mandarin.

For a more intuitive explanation, I quoted Baidu Encyclopedia’s information on the standardization of past dynasties:

Chinese has had dialects and different languages ??since ancient times.

Zhou Dynasty

According to historical records, in the Spring and Autumn Period, the same language as Confucius was called Yayan. Yayan takes Luoyang Yayan as the standard. Confucius had more than 3,000 disciples from all over the world at that time. There were also dialects in ancient times. Students from all over the world spoke their own dialects. How could Confucius make students from all over the world understand him when he lectured? Because there was a Chinese synonym called Yayan at that time, Confucius used Yayan when giving lectures. There was no obstacle to communication in this way.

Han Dynasty

In the Han Dynasty, *** Tongyu had further development, and at that time *** Tongyu was called Tongyu. People from different places who speak different dialects can communicate in common language. Starting from the Qin and Han Dynasties, people from the Central Plains along the Yellow River gradually migrated to the south, bringing the ancient Heluo language to the south.

Jin Dynasty

In the Jin Dynasty, after the Wuhu chaos in China and Yiguan's migration southward, Yayin from the Central Plains moved southward. Different regimes are based on the language of their capital. In the northern dynasties, Luoyang dialect was generally used as the standard pronunciation, while in the south, Jiankang dialect was generally used as the standard pronunciation. The Northern dialect after the Western Jin Dynasty was the product of the northern nomadic people learning Chinese and the fusion of the Han nationality and the northern minority languages ??who stayed in the Central Plains. There is a big difference in Chinese. The Jiankang dialect was formed by the fusion of the language of the Jin royal family who moved south and the local language. It is also the origin of today's Wu language. The mainstream of Han intellectuals regards the southern Jiankang dialect as orthodox.

Sui Dynasty

The Sui Dynasty unified China and made Chang'an the capital, and compiled "Qie Yun". The phonetic system was mainly based on Luoyang dialect and Jiankang dialect.

Tang Dynasty

In the Tang Dynasty, on the basis of "Qie Yun", "Tang Yun" was formulated as the standard pronunciation of the Tang Dynasty, stipulating that officials and imperial examinations must use Tang Yun.

Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty formulated "Guangyun" on the basis of "Tang Yun". In addition, during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Jiangnan's economy jumped to the forefront of the country, and it was the cultural center of the Southern Dynasties, so Wu dialect still has a certain popularity. Jinling dialect, Suzhou dialect and Yangzhou dialect were all representatives of the Wu dialect at that time. Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty once studied Wu language in Yangzhou.

Yuan Dynasty

China's Yuan Dynasty formulated the "Central Plains Phonology" as the standard pronunciation based on the capital's Dadu dialect. And abolish the standard pronunciation status of "Guangyun". In this way, the dialects in northern China tend to move closer to Dadu dialects. Some experts also said that the standard pronunciation of the Yuan Dynasty was Mongolian Chinese, which lost many characteristics of traditional Chinese.

Ming Dynasty

After the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted "Hongwu Zhengyun" based on Nanjing dialect as the standard pronunciation. Nanjing dialect is also the representative of southern Mandarin.

Qing Dynasty

Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty set up the Zhengyin Hall (1728) and formulated "Mandarin" based on Beijing dialect as the standard pronunciation. The Beijing dialect at that time was based on the old Beiping dialect of the Yuan Dynasty, and was formed after the integration of the Nanjing dialect of the Nanjing immigrants who immigrated to Beijing. In the Qing Dynasty, it was also influenced by Manchu. In addition, among the people, since Nanjing and Yangzhou became northern dialect areas in modern times, the southern Wu dialect began to be mainly represented by Suzhou dialect to inherit the southern elegant dialects of the Southern Dynasties, and became one of the popular languages ??in China due to the strong local economic strength. Wang Shixing said in "Guang Zhi Yi": "Those who are good at controlling the power of advance and retreat within the sea. If the Su people think that they are elegant, then the four directions will follow them. If they are vulgar, they will follow the vulgarity." When Wu Yin was most popular , from scholar-bureaucrats to geishas, ??they are proud to speak Su Bai. At that time, Yue Opera, Kun Opera, and Pingtan were all based on Wu Chinese reading.

