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Emperor Xianzong of Tang

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Emperor Xianzong of Tang (4 March to 1 April 778 – 14 February 820; r. 805 – 820), personal name Li Chun , né Li Chun ( 李淳 ), was an emperor of the Chinese Tang dynasty . He was the eldest son of Emperor Shunzong , who reigned for less than a year in 805 and who yielded the throne to him late that year.

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129-499: Once emperor, Emperor Xianzong set out to curb the power of the military governors ( Jiedushi ), and, when they would not heed his orders, he waged wars against them. His initial campaigns were quite successful, and Xianzong's army defeated warlords such as Liu Pi , Yang Huilin ( 楊惠琳 ) in 806 and Li Qi in 807. In 813, after the submission of one of the key holdouts, Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan , Hebei ) under Tian Xing , Emperor Xianzong appeared poised to reunite

258-537: A koiné language based on various northern varieties. When Jesuit missionaries learned this standard language in the 16th century, they called it "Mandarin", from its Chinese name Guānhuà ( 官话 ; 官話 ; 'language of the officials'). In everyday English, "Mandarin" refers to Standard Chinese , which is often called simply "Chinese". Standard Mandarin Chinese is based on Beijing dialect , with some lexical and syntactic influence from other Mandarin dialects. It

387-533: A combination of any of these is also common. In Malaysia , Mandarin has been adopted by local Chinese-language schools as the medium of instruction with the standard based on that of Singapore. However, it is not as widespread in daily life among the Malaysian Chinese community, as Hokkien speakers continue to form a plurality among the ethnic Chinese population and Cantonese serves as the common language (especially in commerce and local media). An exception

516-549: A common form of speech developed based on the dialects of the North China Plain around the capital, a language referred to as Old Mandarin. New genres of vernacular literature were based on this language, including verse, drama and story forms, such as the qu and sanqu poetry. The rhyming conventions of the new verse were codified in a rime dictionary called the Zhongyuan Yinyun (1324). A radical departure from

645-549: A crown prince, Emperor Xianzong created his oldest son Li Ning , born of his concubine Consort Ji, crown prince. Also in 809, after the death of another warlord, Wang Shizhen the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang , Hebei ), Emperor Xianzong was initially poised to let Wang Shizhen's son Wang Chengzong inherit Chengde, after Wang Chengzong offered to surrender two of his six prefectures to imperial control. However, after Wang Chengzong reneged on his promise, Emperor Xianzong commissioned

774-470: A feast and allowed the imperial general Meng Yuanyang ( 孟元陽 ) to take control of Zhaoyi, Wang agreed to formally submit to Emperor Xianzong, claiming that it was Lu who interfered in his relationship with the imperial government. Emperor Xianzong, seeing that the campaign was making no advances, ended it and made Wang the military governor of Chengde. After the end of the Chengde campaign, Zhang Maozhao ( 張茂昭 )

903-523: A final glottal stop . Many Mandarin varieties, including the Beijing dialect, retain retroflex initial consonants, which have been lost in southern varieties of Chinese. The Chinese capital has been within the Mandarin-speaking area for most of the last millennium, making these dialects very influential. Some form of Mandarin has served as a lingua franca for government officials and the courts since

1032-480: A group of assassins to carry out guerilla warfare tactics around the eastern capital Luoyang , to try to disrupt the campaign against Zhangyi and to create a sense of terror among the officials and the people. When the imperial pressure on Zhangyi still being unrelenting, with the imperial generals Wu Chongyin and Li Guangyan frequently dealing Zhangyi troops defeats (although imperial troops were unable to decisively defeat Zhangyi), Li Shidao decided to assassinate

1161-621: A key leader of the "Li Party.") Also around that time, the Shatuo tribes, which had long been vassals of Tang's long-term adversary Tufan , fearing that Tufan was set to move them to the interior of the Tufan state, rebelled against Tufan and surrendered to Tang, under the leadership of Zhuxie Zhiyi ( 朱邪執宜 ). They were initially settled at Shuofang Circuit (朔方, headquartered in modern Yinchuan , Ningxia ) and later moved to Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan , Shanxi ); their chieftains of

1290-571: A large geographical area that stretches from Yunnan in the southwest to Xinjiang in the northwest and Heilongjiang in the northeast. This is generally attributed to the greater ease of travel and communication in the North China Plain compared to the more mountainous south, combined with the relatively recent spread of Mandarin to frontier areas. Most Mandarin varieties have four tones . The final stops of Middle Chinese have disappeared in most of these varieties, but some have merged them as

1419-452: A lower pitch and by the late Tang dynasty , each of the tones had split into two registers conditioned by the initials. When voicing was lost in all languages except the Wu subfamily, this distinction became phonemic and the system of initials and tones was rearranged differently in each of the major groups. The Zhongyuan Yinyun shows the typical Mandarin four-tone system resulting from a split of

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1548-632: A period marked by continuous infighting among rival kingdoms, dynasties, and regional regimes established by jiedushi . Hexi Jiedushi was created in 711 and headquartered in Liang Prefecture . It was lost to the Tibetan Empire in 766. Wang Junchuo (王君㚟), Xiao Song , Niu Xianke , Geshu Han , and Cui Xiyi (崔希逸) were jiedushi of Hexi. Longyou Jiedushi was created in 713 and headquartered in Shan Prefecture ( Ledu , Qinghai ). In 747, Geshu Han

1677-576: A petition to Li Chun as well requesting that he take power away from Wang Pi, Wang Shuwen, and Li Zhongyan. On August 26, an edict was issued in Emperor Shunzong's name for Li Chun to serve as regent. Thereafter, the imperial officials began to report to Li Chun. On August 31, Emperor Shunzong further issued an edict yielding the throne to Li Chun, taking for himself the title of "Retired Emperor" ( Taishang Huang ) and creating Li Chun's mother Consort Wang "Retired Empress." On September 5, Li Chun took

1806-641: A pivotal role in defeating the rebel Pang Xun . Han Huang , another jiedushi of Zhenhai Army, was chief minister in 785. Zhenwu Jiedushi was created in 758 and headquartered in the Chanyu Protectorate (northwest of Horinger ). It controlled the Chanyu Protectorate, Lin Prefecture (麟州), Sheng Prefecture (勝州), East Shouxiang city (東受降城), and held areas in Shenmu ( Shaanxi ), and Baotou in Inner Mongolia . It

1935-445: A result of Li Jifu's accusations, Wang, Pei, Yang, and Wei were all demoted, and it was said that while no harm came to Niu, Li Zongmin, and Huangfu at that time, they were effectively stuck at the positions they previously served without promotion. As a result, they all sought positions as staff members of military governors. (Niu and Li Zongmin would later become key leaders of the "Niu Party," while Li Jifu's son Li Deyu would become

2064-606: A separate top-level group, but this remains controversial. The Language Atlas of China calls the remainder of Mandarin a "supergroup", divided into eight dialect groups distinguished by their treatment of the Middle Chinese entering tone (see Tones below): The Atlas also includes several unclassified Mandarin dialects spoken in scattered pockets across southeastern China, such as Nanping in Fujian and Dongfang on Hainan . Another Mandarin variety of uncertain classification

