Classical Chinese

Classical Chinese is a form of written Chinese that is based on the language as it was spoken in ancient times. It was standard for formal written communication until the 1920s. Knowledge of Classical Chinese was highly prized because it was tested by the Imperial Examinations. This examination was used to select magistrates, called Mandarins. 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 the 1920s, Classical Chinese was replaced by vernacular writing, which is based on dialect of modern Beijing.

Classical Chinese
Chinese	文言文
Transcriptions Mandarin - Pinyin 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").