Zhu ni shengri kuaile! Father of Pinyin turns 110 years old

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Zhu ni shengri kuaile! Father of Pinyin turns 110 years old, celebrates with a strawberry-topped cake

Meet Zhou Youguang, he just turned 110 years old on January 13th. In his younger days, he created the Pinyin system that is used to teach the Chinese language today.

According to his publisher, Zhou celebrated the big 110 (or 111 by his counting) with his niece, nephew in law, nurse, a pink princess hat and a sizeable cake topped off with some strawberries. Personally, he didn't care much about his own birthday saying "it is of no importance at all," but to all scholars, linguists and Chinese language learners across the world, it should be a pretty big deal.

Nicknamed the "father of Pinyin", Zhou was born into a wealthy aristocratic family in 1906 near the last years of the Qing dynasty. He then went on to study in elite universities in both Shanghai and Japan.

In 1955, Zhou was assigned to co-chair a committee aimed to increase Chinese literacy. His creation of Pinyin, a system using the Roman alphabet to romanize Chinese pronunciation, has been credited with helping increase literacy rates in China from 20 percent to 90 percent.

Later in life, Zhou became an outspoken supporter for the democratization of China and as a result much of his written work has been censored by the Chinese government.

By Kitty Lai

[h/t Tom Hancock]


Contact the author of this article or email [email protected] with further questions, comments or tips.
By Shanghaiist in News on Jan 15, 2016 5:00 PM

 

[Patriot]

[h=1]Zhou Youguang[/h]From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhou.
[TABLE="class: infobox biography vcard, width: 22"]
[TR]
[TH="colspan: 2, align: center"]Zhou Youguang
周有光[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 2, align: center"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Born[/TH]
[TD]Zhou Yaoping 周耀平
13 January 1906 (age 110)
Changzhou, Jiangsu, China[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Alma mater[/TH]
[TD]Changzhou Senior High School of Jiangsu Province
Saint John's University, Shanghai
Guanghua University[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Political party[/TH]
[TD="class: org"]China Democratic National Construction Association[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Spouse(s)[/TH]
[TD]Zhang Yunhe (m. 1933–2002)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Children[/TH]
[TD]Zhou Xiaoping (1934–2015)[SUP][1][/SUP]
Zhou Xiaohe (1935–1941)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Relatives[/TH]
[TD]Granddaughter: Zhou Hexin (b. 1959)
Great grandson: Andy Zhou (b. 1993)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Zhou Youguang (Chou Yu-kuang; Chinese: 周有光; pinyin: Zhōu Yǒuguāng; Wade–Giles: Chou[SUP]1[/SUP] Yu[SUP]3[/SUP]-kuang[SUP]1[/SUP]; born 13 January 1906 in Changzhou, Jiangsu) is the art-name of Zhou Yaoping (Chinese: 周耀平; pinyin: Zhōu Yàopíng;Wade–Giles: Chou[SUP]1[/SUP] Yao[SUP]4[/SUP]-p'ing[SUP]2[/SUP]) who is a Chinese linguist and sinologist, often credited as the "father of (Hanyu)Pinyin",[SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP] the official romanization for Mandarin in the People's Republic of China.

[h=2]Contents[/h] [hide]​

• 1Education and early career
• 2Designing pinyin
• 3Later activities
• 4Personal life
• 5See also
• 6Further reading
• 7References
• 8External links

[h=2]Education and early career[edit][/h]Zhou was born in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province on 13 January 1906.[SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][5][/SUP] Zhou enrolled in St. John's University, Shanghai, in 1923, where he majored in economics and took supplementary coursework in linguistics.[SUP][5][/SUP] He left during the May Thirtieth Movement of 1925 and transferred to Guanghua University, from which he graduated in 1927.[SUP][5][/SUP] Zhou spent time as an exchange student in Japan,[SUP][5][/SUP] and spent his early career working as a banker and economist overseas (mainly in New York City), but returned to Shanghai[SUP][5][/SUP] in 1949 when the People's Republic was established.[SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][3][/SUP]
[h=2]Designing pinyin[edit][/h]In 1955, the government placed Zhou at the head of a committee to reform the Chinese language in order to increaseliteracy. While other committees oversaw the tasks of promulgating Mandarin Chinese as the national language and creating simplified Chinese characters, Zhou's committee was charged with developing a romanization to represent the pronunciation of Chinese characters.[SUP][2][/SUP] Zhou says the task took about three years, and was a full-time job.[SUP][2][/SUP] Pinyin was made the official romanization in 1958, although then (as now) it was only a pronunciation guide, not a substitute writing system.[SUP][6]