2193-703: Is a group of Chinese language dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China and Taiwan. The group includes the Beijing dialect , the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese , the official language of China and Taiwan. Because Mandarin originated in North China and most Mandarin dialects are found in the north, the group is sometimes referred to as Northern Chinese ( simplified Chinese : 北方话 ; traditional Chinese : 北方話 ; pinyin : Běifānghuà ; lit. 'northern speech'). Many varieties of Mandarin, such as those of

2322-513: Is apparently Gyami , recorded in the 19th century in the Tibetan foothills, who the Chinese apparently did not recognize as Chinese. Some northwestern Mandarin varieties in the Qinghai–Gansu sprachbund have undergone drastic changes in phonology, lexicon and grammar. A syllable consists maximally of an initial consonant, a medial glide , a vowel, a coda, and tone . In the traditional analysis,

2451-557: Is in the state of Johor , where Mandarin is increasingly used alongside Cantonese as a lingua franca in part due to Singaporean influence. As in Singapore, the local colloquial variant of Mandarin exhibits influences from Cantonese and Malay. In northern Myanmar , a Southwestern Mandarin variant close to the Yunnanese dialect is spoken by local Chinese and other ethnic groups. In some rebel group -controlled regions, Mandarin also serves as

2580-815: Is lost after apical initials in several areas. Thus Southwestern Mandarin has /tei/ "correct" where the standard language has dui /twei/ . Southwestern Mandarin also has /kai kʰai xai/ in some words where the standard has jie qie xie /tɕjɛ tɕʰjɛ ɕjɛ/ . This is a stereotypical feature of southwestern Mandarin, since it is so easily noticeable. E.g. hai "shoe" for standard xie , gai "street" for standard jie . Mandarin dialects typically have relatively few vowels. Syllabic fricatives , as in standard zi and zhi , are common in Mandarin dialects, though they also occur elsewhere. The Middle Chinese off-glides /j/ and /w/ are generally preserved in Mandarin dialects, yielding several diphthongs and triphthongs in contrast to

2709-450: Is one of the official languages of Taiwan . The Taiwanese standard of Mandarin differs very little from that of mainland China, with differences largely in some technical vocabulary developed from the 1950s onwards. While the spoken standard of Taiwanese Mandarin is nearly identical to that of mainland China, the colloquial form has been heavily influenced by other local languages, especially Taiwanese Hokkien . Notable differences include:

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2838-580: Is the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan (Republic of China, ROC), as well as one of the four official languages of Singapore , and a high-prestige minority language in Malaysia . It also functions as the language of instruction in mainland China and Taiwan. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations , under the name "Chinese". Chinese speakers refer to

2967-538: Is used by linguists to refer to the northern dialects recorded in materials from the Yuan dynasty. Native speakers who are not academic linguists may not recognize that the variants they speak are classified in linguistics as members of "Mandarin" (or so-called "Northern dialects") in a broader sense. Within Chinese social or cultural discourse, there is not a "Mandarin" identity based on language; rather, there are strong regional identities centred on individual dialects because of

3096-541: Is wholly identical to the Beijing dialect . The written forms of Standard Chinese are also essentially equivalent, although simplified characters are used in mainland China and Singapore, while traditional characters remain in use in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Singapore has followed mainland China in officially adopting simplified characters. Mandarin is spoken across northern and southwestern China, with some pockets in neighbouring countries. Unlike their compatriots on

3225-625: The An Lushan Rebellion that abruptly ended the golden age of the Tang dynasty. Even after the difficult suppression of that rebellion, some jiedushi such as the Three Fanzhen of Hebei were allowed to retain their powers due to the weakened state of the court. The jiedushi were one of the primary factors which contributed to the political division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period ,

3354-602: The Cyrillic script . The classification of Chinese dialects evolved during the 20th century, and many points remain unsettled. Early classifications tended to follow provincial boundaries or major geographical features. In 1936, Wang Li produced the first classification based on phonetic criteria, principally the evolution of Middle Chinese voiced initials. His Mandarin group included dialects of northern and southwestern China, as well as those of Hunan and northern Jiangxi . Li Fang-Kuei 's classification of 1937 distinguished

3483-596: The Jingyuan mutiny in 783 for denouncing the usurper Zhu Ci . Jingyuan was annexed by Li Maozhen in 899. Shannan West Circuit Jiedushi was created in 780 and headquartered in Liang Prefecture (梁州) (east of Hanzhong , Shaanxi ). It was annexed by Wang Jian in 902. Heyang Sancheng Jiedushi was created in 781 and headquartered in Heyang (河陽) (south of Mengzhou ). It controlled Mengzhou and Mengjin . Yiwu Army Jiedushi

3612-508: The National Language Unification Commission finally settled on the Beijing dialect in 1932. The People's Republic, founded in 1949, retained this standard, calling it pǔtōnghuà ( simplified Chinese : 普通话 ; traditional Chinese : 普通話 ; lit. 'common speech'). Some 54% of speakers of Mandarin varieties could understand the standard language in the early 1950s, rising to 91% in 1984. Nationally,

3741-423: The eunuch Tutu Chengcui to command the imperial troops to attack Chengde. (As a result of this campaign's launch, when another warlord, Wu Shaocheng the military governor of Zhangyi Circuit (彰義, headquartered in modern Zhumadian , Henan ) subsequently died, he was unable to act against Wu Shaocheng's subordinate Wu Shaoyang , who seized control of the circuit, and was forced to commission Wu Shaoyang, much to

3870-464: The jiedushi were posts authorized with the supervision of a defense command often encompassing several prefectures, the ability to maintain their own armies, collect taxes and promote and appoint subordinates. Powerful jiedushi eventually became fanzhen rulers ( de facto warlords) and overrode the power of the central government of Tang. An early example of this was An Lushan , who was appointed jiedushi of three regions, which he used to start

3999-548: The rime table tradition that had evolved over the previous centuries, this dictionary contains a wealth of information on the phonology of Old Mandarin. Further sources are the 'Phags-pa script based on the Tibetan alphabet, which was used to write several of the languages of the Mongol empire, including Chinese and the Menggu Ziyun , a rime dictionary based on 'Phags-pa. The rime books differ in some details, but overall show many of

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4128-480: The "even" tone and loss of the entering tone, with its syllables distributed across the other tones (though their different origin is marked in the dictionary). Similarly, voiced plosives and affricates have become voiceless aspirates in the "even" tone and voiceless non-aspirates in others, another distinctive Mandarin development. However, the language still retained a final -m , which has merged with -n in modern dialects and initial voiced fricatives. It also retained

4257-479: The 14th century. In the early 20th century, a standard form based on the Beijing dialect, with elements from other Mandarin dialects, was adopted as the national language . Standard Chinese is the official language of China and Taiwan , as well as one of the four official languages of Singapore . It is also used as one of the official languages of the United Nations . Recent increased migration from Mandarin-speaking regions of China and Taiwan has now resulted in

4386-466: The 18th century, and as a result the Northeastern Mandarin dialects spoken there differ little from the Beijing dialect . The Manchu people of the area now speak these dialects exclusively; their native language is only maintained in northwestern Xinjiang , where Xibe , a modern dialect, is spoken. The frontier areas of northwest China were colonized by speakers of Mandarin dialects at

