Mandarin Putonghua was then a northern dialect spoken by the Manchurian officials.
From the en.wikipedia.org
Friends of mine from Taiwan who speak only mandarin and dialect at home moved to Louisiana, have a taste for crawdads and are rabid Saints fans.
From the economist.com
Mandarin is also a dialect.
From the economist.com
Simmons claimed that had Chao compared Hangzhou dialect to the Wu syllabry and Jianghuai mandarin, he would have found more similarities to Jianghuai.
From the en.wikipedia.org
At his right stands his interpreter, an indispensable functionary, inasmuch as the mandarin, being a mainland man, is not supposed to know the local dialect.