View source for Chinese

'''Chinese''' is a [[language]] that unlike the romanized [[Europe]]an languages does not use a simple alphabet as a [[writing]] system. Instead it uses a set of over twenty thousand symbols that represent basic concepts or words which can then be combined to create other words. The spoken language is actually a variety of different languages (falsely called "dialects"), rather one specific tongue, all using the Chinese script. [[Cantonese]] and [[Mandarin]] are the best known modern versions of these. The development during the [[7th century|7th]] to [[10th century|10th centuries]] is known as Middle Chinese. The use of Mandarin in southwestern China slowly increased after a plague in the [[12th century]].

While it is known that the writing system exists from c1500 BCE, little or no evidence exists of its use in Europe in the early [[period]] due to the lack of interaction between China and Europe. Even [[Marco Polo]] gave no reference to it in his book.

[[Category:Language]]
[[category:china]]