4515-424: The Beijing accent, and also take some elements from other sources, and deviate from the Beijing dialect in vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatics . Comparison of dictionaries produced in the two areas will show that there are few substantial differences. However, both versions of "school-standard" Chinese are often quite different from the Mandarin varieties that are spoken in accordance with regional habits, and neither

4644-516: The Eastern Palace (i.e., the palace of his grandfather, then- Crown Prince Li Kuo ). His father Li Song was Li Kuo's oldest son, and he himself was Li Song's oldest son. His mother was Li Song's concubine Consort Wang . When Li Chun was five or six, by which time Li Kuo was emperor (as Emperor Dezong), there was an occasion when Emperor Dezong held Li Chun on his lap and asked, "Who are you, such that you are in my lap?" His response of, "I am

4773-510: The Mandarin group, pointing out that the Lower Yangtze dialects also retain the glottal stop. The southern boundary of the Mandarin area, with the central Wu , Gan and Xiang groups, is weakly defined due to centuries of diffusion of northern features. Many border varieties have a mixture of features that make them difficult to classify. The boundary between Southwestern Mandarin and Xiang is particularly weak, and in many early classifications

4902-583: The Northwestern dialects are the most diverse, particularly in the province of Shanxi . The linguist Li Rong proposed that the northwestern dialects of Shanxi and neighbouring areas that retain a final glottal stop in the Middle Chinese entering tone (plosive-final) category should constitute a separate top-level group called Jin . He used this classification in the Language Atlas of China (1987). Many other linguists continue to include these dialects in

5031-527: The Prince of Sui, born of his wife, Consort Guo (formerly the Princess of Guangling), crown prince and changed Li You's name to Li Heng, even though he had an older son, Li Kuan ( 李寬 ) the Prince of Li, as it was viewed by officials such as Cui Qun that Li Heng, born of a wife rather than a concubine, was the proper heir. Still, despite repeated petitions by the officials to create Consort Guo empress, Emperor Xianzong

5160-516: The Qing dynasty novel Dream of the Red Chamber and beyond, there developed a literature in written vernacular Chinese ( 白话 ; 白話 ; báihuà ). In many cases, this written language reflected Mandarin varieties and since pronunciation differences were not conveyed in this written form, this tradition had a unifying force across all the Mandarin-speaking regions and beyond. Hu Shih , a pivotal figure of

5289-575: The Southwest (including Sichuanese ) and the Lower Yangtze , are not mutually intelligible with the standard language (or are only partially intelligible). Nevertheless, Mandarin as a group is often placed first in lists of languages by number of native speakers (with nearly one billion). Mandarin is by far the largest of the Chinese dialect groups ; it is spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over

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5418-623: The Tibetan Empire in 763. Shuofang was taken over by the warlord Han Zun (韓遵) in 887. Youzhou Jiedushi , also known as Fanyang Jiedushi, was created in 713. It assumed control of Lulong in 762 and controlled You, Ji, Ping, Tan, Gui, and Yan prefectures. Its territory lay primarily in Tianjin north of the Hai River and parts of Beijing . It was headquartered in Ji county (southwest of Beijing ). An Lushan

5547-515: The Zhuxie clan were given the area of Huanghuadui (黃花堆, in modern Shuozhou , Shanxi ) as their base of operations. (The Shatuo would eventually become a major part of the Tang army, and would yet later yield the ruling families of Later Tang , Later Jin , and Later Han , after Tang's end.) In 809, after much urging by the imperial scholars (翰林學士, Hanlin Xueshi ), led by Li Jiang , that he needed to have

5676-406: The acting military governor. However, Liu then made further demands to be given two neighboring circuits—Dongchuan (東川, headquartered in modern Mianyang , Sichuan ) and Shannan West (山南西道, headquartered in modern Hanzhong , Shaanxi )—as well. When Emperor Xianzong refused his demand, he launched an attack on Dongchuan's capital prefecture Zi Prefecture ( 梓州 ) in spring 806. At the suggestion of

5805-415: The aftermaths of the Chengde campaign, Tutu Chengcui was demoted and, later, after he was involved in a corruption scandal, sent out of the capital to serve as the eunuch monitor for Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou , Jiangsu ). In 811, at Li Jifu's suggestion, Emperor Xianzong appointed several officials—Duan Pingzhong ( 段平仲 ), Wei Guanzhi, Xu Mengrong ( 許孟容 ), and Li Jiang—to review

5934-672: The assassination.) Consorts and Issue: Jiedushi The jiedushi ( Chinese : 節度使 ; Korean : 절도사 ; romaja : Jeoldosa ; Vietnamese : Tiết độ sứ , Old Turkic : Tarduş) or jiedu , was a regional military governor in China; the title was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty . The post of jiedushi has been translated as "military commissioner", " legate ", or "regional commander". Originally introduced in 711 to counter external threats,

6063-584: The attendant to Li Chun's studies. However, it appeared that Li Chun disliked Wang Shunwen and his associates, and whenever Lu tried to speak to him on political matters, Li Chun angrily responded, "His Imperial Majesty commissioned you, sir, to teach me about the classics . Why do you discuss other matters?" By summer 805, a group of military governors ( Jiedushi ) that Wang Shuwen had disputes with— Wei Gao , Pei Jun ( 裴均 ), and Yan Shou ( 嚴綬 )—were submitting petitions to Emperor Shunzong requesting that he let Li Chun serve as regent, and Wei Gao further submitted

6192-495: The campaign against Chengde (although he did not pardon Wang). Meanwhile, Pei Du volunteered to head to the Zhangyi front to oversee the operation, and Emperor Xianzong agreed. Later in the year, Li Su the military governor of Tangsuideng Circuit (唐隨鄧, headquartered in modern Zhumadian ) launched a surprise attack against Zhangyi's capital Cai Prefecture ( 蔡州 ), catching its defenders off guard and capturing it, seizing Wu Yuanji. Wu

6321-606: The campaign against Liu not over by that point, that he should not wage another campaign, and therefore allowed Li Shidao to inherit Pinglu. After Liu's and Yang's destruction, another warlord, Li Qi the military governor of Zhenhai Circuit (鎮海, headquartered in modern Zhenjiang , Jiangsu ) became apprehensive, and, as a means of showing loyalty, requested to go to Chang'an to pay homage to Emperor Xianzong. He did not actually intend to do so, however, and after Emperor Xianzong not only approved, but issued an edict summoning him when he did not depart Zhenhai immediately, rebelled against

6450-414: The capital moved to Beijing in 1421, though the speech of the new capital emerged as a rival standard. As late as 1815, Robert Morrison based the first English–Chinese dictionary on this koiné as the standard of the time, though he conceded that the Beijing dialect was gaining in influence. By the middle of the 19th century, the Beijing dialect had become dominant and was essential for any business with

