History of the Chinese language

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The earliest historical linguistic evidence of the spoken Chinese language dates back approximately 4500 years,^[1] while examples of the writing system that would become written Chinese are attested in a body of inscriptions made on bronze vessels and oracle bones during the Late Shang period (c. 1250 – 1050 BCE),^[2][3] with the very oldest dated to c. 1200 BCE.^[4]