白话文

白話文

báihuàwén

noun #88,081

Meanings

1 vernacular written Chinese
2 modern written Chinese based on spoken language

Characters

Examples

新文化运动提倡用白话文写作。

Xīn wénhuà yùndòng tíchàng yòng báihuàwén xiězuò.

The New Culture Movement advocated writing in vernacular Chinese.

鲁迅的《狂人日记》是第一篇白话文小说。

Lǔ Xùn de 《Kuángrén Rìjì》 shì dì yī piān báihuàwén xiǎoshuō.

Lu Xun's 'Diary of a Madman' is the first vernacular Chinese short story.

现在学生读的课文基本都是白话文。

Xiànzài xuéshēng dú de kèwén jīběn dōu shì báihuàwén.

The texts students read today are essentially all in vernacular Chinese.

Tips

history

白话文 displaced 文言文 (classical Chinese) as the standard written form during and after the 1919 May Fourth Movement. Hu Shi's 1917 essay 《文学改良刍议》 and Lu Xun's 《狂人日记》 (1918) are landmark moments.

Stroke Order

白 bái

话 huà

文 wén