6579-470: The chancellor Du Huangchang , Emperor Xianzong commissioned the general Gao Chongwen to attack Liu, assisted by the generals Li Yuanyi ( 李元奕 ) and Yan Li ( 嚴礪 ). In fall 806, Gao captured Xichuan's capital Chengdu and delivered Liu to the capital Chang'an to be executed. Also in spring 806, Yang Huilin, the nephew of the general Han Quanyi ( 韓全義 ) the military governor of Xiasui Circuit (夏綏, headquartered in modern Yan'an , Shaanxi ), seized control of

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6708-413: The chancellor Wu Yuanheng , whom Emperor Xianzong had put in charge of the campaign against Zhangyi, as well as the official Pei Du , a major proponent of the campaign. In summer 814, assassins that Li Shidao sent killed Wu Yuanheng and wounded Pei, terrifying the officials and the people at Chang'an. Emperor Xianzong's resolve against Zhangyi did not change, however, and when he came to believe that Wang

6837-582: The circuit after Han had been ordered to retire and resisted imperial orders. With imperial forces approaching Xiasui's capital Xia Prefecture ( 夏州 ), Yang was quickly killed by his own subordinate Zhang Chengjin ( 張承金 ), ending his rebellion. Around the same time, the warlord Li Shigu , the military governor of the powerful Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Tai'an , Shandong ), died, and his subordinates supported his brother Li Shidao to succeed him. Du advocated trying to divest Pinglu of some of its territory, but Emperor Xianzong, believing that with

6966-556: The country, coupled with a strong decline in usage of other Chinese variants. Standard Singaporean Mandarin is nearly identical to the standards of China and Taiwan, with minor vocabulary differences. It is the Mandarin variant used in education, media, and official settings. Meanwhile, a colloquial form called Singdarin is used in informal daily life and is heavily influenced in terms of both grammar and vocabulary by local languages such as Cantonese, Hokkien, and Malay. Instances of code-switching with English, Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, or

7095-423: The destructive forces of the military governors, but saw the rise of the power of eunuchs . Emperor Xianzong himself was allegedly murdered by the eunuch Chen Hongzhi ( 陳弘志 ) in 820. (There were nagging suspicions, never proven, that Xianzong's wife Consort Guo and her son Li Heng (the later Emperor Muzong) were involved.) Li Chun was born in 778, during the reign of his great-grandfather Emperor Daizong , at

7224-418: The distinction between velars and alveolar sibilants in palatal environments, which later merged in most Mandarin dialects to yield a palatal series (rendered j- , q- and x- in pinyin ). The flourishing vernacular literature of the period also shows distinctively Mandarin vocabulary and syntax, though some, such as the third-person pronoun tā ( 他 ), can be traced back to the Tang dynasty. Until

7353-589: The early 20th century, formal writing and even much poetry and fiction was done in Literary Chinese , which was modeled on the classics of the Warring States period and the Han dynasty . Over time, the various spoken varieties diverged greatly from Literary Chinese, which was learned and composed as a special language. Preserved from the sound changes that affected the various spoken varieties, its economy of expression

7482-483: The empire using a common language based on Mandarin varieties, known as Guānhuà . Knowledge of this language was thus essential for an official career, but it was never formally defined. Officials varied widely in their pronunciation; in 1728, the Yongzheng Emperor , unable to understand the accents of officials from Guangdong and Fujian , issued a decree requiring the governors of those provinces to provide for

7611-527: The empire, many parts of which had effectively been ruled independently by regional warlords. Xianzong's first setback was in 813 when he failed to defeat military governor Wang Chengzong . However, by 817, after the defeat of Li Shidao and Wang's submission, all of the empire was under imperial authority again. Later historians referred to Emperor Xianzong's reign as the Yuanhe Restoration ( 元和中興 ). Emperor Xianzong's reign briefly stabilized Tang from

7740-492: The eunuchs, the possibility of having Li Chun take the throne directly was mentioned. As Emperor Shunzong continued to be seriously ill and unable to speak, a group of his close associates—the eunuch Li Zhongyan ( 李忠言 ), his concubine Consort Niu , the imperial scholars Wang Shuwen and Wang Pi , and the chancellor Wei Zhiyi —became the key decision-makers. It was said that this group of individuals feared Li Chun for his intelligence and decisiveness, and initially, Li Chun

7869-510: The features characteristic of modern Mandarin dialects, such as the reduction and disappearance of final plosives and the reorganization of the Middle Chinese tones. In Middle Chinese, initial stops and affricates showed a three-way contrast between tenuis , voiceless aspirated and voiced consonants. There were four tones , with the fourth or "entering tone", a checked tone comprising syllables ending in plosives ( -p , -t or -k ). Syllables with voiced initials tended to be pronounced with

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7998-460: The first half of the twentieth century, wrote an influential and perceptive study of this literary tradition, entitled "A History of Vernacular Literature" ( Báihuà Wénxuéshǐ ). Until the mid-20th century, most Chinese people living in many parts of South China spoke only their local variety. As a practical measure, officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties carried out the administration of

8127-478: The governmental structure, to streamline it, reduce the number of officials who were not carrying out any crucial tasks, and revise the officials' wage scale. Later in the year, with Emperor Xianzong believing that Li Jifu had often used his own personal likes and dislikes to decide on his policies, he promoted Li Jiang to be a chancellor as well, to counterbalance Li Jifu. Around the new year 812, Li Ning died. In fall 812, Emperor Xianzong created another son Li You

8256-567: The imperial court. The variant of Mandarin as spoken by educated classes in Beijing was made the official language of China by the Qing dynasty in the early 1900s and the successive Republican government. In the early years of the Republic of China , intellectuals of the New Culture Movement , such as Hu Shih and Chen Duxiu , successfully campaigned for the replacement of Literary Chinese as

8385-437: The imperial forces were repeatedly dealing defeats to Pinglu troops. Meanwhile, it was said that after the victory over Zhangyi, Emperor Xianzong began to be arrogant and extravagant in his lifestyle, and he favored such officials as Huangfu Bo and Cheng Yi , whom he believed to be capable of increasing revenues for palace use. He eventually made both Huangfu and Cheng chancellors, despite earnest pleas by Pei and Cui Qun, who

8514-604: The imperial government. Before imperial troops could attack him, however, he was captured by his own subordinates and delivered to Chang'an to be executed. Around that time, another warlord, Yu Di the military governor of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern Xiangfan , Hubei ), fearing Emperor Xianzong, went to Chang'an and yielded control of the circuit to the imperial government, after Emperor Xianzong had ensured Yu's loyalty by marrying his daughter Princess Puning to Yu's son Yu Jiyou ( 于季友 ). In 808, an incident occurred that, as later historians opined, precipitated

8643-415: The issues they saw with the governance at the time. The officials that Emperor Xianzong put in charge of the examinations, Yang Yuling ( 楊於陵 ) and Wei Guanzhi ranked them high. However, the chancellor Li Jifu saw these as severe criticisms of himself, and, weeping, accused the reviewing officials, the imperial scholars Pei Ji and Wang Ya , of conflict of interest—as Huangfu was a nephew of Wang's. As

8772-417: The lament of his imperial scholar advisors, who viewed Zhangyi as a far easier target than Chengde.) The campaign against Chengde stalled, however, with one of its original major proponents, Lu Congshi ( 盧從史 ) the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi , Shanxi ), secretly communicating with Chengde and interfering with the campaign. In summer 810, after Tutu arrested Lu at

