A walk through time: general introduction -- Where it all began: prehistory -- Thus spake Confucius: sounds of Old Chinese -- Poetically they dwelt: sounds of Middle Chinese -- Marco Polo's phrasebook: sounds of Early Modern Chinese -- Philosophy and history: Classical Chinese -- Literature and religion: vernacular writing -- In other words: vocabulary change -- One for all: Modern Standard Chinese -- Celebration of diversity: Modern Chinese dialects -- The legend of Cangjie: Chinese characters.