Middle Chinese

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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