In addition, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Cantonese gradually became popular due to economic development. Cantonese was actually formed by the influence of northern immigrants from the Tang and Song Dynasties on the local language. It is also one of the dialects recognized to be closer to the standard pronunciation "Guangyun" of the Song Dynasty.

Modern Times

By the end of the 19th century, which was the end of the Qing Dynasty, China's situation had undergone great changes, influenced by Western academic thought, especially Japan. Japan vigorously promoted Japanese synonyms before and after the Meiji Restoration, and the Japanese called the national synonyms of Japanese as Guoyu. The word Guoyu was originally the name of a book in ancient China. The Japanese regard Guoyu as the name of the national language. At the end of the 19th century, China's cultural life underwent great changes, and the term Guoyu spread.

Republic of China period

After the Revolution of 1911, in order to develop China's economy and culture, Mandarin began to be promoted in China. During the Republic of China, the term Guoyu was recognized by the government at that time and became an official name for the national synonymous language. The debate over the establishment of the national pronunciation: Comprehensive pronunciation or Beijing pronunciation is the main one. In December 1912 (the first year of the Republic of China), the Ministry of Education, with Cai Yuanpei as director-general, established the Preparatory Office of the Pronunciation Unification Association, with Wu Jingheng (Zhihui) as director, and formulated the pronunciation unification association. Article 8 of the Association’s Articles of Association. It is stipulated that the responsibility of the Pronunciation Unification Committee is to determine the standard pronunciation of each character, which is called "Guoyin". After the phonemes of each word are determined, corresponding letters must be formulated to represent each phoneme. At that time, Wang Zhao, a famous linguist from Zhili Province in the north (the inventor of the "Mandarin harmony alphabet") was very dissatisfied with the membership composition, pointing out that there were 25 people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, including 5 from Wuxi. After intense debate, it was finally decided that the meeting would implement a one-province-one-vote system instead of one vote per member. At that time, there was also a fierce debate on the one-province-one-vote system. Wang Rongbao from Jiangsu claimed, "If each province has one vote, all ancient Chinese books will be abolished from now on." Wang Zhao asked in return: "How do you explain this statement?" Wang Buyu, Wang Zhao then asked: "Are there no scholars outside Jiangsu and Zhejiang?" Northern members insisted on one vote per province and threatened to dissolve and withdraw from the meeting if they failed to pass. Finally, under the promotion of Acting Minister of Education Dong Hongwei, the one-province-one-vote system was finally adopted. This one-province-one-vote system is the key to interpreting the results of the meeting. The Guoyin Unification Conference finally came to an end on May 22. Due to the fierce quarrel during the meeting, Wu Jingheng, the speaker of the conference, resigned on April 22. Wang Zhao, who took over, also took sick leave after May 7. Wang Pu from Zhili was temporarily appointed Host meetings. At that time, the issue of voiced sounds and entering sounds was particularly fierce. Jiangsu representative Wang Rongbao said exaggeratedly: "Southerners can't live without voiced sounds and entering sounds." Wu Jingheng, also a representative from Jiangsu and speaker of the conference, also made an astonishing statement: "The voiced characters are very rare. Magnificence is the vitality of China. German has many voiced words, so the country is strong; our Mandarin does not use voiced words, so it is weak." During the meeting, for the controversial pronunciation, the "national pronunciation" was decided by a majority vote based on the principle of one province, one vote. Overall, the final result is still based on Beijing pronunciation, while absorbing the pronunciation characteristics of other dialects, such as distinguishing sharp group sounds and retaining incoming tones. The pronunciation of Chinese characters approved at this meeting was called "Old Chinese Pronunciation" by later generations. And started to be implemented in 1918. The dispute between Beijing and Guo: whether Beijing pronunciation is the dominant one or only Beijing pronunciation? In 1920, less than two years after the implementation of Mandarin, a great debate called the "Beijing pronunciation" (referring to Beijing pronunciation and Guo pronunciation) broke out. The cause of the problem lies in the standard pronunciation of Mandarin. Those who support Guoyin and those who support Jingyin are divided into two groups. Guoyin is mainly "Beijing-based, taking into account the north and south". Beijing pronunciation is "purely based on Beijing dialect". The two factions quarreled fiercely. So Zhang Shiyi published an article, advocating that "the phonetic alphabet and the Chinese pronunciation must be fundamentally reformed" and that "the Ministry of Education should first publish an academic definition of standard Chinese, and use the words of local Beijingers with at least secondary education as the standard for Chinese language." . This idea was supported by many people, especially in the south, which caused a strong response. Meetings were held one after another to respond, and a resolution was even passed: "We do not recognize the national pronunciation and advocate using the Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation" and "ask the Ministry of Education to solicit opinions from all walks of life." , defining Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation." Later, the national pronunciation formulated by the "Pronunciation Unification Conference" in 1913 was revised to the Beijing pronunciation. In 1932, the "Vocabulary of Commonly Used Chinese Pronunciation" compiled based on the new Guoyin was published by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China. In the preface of the "Vocabulary", the meaning of the Chinese pronunciation based on the Beijing pronunciation was further explained, that is, the so-called "" The standard pronunciation of Beiping pronunciation in modern times refers to the "modern Beiping pronunciation system", and "it does not necessarily mean that every word must respect its native pronunciation."

