Written Cantonese is the most complete written form of a Chinese language after that for Mandarin Chinese and Classical Chinese . Written Chinese was the main literary language of China until the 19th century. Written vernacular Chinese first appeared in the 17th century, and a written form of Mandarin became standard throughout China in the early 20th century. Cantonese is a common language in places like Hong Kong and Macau . While the Mandarin form can to some extent be read and spoken word for word in other Chinese varieties , its intelligibility to non-Mandarin speakers is poor to incomprehensible because of differences in idioms , grammar and usage . Modern Cantonese speakers have therefore developed new characters for words that do not exist and have retained others that have been lost in standard Chinese.
65-738: Baihua may refer to: Languages [ edit ] Baihuawen (白話文), the written literary form of Modern Chinese languages The suffix of some Cantonese dialects (**白話), for instance, "Nanning Cantonese" (南寧白話) Pe̍h-ōe-jī (白話字), a romanization for Southern Min language Bai language (白語), the language in Yunnan, China, used by the Bai people 白話 , meaning "idle talk, empty words or trivial chat" in Chinese. Places in China [ edit ] Baihua, Guangdong (白花),
130-399: A considerable length only employ colloquial Chinese resources and exclude all Literary constructions and vocabulary. Despite initial intentions on the part of reformers to create a written language that closely mirrors the colloquial Mandarin dialects and to expunge classical influences from the language for the sake of modernization, it became clear to users of the new written standard that
195-414: A different character. One example is the doublet 來 loi (standard) and 嚟 lei (Cantonese), meaning "to come." Both share the same meaning and usage, but because the colloquial pronunciation differs from the literary pronunciation, they are represented using two different characters. Some people argue that representing the colloquial pronunciation with a different (and often extremely complex) character
260-659: A different one. For instance, 冧 (lām, "bud"), written with the determinative 冖 ("cover"), is instead written in older dictionaries as 啉 , with the mouth radical. Other common characters are unique to Cantonese or are different from their Mandarin usage, including: 乜, 冇, 仔, 佢, 佬, 俾, 靚 etc. The characters which are commonly used in Cantonese writing include: The words represented by these characters are sometimes cognates with pre-existing Chinese words. However, their colloquial Cantonese pronunciations have diverged from formal Cantonese pronunciations. For example, 無 ("without")
325-433: A domestic writing system and the linguistic heritage attached to it. An eventual switch from Chinese characters to pinyin, a domestically perfected romanized phonetic writing system, was indefinitely postponed to the point that it remains a complementary system to simplified characters, which is the dominant writing system in contemporary mainland China. Eastward spread of Western learning The early modern period saw
390-452: A few. Some Cantonese loanwords are written in existing Chinese characters. 貝果 (Taiwan) 趴(Taiwan) Cantonese characters, as with regular Chinese characters, are formed in one of several ways: Some characters already exist in standard Chinese, but are simply reborrowed into Cantonese with new meanings. Most of these tend to be archaic or rarely used characters. An example is the character 子, which means "child". The Cantonese word for child
455-536: A genre of song that flourished from the late Ming dynasty and frequently sung in Canton's brothels with accompanying string instruments, possessed language that was generally very literary, with only occasional instances of colloquial Cantonese words. The purpose of such inclusions is debated; they were likely added purely for rhythmic purposes. An example of such practice is Haaktou Cauhan ( 客途秋恨 , Jyutping: Haak tou Cau han , "The Traveler's Autumn Regrets") written in
520-406: A means of informal communication. Still, Cantonese speakers must use standard written Chinese, or even literary Chinese, in most formal written communications, since written Cantonese may be unintelligible to speakers of other varieties of Chinese. By the 1920s, with the rise of fully written libretti ( Chinese : 劇本 ; pinyin : jùběn ; Jyutping : kek6 bun2 ) for Cantonese opera ,
585-584: A movement to democratize language and replace classical Chinese with a written vernacular. Some of the most important proponents of vernacularization were Mao Zedong and renowned writer Lu Xun. This was at first before the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party, which occurred in 1921, though some of the most radical language reform activists were communists. There was significant debate among reformers on what steps to language reform should be taken, and how far reform should go. The central component
