中 古 音

Middle Chinese Voice

Experience Tang Dynasty poetry as it was meant to be heard

Authentic reconstructed pronunciation from 600–900 CE

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Tang Dynasty Masterpieces

Hear these immortal poems in their original voice

The Voice of Tang

Middle Chinese (中古漢語) represents the language of China's golden age—the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties (6th–10th centuries CE).

When Li Bai composed his verses under the moon, when Du Fu mourned at the riverside, they spoke in sounds dramatically different from modern Mandarin. This system reconstructs that lost voice through scholarly phonological research.

How It Works

This system combines scholarly phonological reconstruction with modern speech synthesis to bring Middle Chinese to life through a three-stage process:

1

Phonological Reconstruction

Converts Chinese characters to Middle Chinese IPA using the ToMiddleChinese library, based on unt's scholarly reconstruction of the Qieyun system (601 CE). This preserves all phonological distinctions lost in modern Mandarin.

2

Phonetic Synthesis

Maps Middle Chinese IPA to eSpeak-NG phoneme notation through 100+ custom mappings. Handles complex features like uvular stops, retroflex consonants, and pharyngealization to generate accurate (though robotic) pronunciation.

3

Voice Enhancement (Optional)

Uses ElevenLabs Speech-to-Speech API with the multilingual model to transform robotic eSpeak-NG output into natural human voice (Yun - Chinese woman) while preserving phonetic accuracy. Available in local installations with API key.

Phonological Features

Middle Chinese possessed a remarkably rich consonant inventory and preserved ancient syllable-final stops that have since disappeared in most modern Chinese dialects. The Qieyun rhyme dictionary (601 CE) documents this sophisticated phonological system that shaped the soundscape of Tang poetry.

[tɕʰ] Aspirated alveolo-palatal affricate, a distinctive palatalized sound crucial for distinguishing the 精莊章 (jing-zhuang-zhang) consonant series. Modern Mandarin merged many of these distinctions.
[q] Uvular stop from the 喻母四等 (yu mother grade IV) initials, articulated deep in the throat. This reflects the velar-uvular distinction central to Middle Chinese phonology, now lost in modern dialects.
[ʈ] Retroflex stop from the 知母 (zhi mother) series, marking the distinction between dental and retroflex articulation. This contrast was essential for Tang-era rhyme schemes and poetic composition.
[-m] Bilabial nasal coda (咸攝 xian division), one of three nasal endings preserved in Middle Chinese. Mandarin lost this distinction, merging -m with -n, but it survives in Cantonese and other southern dialects.
[-k] Velar stop coda (入聲 entering tone), critical for Tang poetry's tonal patterns. These abrupt endings created the distinctive rhythm of Classical verse, completely absent in modern Mandarin.
[ˤ] Pharyngealization marking the 重紐 (chongniu) A/B distinction, a subtle but systematic contrast in vowel quality. This feature distinguishes minimal pairs that modern reconstructions rely on Qieyun evidence to identify.

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