***The War Period

The modern term "Putonghua" was first proposed by Zhu Wenxiong in 1906. Later, Qu Qiubai and others also proposed the term "Putonghua". And debated with Mao Dun about the actual meaning of Mandarin. Through the vernacular movement, popular language movement and Mandarin movement since the May 4th Movement, the status of Beijing pronunciation has been established and consolidated. With the founding of New China in 1949, China has entered a completely new stage. In order to develop the culture and education of New China, it is very necessary to promote the national dialect and overcome the barriers caused by dialect differences. In the 1950s, we wanted to promote the homonym of ethnic minorities. There have been several different names in history. What is our name? We are a unified multi-ethnic country, and all ethnic groups are equal in their spoken and written languages. However, the Mandarin spoken during the Republic of China was actually the synonym of the Han people, not the synonym of other ethnic minorities.

In order to highlight that we are a multi-ethnic family and to highlight the equality of the languages ??of our various ethnic groups, after in-depth research, we decided not to use the name Guoyu. If it is called Guoyu, I worry that it will be misunderstood as putting Chinese above other ethnic groups in the country. After some research, we finally decided to call it Mandarin. On October 26, 1955, "People's Daily" published an editorial titled "Strive to promote the reform of Chinese characters, promote Mandarin, and realize the standardization of Chinese language." The article mentioned: "The most common language of the Han nation is based on Northern dialect. "Dialect, Mandarin with Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation." On February 6, 1956, the State Council issued an instruction on the promotion of Mandarin, adding the definition of Mandarin to "with Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation, northern dialect as the basic dialect, and model. Modern vernacular writings are grammatically standardized and the most common language of the modern Han nation." This definition clearly stipulates the standards of Mandarin from three aspects: pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, making the definition of Mandarin more scientific and thorough. Among them, the meaning of the three words "Putonghua" is "universal" and "common". The term "Mandarin" began to be widely used with a clear connotation. The grammar of Mandarin is standardized by famous modern vernacular works by Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Bing Xin, Ye Shengtao, etc., and must also be "general usage examples" in these modern vernacular texts. Currently, Mandarin is based on the "Modern Chinese Standard Dictionary".