There was no Mandarin in ancient times, so what was the official language of each place?

In ancient times, there was nothing we now call it? Mandarin? Every place has its own dialect. In ancient times, because of the inconvenient transportation, many people would never leave their rural areas as long as they could speak dialects. But officials can't, because they have to communicate, so in ancient times, as long as they are officials, they must be able to speak Mandarin.

The mandarin of each dynasty is different, depending on the actual situation and the location of the capital. After the state of Qin, there was a unified writing. Therefore, since the Qin Dynasty, the usage of classical Chinese has been unified and standardized.

Until the Song Dynasty, everyone took the pronunciation of Luoyang as the standard Mandarin, which is the official language, equivalent to our Mandarin today. All officials must learn to speak Luoyang dialect. If anyone can't speak Mandarin, there will be conflicts.

It is said that during the period of Wu Zetian, some people could not speak Mandarin. One day, a minister made a big joke in the court, because he didn't speak according to the marked Luoyang accent, but brought his own local dialect, so even Wu Zetian laughed hysterically.

Although sometimes it's just a mockery of nonstandard pronunciation, if it happens too much, it will inevitably make people look down upon it. Therefore, in the political scene of being an official, Mandarin, as the most basic communication language, is the first lesson for being an official.

At that time, if Luo Yang's pronunciation was not authentic, people would secretly laugh at you and think that you couldn't go on stage. In the past, we paid special attention to appearance and identity, and everyone didn't want to be embarrassed when they opened their mouths. ?

After the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolian was confirmed as the official language because it belonged to the Mongols. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Mandarin has always been a Nanjing accent. Therefore, Mandarin has been changing with each dynasty.