650-640: A newer translation of these by Peter T. Morris in Cantonese love songs : an English translation of Jiu Ji-yung's Cantonese songs of the early 19th century (1992). Cantonese character versions of the Bible, Pilgrims Progress, and Peep of Day, as well as simple catechisms, were published by mission presses. The special Cantonese characters used in all of these were not standardized and show wide variation. Written Cantonese contains many characters not used in standard written Chinese in order to transcribe words not present in
715-587: A phonetic writing system, character simplification, and expanding the vernacular lexicon with technical terminology for use in formal contexts. These activists wanted to create a literary context more accessible to the general public, and ultimately increase literacy in the country. Written vernacular Chinese was also popularized by the Western missionaries entering China during the 19th century. Missionaries wrote stories, poems, essays and other works in vernacular to better spread their message. This early form of baihuawen
SECTION 10
#1732868948697780-531: A sentence: hai -m -hai keoi -dei ge ? Si -bat -si taa -mun dik ? (Mandarin: Shì bùshì tāmen de?) The two Chinese sentences are grammatically identical, using an A-not-A question to ask "Is it theirs?" (referring to an aforementioned object). Though the characters correspond 1:1, the actual glyphs used are all different. There are certain words that share a common root with standard written Chinese words. However, because they have diverged in pronunciation, tone, and/or meaning, they are often written using
845-595: A switch from classical Chinese to vernacular language in writing. However, as it became increasingly clear that the Communists were winning the Chinese Civil War and would have control over mainland China, a change occurred in thinking at the top of the Chinese Communist Party. The official goal became to first simplify characters, then to possibly transition to a romanized phonetic writing system over time. The precise history of why and how this happens remains obscure, and
910-637: A town in Huidong County, Guangdong Baihua, Sichuan (白花), a town in Yibin , Sichuan Baihua Township (白桦乡), a township in Daxing'anling Prefecture , Heilongjiang Hundred Flower Pond , also known as Baihua Pond, a small artificial lake in Jinan, Shandong See also [ edit ] Bai Hua (白桦, 1930–2019), Chinese author 白話字 (disambiguation) (báihuàzì), meaning "vernacular script" Topics referred to by
975-408: A well-recognised system had arisen for the use of written Cantonese. The theatrical art form became popularised further through the 1950s with the post-war Hong Kong film industry , during which one third of all cinema production was devoted to Cantonese opera. With the consistent use of on-screen subtitles , the film-going audiences regularly encountered written Cantonese at the cinema, as well as on
1040-472: Is a characteristic of formal registers of baihuawen and distinguishes the formal modern language from conversational baihuawen on the one hand and fully Literary on the other hand. Though clearly dependent on context and on the personal preferences of the author, analyses of typical 20th-century essays and speeches have yielded a ratio of formal to informal expressions of around 2:3, or 40%. Even in informal personal communications otherwise composed entirely in
1105-496: Is also considered to be ideologically progressive. On one hand, reformers aggressively debated over the use of loanwords and the ideology of literature and public acceptance of new genres, while the consensus became clear that the imposition of Literary Chinese was a hindrance to education and literacy, and ultimately social progress within China. The work of Lu Xun and others did much to advance this view. Vernacular Chinese soon came to be viewed as mainstream by most people. Along with
1170-575: Is commonly called Standard Written Chinese or Modern Written Chinese to distinguish it from spoken vernaculars and other written vernaculars, like written Cantonese and written Hokkien . During the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC), Old Chinese was the spoken form of the language, which was reflected in the Classical Chinese used to write the Chinese classics . Spoken Chinese began to evolve faster than
1235-880: Is dated to 1713. The Faazin Gei is an example of the "scholar and beauty" genre popular at the time, with its story set in Suzhou . Its text, while still being close to Literary Chinese , contains a lot of specific Cantonese wording and even Cantonese vernacular characters, especially in the dialogue sentences, but also in the narrative text. Other such renowned early works include Ji-Hofaa Si ( 二荷花史 , Jyutping: Ji Ho faa Si , "The Two Lotus Flowers") and Gamso-Jyunjoeng Saanwusin Gei ( 金鎖鴛鴦珊瑚扇記 , Jyutping: Gam so Jyun joeng Saan wu sin Gei , "Coral Fan and Golden-lock Mandarin-ducks Pendant"). The naamyam ( 南音 ; Jyutping: naam jam , Hanyu Pinyin: nányīn , literally "southern songs"),
1300-413: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Baihuawen Written vernacular Chinese , also known as baihua , comprises forms of written Chinese based on the vernacular varieties of the language spoken throughout China. It is contrasted with Literary Chinese , which was the predominant written form of the language in imperial China until
