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Zhou Youguang

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Zhou Youguang
周有光
Zhou in the 1920s
Born
Zhou Yaoping (周耀平)

(1906-01-13)13 January 1906
Changzhou, Jiangsu, Qing Empire
Died(2017-01-14)14 January 2017
(aged 111 years, 1 day)
Beijing, China
Alma materSt. John's University
Guanghua University
Known forDevelopment of Pinyin; supercentenarian
Notable workThe Historical Evolution of Chinese Languages and Scripts
Political partyChina Democratic National Construction Association
Spouse
Zhang Yunhe
​
​
(m. 1933; died 2002)​
Children2
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese周有光
Birth name
Traditional Chinese周耀平

Zhou Youguang (Chinese: 周有光; pinyin: Zhōu Yǒuguāng; 13 January 1906 – 14 January 2017) was a Chinese economist, banker, linguist, sinologist, publisher, and supercentenarian, known as the "father of Pinyin",[1][2] a system for the romanization of Mandarin Chinese, which was officially adopted by the government of the People's Republic of China in 1958, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1982, and the United Nations in 1986.[3]

Early life and career

Zhou Youguang and wife Zhang Yunhe in 1938

Zhou was born as Zhou Yaoping in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, on 13 January 1906 to a Qing Dynasty official.[1][4] At the age of ten, he and his family moved to Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. In 1918, he entered Changzhou High School, during which time he first took an interest in linguistics. He graduated in 1923 with honours.[5]

Zhou enrolled the same year in St. John's University, Shanghai where he majored in economics and took supplementary coursework in linguistics.[4] He was almost unable to attend due to his family's poverty, but friends and relatives fundraised 200 yuan for the admission fee, and also helped him pay for tuition.[5] He left during the May Thirtieth Movement of 1925 and transferred to Guanghua University, from which he graduated in 1927.[4] Zhou was a genius

On 30 April 1933, Zhou married Zhang Yunhe (張允和), and the couple went to Japan for Zhou's studies.[4] Zhou started as an exchange student at the University of Tokyo, later transferring to Kyoto University due to his admiration of the Japanese Marxist economist Hajime Kawakami, who was a professor there at the time. Kawakami's arrest for joining the outlawed Japanese Communist Party in January 1933, however, meant that Zhou could not be his student. Zhou's son, Zhou Xiaoping (周曉平), was born in 1934. Later, the couple also had a daughter, Zhou Xiaohe (周小禾).[5]

In 1937, due to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Zhou and his family moved to the wartime capital Chongqing, and his daughter died.[3] He worked for Sin Hua Bank before entering public service as a deputy director at the National Government's Ministry of Economic Affairs, agricultural policy bureau (經濟部農本局). After the 1945 Japanese defeat in World War II, Zhou went back to work for Sin Hua where he was stationed overseas: first in New York City and then in London. During his time in the United States, he met Albert Einstein[4] twice.

Zhou participated for a time in the China Democratic National Construction Association, but when the People's Republic was established in 1949 he returned to Shanghai,[4][1][2] where he taught economics at Fudan University for several years.[3]

Designing Pinyin

In 1955, the government placed Zhou at the head of a committee to reform the Chinese language in order to increase literacy. 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.[1] Zhou said the task took about three years, and was a full-time job.[1] Pinyin was made the official romanization in 1958, although (as now) it was only a pronunciation guide, not a substitute writing system.[6] Zhou based Pinyin on several preexisting systems: the phonemes were inspired by Gwoyeu Romatzyh of 1928 and Latinxua Sin Wenz of 1931, while the diacritic markings representing tones were inspired by zhuyin.[7]

In April 1979, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in Warsaw held a technology conference. Speaking on behalf of the People's Republic of China, Zhou proposed the use of the "Hanyu Pinyin System" as the international standard for the spelling of Chinese. Following a vote in 1982 the scheme became ISO 7098.

In the modern era Pinyin has largely replaced older romanization systems such as Wade-Giles.[3] It is the principal vehicle for most Chinese language computer input.

Later activities

During the Cultural Revolution, Zhou was sent to live in the countryside and to be "re-educated", as were many other intellectuals at that time.[1][2] He spent two years at a labour camp.[8]

After 1980, Zhou worked with Liu Zunqi and Chien Wei-zang on translating the Encyclopædia Britannica into Chinese, earning him the nickname "Encyclopedia Zhou".[4] Zhou continued writing and publishing after 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.[9] From 2000, he wrote ten books, of which some have been banned in China.

Zhou Youguang at home in Beijing in 2012

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.[8] 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.[8]

In early 2013, both Zhou and his son were interviewed by Dr. Adeline Yen Mah at their residence in Beijing. Mah documented the visit in a video and presented Zhou with a Pinyin game she created for the iPad.[10] Zhou became a supercentenarian on 13 January 2016 when he reached the age of 110.[11] He was one of few supercentenarians known for reasons other than their longevity.

Zhou died on 14 January 2017 at his home in Beijing, a day after his 111th birthday.[12][13][14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Father of pinyin". China Daily. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2009. Reprinted in part as Simon, Alan (21–27 January 2011). "Father of Pinyin". China Daily Asia Weekly. Hong Kong. Xinhua News Agency. p. 20.
  2. ^ a b c Branigan, Tania (21 February 2008). "Sound Principles". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d Margalit Fox (14 January 2017). "Zhou Youguang, Who Made Writing Chinese as Simple as ABC, Dies at 111". The New York Times.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g 李懷宇 (8 December 2005). "周有光：与时俱进文章里 百年风云笑谈中·南方社区·南方网" [Zhou Youguang: A lifetime of unstable situations and being laughed at]. 南方网 (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  5. ^ a b c 金玉良 (2003). "苏州杂志2003第2期-周有光忆学生时代" [Zhou Youguang's Time as a Student]. Journal of Suzhou University (in Chinese). Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  6. ^ Ramsey, S. Robert (1989). The Languages of China. Princeton University Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-691-01468-5.
  7. ^ Rohsenow, John S. 1989. Fifty years of script and written language reform in the PRC: the genesis of the language law of 2001. In Zhou Minglang and Sun Hongkai, eds. Language Policy In The People's Republic Of China: Theory And Practice Since 1949, p. 23
  8. ^ a b c Lim, Louisa (19 October 2011). "At 105, Chinese Linguist Now A Government Critic". NPR. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  9. ^ Youguang Zhou 周有光. The Historical Evolution of Chinese Languages and Scripts; 中國語文的時代演進, translated by Zhang Liqing 張立青. Ohio State University National East Asian Language Resource Center. 2003.
  10. ^ "Dr. Adeline Yen Mah meets the founder of Pin Yin Youguang Zhou". chinesecharacteraday.com. 14 March 2013.
  11. ^ Lai, Kitty (15 January 2016). "Zhu ni shengri kuaile! Father of Pinyin turns 110 years old, celebrates with a strawberry-topped cake". Shanghaiist. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  12. ^ Fox, Margalit (14 January 2017). "Zhou Youguang, Who Made Writing Chinese as Simple as ABC, Dies at 111". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  13. ^ "Zhou Youguang, Father of Chinese Romanization System, Dies". American Broadcasting Company. Associated Press. 14 January 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  14. ^ Zhang Dong (14 January 2017). ""汉语拼音之父"周有光去世 享年112岁" (in Chinese). Sina Corp. Retrieved 14 January 2017.

Further reading

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