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New Developments in Language Reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2019

Constantin Milsky
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Extract

Since 1966, there have been no articles in the Chinese press about language reform and no specialist journals to provide an alternative forum for discussion. In 1972, however, the Party's leading political publication, Hung ch'i (Red Flag), carried in its April issue a letter on what had come to be seen as an almost taboo subject, by no less a personality than Kuo Mo-jo. This letter and its manner of publication are both of great interest. Language reform is clearly on the agenda for discussion once again and the letter enables one to look both at its more recent history and at its future development. Such is the importance of the letter that I have translated it in full and discuss it section by section (the text being distinguished by bold type), adding a commentary to each section, rather in the manner in which commentaries were added to classical Chinese texts.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 53 , March 1973 , pp. 98 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1973

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References

* I am grateful to the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique for a grant to work on the study of language reform in China and am also indebted to Professor Jacques Guillermaz, Director of the Centre de Documentation sur 1'ExtrSme-Orient, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, for his valuable suggestions concerning the contents of this article and for important reference material kindly placed at my disposal.

1. Latinxua Sin Wenz (Latinized New Writing), also known simply as Latinxua (latinization) or Sin Wenz (New Writing) is a system of romanization of Chinese originally created in the U.S.S.R. in 1930 by Soviet sinologists (B. M. Alekseev, A. A. Dragunov, A. G. Shrprintsin and others) with the participation of some Chinese Communists (Ch'ii Ch'iu-pai, Wu Yu-chang, Lin Po-ch'u, Hsiao San and Hsu T'e-li). It spread to China in 1934 and was supported by a certain number of left-wing intellectuals. Some experiments in its use were undertaken in the Communist-controlled areas, especially during 1940-42 in the Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region.

2. Kuo Mo-jo, “ Hsiang kung-nung-ping ch'un-chung hsueh-hsi, wei kungnung- ping ch'un-chung fu-wu” (Learn from the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers, serve the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers “), People's Daily, 5 May 1966.

3. Ibid.

4. Ma Hsii-Iun, “Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko yen-chiu wei-yuan-hui ch'eng-Iihui k'ai-hui-tz'u “ (” Opening Speech at the Inaugural of the CSRCWL “), Chungkuo yii-wen, July 1952.

5. See below, note 25.

6. For a detailed account of Mao Tse-tung's interventions in language reform, see chs. XI-XV of my forthcoming book Preparation de la Reforme de iecriture en Republique Populaire de Chine (Paris: Mouton & Co. 1973).

7. Wu Yu-chan, “Tsai Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko yen-chiu wei-yuan-hui ch'eng-li-hui shang ti chiang-hua “ (” Speech pronounced at the Inaugural Assembly of the CSRCWL “), Chung-kuo yii-wen, July 1952.

8. Ma Hsii-lun, “ Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko yen-chiu wei-yuan-hui ti che'eng-li ching-kuo ho kung-tso ch'ing-k'uang” (” Establishment and work of the CSRCWL“), Chung-kuo yii-wen, July 1952, Ts'ao Po-han, Cheng Chih-tung and Chang Jen-piao, “ Chieh-shao ch'ang-yung-tzu piao “ (” Introducing the ‘ List of Commonly Used Characters’ “), Hsin-Hua yueh-pao, July 1952.

9. Ma Hsii-Iun, ibid.

10. “Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko etc.,” Chung-kuo yii-wen, July 1952.

11. Mao Tse-tung, “Hsin min-chu-chu-i lun” (“On New Democracy“) in Mao Tse-tung hsuan-chi (Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung), Vol. 2, Peking (Jenmin ch'u-pan-she), 1961, p. 701.

12. There are even different translations of it. The official one runs as follows: “ Written Chinese must be reformed, given the requisite conditions, and our spoken language brought closer to that of the people,” Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. 2, Peking (Foreign Language Press), 1967, p. 382.

