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