[/SUP]

 

[Patriot]

Later activities[edit]

During the Cultural Revolution Zhou was sent to live in the countryside and be "re-educated", like many intellectuals at that time.[SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][3][/SUP] He spent two years in a labour camp.[SUP][7][/SUP]

After 1980, Zhou worked with Liu Zunqi and Chien Wei-zang on translating the Encyclopædia Britannica into Chinese, earning him the nickname "Encyclopedia Zhou".[SUP][5][/SUP] Zhou has continued writing and publishing since the creation of Pinyin; for example, his book Zhongguo Yuwen de Shidai Yanjin 中國語文的時代演進, translated into English by Zhang Liqing, was published in 2003 as The Historical Evolution of Chinese Languages and Scripts.[SUP][8][/SUP] In total he wrote ten books since 2000, some of which have been banned in China. In his old age he has become an advocate for political reform, and was critical of the Communist Party of China's attacks on traditional Chinese culture when it came into power.[SUP][7][/SUP]
Zhou became a supercentenarian on 13 January 2016 when he reached the age of 110.

Personal life[edit]

Zhou Youguang at home in Beijing in 2012​

Zhou was married to Zhang Yunhe from 30 April 1933 to her death on 14 August 2002; the couple were married for 69 years, 106 days and had two children: a daughter Zhou Xiaohe (born 1935) who died in 1941 at the age of 6, and a son Zhou Xiaoping (born 1934)[SUP][2][/SUP] who died at the age of 80 on 26 January 2015.[SUP][1][/SUP]

In early 2013, Zhou and his son were interviewed by Dr. Adeline Yen Mah at their residence in Beijing. Dr. Mah documented the visit in a video and presented Zhou with a Pinyin game she created on iPad.[SUP][9][/SUP]

 

[Patriot]

[h=1]At 105, Chinese Linguist Now A Government Critic[/h]
Updated October 19, 201111:59 PM ETPublished October 19, 201111:18 AM ET

LOUISA LIM










[h=3]Listen to the Story[/h]All Things Considered
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Zhou Youguang, founder of the Pinyin system of romanizing the Chinese language, has published 10 books since turning 100, some reflecting his critical views of the Chinese government. Shown here in his book-lined study, the outspoken Zhou has witnessed a century of change in China.
Louisa Lim/NPR
Louisa Lim/NPR

Zhou Youguang should be a Chinese hero after making what some call the world's most important linguistic innovation: He invented Pinyin, a system of romanizing Chinese characters using the Western alphabet.
But instead, this 105-year-old has become a thorn in the government's side. Zhou has published an amazing 10 books since he turned 100, some of which have been banned in China. These, along with outspoken views on the Communist Party and the need for democracy in China, have made him a "sensitive person" — a euphemism for a political dissident.

Zhou (shown here in New York in 1947) worked on Wall Street as a banker but returned to China in 1949 after the Communist Revolution.
Courtesy Zhou Youguang
Courtesy Zhou Youguang

When Zhou was born in 1906, Chinese men still wore their hair in a long pigtail, the Qing dynasty still ruled China, and Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House. That someone from that era is alive — and blogging as the "Centenarian Scholar" — seems unbelievable.
Pinyin, The 'Open Sesame' Of Chinese
But despite his age, Zhou still lives in a modest third-floor walk-up. He's frail but chipper, as he receives guests in his book-lined study. He laughs cheerfully as he reminisces, despite his complaints that "after 100, the memory starts to fail a bit."
Zhou was educated at China's first Western-style university, St. John's in Shanghai, studying economics with a minor in linguistics. As a young man, he moved to the United States and worked as a Wall Street banker — during which time he even befriended Albert Einstein, although Zhou says their conversations are now lost in the mists of time.
Zhou decided to return to China after the 1949 revolution to build the country. Originally, he intended to teach economics in Shanghai, but he was called to head a committee to reform the Chinese language.
I really like people cursing me.