13. Wu Yu-chang, “Wen-tzu pi-hsii tsai i-ting t'iao-chien hsia chia-i kai-ko” (” Our script must be reformed under certain conditions“), People's Daily, 24 October 1955.

14. Ma Hsii-lun, “Chung-kuo wen-tzu etc.,” Chung-kuo yii-wen, July 1952.

15. It was a so-called “ mass organization “ and its Standing Committee, as usual in such cases, included some sympathizers in high places who were actually only honorary members contributing to the cause by virtue of their social and political influence. As an example of such members, one may mention Kuo Mo-jo, the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the writer Shen Yen-ping (Mao Tun), P'eng Chen, Head of the CCP Organization Department and Secretary of the CCP Peking Committee, and the poet Hsiao San etc.

16. National Language Romanization or Guoyeu Romatsyh (G.R.) is a system for romanization of Chinese elaborated by a group of Chinese linguists headed by Y. R. Chao (Chao Yuan-jen) in 1928. Among the creators of this romanization system were also Li Chin-hsi, Ch'ien Hsuan-t'ung, Wang I and Lin Yu-t'ang. A thorough study of the G.R. as well as of the Latinxua movement is given in John de Francis, Nationalism and Language Reform in China (Princeton University Press 1950).

17. People's Daily, 11 October 1949.

18. Tu Tzu-ching, “ Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko yun-tung nien-piao “ (“Chronological table of the movement for reform of the Chinese Written Language “), in Cheng Lin-hsi et al., Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko wen-t'i ﹛Problems of the Reform of the Chinese Written Language) (Shanghai: Chung-hua shu-chii, 1954).

19. Kuo Mo-jo, “Tsai Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko yen-chiu wei-yuan-hui ch'eng-li hui shang ti chiang-hua” (” Speech pronounced at the Inaugural Assembly of the CSRCWL“), Chung-kuo yii-wen, 1952.

20. This old method consists in indicating the pronunciation of a character by two other characters, its initial being that of the first and its final being that of the second.

21. Wu Yii-chang, Chung-kuo yii-wen, July 1952.

22. “ Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko yen-chiu wei-yuan-hui chu-hsing ti-san tz'u ch'tian-fi hui-i “ (” The CSRCWL holds its Third Plenary Assembly “), Chung-kuo yii-wen, May 1953.

23. “ Chu-yin tzu-mu “ (” Alphabet for Phonetical Transcription “) is a set of letters elaborated on the bases of Chinese characters and designed to annotate the sound of Chinese characters. Since 1920, it was taught in all Chinese primary schools as a means of transcribing the pronunciation of characters. In this role, it was in 1958 replaced by the Scheme for a Chinese Phonetic Alphabet (Han-yii p'in-yin fang-art) or pinyin.

24. “ Grass “ script, “ ts'ao-shu,” is a running-hand style used for rapid writing.

25. “ Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko yen-chiu wei-yuan-hui ti-san tz'u ch'uan-t'i hui-i ti t'ao-lun chi-lu chai-yao “ (” Abstract of the record of the discussion at the Third Plenary Assembly of the CSRCWL“) Chung-kuo yii-wen, June 1953.

26. “ Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko yen-chiu wei-yuan-hui ti-ssu tz'u ch'uan-ti weiyuan hui-i chai-yao” (” Abstract of the Fourth Plenary Assembly of the CSRCWL “), Chung-kuo yii-wen, August 1954.

27. Chou En-lai, “ Current tasks of reforming the written language,” in Reform of the Chinese Written Language (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1958), p. 26.

28. “ Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko wei-yuan-hui ch'eng-li “ (” Establishment of the CRCWL “), Chung-kuo yii-wen, January 1955.

29. Ibid.

30. Chou Yu-kuang, Han-tzu kai-ko kai-lun (General Treatise on the Reform of the Chinese characters) (Peking: Wen-tzu kai-ko ch'u-pan-she, 1961), p. 50.

