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Classical Chinese - Teaching and Use

Classical Chinese - Teaching and Use: Encyclopedia II - Classical Chinese - Teaching and Use

Wenyan was the primary form used in Chinese literary works until the May Fourth Movement, and was also heavily used in Japan and Korea. Ironically, Classical Chinese was used to write the Hunmin Jeongeum in which the modern Korean alphabet (Hangul) was promulgated and the essay by Hu Shi in which he argued against using Classical Chinese and in favor of baihua. Exceptions to the use of wenyan were vernacular novels such as The Dream of the Red Ch ...

Classical Chinese: Encyclopedia II - Classical Chinese - Teaching and Use

Classical Chinese - Teaching and Use

Wenyan was the primary form used in Chinese literary works until the May Fourth Movement, and was also heavily used in Japan and Korea. Ironically, Classical Chinese was used to write the Hunmin Jeongeum in which the modern Korean alphabet (Hangul) was promulgated and the essay by Hu Shi in which he argued against using Classical Chinese and in favor of baihua. Exceptions to the use of wenyan were vernacular novels such as The Dream of the Red Chamber, which was considered low class at the time.

Today, pure wenyan is occasionally used in formal or ceremonial occasions. The National Anthem of the Republic of China on Taiwan (中華民國國歌, pinyin: zhōnghuá mínguó guógē), for example, is in wenyan. In practice there is a socially accepted continuum between baihua and wenyan. For example, most notices and formal letters are written with a number of stock wenyan expressions (e.g. salutation, closing). Personal letters, on the other hand, are mostly written in baihua, but with some wenyan phrases sometimes, depending on the subject matter, the writer's level of education, etc. Letters (and/or essays) written completely in wenyan today may be considered quaint and old-fashioned by some, and impressive by others.

Most Chinese people with at least a middle school education are able to read basic wenyan, because the ability to read (but not write) wenyan is part of the Chinese middle school and high school curricula and is part of the college entrance examination. Wenyan is taught primarily by presenting a classical Chinese work and including a baihua gloss that explains the meaning of phrases. Tests on classical Chinese are often essentially translation exercises that ask the student to express the meaning of a paragraph in baihua, using multiple choice.

In addition, many works of literature in wenyan (such as Tang poetry) have major cultural influences. However, even with knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, wenyan can be extremely difficult to decipher, even by educated native speakers of Chinese, because of its heavy use of literary references and allusions as well as its extremely abbreviated style.