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= = =Chinese language=

** [[|edit] Chinese characters **
//Main article: [|Chinese character]//

Various styles of [|Chinese calligraphy].

[[|edit]] History
304–439 || 420–589 || 907–960 |||||| **[|Liao Dynasty]** 907–1125 || 960–1279 ||||||  || 1949–present |||||| **[|Republicof China]** ([|Taiwan]) 1945–present || //Main article: [|History of the Chinese language]//
 * ~ [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Departure_Herald-Detail.jpg/200px-Departure_Herald-Detail.jpg width="200" height="82" align="center" caption="History of China" link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Departure_Herald-Detail.jpg"]]
 * [|History of China]** ||
 * = ** ANCIENT ** ||
 * **[|3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors]** ||
 * **[|Xia Dynasty]** 2100–1600 BCE ||
 * **[|Shang Dynasty]** 1600–1046 BCE ||
 * **[|Zhou Dynasty]** 1045–256 BCE ||
 * **[|Western Zhou]** ||
 * **[|Eastern Zhou]** ||
 * [|Spring and Autumn Period] ||
 * [|Warring States Period] ||
 * ** IMPERIAL ** ||
 * **[|Qin Dynasty]** 221 BCE–206 BCE ||
 * **[|Han Dynasty]** 206 BCE–220 CE ||
 * **[|Western Han]** ||
 * **[|Xin Dynasty]** ||
 * **[|Eastern Han]** ||
 * **[|Three Kingdoms]** 220–280 ||
 * **[|Wei], [|Shu] & [|Wu]** ||
 * **[|Jin Dynasty]** 265–420 ||
 * **[|Western Jin]** |||||| **[|16 Kingdoms]**
 * **[|Eastern Jin]** ||||||^  ||
 * **[|Southern & Northern Dynasties]**
 * **[|Sui Dynasty]** 581–618 ||
 * **[|Tang Dynasty]** 618–907 ||
 * ( **[|Second Zhou]** 690–705 ) ||
 * **[|5 Dynasties &10 Kingdoms]**
 * **[|Song Dynasty]**
 * **[|Northern Song]** ||  || **[|W. Xia]** ||
 * **[|Southern Song]** || **[|Jin]** ||  ||
 * **[|Yuan Dynasty]** 1271–1368 ||
 * **[|Ming Dynasty]** 1368–1644 ||
 * **[|Qing Dynasty]** 1644–1911 ||
 * ** MODERN ** ||
 * **[|Republic of China]** 1912–1949 ||
 * **[|People's Republicof China]**
 * Related articles **[show]** ||
 * This box: [|view] • [|talk] • [|edit] ||

All varieties of spoken Chinese use [|tones]. A few dialects of north China may have as few as three tones, while some dialects in south China have up to 6 or 10 tones, depending on how one counts. One exception from this is [|Shanghainese] which has reduced the set of tones to a two-toned [|pitch accent] system much like modern Japanese. A very common example used to illustrate the use of tones in Chinese are the four main tones of [|Standard Mandarin] applied to the syllable "ma." The tones correspond to these five[|characters]:
 * 媽/妈 ( mā ) "mother"—**high level**
 * 麻 ( má ) "hemp" or "torpid"—**high rising**
 * 馬/马 ( mǎ ) "horse"—**low falling-rising**
 * 罵/骂 ( mà ) "scold"—**high falling**
 * 嗎/吗 ( ma ) "question particle"—**neutral**
 * = [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Gnome-mime-audio-openclipart.svg/50px-Gnome-mime-audio-openclipart.svg.png width="50" height="50" align="center"]] ||  || [|Listen to the tones] ||
 * [[image:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/extensions/OggHandler/play.png width="22" height="22" caption="Play sound"]] ||
 * This is a recording of the four main tones. Fifth, or neutral, tone is not included. ||
 * //Problems listening to this file? See [|media help].// ||
 * //Problems listening to this file? See [|media help].// ||
 * //Problems listening to this file? See [|media help].// ||