31. Lin Tao, “ Lun Chung-kuo p'in-yin wen-tzu ti min-tzu hsing-shih,” Chungkuo yii-wen, March 1955.

32. Wu Yu-chang, “ Report on the current tasks of reforming the written language and the draft scheme for a Chinese phonetic alphabet,” in Reform of the Chinese Written Language, p. 44.

33. Chuo Yu-kuang, Han-tzu kai-ko, p. 50.

34. Wu Yu-chang, “ Report on the current tasks,” p. 44.

35. Tang-ch'ien wen-tzu kai-ko ti jen-wu han-yii p'in-yin fang-art (Peking: Wen-tzu kai-ko ch'u-pan-she, 1958).

36. Jacques Guillermaz, Le Parti communiste chinois au pouvoir (Paris: Payot, 1972), pp. 138-9.

37. Ibid. p. 156.

38. Chou Yu-kuang, Han-tzu kai-ko, p. 52.

39. For instance, in Wu Yu-chang's speech delivered on 26 September 1956, at the VIII Congress of the CCP, entitled “ Kuan-yii Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko ti wen-t'i “ (” Concerning the problem of reforming the Chinese written language “), Hsin-Hua pan yiieh-k'an, 1956, No. 21, pp. 140-1.

40. Reform of the Chinese Written Language, pp. 61-2.

41. Ibid. p. 60.

42. Chou En-lai, “ Current Tasks,” p. 7.

43. Ibid. pp. 17-22.

44. Ibid. pp. 27-8.

45. Wu Yu-chang, “ Han-yii p'in-yin fang-an tsai ko fang-mien ti ying-yung,” People's Daily, 2 February 1964.

46. “ On the National Day of 1958,” the article says, “ Post and Telecommunications Offices opened internal telegraph operation in the Chinese Phonetic alphabet. However, on account of the fact that, at present, knowledge of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet is not yet widespread in society, actually telegrams transmitted in Chinese Phonetic Alphabet are still few.” The author also admits that the use of pinyin in railway communications is limited to the north-east.

47. Ibid.

48. Ts'ao Po-han, “ Hsin yti-wen yun-tung chung ti i-hsieh ssu-hsiang wen-t'i” (” Some ideological problems in the movement for the new language “), Jen-min chiao-yu. Vol. 4, No. 2, 1951.

49. Wu Yii-chang, “ Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko ti tao-lu “ (” The road of reforming the Chinese written language “), People's Daily, 1 January 1956.

50. Wu Yu-chang “ Tsai Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko etc. ”.

51. See note 10.

52. This expression originates from the Lun-yii ﹛Analects of Confucius).

53. See note 10.

54. See note 22.

55. See note 4.

56. See note 25.

57. “Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko yen-chiu wei-yuan-hui han-tzu cheng-li-tsu chiieh-ting ‘ Han-tzu cheng-li ti kung-tso chi-hua'” (The Chinese Characters Revision Section of the CSRCWL decides the “ Plan of work for revision of Chinese characters “), Chung-kuo yii-wen, June 1953.

58. “ 1953 nien han-tzu cheng-li kung-tso kai-k'uang “ (” General situation of the work for the revision of Chinese characters for the year 1953 “), Chung-kuo yiiwen, February 1954.

59. Ibid.

60. Wei Ch'iieh, “ Lueh-t'an han-tzu chien-hua kung-tso “ (” A little about the work for simplifying the Chinese characters “), in Wu Yii-chang et at, Chien hua han-tzu wen-ti'i ﹛Problems of the simplification of Chinese characters) (Shanghai: Chung-hua shu-chii, 1956), p. 9.

61. Chung-kuo yii-wen, No. 1, 1955.

62. Ibid. No. 6, 1956.

63. See note 13.

64. 77-/ p'i-ti-tzu cheng-li piao (Revised table of the first list of variant characters) CPeking: Jen-min chiao-yU ch'u-pan-she, 1956).

65. See note 58.

66. This classical expression is borrowed from the Hsiin-tzu and means something which has received the common approval of society and to which people have gradually grown accustomed.

