The Opinion on Strengthening Language and Writing Work in the New Era issued by the General Office of the State Council proposes that by 2025, the popularization rate of Mandarin Chinese in the country should reach 85%; By 2035, the popularization of the national common language and script will be more comprehensive and sufficient nationwide, and the popularity rate of Mandarin in ethnic and rural areas will significantly increase. To achieve this goal, we must follow the new era's policy of promoting Mandarin Chinese, which is to focus on key areas, comprehensively popularize it, and consolidate and improve it. We must continuously improve the evaluation system for the application ability of the national common language and script, enhance the level of promotion and popularization of the national common language and script, and improve the quality of popularization. Currently, we are expanding and developing "N" series of tests based on and drawing inspiration from the "1" Mandarin proficiency test, and constructing a "1+N" national universal language and writing evaluation system mainly aimed at domestic needs. The work policy for promoting Mandarin has evolved from "vigorously advocating, focusing on promoting, and gradually popularizing" in the 1950s to "vigorously promoting, actively popularizing, and gradually improving" in the 1990s, and then to "focusing on key areas, comprehensively popularizing, and consolidating and improving" in the new era, reflecting distinct stages and timeliness. In this process, the Mandarin proficiency test pioneered the socialization evaluation of the national common language and script. It was implemented in October 1994 and is aimed at people with secondary education or above. The test subjects are mainly teachers, broadcasters and hosts, film and drama actors, etc. These industries use Mandarin as their working language and have high requirements for Mandarin proficiency. The Mandarin proficiency of practitioners has a certain demonstration effect on society. According to statistics from the National Testing Center, as of now, the total number of people participating in the test nationwide has exceeded 136 million. The national Mandarin popularization rate increased from 53.06% in 2000 to over 70% in 2010, and then reached 80.72% in 2020, achieving the goal of "basic popularization". It can be said that the successful practice of the Mandarin proficiency test has provided many references for China to carry out large-scale language testing. In the new era, the cultural level of the whole society has greatly improved, and social life has put forward higher requirements for people's language ability. The desire of the people to learn and use the national common language and script has become stronger, and the objective conditions for learning Mandarin have also greatly improved. Especially with the rapid development of information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, powerful technical support has been provided for Mandarin learning. The demand for national common language and script assessment services from all sectors of society is also increasing. The contradiction between the increasing demand for language and written assessment services among the people and the inadequacy of existing language assessment tools has become a driving force for promoting the systematic development of Mandarin proficiency testing. The scope of the current Mandarin proficiency test is clear, and the "Mandarin Proficiency Test Level Standards", "Mandarin Proficiency Test Outline", "Mandarin Proficiency Test Implementation Outline", as well as the organizational and implementation forms of the test are designed based on the characteristics of the target group, and are not equally applicable to other populations. For example, there are over 30 million people with disabilities in China, many of whom have visual and hearing disabilities that meet the current Mandarin proficiency test range and have career development needs, but due to their special physical conditions, they are unable to participate in routine tests. Since 2013, specialized Mandarin proficiency tests for people with visual and hearing disabilities have been developed and piloted, and will be implemented nationwide starting in 2023, providing testing services to over 4000 individuals. Although the number of participants in the test is not large, it reflects the warmth of the Mandarin proficiency test serving society and also reflects the pace of social civilization development. In addition, there are also some groups that have not been included in the scope of the current Mandarin proficiency test, but happen to be the target of achieving the goal of "comprehensive popularization". Although Mandarin is currently "basically popularized" throughout the country, there is still a problem of regional imbalance. Ethnic and rural areas are the weak links in development and also the focus of increasing the promotion and popularization of the national common language and script. In ethnic and rural areas, some adults still cannot understand Mandarin, do not recognize standardized Chinese characters, and cannot communicate smoothly or read and write proficiently. Their learning and use of the national common language and script also have special environments and needs. Conducting national common language and writing tests in ethnic and rural areas should not only fully reflect the development requirements of language abilities, but also be based on existing language foundations. The purpose of the test is not only to evaluate the current level, but also to encourage the masses to learn and use the national common language and writing, and promote the strengthening of the sense of community of the Chinese nation. The assessment of the national common language and writing proficiency for this group needs to be significantly different from the current Mandarin proficiency test. Schools have always been an important field and foundation for promoting and popularizing the national common language and script. It is necessary to extend the current Mandarin proficiency test downwards and expand the testing service scope to primary and secondary school students in compulsory education in order to establish a national universal language and writing evaluation system. By focusing on the key areas of national common language education and promotion, we can not only solve the problem of setting standards for "students' Mandarin proficiency", but also promote the education and teaching of national common language in compulsory education through testing. In the long run, the integration of primary and secondary school student testing with the current Mandarin proficiency test in terms of age and education level is a long-term measure to accelerate the popularization process, consolidate the achievements of popularization, and improve the quality of popularization. The so-called "extension" refers to the changes in the test subjects. Therefore, it is necessary to fully consider the age characteristics, physical and mental development level, and learning and living environment of students in compulsory education stage, formulate Mandarin proficiency level standards that are in line with the characteristics of this group, and choose testing methods that are more in line with the age characteristics of primary and secondary school students. In 2022, the "Standard and Test Outline for Mandarin Proficiency Test of Primary and Secondary School Students" developed by the Language and Writing Application Research Institute of the Ministry of Education was approved by the Language and Writing Standards Review Committee of the National Language Commission, marking the basic standard for national universal language testing for primary and secondary school students. The fundamental purpose of the Mandarin proficiency test is to promote Mandarin teaching and training, and improve the overall Mandarin application ability of the society. The Mandarin proficiency test, which began in the 1990s, was based on the foundation and urgent requirements of promoting Mandarin at that time. It was first conducted in industries, departments, and systems that urgently needed to be developed, and then expanded in scope at the appropriate time. It can be said that the long-term plan for the construction of the national universal language and writing evaluation system has been carried out at the beginning of the testing, and the new era has put forward requirements and provided possibilities for the development of Mandarin proficiency testing from "1" to "1+N". Author: Zhu Lihong, Associate Researcher at the Institute of Language and Writing Applications, Ministry of Education