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This paper reinterprets the lexical data from Wang Feng and Wei Jiaoqiao (2017) and Wang Feng (2025) from a geographical and historical perspective, analyzing various language contact phenomena centered around the Tea Horse Road. Specifically, it aims to distinguish the Tea-Horse Road trade routes into the ‘Southern Inland Trade Zone’ and the ‘Northern Main Trade Zone,’ and to clarify how the distribution of ‘tea’ vocabulary within each zone corresponds to actual historical trade patterns. While the lexical form for ‘tea’ in world languages is generally derived from the Chinese character ‘茶’, languages distributed within the Tea-Horse Road region of China, such as Tibeto-Burman, Tai-Kadai, and Mon-Khmer, exhibit a pattern where the indigenous ‘la’-type form coexists with the Chinese-derived ‘tsha’-type (non-la) form, or diverges regionally. Analysis in this study confirms that within the southern trade sphere centered on southwestern Yunnan, the la-type vocabulary, derived from the Proto-Tibeto-Burman ‘leaf (la)’, spread horizontally among ethnic groups. This suggests the existence of an indigenous trade network formed prior to Han Chinese involvement. Conversely, in the northern trade sphere connecting Sichuan and Tibet, vocabulary derived from the later Han Chinese ‘tsha’ type predominates. This paper interprets this as a result of state-led vertical language diffusion following the establishment of the ‘Tea-Horse Office’ (茶馬司) and the expansion of government-sponsored trade after the Song Dynasty. Furthermore, the high phonological similarity between ancient Chinese tea-related variants—such as ‘槚, 蔎, 瓜蘆, 皋蘆’—and their equivalents in minority languages indicates that early Chinese itself was influenced by these languages. This demonstrates that linguistic contact along the Tea-Horse Road was not a one-way Sinicization process, but rather a dynamic interplay where ‘upward diffusion of indigenous languages (*la)’ and ‘downward diffusion of Chinese (*tsha)’ overlapped, varying by route and period.

This study aims to clarify the formation mechanism and hybridity of the Modern Beijing Dialect by analyzing the differentiation and fusion of language strata caused by the unique “Dual City” structure of Qing Dynasty Beijing from a historical sociolinguistic perspective. The “Manchu-Han Segregation (滿漢分居)” policy implemented in the early Qing period geographically and demographically divided Beijing into the Inner City, a space for Bannermen, and the Outer City, a space for Han people, inevitably leading to the dualization of language communities. The analysis confirms that the Inner City formed a “Prestige Variety” community centered on “Mandarin (官話)” that oriented toward literary norms and clarity, whereas the Outer City formed a “Vernacular” community centered on “Tuhua (土話)” characterized by oral economy and excessive rhotacization (Erhua). However, from the mid-Qing period onwards, the deepening livelihood issues of the Eight Banners, the “Mixed Residence of Banner and Han (旗民混居)” phenomenon, and expanded exchanges in commerce and popular culture (Peking Opera, acrobatics, etc.) broke down physical barriers between the two spaces and triggered language contact. This study reveals that the Modern Beijing Dialect, formed as a result of this fusion, is a product of “Stratified Hybridity” in which the “colloquial flesh” of Outer City Tuhua is overlaid upon the “systematic skeleton” of Inner City Mandarin. The irregular variation patterns in the treatment of the entering tone (入聲) serve as concrete evidence demonstrating the antagonism and coexistence of these two strata. Consequently, the identity of the Modern Beijing Dialect lies in dynamic “hybridity” rather than singular inheritance or purity. This study is significant in suggesting that the national standard language (Putonghua) selectively inherited the structural features of the Inner City, and in reinterpreting the urban space of Beijing as a “Linguistic Contact Zone” where the Inner City (Structure) and Outer City (Style) interpenetrate.

This study introduces the class operation case of the Understanding Chinese Characters, a major course offered by the Department of Chinese Studies at B University in Busan during the second semester of 2025, and analyzes the changes in learners’ perceptions of Chinese characters and their course satisfaction through pre- and post-course surveys. Changes in perceptions were analyzed by focusing on differences before and after the course. After the overall course satisfaction was examined, a cross-tabulation analysis was conducted to analyze whether there were differences in satisfaction according to learners’ Chinese proficiency levels. The pre-course survey was conducted in written form during the first week of the semester, while the post-course survey was conducted online for a certain period after the end of the semester using the KSDC online survey system. Data analysis was carried out using the online analysis tool E-STAT 3.0 provided by KSDC. The results of the pre-course survey revealed that learners experienced a considerable burden regarding Chinese character learning and they found character writing particularly difficult. The analysis showed that the differences between pre- and post-course responses were statistically significant, and the course satisfaction survey also received positive evaluations. Various learning activities designed to reduce psychological distance between learners and Chinese characters—such as searching for ancient Chinese characters online, identifying pictographic characters, and quizzes on Naxi pictographs—appear to have a positive impact on satisfaction levels. The lowest scores in satisfaction were related to the high level of course difficulty and the excessive amount of Chinese characters required for learning. Although no statistically significant differences in satisfaction were found according to learners’ Chinese proficiency levels, tendencies among learners could be identified through negative responses in the analysis. Based on these findings, it is suggested that instructors shall identify learners’ characteristics as early as possible and adjust instructional difficulty and the volume of Chinese character learning accordingly. Although this course is a theory-based major subject, it seems necessary to apply innovative teaching methods to lecture-based instruction as well as to explore diverse approaches that align with the changing times and learners’ needs.