Zhou Youguang

"I said I was an amateur, a layman, I couldn't do the job," he says, laughing. "But they said, it's a new job, everybody is an amateur. Everybody urged me to change professions, so I did. So from 1955, I abandoned economics and started studying writing systems."
It took Zhou and his colleagues three years to come up with the system now known as Pinyin, which was introduced in schools in 1958. Recently, Pinyin has become even more widely used to type Chinese characters into mobile phones and computers — a development that delights Zhou.
"In the era of mobile phones and globalization, we use Pinyin to communicate with the world. Pinyin is like a kind of 'Open sesame,' opening up the doors," he says.
Political Progress Is 'Too Slow'
Although official documentaries by the state broadcaster have celebrated his life, Zhou's actual position is more precarious. In the late 1960s, he was branded a reactionary and sent to a labor camp for two years. In 1985, he translated theEncyclopaedia Britannica into Chinese and then worked on the second edition — placing him in a position to notice the U-turns in China's official line.
Ordinary people no longer believe in the Communist Party. ... People ask me if there's hope for China. I'm an optimist. I didn't even lose hope during the Japanese occupation and World War II. China cannot not get closer to the rest of the world.

Zhou Youguang

At the time of the original translation, China's position was that the U.S. started the Korean War — but the encyclopedia said North Korea was to blame, Zhou recalls.
"That was troublesome, so we didn't include that bit. Later, the Chinese view changed. So we got permission from above to include it. That shows there's progress in China," he says, adding, "But it's too slow."
At 105, Zhou calls it as he sees it without fear or favor. He's outspoken about what he believes is the need for democracy in China. And he says he hopes to live long enough to see China change its position on the Tiananmen Square killings in 1989.
"June 4th made Deng Xiaoping ruin his own reputation," he says. "Because of reform and opening up, he was a truly outstanding politician. But June 4th ruined his political reputation."
Far from shying from controversy, Zhou appears to relish it, chuckling as he admits, "I really like people cursing me."
Bold And Outspoken Criticism
That fortitude is fortunate, since his son, Zhou Xiaoping, who monitors online reaction to his father's blog posts, has noted that censors quickly delete any praise, leaving only criticism. The elder Zhou believes China needs political reform, and soon.
"Ordinary people no longer believe in the Communist Party any more," he says. "The vast majority of Chinese intellectuals advocate democracy. Look at the Arab Spring. People ask me if there's hope for China. I'm an optimist. I didn't even lose hope during the Japanese occupation and World War II. China cannot not get closer to the rest of the world."
The elderly economist is scathing about China's economic miracle, denying that it is a miracle at all: "If you talk about GDP per capita, ours is one-tenth of Taiwan's. We're very poor."
Instead, he points out that decades of high-speed growth have exacted a high price from China's people: "Wages couldn't be lower, the environment is also ruined, so the cost is very high."
Zhou's century as a witness to China's changes, and a participant in them, has led him to believe that China has become "a cultural wasteland." He's critical of the Communist Party for attacking traditional Chinese culture when it came into power in 1949, but leaving nothing in the void.
Still A Force To Be Reckoned With
He becomes animated as talk turns to a statue of Confucius that was first placed near Tiananmen Square earlier this year, then removed.
"Why aren't they bringing out statues of Marx and Chairman Mao? Marx and Mao can't hold their ground, so they brought out Confucius. Why did they take it away? This shows the battles over Chinese culture. Mao was 100 percent opposed to Confucius, but nowadays Confucius' influence is much stronger than Marx's," he says.
One final story illustrates Zhou's unusual position. A couple of years ago, he was invited to an important reception. At the last minute, he was told to stay away. The reason he was given was the weather.
But his family believes another explanation: One of the nine men who run China, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, was at the event. And that leader did not want to have to acknowledge Zhou, and so give currency to his political views.
That a Chinese leader should refuse to meet Zhou is telling, both of his influence and of the political establishment's fear of one old man.

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

He could have been a bigger hero by telling people to study English instead