Editors-in-Chief: Wang Hui
Publication Date:October 2025
Publisher: Shanghai Education Publishing House
ISBN: 9787572039386
A Manual of Mandarin is a Chinese language textbook compiled by the 19th-century American missionary Calvin Wilson Mateer, specifically designed to help foreigners in China better master the language. This manuscript presents a detailed compilation of the vocabulary used in A Manual of Mandarin, offering a comprehensive analysis of regional variations between North and South, commonly used terms, colloquial expressions in Beijing Mandarin, and differences between written and spoken language. It endeavors to conduct a comparative study of the structural forms and development of these words from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives. The work seeks to reveal the commonalities and distinct characteristics of vocabulary in Chinese textbooks from the late Qing to the early Republic of China, trace the trajectory of the evolution of Beijing Mandarin vocabulary during this period, provide authentic and reliable linguistic data to help reconstruct the nature of spoken Chinese in the late Qing and early Republican eras, and contribute meaningful insights to the study of Chinese language history.
