Written vernacular Chinese

Written vernacular Chinese, also known as baihua, comprises forms of written Chinese based on the vernacular varieties of Chinese spoken throughout China. It is contrasted with the more concise Literary Chinese, which was the dominant style of official and scholarly writing in imperial China until the early 20th century.

Writing styles based on vernacular Mandarin Chinese were used in novels by Ming and Qing dynasty authors, and later refined by intellectuals associated with the May Fourth Movement. A standardized form corresponding to the grammar of spoken Standard Chinese eventually developed, and has become the modern standard of writing used by speakers of all varieties of Chinese throughout Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. It is commonly called standard written Chinese or modern written Chinese to distinguish it from older versions of written vernaculars (such as those used in the Classic Chinese Novels) and other modern unofficial written vernaculars such as written Cantonese and written Hokkien.