1365-427: Is more common to use a mixture of colloquial forms and standard Chinese forms, some of which are alien to natural speech. Thus the resulting "hybrid" text lies on a continuum between two norms: standard Chinese and colloquial Cantonese as spoken. It has been found that female gender and a middle class-income are demographic factors that promote a clear separation between standard written Chinese and written Cantonese. On
SECTION 20
#17328689486971430-411: Is normally pronounced mou in literature. In spoken Cantonese, 冇 mou has the same usage, meaning, and pronunciation as 無 , except for tone. 冇 represents the spoken Cantonese form of the word "without", while 無 represents the word used in Classical Chinese and Mandarin. However, 無 is still used in some instances in spoken Cantonese, such as 無論如何 ("no matter what happens"). Another example
1495-497: Is represented by 仔(jai), which has the original meaning of "young animal". The majority of characters used in Standard Chinese are phono-semantic compounds – characters formed by placing two radicals, one hinting as its meaning and one hinting its pronunciation. Written Cantonese continues this practice via putting the 'mouth' radical ( 口 ) next to a character pronounced similarly that indicates its pronunciation. As an example,
1560-469: Is superfluous, and would encourage using the same character for both forms since they are cognates (see Derived characters below). Some Cantonese words have no equivalents in Mandarin, though equivalents may exist in classical or other varieties of Chinese. Cantonese writers have from time to time reinvented or borrowed a new character if they are not aware of the original one. For example, some suggest that
1625-477: Is the doublet 來/嚟 , which means "come". 來 loi is used in literature; 嚟 lei is the spoken Cantonese form. Though most Cantonese words can be found in the current encoding system, input workarounds are commonly used both by those unfamiliar with them, and by those whose input methods do not allow for easy input (similar to how some Russian speakers might write in the Latin script if their computing device lacks
1690-493: Is widely understood and is regarded favourably, at least in some contexts. Attitudes toward written Cantonese in Guangzhou have been found to be in general positive, though this was limited to the informal and casual domains of life, where the social value of written Cantonese as a marker of cultural solidarity is highest. Some sources will use only colloquial Cantonese forms, resulting in text similar to natural speech. However, it
1755-569: The Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1912), vernacular language began to be used in novels, but most formal writing was in Literary Chinese, save a few baihua newspapers during the late Qing. In the 20th century, political activists began attempting to replace formal Literary Chinese with a written vernacular based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. Possible reforms included the replacing characters with
1820-507: The Taiwanese Southern Min Recommended Characters . They are most commonly used in advertisements and court records of dialogue and colloquial expressions. They are often mixed with Literary and modern Standard vocabulary. Written Cantonese With the advent of the computer and standardization of character sets specifically for Cantonese, many printed materials in predominantly Cantonese-speaking areas of
1885-451: The Beijing dialect of Mandarin, its grammar is officially based on exemplary works of vernacular literature, which excludes certain colloquial forms while incorporating some constructions from Literary Chinese. Similarly, written vernacular Chinese excludes slang from the Beijing dialect while absorbing some Literary vocabulary, as well as foreign loanwords and a small number of regionalisms from other major dialect groups. The period following
1950-404: The Cantonese words existed as descendants of Old Chinese words, but are being replaced by some new invented Cantonese words. General estimates of vocabulary differences between Cantonese and Mandarin range from 30 to 50 percent. Donald B. Snow, the author of Cantonese as Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese Vernacular , wrote that "It is difficult to quantify precisely how different"
2015-555: The Chinese character and romanized spelling (1894) by James Dyer Ball has a bibliography of printed works available in Cantonese characters in the last decade of the nineteenth century. A few libraries have collections of so-called "wooden fish books" written in Cantonese characters. Facsimiles and plot precis of a few of these have been published in Wolfram Eberhard's Cantonese Ballads. See also Cantonese love-songs, translated with introduction and notes by Cecil Clementi (1904) or
Baihua - Misplaced Pages Continue
