Abstract: With the development of sound technology and the change of communications media，there emerged a turn to“sound”in modern China. It carried on the ideal of enlightenment and national salvation that had been passed down from the Opium Wars，and focused on“sound”as a communication tool. Both the vernacular writing movement and the sound film are participants of this turn to sound. They upheld the scientific and democratic New Culture，advocated the values of freedom and progress，promoted the new scientific，democratic，national，and popular aesthetic spirit，and prompted the transformation of the traditional Chinese society to a modern one. On the one hand，the vernacular culture cultivated the auditory unconsciousness of the modern public，providing a psychological preparation for the acceptance and propagation of sound film；on the other，sound film established a more inclusive and diversified space for the vernacular culture. In the accepting and popularizing course of sound film，the vernacular in the films was attached with various kinds of imagination，embodied the political appeals and family-country ideals of different social groups，and produced different voices as the times changed.

Key words: sound film, vernacular, vernacular writing movement, modern transition, media