Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. [ a ] The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BC, in the Late Shang period.

Old Chinese, sometimes known as "Archaic Chinese", is ancestral to all current Chinese languages. The first known use of the Chinese writing system is divinatory inscriptions into tortoise shells and oracle bones during the Shang dynasty (1766–1122 BCE).

2025年1月29日 · Some scholars divide the history of the Chinese languages into Proto-Sinitic (Proto-Chinese; until 500 bc), Archaic (Old) Chinese (8th to 3rd century bc), Ancient (Middle) Chinese (through ad 907), and Modern Chinese (from c. the 10th century to modern times).

2014年9月29日 · Still the best comprehensive diachronic overview of history of Chinese language, structured according to the subsystems of language (syntax, phonology, lexicon, etc.). In some sections, such as historical phonology, already somewhat outdated.

2024年11月20日 · In the compilation below, World History Edu focuses on languages arranged by the age of their oldest existing texts that record complete sentences. The list excludes undeciphered writing systems and inscriptions that consist solely of isolated words or names.

2024年6月28日 · Ancient Chinese, also known as Classical Chinese or Wenyan, is no longer actively used in daily life in modern China. It was the written language used for official purposes until the early 20th century.

…language of China is called Archaic, or Old, Chinese (8th–3rd centuries bce), and that of the next period up to and including the Tang dynasty (618–907 ce) is known as Ancient, or Middle, Chinese. Languages of later periods include Old, Middle, and Modern Mandarin (the name Mandarin is a translation…