『水滸伝』は白話で書かれた長編小説である。
The Water Margin is a long novel written in vernacular Chinese.
五四運動の頃、文言に代わって白話で文章を書くことが提唱された。
Around the time of the May Fourth Movement, writing in the vernacular instead of classical Chinese was advocated.
江戸時代の日本でも、白話を学ぶ儒者がいた。
Even in Edo-period Japan, there were Confucian scholars who studied vernacular Chinese.