Saturday, January 13, 2018

Quiet Heroes, Behind the Scenes
I just learned today that Zhou Youguang is the linguist who created the pin yin system I depended on as I struggled (mostly enjoyed, but sometimes less so) learning Chinese in the 1980s. Of course, I knew pin yin existed. I just never asked who created it? When? How? Why? I just used it. 

His creation was officially adopted in mainland China in 1958.

In my first two years of Chinese language study (at UMass) we used an older system called Wade-Giles that I thought at the time was all there was. In September 1980 I went to Beijing, where they used pin yin, and I remember at first thinking it was annoying to learn a new system, but then pretty soon after that feeling like pin yin was so much more intuitive and easy to use. 

Zhou Youguang would have been 112 today. He also translated the Encyclopedia Britannica into Chinese. Seriously—who translated an encyclopedia! Awesome.

Wade-Giles is the system that gave us Peking and TsingTao.  Pin yin is now the nearly universal system of romanization used in programs that allow us to type in Chinese today.

According to Wikipedia..."From 2000, he wrote ten books, of which some have been banned in China.
In 2011, during an interview with NPR, Zhou said that he hoped to see the day China changed its position on the Tiananmen Square killings in 1989, an event he said had ruined Deng Xiaoping's reputation as a reformer. 
He became an advocate of political reform, and was critical of the Communist Party of China's attacks on traditional Chinese culture when it came into power."
The picture to the right looks like several other professors I had while living in China. Dressed simply, emphasizing warmth. Surrounded by books and piles of papers. Writing. Smiling. Listening. Likely just finished, and would soon repeat finishing, a cigarette.
I did not know Zhou Youguang was the creator of pin yin back in the day. Like me, you were studied abroad as an undergraduate. Thanks 周有光 and happy birthday.

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