2080-1054: The Han population in the Pearl River Delta across many centuries, with the main linguistic influences being the Middle Chinese of the tenth century CE, corresponding to the end of the Tang dynasty, and that of the thirteenth century CE or late Song dynasty , as well as the Tai-Kadai substrate and some influence from pre-Tang Sinitic varieties . The first Cantonese writings belong to a literary form specific to Canton , called mukjyusyu ( 木魚書 , Jyutping: muk jyu syu , Hanyu Pinyin: mùyúshū , literally 'wooden fish book'), that supposedly has its roots in Buddhist chants accompanied by wooden fish . Mukjyu texts were popular light reading, their primary audience were women, as female (and overall) literacy
2145-468: The ability to read some Literary Chinese is taught using familiar character forms: simplified throughout mainland China, and traditional in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. In the latter, Tang poetry is taught starting from elementary school and classical prose taught throughout lower and upper secondary schools. Though it is rare to encounter fully Literary texts in modern times, it is just as rare to see texts of
2210-604: The admixture of a certain proportion of Literary grammatical constructions and vocabulary into baihuawen was unavoidable and serves as an important means of conveying tone and register. Thus, for the vernacular language used in official settings like academic and literary works or government communications (e.g. in academic papers, textbooks, political speeches, and legal codes), a small number of stock classical constructions and vocabulary items continue to be employed and are subject to additional related requirements relating to classical prosody and parallelism. The use of these structures
2275-455: The backs of phonograph records and later audiocassette and CD cases. Historically, written Cantonese has been used in Hong Kong for legal proceedings in order to write down the exact spoken testimony of a witness, instead of paraphrasing spoken Cantonese into standard written Chinese. However, its popularity and usage has been rising in the last two decades, the late Wong Jim being one of
2340-423: The character 吓 uses the mouth radical with a 下 , which means 'down', but the meaning has no relation to the meaning of 吓 . (An exception is 咩 mē , which is not pronounced like 羊 ( yèuhng , sheep) but was chosen to represent the sound sheep make.) The characters which are commonly used in Cantonese writing include: There is evidence that the mouth radical in such characters can, over time, be replaced by
2405-473: The characters so discovered are not available in the standard character sets provided to computer users, and many have fallen out of usage. In Southeast Asia, Cantonese people may adopt local Malay words into their daily speech, such as using the term 鐳 leoi to mean money rather than 錢 cin , which would be used in Hong Kong. Cantonese particles may be added to the end of a sentence or suffixed to verbs to indicate aspect. There are many such particles; here are
2470-429: The common word 靚 leng , meaning pretty in Cantonese but also looking into the mirror in Mandarin, is in fact the character 令 ling . Today those characters can mainly be found in ancient rime dictionaries such as Guangyun . Some scholars have made some "archaeological" efforts to find out what the "original characters" are. Often, however, these efforts are of little use to the modern Cantonese writer, since
2535-454: The curricula were in vernacular Chinese. Prolific writers such as Lu Xun and Bing Xin published popular works and appeared in literary journals of the day, which also published essays and reviews providing a theoretical background for the vernacular writing, such as Lu's " Diary of a Madman ", which provoked a spirited debate in contemporary journals. Systematic education, talented authors and an active scholastic community closely affiliated with
2600-471: The development and standardization of vernaculars based on other varieties of Chinese. No matter which dialect one spoke, they still wrote in standardized Mandarin for everyday writing. However, Cantonese is unique amongst the non-Mandarin varieties in having a widely used written form. Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong used to be a British colony isolated from mainland China before 1997, so most HK citizens do not speak Mandarin. Written Cantonese has developed as
2665-444: The early 20th century, Chinese reformers like Hu Shih saw the need for language reform and championed the development of a vernacular that allowed modern Chinese to write the language the same way they speak. The vernacular language movement took hold, and the written language was standardized as vernacular Chinese . Mandarin was chosen as the basis for the new standard. The standardization and adoption of written Mandarin preempted
Baihua - Misplaced Pages Continue
2730-477: The early 20th century. A style based on vernacular Mandarin Chinese was used in novels by Ming and Qing dynasty authors, and was later refined by intellectuals associated with the May Fourth Movement . This form corresponds to spoken Standard Chinese , but is the standard form of writing used by speakers of all varieties of Chinese throughout mainland China , Taiwan , Malaysia , and Singapore . It
