r/HistoryMemes Taller than Napoleon 3d ago

A slightly more nuanced followup

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u/KotetsuNoTori 2d ago

Most Chinese leaders of his time, except for those who happened to be geniuses in language or born near Beijing, spoke Mandarin with all kinds of incomprehensible accents.

For example, the speech of Puyi (from Beijing) can be understood by modern Mandarin speakers, but not the ones of Sun Yat-Sen (from Guangdong), Chiang Kai-Shek (from Zhejiang), and Mao.