Chinese urban language in historical perspective

Abstract Three contemporaneous descriptions of Guānhua from the beginning of the 19th century collectively provide a rich and evocative representation that contains a trove of details regarding the nature of that koine and its relationship to Mandarin and local dialects in the urban linguistic milieu of the late Qīng. The descriptions are those of Gāo Jingting (fl. 1800–1810), Lǐ Rǔzhēn (c. 1763–1830), and Robert Morrison (1782–1834). We find that all three note the existence of two forms of Guānhua, a northern type, and a southern type. The three authors all present a mix of northern and southern types in their descriptions, though each also gives greater prominence to the southern type. This southern type has a close connection to the southern Jiāng-Huai Mandarin dialects, and takes the dialect of Nanjīng as a primary representative. In overall perspective, these three authors’ descriptions also reveal there was widespread acceptance of, and social accommodation for, linguistic diversity in Qīng China, within which Guānhua served as the lingua franca that promoted easy communication across China’s vast territory.