'''Proto-Mandarin''' is a term that can be used to designate any earlier form of the most widely-spoken Chinese Dialect, known in English as Mandarin; technically the "late Middle Chinese" of the Song_Dynasty. "Early Mandarin" is the common name for the sound system described by the rhyme dictionary ''Zhōngyuán Yīnyùn'' (中原音韻, lit. Sounds and Rhymes of the Central Plains) of the later Yuan_dynasty, used for rhyming of Peking_Opera of that time.
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Category:Chinese_language