| 释义 |
文言文 wényánwén noun classical Chinese 文言文Classical Chinese refers to the language used by past generations of scholars who modelled their language on the vernacular used by pre-Qin Dynasty writers. Early classical Chinese and the pre-Qin vernacular are basically the same. For example, the dialogues recorded in The Analects of Confucius (《论语》) are written mostly in the vernacular. Over time, the vernacular changed but the written form remained the same. After the Vernacular Movement of the early 20th century, modern vernacular Chinese (→ 白话文) gradually replaced classical Chinese in writing. |