8901-546: The language being one of the more frequently used varieties of Chinese among Chinese diaspora communities. It is also the most commonly taught Chinese variety . The English word "mandarin" (from Portuguese mandarim , from Malay menteri , from Sanskrit mantrī , mantrin , meaning 'minister or counsellor') originally meant an official of the Ming and Qing empires. Since their native varieties were often mutually unintelligible, these officials communicated using

9030-428: The later partisan struggles between the "Niu Party" and the "Li Party" that would eventually occur throughout the reigns of the five emperors after Emperor Xianzong. At a special imperial examinations where Emperor Xianzong ordered that low-level officials submit honest opinions about the government, several of the examinees— Niu Sengru , Li Zongmin , and Huangfu Shi ( 皇甫湜 ) stated, without using any veiled language,

9159-404: The latter two groups as Xiang and Gan , while splitting the remaining Mandarin dialects between Northern, Lower Yangtze and Southwestern Mandarin groups. The widely accepted seven-group classification of Yuan Jiahua in 1960 kept Xiang and Gan separate, with Mandarin divided into Northern, Northwestern, Southwestern and Jiang–Huai (Lower Yangtze) subgroups. Of Yuan's four Mandarin subgroups,

9288-826: The lingua franca. The Dungan people of Kyrgyzstan , Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are descendants of Hui people who fled to the Russian Empire from Dzungaria in 1877 after the fall of Kashgaria to Qing forces and from the Ili valley after it was ceded to China in the Treaty of Saint Petersburg in 1881. About 500 speakers live in a compact area in Rovensky District, Saratov Oblast in Russia. The Dungan speak two dialects, descended from Central Plains Mandarin dialects of southeast Gansu and southwest Shaanxi, and write their language in

9417-403: The media, formal speech, and everyday life remains the local Cantonese because of their colonial and linguistic history. While Standard Mandarin is now the medium of instruction in schools throughout China, it still has yet to gain traction as a common language among the local population in areas where Mandarin dialects are not native. In these regions, people may be either diglossic or speak

9546-581: The medial, vowel and coda are combined as a final . Not all combinations occur. For example, Standard Chinese (based on the Beijing dialect) has about 1,200 distinct syllables. Phonological features that are generally shared by the Mandarin dialects include: The maximal inventory of initials of a Mandarin dialect is as follows, with bracketed pinyin spellings given for those present in the standard language: Most Mandarin dialects have three medial glides, /j/ , /w/ and /ɥ/ (spelled i , u and ü in pinyin), though their incidence varies. The medial /w/ ,

9675-463: The merger of retroflex sounds (zh, ch, sh, r) with the alveolar series (z, c, s), frequent mergers of the "neutral tone" with a word's original tone, and absence of erhua . Code-switching between Mandarin and Taiwanese Hokkien is common, as the majority of the population continues to also speak the latter as a native language. Mandarin is one of the four official languages of Singapore along with English , Malay , and Tamil . Historically, it

9804-645: The military governor of Chengde's neighboring Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern Baoding , Hebei ), who had inherited his position from his father Zhang Xiaozhong , offered to yield the circuit to imperial control, and Emperor Xianzong agreed, sending the official Ren Dijian ( 任迪簡 ) to replace Zhang Maozhao. (After Zhang's departure from Yiwu, however, the Yiwu soldiers mutinied against Ren and put him under house arrest, although eventually another group of soldiers then countered their mutiny and restored Ren, allowing Yiwu to be in imperial hands from this point on.) Also in

9933-411: The modern standard language as but not as Guānhuà . Linguists use the term "Mandarin" to refer to the diverse group of dialects spoken in northern and southwestern China, which Chinese linguists call Guānhuà . The alternative term Běifānghuà ( 北方话 ; 北方話 ; 'Northern dialects'), is used less and less among Chinese linguists. By extension, the term "Old Mandarin" or "Early Mandarin"

10062-531: The mountains and rivers of southern China have spawned the other six major groups of Chinese varieties, with great internal diversity, particularly in Fujian . However, the varieties of Mandarin cover a huge area containing nearly a billion people. As a result, there are pronounced regional variations in pronunciation , vocabulary , and grammar , and many Mandarin varieties are not mutually intelligible. Most of northeast China , except for Liaoning , did not receive significant settlements by Han Chinese until

10191-714: The oldest son." Emperor Shunzong, who was unable to speak, nodded, and an edict was thereafter issued in late spring 805 creating Li Chun crown prince. The edict also changed Li Chun's name (from 淳 to 純—both rendered "Chun" in modern Mandarin ). It was said that Wang Shunwen was so concerned about Li Chun that he was heard reading from Du Fu 's poem about the Shu Han regent Zhuge Liang —"He had not even succeeded in his campaigns when he died. This often caused heroes to weep onto their collars." Wang Shuwen and Wei Zhiyi tried to see if their group could persuade Li Chun to favor their positions by having their associate Lu Zhi ( 陸質 ) serve as

10320-666: The other six are Wu , Gan , and Xiang in central China and Min , Hakka , and Yue on the southeast coast. The Language Atlas of China (1987) distinguishes three further groups: Jin (split from Mandarin), Huizhou in the Huizhou region of Anhui and Zhejiang , and Pinghua in Guangxi and Yunnan . After the fall of the Northern Song (959–1126) and during the reign of the Jin (1115–1234) and Yuan (Mongol) dynasties in northern China,

10449-441: The palace for three days, and encouraged the people to worship it and make donations to the temples. When the official Han Yu spoke against it, Han was exiled to be the prefect of Chao Prefecture (潮州, in modern Chaozhou , Guangdong ). Also in spring 819, after Li Shidao became suspicious of his officer Liu Wu , who was then resisting Tian's attack, and secretly ordered Liu's deputy Zhang Xian ( 張暹 ) to execute Liu and take over

10578-459: The proportion understanding the standard rose from 41% to 90% over the same period. This standard language is now used in education, the media, and formal occasions in both mainland China and Taiwan , as well as among the Chinese community of Singapore . However, in other parts of the Chinese-speaking world , namely Hong Kong and Macau , the standard form of Chinese used in education,

10707-527: The rest of Emperor Xianzong's reign, Weibo became obedient to the imperial government. In 814, Wu Shaoyang died. Emperor Xianzong did not confirm Wu Shaoyang's son Wu Yuanji as his successor. In response, Wu Yuanji began attacking the nearby circuits to create pressure on the imperial government. Emperor Xianzong declared a general campaign against Wu Yuanji. Wu sought aid from Li Shidao and Wang Chengzong, who repeatedly petitioned Emperor Xianzong to pardon Wu Yuanji, to no avail. Li Shidao thereafter retained

10836-403: The same eunuchs who had supported Emperor Xianzong's ascension. Meanwhile, Wei Gao died late in 805, and his deputy Liu Pi seized power of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu , Sichuan ), which Wei had governed, rejecting the replacement that Emperor Xianzong sent, Yuan Zi . Emperor Xianzong, believing himself to lack the power to attack Liu at this point, initially made Liu

