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 …

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 …

Jan 29, 2025 · 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) …

Sep 29, 2014 · Still the best comprehensive diachronic overview of history of Chinese language, structured according to the subsystems of language (syntax, phonology, lexicon, etc.). In some …

Nov 20, 2024 · 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 …

Jun 28, 2024 · 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 …

…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, …