The courtiers appointed by the emperor in ancient times came from all over the world, the courtiers spoke a variety of dialects, and there was no Mandarin in ancient times, how did the emperor and his courtiers communicate?
Today, I'll tell you the answer.
Actually, the answer is simple:
They speak official language
The emperor of the Qing Dynasty and his courtiers spoke the official dialect of Beijing, and if they did not learn the official dialect, they could not be officials
Yes, we are a little worried that the ancient emperor could not understand his courtiers speaking the native dialect, and we are a little worried.
In fact, most of the courtiers in ancient times spoke "official language".
That is to say, they do not speak in tongues, but "official language".
What is "official language"?
Where is the standard of "official language"?
The answer is also simple and crude:
What the emperor said
It's "official language"
Yes, as a courtier, you will speak the words of the emperor of which dynasty you serve.
In fact, this is a matter of course, which emperor do you work for, as a courtier, of course, you have to learn what the boss says and get closer to the boss.
However, at that time, it could not be called "emperor's words", because it was not good to say in this way, so it was more appropriate to call it "official words".
Okay, then, here comes the question again:
In ancient times, there was no television, there was no radio, and the officials in ancient times, where did they learn the "official language"?
The answer is very interesting:
In ancient times, there were Mandarin textbooks
Yes, in ancient China, there were Mandarin textbooks, similar to our Mandarin textbooks today.
The following "Hongwu Zhengyun" is the official textbook of the Ming Dynasty.
The following books: "Mandarin Textbook", "Mandarin Guide", and "The Latest Mandarin Literacy Textbook" are all official dialect textbooks of the Qing Dynasty.
For example, in the Qing Dynasty, our children went to private schools, and in some places, private schools were taught in the official dialect, not in the local dialect.
Regarding the relevant historical materials of private schools in some places in the Qing Dynasty and teaching in official dialect, Lao Feng will give you a few excerpts for you to take a peek at:
Historical example 1: The "Huizhou Mansion Chronicles" of the Kangxi period recorded: "Reading should teach official words".
Historical example 2: The "Chronicles of Changning County" in the Yongzheng period recorded: "Children read more and more official words, but words are not. There are two kinds of language, one is the water sound and the other is the Hakka sound. ”
Changning County in the Yongzheng period is today's Xinfeng County in Guangdong. This historical material is translated into human language, which means this: "In Xinfeng County, Guangdong Province, most of the children who study in private schools are taught in official dialect, but these children usually speak differently, some speak Heyuan dialect, and some speak Hakka. ”
Historical example 3: The "Zhengyin Summary" of the Jiaqing period records: "Yu Wei passed through Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Henan, and Lianghu places. One prescription is spoken in a different language, even the people in their neighboring prefectures and counties do not understand it. Only when you pass through the big wharf on land and water, those traders, traders and traders can speak official language......"
Translated into human dialect, this is the meaning: "I have been to Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan and other places, and the dialects of each place are different, that is, the dialects of the two adjacent counties and two prefectures are not understood by each other, but in those big commercial ports and big docks, those who do business and the major merchants will speak official ......."
Okay, so what did they use as phonetic transcription in the official language textbooks of the Qing Dynasty?
You know, there was no Hanyu Pinyin at that time, did they have a unique set of phonetic transcriptions?
The answer is that they use "homophones" for phonetic transcription, and here are some examples:
From the above two illustrations, we can see that the official dialect textbooks of the Qing Dynasty used words to express sounds, such as:
Purple: The sound is "stop".
White: The sound is "silk".
Spicy: The sound is "wax".
Sweet: pronounced "field".
Taste: The sound is "not".
Listen: sound "hall".
Look: the sound of "magazine".
Obituary: The sound is "go".
Wait a minute.
So reading this, you may have questions: the official Chinese textbooks in ancient China used words to phonetize the characters, but the words themselves that were used as phonetics did not have phonetics, so this is unscientific, will it cause the phenomenon of crooked pronunciation?
Congratulations
You got it right
Yes, although in ancient Chinese officialdom, all officials wanted to learn the standard official dialect, that is, the language spoken by the emperor, but, after all, not everyone was an official in the capital, not everyone had the opportunity to meet the emperor, and moreover, China was too big, and the phonetic transcription of the official dialect textbook was not scientific, so the authentic official dialect, in the locality, became also entrained with an accent, which is why, in history, in addition to the standard official dialect spoken by the imperial court, it also evolved: Southwest Mandarin, Northern Mandarin, Southern Mandarin, JAC Mandarin ...... Wait, a whole bunch of official dialects with accents.
Okay, so let's say that in the Qing Dynasty, a person who has been an official in Kunming for 20 years, is used to speaking the southwestern official dialect, and is suddenly transferred to the central government, and he will often meet with the emperor in the future.
Here's the answer:
First of all, the emperor who spoke the official dialect of Beijing could understand more than 80 percent of the courtiers who spoke the official dialect of the southwest, because the ancients were different from us, and their ability to distinguish the pronunciation of the dialect was better than that of us modern people.
Secondly, before entering Beijing, this Kunming official will find someone to surprise to learn the Beijing official dialect, and after entering Beijing and before meeting the emperor, he will also make up the Beijing official dialect in a surprise attack, so the progress will be very fast, and soon after entering Beijing, he will also be able to speak the Beijing official dialect.
There is an exception: when Kang Youwei met Emperor Guangxu, he did not make up for the official language of Beijing, or in other words, he did not make up for the evil, but the emperor did not understand some words, and the emperor had a little complaint.
Guangxu sees Kang Youwei (imagination map)
Okay, speaking of which, Lao Feng will summarize it for you:
Summary 1: In ancient China, the common people spoke dialects, and the emperor and his courtiers spoke official dialects, and the official dialect was close to the emperor.
Summary 2: In ancient China, there were also some local merchants who traveled from south to north, were well-informed and could speak official dialect, but ordinary people everywhere generally spoke dialects.
Summary 3: In ancient China, there have always been official dialect textbooks, but because there is no scientific phonetic transcription system, the official dialect taught by the official dialect textbooks alone often has an accent, so it has evolved into the southern official dialect, the southwestern official dialect and so on.
Summary 4: Those who have been officials in the capital for a long time will speak standard official language, which is basically no different from the emperor.
Summary 5: Those who are transferred from the local government to the capital as officials will also practice standard official dialect in a surprise attack and strive to get closer to the emperor.
Roughly speaking, that's what it is.
Therefore, generally speaking, the emperors of ancient China basically did not understand the words of their courtiers, because the courtiers basically learned the official language in order to get closer to the emperor.