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Why did the ancients write notes in classical Chinese?
Language is developing.

? Characters are also developing. There are many people you know today, which were not found in ancient times.

(For example, if you say "contradiction". People before the Spring and Autumn Period can't understand what you mean by "contradiction", just like in The Collection of Qin Xun, Xiang Shaolong went back and said something very common to us, but they didn't understand it, because there were no such allusions or words at that time).

Today, we can use some allusions and idioms to express our deep meaning directly and simply. Such as: blockbuster, cock crow and dog thief, eat your own bread and drink your own intestines. Similarly, on the other hand, some words are simpler, which was not available at that time. Today, they can be used to express in detail, which is more accurate and easy to understand, but there was no such word at that time, and it was developed later. For example, a typical "contradiction", and when we were young, we wondered why the ancients called our father dad, but now they call him dad. The word "grandpa" was not used to refer to our grandfather at the earliest in ancient times. In our dialect today, there would be no word grandpa.

? Also, our word "you" today is a modern invention, not an ancient invention. "You" and "she" are both modern new pronouns, but it is impossible to write today's vernacular with these words in ancient times.

? With the development of the times and the continuous enrichment of Chinese characters and characters, today's vernacular Chinese has emerged.

The most obvious example is that in the last decade, there have been many new words and expressions, that is, online buzzwords. For example, "God Horse" and "Grass Mud Horse" ...

Don't say that the ancients didn't understand us, even your father may not understand us.

So there have been many in the past 100 years? Words and phrases that were incomprehensible before the 20th century, that is, before the Qing Dynasty (the smallest unit of language is not a word, but a word, and any Chinese character is a word).

For the ancients, they read our articles just like reading ancient China people.

Is it inconvenient to remember ancient words? One reason. But it is not entirely because, for example, secretaries of history departments, such as princes, can use silk as letters, and they still care about the word "too many books". What's the use of simplification if the other person doesn't understand what you wrote? -so whether it is compressed for cost or for any reason, whether it is compressed or not, it is necessary to ensure that the other party can understand it.

How to ensure that others can understand you (provided that the other person can understand you) is not much different from daily communication.

? So is recording inconvenient or costly? Not the main reason.

? But it was limited to their language at that time, which was basically the case at that time. It may be different from everyday spoken English, but it's not much different.

(If it is a special document, it may only be a neat antithesis and rhyme, but it is mainly a special style, such as poetry and prose, rather than a chronological article. )

2. If the habit of using "official documents" between the ruling classes has been finalized, as upstairs said, then why did there still exist classical Chinese in the pre-Qin, Tang and Song Dynasties? However, this is different. The ancients also understood their ancient classical Chinese, because the times are developing and they are just like us.

3. Later, paper became very popular, but their writing in classical Chinese was still the same, and there was no so-called "rigidity" in more ancient times. But we are still using "classical Chinese" that we don't understand. Is it because of lack of paper? Or because there is no money to buy ink?

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Similarly, it is also possible that hundreds of years later, our descendants will wonder why we use such difficult Chinese characters and English letters.

They think: they speak English every day. Is it bad to use English? Why do people in 2 1 century speak English, but type with Chinese characters ...? Think about how to answer them!

Are using their own situation, their own conditions and difficulties to measure and think about the ancients.

Supplement:

Of course, with the development of society, there are more and more languages, and later they become more and more abundant.

? Walking, riding or carriage as in ancient times, then modern people can walk by car and plane.

? When the language side develops more and more, the previous words or habits are still the same. Just like we did today.

Spoken and written language will also appear. Your mouth may be casual and your written language is quite formal. This is the same as today. But unless specifically requested, there is no need to compress it into words that others can't understand. (eulogy is required)

We thought the imperial edict was the top grade of Mandiri, and we also saw some imperial edicts on TV or in history books, just as we usually say. (But it is still the classical Chinese we feel today).

How much is the difference between the official document you wrote today and your usual spoken English?

Of course, there are also some cases, obviously rich in language, but also have to write in vernacular. There are people like today. There are also special occasions, such as Ode to the Yellow Emperor (listening to the Ode to the Yellow Emperor read by the secretary of Shaanxi Province, in fact, many of them are modern words. )

Learn more about the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China, and you will be a lot of semi-literate and semi-white. It's not that they pretend on purpose, that they are not good at it, but that many new words came at that time.