Middle Chinese

Tiongkor Harnguo (中古漢語 Middle Chinese; spoken during Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties (6th century - 10th century))

• historical variety of Chinese recorded in the Chiet'un
• most scholars now believe it records a compromise between northern and southern reading and poetic traditions from the late Northern and Southern dynasties period

• Literary layer of Hokkien can be related to Middle Chinese
• Literary form of Hokkien, used at one time for formal writing, is now largely extinct
• Literary readings are more similar to Middle Chinese than their colloquial equivalents
• The bulk of literary readings of Harnji are based on Tang dynasty pronunciations, mainly used in formal phrases and written language
• Min dialects (including Hokkien), show independent developments from Old Chinese

See also

• Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters
• Sursefng