Abstract At the beginning of the 19th century, Robert Morrison of London Missionary Society predicted that TartarChinese Dialect, i.e. Peking Mandarin, would finally win the position of standard Mandarin Chinese if the Qing Government continued its reign over China. As China was opening up to the world, on one hand, foreign missionaries and Western diplomats and businessmen took Nanking Mandarin and Peking Mandarin respectively as their target language, and compiled many Chinese dictionaries and textbooks to meet their own needs. In the meanwhile, they attached more and more importance to Peking Mandarin. On the other hand, with the gradual changes of the idea of 'Yi Xia Distinction' and the establishment of the national consciousness in modern times, Peking Mandarin increasingly gained political superiority over Nanking Mandarin, and finally became the Qing Dynastys standard national language at the turn of the 20th century. Thus, Robert Morrisons prediction came true. From the literature review on Mandarin Chinese by Western and Eastern intellectuals of the 19th century, it is not difficult to recognize the ebb and flow of Nanking Mandarin and Peking Mandarin in the development of Mandarin Chinese.