2795-412: The education system all contributed to the establishment of the vernacular written language in a short amount of time. Since the late 1920s, nearly all Chinese newspapers, books, and official and legal documents have been written in vernacular Standard Chinese. However, the tone or register and the choice of vocabulary may have been formal or informal, depending on the context. Generally, the more formal
2860-445: The end of the 20th century, men of letters, especially in Taiwan, exchanged personal letters using literary stock phrases for openings, greetings, and closings, and using vernacular Chinese (albeit heavily influenced by the literary language) for the body. Nevertheless, only well-educated individuals in modern times have full reading comprehension of Literary texts, and very few are able to write proficiently in Literary Chinese. Presently,
2925-416: The extent of the role that Chairman Mao Zedong played in the change of policy is not known. However, it has been suggested that Communist leadership wanted to preserve the cultural heritage of Chinese characters, while also encouraging increased literacy among the Chinese people. It has even been suggested that Mao acted to preserve characters at the encouragement of Joseph Stalin, so that China would maintain
2990-473: The first decade of 1800s, which is considered one of the most outstanding examples of the naamyam genre. Written Cantonese vocabulary was used much more extensively in the lungzau ( 龍舟 , Jyutping: lung zau , "Dragon boat") songs, performed mainly by beggars on the streets. These songs were considered the least prestigious genre and were rarely published, and then only after careful editing to make them less vernacular in style. An important landmark in
3055-502: The first significant development of baihua novels. Jin Shengtan , who edited several vernacular novels in the 17th century, is widely regarded as a pioneer of vernacular Chinese literature. His vernacular edition of the classic novel Water Margin greatly raised the status of vernacular novels. During the late Qing, activists like Liang Qichao argued for the simplicity of baihua and its utility for increasing literacy rates. However, it
3120-421: The growing popularity of vernacular writing in books in this period was the acceptance of punctuation, modelled after what was used in Western languages (traditional Chinese literature used almost no punctuation), and the use of Arabic numerals . Following the 1911 Revolution , successive governments continuously carried out a progressive and national education system to include primary and secondary education. All
3185-447: The history of written Cantonese was the publication of Jyut-au ( 粵謳 , Jyutping: jyut au , Hanyu Pinyin: yuè'ōu , literally: "Cantonese love songs") by Zhao Ziyong ( 招子庸 , Jyutping: Ziu Zi jung , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhāo Zǐyōng ) in 1828, marking the beginning of an extremely popular genre. Being an educated juren , Zhao Ziyong earned some prestige and respect for the previously rejected "heavy" vernacular literature. In
3250-466: The majority of readers. While more difficult to master for writers who spoke other dialects, this standard written vernacular had the effect of standardizing written Chinese across the country, which had previously been the role of Literary Chinese. Following the May Fourth Movement, baihuawen became the normal written form of Chinese. While the phonology of modern Standard Chinese is based on
3315-578: The news section written in Standard Chinese, but they may have editorials or columns that contain Cantonese discourses, and Cantonese characters are increasing in popularity on advertisements and billboards. It has been stated that written Cantonese remains limited outside Hong Kong, including other Cantonese-speaking areas in Guangdong Province . However, colloquial Cantonese advertisements are sometimes seen in Guangdong, suggesting that written Cantonese
SECTION 50
#17328689486973380-414: The other hand, men, and both blue-collar workers and college-educated high-income demographics, are factors that tend towards a convergence to standard written Chinese. A good source for well documented written Cantonese words can be found in the scripts for Cantonese opera . Readings in Cantonese colloquial: being selections from books in the Cantonese vernacular with free and literal translations of
3445-623: The overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China was characterized by efforts at language reform. Many of the first language reformers of this period were associated with the New Culture Movement , which began around 1916 due to anti-imperialist and anti-traditionalist sentiments which boiled over during the May Fourth Movement , and which also promoted concepts like republicanism and democracy. These sentiments inspired
3510-535: The pioneers of its use as an effective written language. Written Cantonese has become quite popular in certain tabloids , online chat rooms , instant messaging , and even social networking websites; this would be even more evident since the rise of localism in Hong Kong from the 2010s, where the articles written by those localist media are written in Cantonese. Although most foreign movies and TV shows are subtitled in Standard Chinese, some, such as The Simpsons , are subtitled using written Cantonese. Newspapers have
