Classical Chinese or wen yan (文言 wen2 yan2, literal meaning: "literary language") is a style of writing the Chinese language which uses alternate sets of characters and grammar which resembles Chinese as it was written historically. It is in contrast to bai hua which is a writing style that uses characters used in modern spoken Chinese. In practice there is a continuum between bai hua and wen yan.
Wen yan was the primary form used in Chinese literary works until the May Fourth Movement, and was also heavily used in classical Korean and Japanese literature. Today it is occasionally used in formal or ceremonial occasions. The ability to read Classical Chinese is taught in Chinese schools and is part of the national entrance exams for college.
Classical Chinese is unique for today being an almost purely literary language. Classical Chinese characters is generally read with modern Mandarin characters, in which many different characters have become homonyms. This makes most Classical Chinese literature unintelligible when read with Mandarin pronunciations. However, other Chinese dialects are closer to Classical Chinese, and in the subjective opinion of many Chinese, Classical Chinese literature, especially poetry, sounds better when read with a southern dialect such as Cantonese.