10965-501: The same time, and the dialects in those areas similarly closely resemble their relatives in the core Mandarin area. The Southwest was settled early, but the population fell dramatically for obscure reasons in the 13th century, and did not recover until the 17th century. The dialects in this area are now relatively uniform. However, long-established cities even very close to Beijing , such as Tianjin , Baoding , Shenyang , and Dalian , have markedly different dialects. Standard Mandarin

11094-442: The southeast coast, few Mandarin speakers engaged in overseas emigration until the late 20th century, but there are now significant communities of them in cities across the world. Most Han Chinese living in northern and southwestern China are native speakers of a dialect of Mandarin. The North China Plain provided few barriers to migration, leading to relative linguistic homogeneity over a wide area in northern China. In contrast,

11223-625: The standard language with a notable accent. However, since the start of the 21st century, there has been an effort of mass education in Standard Mandarin Chinese and discouragement of local language usage by the Chinese government in order to erase these regional differences. From an official point of view, the mainland Chinese and the Taiwanese governments maintain their own forms of the standard under different names. The codified forms of both Pǔtōnghuà and Guóyǔ base their phonology on

11352-525: The teaching of proper pronunciation. Although the resulting Academies for Correct Pronunciation ( 正音書院 ; Zhèngyīn Shūyuàn ) were short-lived, the decree did spawn a number of textbooks that give some insight into the ideal pronunciation. Common features included: As the last two of these features indicate, this language was a koiné based on dialects spoken in the Nanjing area, though not identical to any single dialect. This form remained prestigious long after

11481-491: The third Son of Heaven " surprised Emperor Dezong, who thereafter showed him much favor. In 788, by which time Li Song (Shunzong) was crown prince, Li Chun was created the Prince of Guangling. In 793, he married Lady Guo , a daughter of the deceased general Guo Ai ( 郭曖 ) and Emperor Daizong's daughter Princess Shengping, as his wife and princess. In 804, Li Song (Shunzong) suffered a stroke and became unable to speak. When Emperor Dezong fell gravely ill in spring 805, Li Song

11610-414: The throne (as Emperor Xianzong). Immediately after Emperor Xianzong's ascension to the throne, he purged the government of Wang Shuwen and Wang Pi's associates, exiling them. (He would later order Wang Shuwen to commit suicide.) Emperor Xianzong's father Emperor Shunzong died in spring 806. Some later historians would come to believe that Emperor Shunzong did not die of natural causes, but was murdered by

11739-551: The troops. Zhang, who was friendly with Liu, revealed Li Shidao's orders to Liu. Liu responded by launching a surprise attack on Pinglu's capital Yun Prefecture ( 鄆州 ), capturing Li Shidao and his sons and executing them, delivering their heads to Chang'an. Emperor Xianzong made Liu, who had expected to succeed Li Shidao, the military governor of Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang , Henan ), and divided Pinglu into three circuits to weaken it and keep its territory under imperial control. By this point, Emperor Xianzong

11868-412: The two prefectures that Wang surrendered into neighboring Henghai Circuit (橫海, headquartered in modern Cangzhou , Hebei ), which had been obedient to the imperial government. Li Shidao also offered to surrender three of his 12 prefectures to imperial control and send his son as a hostage—but soon reneged on the offer. Emperor Xianzong thus declared a general campaign against his Pinglu Circuit, and soon,

11997-585: The two were not separated. Zhou Zhenhe and You Rujie include the New Xiang dialects within Southwestern Mandarin, treating only the more conservative Old Xiang dialects as a separate group. The Huizhou dialects have features of both Mandarin and Wu, and have been assigned to one or other of these groups or treated as separate by various authors. Li Rong and the Language Atlas of China treated it as

12126-471: The warlord Tian Ji'an the military governor of Weibo Circuit died. With Tian Ji'an's son and designated successor Tian Huaijian being young, soon thereafter, the soldiers mutinied and supported Tian Ji'an's relative Tian Xing . Tian Xing offered to subject Weibo to imperial commands, and soon thereafter, Emperor Xianzong made Tian Xing the military governor of Weibo and changed his name to Tian Hongzheng. With Tian Hongzheng as Weibo's military governor, for

12255-706: The wide geographical distribution and cultural diversity of their speakers. Speakers of forms of Mandarin other than the standard typically refer to the variety they speak by a geographic name—for example the Sichuan dialect and the Hebei dialect or Northeastern dialect , all being regarded as distinct from the standard language, with which they may not share much mutual intelligibility. The hundreds of modern local varieties of Chinese developed from regional variants of Old Chinese and Middle Chinese . Traditionally, seven major groups of dialects have been recognized. Aside from Mandarin,

12384-416: The written standard by written vernacular Chinese , which was based on northern dialects. A parallel priority was the definition of a standard national language ( traditional Chinese : 國語 ; simplified Chinese : 国语 ; pinyin : Guóyǔ ; Wade–Giles : Kuo²-yü³ ). After much dispute between proponents of northern and southern dialects and an abortive attempt at an artificial pronunciation ,

12513-787: Was a jiedushi of Hedong. Lingwu Jiedushi was created in 733 and headquartered in Huile (回樂) (southwest of Lingwu , Ningxia ). It controlled Ling, Hui, and Yan prefectures. Huainan West Circuit Jiedushi, also known as Huaixi Jiedushi, was created in 756 and lasted until 818. It was headquartered in Yingchuan Prefecture (潁川郡) ( Xuchang , Henan ), Zhengzhou (in Henan ), Shou Prefecture ( Shou County , Anhui ), An Prefecture ( Anlu northwest of Wuhan , Hubei ), Cai Prefecture ( Runan County , southeast Henan ) from 773 to 776, and Bian Prefecture ( Kaifeng , Henan ) from 776 to 779. In 757 Gao Shi

12642-575: Was a jiedushi of Youzhou. Zhu Tao was a jiedushi of Lulong. Jiannan Jiedushi was created in 719 and headquartered in Yi Prefecture (益州) ( Chengdu ). It was split into Jiannan Dongchuan Jiedushi and Jiannan Xichuan Jiedushi in 757 and then merged again from 763 to 764, and then split again from 766 to 779. It controlled 25 prefectures in Chengdu and areas to its north and south in Sichuan . East River controlled 12 prefectures from Jiange to Luzhou . It

12771-459: Was a chancellor by this point as well, against the move. It was said that Huangfu soon was speaking against Cui and Pei, causing both to be sent out of the capital. In spring 819, there was an occasion when Emperor Xianzong had what was alleged to be Gautama Buddha 's finger bone escorted from a temple in Fengxiang (鳳翔, in modern Baoji , Shaanxi ) to the palace in a grand ceremony, kept the bone in

12900-414: Was already waging campaigns against Wu Yuanji and Wang, he could not, and did not, declare yet another campaign against Li Shidao as well at that point.) The imperial forces sent against Zhangyi and Chengde were unsuccessful in quickly achieving final victory against them, however. In 817, with suggestion from the chancellor Li Fengji that he should concentrate on one campaign, Emperor Xianzong called off