67. Wu Yu-chang et al., Chien-hua han-tzu wen-ti, pp. 2-8 and passim.

68. “TYung ch'iin-chung chung lai, tao ch'iin-chung chung ch'ti.” This expression of Mao Tse-tung's comes from “Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership,” Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 119.

69. See note 25.

70. See note 22.

71. Chou Yu-kuang, Han-tzu kai-ko, p. 50. Different figures were advanced by Wu Yu-chang: “During the period between 1949 … and October 1957, we have received over 1200 schemes for a Chinese phonetic alphabet,” Wu YU-chang, “ Report on the Current Tasks,” p. 46.

72. Assistant Secretary-General of the CSRCWL.

73. Ts'ao Po-han, “Ts'ung tzu-mu yen-chiu hsiang-ch'ien t'ui-chin i pu “ (“Let us advance one step forward from the research on the alphabet“), Chung-kuo yii-wen, January 1953.

74. See letters to the editor, Chung-kuo yii-wen, May, August and October 1953.

75. Po Han, “ Kuan-yii tzu-mu wen-t'i ti chi-tien chieh-shih “ (” A few explanations concerning the problem of alphabet“), Chung-kuo yii-wen, May 1953.

76. Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko yen-chiu wei-yuan-hui mi-shu-ch'u (Secretariat of CSRCWL), “ Ko-ti chi-lai p'in-yin fang-an cheng-li pao-kao “ (” Summary Report on the phonetic projects received from different places“), Chung-kuo yii-wen, November 1953.

77. A detailed account of this interesting debate will be found in Chapter XXVII of my forthcoming book.

78. Cheng Lin-hsi, “ Pa-nien lai wen-tzu kai-ko kung-tso ti ch'eng-chiu” (” Achievement of the work for the reform of the written language for the past eight years “), Wen-tzu kai-ko, October 1957.

79. Chou En-lai, “ Current Tasks,” p. 10; Wu Yii-chang, “ Report on the Current Tasks,” p. 34.

80. In the course of the Rectification Campaign of 1957, these meetings were organized by the CC of the CCP in order to solicit opinions from “ outside the Party” at the highest level, i.e., from the leaders of the “ democratic parties.” Chang was then Minister of Communications and Chairman of the Chinese Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party.

81. Kuang-ming jih-pao, 22 May 1957.

82. Minister of the Timber Industry, Vice-Chairman of the Democratic League.

83. Chu Hsiieh-fan, “ Han-tzu i-ting yao kai-ko “ (” Chinese characters must be reformed“), Wen-tzu kai-ko, August 1957.

84. Kuang-ming, 22 August 1957.

85. Peoples Daily, 22 May 1957.

86. Chou En-lai, “ Current Tasks,” p. 11.

87. Pin-yin yueh-k'an, July 1957.

88. Ibid.

89. Kuang-ming, 17 May 1957.

90. Wu Yu-chang, “ Report on the Current Tasks,” p. 34.

91. Wen-hui pao (Shanghai), 17 May 1957. People's Daily, 22 and 23 May 1957.

92. Chou En-lai, “ Current Tasks,” p. 13.

93. Chou Yu-kuang, “ Chin-t'ien ti han-tzu kai-ko kung-tso “ (” Today's work for the reform of Chinese characters “), Wen-tzu kai-ko, August 1964.

94. Chou En-lai, “ Current Tasks,” p. 12.

95. “ Ta-tao tsao-fan-t'uan ti hou-t'ai Hsu Hsiang-ch'ien” (Down with HsU Hsiang-ch'ien, the secret boss of the Rebel Brigade), 17 August 1967, by the Fuhu chan-tou-t'uan (Quell-the-Tiger Fighting Brigade) of the Red Rebel Headquarters of the Institute of Cartography of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

96. Chou Yu-kuang, Han-tzu kai-ko kai-lun, pp. 319-320.

97. Chou Yu-kuang, “ Chin-t'ien ti han-tzu.“

98. The importance of this handicap has, however, been considerably diminished by the fact that in the early sixties old books in the libraries were already being gradually withdrawn from circulation and the number of those in private hands has been greatly reduced by the Cultural Revolution.

