Changes

|c=文言文

|c=文言文

|p=wényán wén

|p=wényán wén

}}In ancient times, written Chinese attempted to follow the spoken language of the time. This type of writing is referred to as ''gǔwén'' ("ancient writing"). In the late Han, earlier writing was adopted as the standard, so written language began to diverge from spoken language. This standardized form of writing is referred to as ''wényán wén'' ("written language"). By the thirteenth century, the spoken languages of North and South China had diverged so much that Northerners and Southerns often had to resort to Classical Chinese to be understood.

}}In ancient times, written Chinese attempted to follow the spoken language of the time. This type of writing is referred to as ''gǔwén'' ("ancient writing"). In the late Han, earlier writing was adopted as the standard, so written language began to diverge from spoken language. This standardized form of writing is referred to as ''wényán wén'' ("written language"). By the thirteenth century, the spoken languages of North and South China had diverged. But written language remained the same throughout China.