13029-533: Was appointed jiedushi of Longyou. Shuofang Jiedushi was created in 713 and headquartered in Ling Prefecture (southwest of Lingwu , Ningxia ). It controlled Ordos , Ningxia , and north Shanxi . In 756 the jiedushi of Shuofang, Guo Ziyi , defeated the rebel Shi Siming in Hebei and recovered Chang'an and Luoyang from the rebels in 757. He was made Commandery Prince of Fenyang in 762 and retook Chang'an from

13158-640: Was appointed jiedushi of Shannan East Circuit. He committed suicide in 781. Yu Di was a jiedushi of Shannan East Circuit. Zhenhai Army Jiedushi, also known as Zhejiang West Circuit Jiedushi (浙江西道) was created in 758 and lay in parts of Jiangsu , Zhejiang, Anhui , and Jiangxi. It was headquartered in Sheng Prefecture (昇州) ( Nanjing , Jiangsu ) and Suzhou ( Jiangsu ). In 761 it moved to Xuanzhou ( Xuancheng , southeast Anhui ), 787 to Runzhou ( Zhenjiang , Jiangsu ), and 808 to Hangzhou ( Zhejiang ). The jiedushi of Zhenhai Army, Du Shenquan , played

13287-473: Was appointed jiedushi of Huainan. Li Zhongchen was jiedushi until he was expelled by his nephew Li Xilie . Wu Yuanji and Wang Bo were jiedushi of Huainan. Jiangxi Jiedushi was created in 756 and headquartered in Hong Prefecture ( Nanchang , Jiangxi ). It was renamed Zhennan Jiedushi in 865. It controlled Hong, Jiang, Xin, Yuan, Fu, Rao, Qian, and Ji prefectures, covering mostly Jiangxi . Li Gao

13416-460: Was apprehensive that, because of the prominent bloodlines that Consort Guo represented (being the granddaughter of the great general Guo Ziyi and the daughter of a princess), if she were created empress, other consorts would not dare to have sexual relations with him, and therefore repeatedly formed excuses with regard to not being able to find the right date to do so. He would eventually never create her (or any other consort) empress. Later in 812,

13545-874: Was commonly believed that he was assassinated by the eunuch Chen Hongzhi. It was said, however, that Chen's eunuch colleagues declared that Emperor Xianzong had died from Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning due to the medicines that he was taking. Tutu Chengcui tried to support Li Kuan, who had been renamed Li Yun ( 李惲 ), to succeed Emperor Xianzong, but the other eunuchs Liang Shouqian ( 梁守謙 ), Ma Jintan ( 馬進潭 ), Liu Chengjie ( 劉承偕 ), Wei Yuansu ( 韋元素 ), and Wang Shoucheng , supported Li Heng, and they killed Tutu and Li Yun. Li Heng thereafter became emperor (as Emperor Muzong). (Another son of Emperor Xianzong's, Li Yi , after he became emperor in 846, would come to suspect that Consort Guo and Li Heng were involved in Emperor Xianzong's assassination, but no direct evidence tied them to

13674-449: Was created in 730 and headquartered in Taiyuan , controlling Shi, Lan, Fen, Xin, and Dai prefectures in central and north Shanxi. Liu Gongchuo (柳公綽) was a jiedushi of Hedong. In 883 Li Keyong was appointed jiedushi of Hedong after recovering Chang'an from Huang Chao . In 885 Li Keyong captured Chang'an and laid waste to it. He was defeated by Zhu Wen in 902 and died in 908. Liu Zhiyuan

13803-699: Was created in 757 and headquartered in Hedong (southwest of Yongji, Shanxi ). It controlled Jin, Jiang, Ci, and Xi prefectures. Jingli Jiedushi was created in 757 and headquartered in Jingzhou ( Jingzhou District , south central Hubei ). It controlled 17 prefectures in Jingzhou , Hubei , Changde , and Hunan . It was annexed by Zhu Wen in 905. Shannan East Circuit Jiedushi was created in 757 and headquartered in Xiangzhou . Its territory encompassed areas of Suizhou , Shiyan , Hubei, Nanyang , and Henan. In 763 Liang Chongyi

13932-764: Was created in 760 and included Fengxiang and Long Prefecture (隴州) ( Long County, Shaanxi and Huating County, Gansu ). It was headquartered in Fengxiang. Li Maozhen and Zheng Zhu were jiedushi of Fengxiang. Chengde Army Jiedushi was one of the Three Fanzhen of Hebei after the An Lushan Rebellion. From 762 it was headquartered in Heng Prefecture (恆州)/Zhen Prefecture (鎮州) ( Zhengding , Hebei ), and controlled Heng, Ji, Shen, Zhao, De, and Di prefectures. Its territory were primarily located in Shijiazhuang , Zanhuang , and Hebei. Li Baochen , adopted son of An Lushan,

14061-627: Was created in 763 and headquartered in Wei Prefecture (northeast of Daming County and southeast of Handan , south Hebei ). It controlled Wei, Bo, Bei, Wei, Chan, and Xiang prefectures in Shandong, north Henan, and south Hebei. It was renamed Tianxiong Army in 904. Tian Chengsi , Tian Hongzheng , Tian Xu were jiedushi of Weibo. Zhaoyi Army Jiedushi was created in 766 and headquartered in Xiang Prefecture ( Anyang , Henan ). Jingyuan Jiedushi

14190-560: Was created in 768 and lasted until 894 when it was renamed Zhangyi Army. Jingyuan's territory was located in Jingchuan , Zhenyuan , Gansu, and Ningxia . Its headquarter was in Jing Prefecture (north of Jingchuan , northeast Gansu . Surviving the Battle of Talas in 751, Duan Xiushi went on to become the jiedushi of Jingyuan until he was dismissed in 780 by Yang Yan . He was killed during

14319-544: Was created in 782 and headquartered in Dingzhou (in Hebei ). Sun Fangjian (孫方諫) was a jiedushi of Yiwu Army. Henghai Army Jiedushi was created in 785 and lasted until 829. It was headquartered in Cangzhou (southeast Hebei ) and controlled Cang, Jing, De, and Di prefectures. Xiasui Jiedushi was created in 787 and controlled Xia, Sui, Yin, and You prefectures in Shenmu and south Ih Ju League, Inner Mongolia . Wuning Jiedushi

14448-609: Was created in 795 and headquartered in Xuzhou . Shi Pu was a jiedushi of Wuning. Wang Shi was appointed jiedushi of Wuning in 862. Caizhou Jiedushi controlled Cai, Shen, and Guang prefectures around 813. It was headquartered in Runan , southeast Henan. Chenxu Jiedushi was in charge of Chen and Xu prefectures around 813. It was headquartered in Xuchang . Eyue Jiedushi was in charge of E, Mian, An, Huang, Qi, and Yue prefectures around 813. It

14577-547: Was greatly valued. For example, 翼 ( yì ; 'wing') is unambiguous in written Chinese, but has over 75 homophones in Standard Chinese . The literary language was less appropriate for documents that were meant to be performed or recited, such as plays or stories. From at least the Yuan dynasty plays that recounted the subversive tales of China's Robin Hoods to the Ming dynasty novels such as Water Margin , on down to

