Chinese has a number of forms and dialects. Since the 2nd century BCE, there have been many language reform movements proposed. During the 20th century the Chinese made an even greater effort to reform by simplifying the characters of classical Chinese, cutting down on the number and forms of characters, standardizing oral communication throughout China, and introducing a phonetic alphabet.

There are now four forms of the Chinese language.

Wén-yán (literary speech or classical writing). The cultivated literary language, recorded from around 1,500 BCE, and the traditional unifying medium for all varieties of Chinese. It has a complex system of characters and differs greatly from everyday speech, especially in its terse grammatical style and specialized literary vocabulary. It is now less widely used, because of the success of the current reform movement for written Chinese.

Bái-huà (colloquial language). A simplified, vernacular style of writing, introduced by the literary reformer Hu Shih in 1917, to make the language more widely known to the public, and to permit the expression of new ideas. A style of writing which reflected everyday speech had developed as early as the Sung dynasty but had made little impact on the dominant Wén-yán. However, the May Fourth Movement, which originated in political demonstrations on 4 May, 1919, after the Paris Peace Conference, adopted Hu Shi'h's ideas, and Bái-huà was recognized as the national language in 1922.

Pûtônghuà (common language). The variety chosen as a standard for the whole of China, and widely promulgated under this name after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. In Taiwan, it goes under the name of guó yu , or national speech. In the West, it is generally referred to simply as Mandarin. It embodies the pronunciation of Beijing, the grammar of the Mandarin dialects, and the vocabulary of colloquial Chinese literature. In 1956, it became the medium of instruction in all schools and a policy promoting its use began. It is now the most widely used form of spoken Chinese, and is the normal written medium for almost all kinds of publication.

Pin-yin (phonetic spelling). After several previous attempts to write Chinese using the letters of the roman alphabet, this 58-symbol writing system was finally adopted in 1958. Its main aims are to facilitate the spread of Pûtônghuà, and the learning of Chinese characters. Pin-yin is now in widespread use. In the 1970s, for example, a new map of China was published using the alphabet, and a list of standard spellings for Chinese place names was compiled. New codes were devised for such diverse uses as telegraphy, flag signals, braille, and sign language.


source: The Chinese Language and Writing
If you scroll down to the bottom, there's a photo of a Chinese typewriter. It has over 2000 characters!