Putonghua is another word for Mandarin, the official dialect of China which is closely based on “northern speech”, as spoken in Beijing. The term Mandarin comes from “mandarin speech”, and refers to its role as the lingua franca of officials during the Ming and Qing Dynasties which were based in Beijing. After the 1911 revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty in 1912 the adoption of a national language or dialect became a concern. After a brief attempt at mixing the different dialects it was decided that Mandarin would be the new “national language”. The New China continued this policy after the foundation of People's Republic of China in 1949, but adopted the new term “common speech.” In practice the Mandarin still spoken in Taiwan differs slightly from "Common Speech". Since the language that were used in taiwan were based in the southern city rather than the northern Beijing, the Mandarin spoken in southern areas is still probably closer to "national language" than “common speech.”

　　Other words for spoken Chinese include "Han speech", referring to the dominant Han ethic group in China, literally meaning “China speech” and “Chinese speech” respectively. The written language is usually referred to Reflecting the prominent role of the written language in Chinese culture and language, to speak Chinese is often phrased “speak Chinese writing”.