14706-632: Was headquartered in Baima . In 851 the Guiyi Army Jiedushi was created from territories reclaimed by Zhang Yichao from the Tibetan Empire. It was situated east Xinjiang and Gansu, and was headquartered in Sha Prefecture (west of Dunhuang , Gansu ). Qingyuan Army Jiedushi was created in 949 and headquartered in Quanzhou . It controlled Zhangzhou , Xiamen , and other areas in Fujian . Liu Congxiao

14835-504: Was headquartered in Jiangxia ( Wuchang , Hubei ). Xiangyang Jiedushi controlled Xiang, Deng, Fu, Ying, Tang, Sui, Jun, and Fang prefectures in north Hubei and southwest Henan around 813. It was headquartered in Xiangyang. Xusi Jiedushi controlled Xu, Su, and Hao prefectures around 813. It was headquartered in Xuzhou . Zhenghua Jiedushi controlled Zheng and Hua prefectures around 813. It

14964-588: Was headquartered in Zi Prefecture (梓州) ( Santai , Sichuan ). West River controlled the Chengdu area and surrounding prefectures. Wei Gao and Xianyu Zhongtong were jiedushi of Jiannan. Pinglu Jiedushi was created in 719 and headquartered in Ying Prefecture (營州) ( Chaoyang , Liaoning ). It controlled Pinglu, Lulong and other prefectures in Liaoyang , Jinzhou , Liaoning , and northeast Hebei. Hedong Jiedushi

15093-522: Was in charge of Heng Prefecture under An Qingxu . He surrendered to Tang and retained control over central Hebei east of the Taihang Mountains . Li Weiyue requested succession of Chengde Army in 781 and was denied, so he rebelled, and was killed a year later by his subordinate general Wang Wujun . Han Lingkun , Wang Chengzong , Wang Tingcou were jiedushi of the Chengde Army. Henan Jiedushi

15222-574: Was made jiedushi of Qingyuan Army in 949 after Wang Yanzheng 's fall. In 951 Bian Hao crushed Chu and was promoted to jiedushi of Wu'an Army (in Hunan ). Notable jiedushi : Mandarin Chinese Transcriptions: Mandarin ( / ˈ m æ n d ər ɪ n / MAN -dər-in ; simplified Chinese : 官话 ; traditional Chinese : 官話 ; pinyin : Guānhuà ; lit. 'officials' speech')

15351-538: Was merged into Shuofang Jiedushi in 764. Zhuye Chixin was a jiedushi of Zhenwu. Binning Jiedushi existed from 759 until 885, when it was renamed Jingnan Army. It was headquartered in Bin Prefecture (Shaanxi) and governed Changwu and parts of Gansu. Shanguo Jiedushi was created in 759 and headquartered in Shanzhou . It controlled Shan, Guo, and Hua prefectures. It was renamed Baoyi Army in 889. Fengxiang Jiedushi

15480-467: Was not created crown prince. However, the eunuchs Ju Wenzhen ( 俱文珍 ), Liu Guangqi ( 劉光琦 ), and Xue Yingzhen ( 薛盈珍 ), all of whom were favored by Emperor Dezong and who lost their power in the new regime, summoned the imperial scholars Zheng, Wei Cigong, Li Cheng , and Wang Ya to the palace to draft an edict for Emperor Shunzong creating Li Chun as crown prince, anyway. Zheng showed a piece of paper to Emperor Shunzong reading, "The Crown Prince should be

15609-478: Was promoted to jiedushi of Pinglu, Fanyang (in north Hebei ), and Hedong (central Shanxi ) with an army of 150 000. He rebelled against the Tang dynasty in 755. Li Guangbi was promoted to jiedushi of Fanyang after recovering much territory from the rebels in Hebei, but he died soon after in 764. Li Huaixian , former general of An Lushan, delivered Shi Chaoyi 's head to the Tang and surrendered in 763, becoming jiedushi of Youzhou and Lulong. Zhang Shougui (張守珪)

15738-399: Was responsible for the assassination, he declared a general campaign against Wang as well. He also promoted Pei to be a chancellor. (Later, after investigations by Lü Yuanying ( 呂元膺 ) the defender of Luoyang after a plot by Li Shidao's subordinates to riot at Luoyang was foiled, Emperor Xianzong found out that Li Shidao was responsible for Wu Yuanheng's assassination, but by that point, as he

15867-528: Was revived in 762 and was sometimes known as the Biansong Jiedushi from then onward. It officially became the Biansong Jiedushi in 776 until 781 when it was renamed Xuanwu Army. The Biansong Jiedushi was headquartered in Bian Prefecture ( Kaifeng ), and governed Shangqiu as well as east Henan. In 781 its seat was moved to Song Prefecture (宋州) (south of Shangqiu , east central Henan ). Biansong Jiedushi

15996-631: Was seldom used by the Chinese Singaporean community , which primarily spoke the Southern Chinese languages of Hokkien , Teochew , Cantonese , or Hakka . The launch of the Speak Mandarin Campaign in 1979 by the government prioritized the language over traditional vernaculars in an attempt to create a common ethnic language and foster closer connections to China. This has led to a significant increase and presence of Mandarin usage in

16125-467: Was subsequently delivered to Chang'an to be executed, and the imperial troops under Pei took over Zhangyi. After Wu Yuanji's execution, Li Shidao and Wang Chengzong both became fearful. In 818, Wang offered to surrender two prefectures to imperial control and send his two sons to Chang'an to serve as hostages . He also sought intercession from Tian Hongzheng. With Tian also requesting that Emperor Xianzong accept his offer, Emperor Xianzong did so, merging

16254-438: Was taking medicines made by the alchemist Liu Mi ( 柳泌 ), who claimed that he could bring the emperor immortality . It was said that as a result of these medicines, Emperor Xianzong was becoming increasingly thirsty and irritable. It was said that he was so easily angered that the eunuchs serving him were often punished or even executed for minor faults, causing them to be fearful of him. In spring 820, he died suddenly, and it

16383-657: Was the jiedushi of Jiangxi during the Li Xilie rebellion. Lingnan Jiedushi was created in 756 and headquartered in Guangzhou . It ended in 862 when its territory was split into West and East circuits. Lingnan West Circuit covered Guangxi and northern Vietnam . It was headquartered in Yong Prefecture (邕州) (south of Nanning , Guangxi ). Lingnan East Circuit covered Guangdong and was headquartered in Guangzhou. Hezhong Jiedushi

16512-475: Was the home territory of Zhu Wen . Ziqing-Pinglu Jiedushi was created in 762 and headquartered in Qingzhou , Shandong . It controlled 15 prefectures encompassing most of Shandong and parts of Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu. Li Zhengji became the jiedushi of Ziqing-Pinglu after the An Lushan Rebellion and worked together with Tian Yue to curtail the imperial court's attempt to weaken local powers. Weibo Jiedushi

16641-403: Was unable to visit him, and Emperor Dezong, distressed over this, died soon thereafter. After Emperor Dezong's death, the eunuchs in the palace initially considered supporting another person as emperor, but due to the objections of the imperial scholars Wei Cigong ( 衛次公 ) and Zheng Yin , Li Song was able to assume the throne (as Emperor Shunzong), although during Wei and Zheng's discussion with

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