99. “ Kaun-yii chien-hua-tzu ti lien-ho t'ung-chih “ (” Joint circular concerning simplified characters “) in Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko wei-yuan-hui, ed. Chien-huatzu tsung-piao (General table of simplified characters), Peking (Wen-tzu kai-ko ch'u-pan-she), 1964.

100. Chung-kuo wen-tzu kai-ko wei-yuan-hui (CRCWL), ed. Chien-hua-tzu tsung-piao, Peking (Wen-tzu kai-ko ch'u-pan-she), 1964.

101. This phenomenon is in no way due exclusively to the simplification but is a defect inherent in the ideographic system itself.

102. CRCWL and Ministry of Culture, “ Kuan-yii chien-hua han-tzu i-hsieh went'i ti shuo-ming “ (” Explanations concerning some problems of simplification of Chinese characters “), Wen-tzu-kai-ko, No. 6, 1964.

103. See Wen-tzu kai-ko for 1965 and January-April 1966.

104. Kuan Hsi, “ I-feng t'ao-lun wen-tzu kai-ko ti hsin “ (” A letter discussing the reform of the written language “), Chung-kuo yii-wen, June 1957.

105. Ch'en Meng-chia, “ Liieh-lun wen-tzu hsileh “ (” A little about the study of characters “), Kuang-ming, 4 February 1957.

106. Ch'eng Meng-chia, “ Kuan-yii han-tzu ti ch'ien t'u” (“Concerning the future of Chinese characters“), Kuang-ming, 19 May 1957.

107. Ibid.

108. “Chung-kung chung-yang kuan-yii t'ui-hsing chu-yin shih-tzu ti chihshih,” Wen-tzu kai-ko, No. 10, 1960.

109. “Kuan-yii cheng-chi hsin chien-hua-tzu ti t'ung-chih” (“Circular concerning collecting new simplified characters “), Wen-tzu kai-ko, No. 10, 1960.

110. “ ‘ K'ao’ tzu k'ao,” in “ Yen-shan yeh-hua “ (” Night chats at Yen-shan “), Pei-ching jih-pao, 21 June 1962.

111. “Shin chien-hua-tzu hai-shih ts'o-pieh-tzu ni “ in “ San-chia-ts'un cha-chi “ (“Notes of the Three Family Village“), Ch'ien-hsien, May 1963.

112. For instance, the last issue of Wen-tzu kai-ko (No. 5-6, 1966) carried five articles on this subject, all coming from the Army or schools. As they all use almost identical terms, I shall not cite the precise references.

113. “ Chiao wang kuo cheng “ is an old, originally critical, Chinese classical expression. But Mao insists, as in his Hunan Report of 1927, that “proper limits have to be exceeded in order to right a wrong, or else the wrong cannot be righted” and this has now become an obligatory principle of any political campaign.

114. “ Hsing-sheng-tzu “ each of which consists of a semantic or radical indicating the category to which the idea expressed by the character belongs and a phonetic giving the more or less exact pronunciation of the character. The ideophonograms (or, simply, phonograms) constitute more than 90 per cent, of the total number of characters in modern use.

115. People's Daily, 3 May 1964.

116. Ibid.

117. Chou En-lai “Current Tasks,” p. 13.

118. Hsin-Hua pan-yiieh-k'an, No. 21, 1956.

119. People's Daily, 3 May 1964.

120. Kuan Hsi, Chung-kuo yii-wen, June 1957.

121. Better known under his nom de plume of Mao Tun.

122. Cheng Hsi-lien, “Pa nien lai,” Wen-tzu kai-ko, October 1957.

123. People's Daily, 23 May 1957. Chou is Lu Hsun's brother and was then Vice-Minister of Higher Education.

124. People's Daily, 3 May 1964.

125. Pinyin.

126. Wen-tzu kai-ko, August 1964.

127. People's Daily, 3 May 1964.