3575-468: The register of vernacular Chinese, the greater the resemblance to Literary Chinese; modern writing lies on a continuum between the two. Since the transition, it has been extremely rare for a text to be written predominantly in Literary Chinese. Until the 1970s, the legal code of the Republic of China was written in Literary Chinese, though in a form replete with modern expressions and constructions that would have been foreign to ancient writers. Similarly, until
3640-409: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Baihua . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baihua&oldid=1156375908 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
3705-508: The standard lexicon, and for some words from Old Chinese when their original forms have been forgotten. Despite attempts by the government of Hong Kong in the 1990s to standardize this character set, culminating in the release of the Hong Kong Supplementary Character Set (HKSCS) for use in electronic communication, there is still significant disagreement about which characters are correct in written Cantonese, as many of
3770-521: The two vocabularies are. Snow wrote that the different vocabulary systems are the main difference between written Mandarin and written Cantonese. Ouyang Shan made a corpus-based estimate concluding that one third of the lexical items used in regular Cantonese speech do not exist in Mandarin, but that between the formal registers the differences were smaller. He analyzed a radio news broadcast and concluded that of its lexical items, 10.6% were distinctly Cantonese. Here are examples of differing lexical items in
3835-499: The vernacular, classical words and usages may still appear every so often. In particular, chengyu are used by writers and speakers of all education levels in a variety of contexts. Multiple regional varieties of written written vernacular Chinese exist: There is also literature written in Cantonese , Shanghainese , and Taiwanese Hokkien , which uses additional characters to record the different vocabulary present in these varieties. Efforts to standardize their written forms include
3900-591: The world are written to cater to their population with these written Cantonese characters. Before the 20th century, the standard written language of China was Classical Chinese, with a grammar and vocabulary based on the Old Chinese of the Spring and Autumn period , of the 8th to the 5th century BCE. While this written standard remained essentially static for over two thousand years, the actual spoken language diverged ever further. The formation of Yue Chinese occurring among
3965-484: The written form, which continued to emulate the language of the classics. The differences grew over time: By the Tang and Song dynasties (618–1279), people began to write in their vernacular dialects in the form of bianwen and yulu ( 語錄 ; 'language record'), and the spoken language was completely distinct from the formal Literary Chinese. Familiarity with Literary Chinese was fundamental to higher education. During
SECTION 60
#17328689486974030-622: Was mainly written according to local vernaculars, rather than based on a specific dialect. Missionaries retained some of the style of the original texts, while adapting them to a Chinese audience. Lower Yangtze Mandarin formed the standard for written vernacular Chinese, until it was displaced by the Beijing dialect during the late Qing. Baihua ( 白话 ; 'plain speech') was used by writers across China regardless of their local spoken dialect. Writers used Lower Yangtze and Beijing grammar and vocabulary in order to make their writing understandable to
4095-481: Was not until after the onset of the May Fourth Movement in 1919 and the promotion of vernacular writing by public intellectuals—such as reformer Hu Shih , writers Chen Hengzhe , Lu Xun , and Qian Xuantong , and the revolutionary Chen Duxiu —that vernacular Chinese gained widespread importance. In particular, Lu Xun's The True Story of Ah Q is generally accepted as the first modern work to fully utilize vernacular language. During this period, baihua literature
4160-442: Was unusually high in that region. The mukjyus were intended to be sung, similar to other genres such as naamyam , although without musical instruments. The earliest known mukjyusyu work with elements of written Cantonese, Faazin Gei ( 花箋記 , Jyutping: Faa zin Gei , Hanyu Pinyin: Huājiān Jì , literally "The Flowery Paper"), was composed by an unknown author during the late Ming dynasty ; its oldest extant edition
4225-415: Was vernacularization, but questions such as the extent to which the written vernacular should borrow elements from classical Chinese and whether Chinese characters should be replaced by an alphabet or another kind of writing system were hotly debated. Mao, Lu, and the more radical activists at first argued for replacing characters with a phonetic writing system, which they believed would more easily facilitate
#696303